He was
fond, too, of a hard frost, and had a regular speech to introduce on
that subject: 'Yes, sir, 'fore Gad, very fine weather, sir--very
wholesome weather, sir--kills trees, sir--very good for man, sir.'
Old Marlborough had another intimate friend at the club, who was
probably one of its earliest members. This was Arthur Maynwaring, a
poet, too, in a way, but more celebrated at this time for his _liaison_
with Mrs. Oldfield, the famous but disreputable actress, with whom he
fell in love when he was forty years old, and whom he instructed in the
niceties of elocution, making her rehearse her parts to him in private.
Maynwaring was born in 1668, educated at Oxford, and destined for the
bar, for which he studied. He began life as a vehement Jacobite, and
even supported that party in sundry pieces; but like some others, he was
easily converted, when, on coming to town, he found it more fashionable
to be a Whig. He held two or three posts under the Government, whose
cause he now espoused: had the honour of the dedication of 'The Tatler'
to him by Steele, and died suddenly in 1712. He divided his fortune
between his sister and his mistress, Mrs. Oldfield, and his son by the
latter.
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