was unanimously pronounced by the peers, the Duke of Newcastle alone adding 'but not intentionally.' As bigamy was a clergyable offence, the duchess might have been burned on the hand, but she claimed the privilege of her peerage, which exempted her from corporal punishment, and though the attorney-general argued against her claim it was allowed by the peers.
After her trial the duchess, who should now, speaking strictly, be called the Countess of Bristol, hearing that the duke's nephews were about to proceed against her, left England, being conveyed across the Channel to Calais in an open boat by the captain of her yacht, on the very day that a ne exeat regno was issued against her. She was, however, left in possession of her fortune. Her husband, the Earl of Bristol, obtained the recognition of his marriage from the consistory court on 22 Jan. 1777, as a preliminary step towards applying for a divorce. As, however, there was strong evidence of his collusion, no further proceedings were taken. He died on 22 Dec. 1779. At Calais the duchess, after being plundered by Dessein, the proprietor of the famous hotel, resides in a house she bought from a M. Cocove, sometime president of the town, allowing him and his family to occupy part of it with her. In 1777 she sailed to St. Petersburg in a ship that she bought and fitted up, having obtained leave to hoist the French colours (Sherlock). In order to secure a good reception, she sent two pictures from the duke's collection to Count Chernicheff. After sending them off she found that they were painted by Raphael and Claude Lorrain, and she tried to persuade the count to exchange them for others of less value. This he refused to do, and she declares in her will that she had simply committed them to his care. She received many favours from the czarina Catherine, who had her ship repaired for her when it was injured by a violent storm. Delighted with the attention that was paid her, the duchess bought for 12,000l. an estate near St. Petersburg, which she called 'Chudleigh,' and there she set up a manufactory of brandy; another estate was given her by the czarina. After a while, however, she grew restless, and left her property and her manufactory in charge of an English carpenter to whom she took a fancy. On her return to France she bought a house at Montmartre and a fine place near Paris, called St. Assise, which belonged to Monsieur, the king's brother, for 50,000l., of which she appears to have only paid 16,000l. at her death. She went for a second time to Rome, where she is said to have lived somewhat scandalously, and also visited other continental capitals. Among the various persons who flattered her vanity in order to prey upon her was a notorious adventurer called Worta, who described himself as an Albanian prince, and who was afterwards apprehended in Holland as a forger and poisoned himself in prison. She is said to have actually received an offer of marriage from Prince Radzivil, who entertained her in a regal fashion. She was too restless to remain long in one country, or indeed in one humour. Her habits were extremely coarse; surrounded by unworthy persons, she was self-indulgent and whimsical, and her character was only redeemed from utter contempt by a certain generosity of temper that extended even to her enemies. She died somewhat suddenly at Paris on 26 Aug. 1788, at the age of sixty-eight. Her will, which was made in France on 7 Oct, 1786, is a strange document. Her story is said to have suggested to Thackeray the character of Beatrice in 'Esmond' and of the Baroness Bernstein in 'The Virginians.'
[An authentic detail … relative to the Duchess of Kingston ; Letters of Horace Walpole, ed. Cunningham, passim ; Mrs. Montagu's Letters, iii. 168 ; Sir N. Wraxall's Historical Memoirs, ii.73 ; Monthly Mag. li. 632 ; Trial of Elizabeth, Duchess Dowager of Kingston … before the House of Peers; Whitehead's Original Anecdotes; Sherlock's Letters of an English Traveller, i. 27, ed. 1802 ; Œuvres de Frederic II, xxiv. 90; Histoire de la Vie et des Aventures de la Duchesse de Kingston; Lettre à Madame L—— sur la mort d Elisabeth Chudleigh, autrement Duchesse de Kingston; Collectanea Juridica, i. 323; Annual Register, xii. 73, xvi. 102, xix. 133, 169, 231-6, xx. 164, xxi. 168, xxx. 44-9, 213.]
CHUDLEIGH, Sir GEORGE, (d. 1657), parliamentarian commander, was son of John Chudleigh, esq. of Ashton, Devonshire, by a daughter of George Speke, esq. of White Lackington, Somersetshire. At the death of his father he was only three or four years old, but he was thoroughly educated by his trustees, and 'having been abroad for the most exquisite breeding that age could yield, he retired home, well improved,' and fixed his habitation at Ashton (Prince, Worthies of Devon, p. 210). Probably he was the person who was returned for St. Michael, Cornwall, to the parliament which assembled on 27 Oct. 1631, and for Lostwithiel, in the same county, to the parliaments which met respectively on 6 April 1614 and 16 Jan. 1620-1. On 1 Aug. 1622 he was created a baronet. He was elected for Tiverton to the parliament which assembled on 12 Feb. 1623-4, and for Lostwithiel to that of 17 May 1626.
