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 a I B RAHY 
 
 OF THE 
 UN IVLR5ITY 
 Of ILLINOIS 
 
 823 
 W675ma 
 
 v.l 

 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR: 
 
 A TALE 
 
 OF 
 
 THE COURT OF GEORGE I. 
 
 " One thing I have got by the long time I have been here, which is, 
 the being more sensible than ever I was of my happiness in being Maid of 
 Honour: I wont say 'God preserve me so,' neither; that would not be 
 
 SO well."— SUFFOLK CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 IN THREE VOLS. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER; 
 
 GREAT MARLBOEOUGH STREET. 
 
 1845.
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed by Schulze and Co., 13, Poland Street.
 
 szt 
 
 v.' 
 
 
 TO 
 
 SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON, Bart. 
 
 AUTHOR OF " PELHAM " &c. &c. 
 
 V) Of the fair celebrities who have given a title 
 to these volumes, it cannot be unknown to so well 
 read an historical scholar as yourself, that one— 
 v the true heroine of the story — has been immor- 
 talized by the praises of Pope, Gay, Churchill, 
 Horace Walpole and Lady Mary Wortley Mon- 
 tagu, and has also had the honour of being made 
 the subject of a little poem in the English lan- 
 guage from the pen of Voltaire. Indeed Mary 
 Lepel was one of those rare characters formed to 
 be the ornament of her circle, and the boast of her 
 age. Nor have her three fair contemporaries, 
 with whom she is here associated, passed through
 
 IV DEDICATION. 
 
 their gay career without leaving some such inte- 
 resting records. The names of Bellenden, Howe, 
 and Meadows are to be found in many a pleasant 
 verse and gossiping memorandum referring to 
 the Court Beauties of the period. 
 
 The society in which they were regarded as such 
 agreeable features, though it existed in this country 
 little more than a hundred years ago, undoubtedly 
 was formed of the most extraordinary materials 
 that ever constituted a civilized community. That 
 segment of it styled the Court, was such a Court, 
 as I think you will readily agree with me, England 
 never saw before, and is not likely to behold 
 again. Yet in this soil, another strange sign of 
 these very strange times, there flourished quali- 
 ties the most opposite that can by any possibility 
 be conceived; the courtly Chesterfield and the 
 elegant Addison were existing harmoniously with 
 the brutal Wharton and the licentious Bucking- 
 ham. Never was the Hyperion and Satyr juxta- 
 position more conspicuous than in the various 
 contrasts of this kind, that were then and there 
 to be met with. 
 
 You will, no doubt, as readily perceive that for 
 the numerous historical personages who help to
 
 DEDICATION. V 
 
 fill up my canvass — except now and then in a 
 slight deviation from the exact time, and in the 
 imaginative colouring necessary to all such illus- 
 trations — I have had continual reference to pub- 
 lished facts and characteristics. Indeed, as respects 
 even the royal group who figure so prominently 
 in the foreground, if they are not such flattering 
 likenesses as are usually found in portraits of 
 royalty, they may be regarded with confidence, 
 as reflecting, according to many able authorities, 
 the features of the very, remarkable originals they 
 assume to represent; and as to the eminent lite- 
 rary charact< tat are introduced, perhaps you 
 may think, a more evident ambition, it 
 should be ol rved that they are merely sketched 
 in to comp general design ; in fact, they 
 possess no pretensions beyond back-ground 
 figures. 
 
 In dedic oti the picture I have here 
 
 delineated c ; unique Court, and of the very 
 
 singular sta ety of which the Court circle 
 
 may be sal »rmed the head, I am con- 
 
 scious how it is to be graced with the 
 
 name of an works exhibit so eminent 
 
 an excellen but tb merit we cannot approach
 
 VI DEDICATION. 
 
 we may surely be permitted to honour, and there- 
 fore I trust this evidence of admiration, trifling 
 as it is likely to be considered, may not be thought 
 by you entirely undeserving your regard. 
 
 Frank Ranelagh. 
 
 London, March 24th, 1845.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE BRIGADIER AND HIS DAUGHTER. 
 
 Had I Hanover, Bremen and Verden, 
 
 And likewise the Duchy of Zelle, 
 I'd part with them all for a farden, 
 
 To have my dear Molly Lepel. 
 
