A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Queensbury, Catherine Hyde, Duchess of
QUEENSBURY, CATHERINE HYDE, DUCHESS OF,
Was the daughter of Henry, Earl of Clarendon and Rochester, and wife of Charles Douglas, third Duke of Queensbury. She was a celebrated beauty, and received tributes from Pope and from Prior.
A forgotten poet, Whitehead, has celebrated her octogenary charms. Since the Grecian Helen, no lady seems so nearly to have filled a century of praise. What is rare in a woman so admired, she was modest, unaffected, devoted to her family and friends. She and the duke were fond of literary society, and maintained an intimacy with Swift, Pope, and especially Gay. To the last, the ducbess was unspeakably kind; she not only gave him the shelter of her roof, but paid attention to the minute, every-day comforts, which the unpractical poet could never manage for himself. At the prohibition of his opera, "Polly," their graces were so warm in their resentment, that they were forbidden to appear at court. The duchess corresponded with many persons of note; her letters are to be met with dispersed among the collections that are brought forward for the gratification of modern curiosity. They exhibit considerable sprightliness and good sense.