To The Right Honorable Earle of Arran
My Lord
I hope your Lordship will now oblige me so much as to stand my friend. I have with much importunity gott ye Lords of the Treasury to give an order to my Lord Osmond to cause the arrears of my pension stopt in Ireland to be paid what is due to me to Last Michaelmas with my sisters Mrs. Forster and other whome their letter mentions: My agent is Mr. Laurence Steele to whome I have sent this letter to deliver to your Lordship hoping for my sake you will be pleased to give him a speedy dispatch in this business and oblige,
Your Lordships most humble servant to command,
Ellen Gwin
November 26, 1682
Nell Gwyn was one of the first women to take to the London stage during the Restoration period, and developed a reputation as a quick-witted, charismatic, and bawdy comedic actress. While she is one of the most notable women to join English theater, she is better known historically as one of King Charles II’s many mistresses and the only one to be loved by the public.
The letter (written by Nell’s mother Ellen), entails some undetermined difficulty in receiving a pension. Nell was not raised wealthy, and slowly garnered her wealth over the years through her various affairs. Charles II reportedly said to his son, James II, on his death bed, “Let not poor Nelly starve.” James II carried out his father’s wish, and paid off the debtors that descended upon Gwyn after the king’s death in 1685.
- June and July 2025; with The Story of Nell Gwyn and the Sayings of Charles II by Peter Cunningham, London 1896 (SHLC); rotating library display case