 LOUD CHESTERFIELD. 
 
 Little more than fourteen years after the 
 commencement of the eighteenth century, Eng- 
 land was in a strange unsettled state that appeared 
 to prognosticate a general conflict of its elements 
 at no very remote period. Queen Anne had died, 
 and the Elector of Hanover had succeeded to the 
 throne she left vacant. The people who beheld 
 
 VOL. I. b
 
 2 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 with complacency a father driven out of the 
 kingdom, and his place filled successively by 
 two of his daughters, had began to lose both sight 
 and remembrance of the intolerable offences 
 which had brought about so extraordinary an 
 usurpation. 
 
 The indomitable energy and practical common- 
 sense of the cold and formal William of Nassau, 
 and the military successes which illumined the 
 reign of Queen Anne, reconciled the great body 
 of the nation to the loss of the most insignificant 
 of the weak and worthless Stuarts ; but on the 
 crown being transferred to the brow of a foreign 
 potentate, who took no pains to conceal his being 
 a stranger to their language and constitution, who 
 seemed as careless of the feelings of his new sub- 
 jects as he was indifferent to their sentiments, 
 some people began to consider that James II. 
 had been hardly dealt with; and even had his 
 faults deserved perpetual expatriation, it was 
 thought a great and inexcusable wrong to punish 
 his descendants, who were guiltless of the very 
 slightest share in them. 
 
 ( As it became more generally known that 
 George I. was as deficient in moral as he was in 
 intellectual recommendations, that he outraged
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 3 
 
 public decency in England by maintaining a 
 harem of Hanoverian mistresses, whose persons 
 were of so dominant an ugliness as to repel the 
 mos,t easily pleased, and that he made it universally 
 evident he cared for the kingdom he had been 
 called to govern, only so far as it could be made 
 profitable to the Electorate he had left, but not 
 abandoned, more general became the reference 
 of his subjects to the exiled family, and more 
 frequently did they dwell upon the accounts that 
 were in circulation, of their merits, their virtues 
 and their misfortune^. 
 
 There was soon a considerable party in the 
 country, who in secret were favourably disposed 
 towards the exiles ; and nothing but the fear 
 which prevailed of the return of popery kept 
 them from publicly making an effort for the res- 
 toration of the Stuarts to their hereditary ho- 
 nours. 
 
 Many persons, in England as well as in Scot- 
 land, held correspondence with the son of 
 James II., which was of course studiously con- 
 cealed from the ruling powers ; and many were 
 quite as sincere in their good wishes, but were 
 much too prudent to display them. The spies of 
 the government were exceedingly industrious in 
 
 b 2
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 reporting every symptom of conspiracy and dis- 
 affection ; nevertheless, treasonable pamphlets 
 and scurrilous songs were readily circulated all 
 over the kingdom, and every scandalous report 
 respecting the members of the reigning family 
 found extensive and rapid circulation. 
 
 It so happened, that such reports could scarcely 
 fail of possessing a zest for those who chose to 
 listen to them. (The King knew very little, and 
 cared to know very little respecting the people 
 he governed. He was in constant variance with 
 his son, whom he seemed to despise and hate 
 equally, and who it was evident returned his ill- 
 feeling with interest. He appeared to have no 
 family ties, and, except one son, no family con- 
 nexions — at least none that were evident to his 
 English subjects. 
 
 The father and son were much alike in some 
 respects, they were both headstrong, weak and 
 dogmatic, licentious without the slightest assump- 
 tion of refinement or delicacy ; yet brave, and on 
 rather rare occasions liberal. They opposed each 
 other either openly or secretly with great perti- 
 nacity, and there were not wanting mischievous 
 friends on both sides, who endeavoured to draw 
 them into more decisive and open enmity. The
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 5 
 
 gallantries of both were equally notorious and 
 equally offensive ; and if the King of England 
 permitted himself to be governed by old and 
 ugly German harridans, whom he allowed apart- 
 ments in St. James', the Prince of Wales though 
 possessed of an excellent wife, dishonoured by 
 his attentions as many of his father's fair subjects 
 as he thought proper to distinguish in that way./ 
 
 But our business is not at present with the 
 Court ; we have better, though humbler game in 
 view, which without further preface, we beg leave 
 to present to the courteous reader. 
 
 Brigadier- General Lepel, a brave and accom- 
 plished officer, who had honourably distinguished 
 himself in the continental wars of Queen Anne 5 
 had on the accession of the Elector of Hanover 
 to the British throne, chosen to live a little re- 
 tired from the public eye, though certainly not 
 out of the world, in a handsome mansion situated 
 in a picturesque part of the rural village of Peters- 
 ham. Here, whilst enjoying all that is most re- 
 freshing in a country life, from his vicinity to 
 Hampton Court, and near neighbourhood to the 
 capital he had frequent opportunities of bringing 
 around him whatever was most attractive in town 
 society. He had always courted the friendship
 
 6 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 of men of letters ; there were indeed few worthy 
 of the honour he had not frequently received at 
 his hospitable table, and the greatest statesmen 
 of the age were among his most familiar acquaint- 
 ances. 
 
 General Lepel was a remarkably vain man ; 
 though old enough to have long cast aside the 
 follies of his youth, he was as thorough a fop 
 as the youngest soldier in his regiment. It 
 was, however, but the harmless coxcombry of 
 age, that displayed itself in an appearance scrupu- 
 lously neat, in an inordinate fondness for mul- 
 tiplying likenesses of his own dear person, and in 
 a studied effort to surround himself with the most 
 imposing evidences of wealth and station. 
 
 The Brigadier's vanity was extremely compre- 
 hensive. He was vain of his military rank ; he 
 was vain of his pictures, china, and plate ; he was 
 very vain of his person ; but more than all, was 
 he vain of one fair daughter, whose attractions 
 might have excused a much greater degree of 
 vanity than that with which she was regarded by 
 her doting parent. 
 
 Mary Lepel had been deprived of her mother 
 at a very early age. But her father's affection 
 had prevented her understanding the extent of
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. / 
 
 this usually irreparable loss. Her form and fea- 
 tures had almost from infancy been peculiarly 
 prepossessing; and her disposition was marked 
 by so much winning affectionateness, that she 
 soon came to be as much a favourite with the 
 General's friends as with himself. 
 
 She in due time received all the advantages the 
 system of schooling then in vogue could confer 
 upon her; and at the period to which we have 
 arrived, had returned from a fashionable school ; 
 her impassioned nature brimming over with ro- 
 mance, and her heart and mind impressed with 
 the most generous sentiments of which a romantic 
 school-girl was ever possessed. 
 
 Mary Lepel had had but lately completed her 
 fifteenth year ; but the charm of youth was not 
 more evident in her faultless face than was 
 the still greater charm of innate purity of feel- 
 ing. She was rather under the medium height, 
 with a figure possessed of the most exquisite pro- 
 portions ; buoyant, graceful, and confiding ; and 
 owning a complexion radiantly fair, every feature 
 marked with a sense of beauty rarely given to 
 the human face in its most perfect form. 
 
 She had, as we have said, just left school, where 
 she had been taught all the accomplishments then
 
 8 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 considered necessary for a young gentlewoman of 
 family. She could sit up in her chair in the most 
 complete independence of support from the back ; 
 she could carve at table fish, flesh, and fowl, with 
 equal dexterity and elegance. She could dance a 
 minuet with a grace altogether unrivalled ; and 
 ride a horse to the admiration of all the Nimrods 
 of her acquaintance. She was thoroughly conver- 
 sant with household economy, and had had a 
 careful training in potting and preserving, baking 
 and brewing, clear-starching, and all the fine arts 
 in connexion with the kitchen, the store-room, the 
 dairy, and the toilet. She spoke a little French, 
 could play on the lute and harpsichord, and sing 
 a pastoral ballad ; and had learned as much his- 
 tory, astronomy, geography, and the use of the 
 globes, as she would find no difficulty in forgetting 
 when matters in which she should be more deeply 
 interested came before her attention. 
 
 As for needle-work, there were in her chamber 
 certain specimens in black frames that displayed 
 her skill most prominently. One w r as a pastoral 
 scene in worsted, in which a figure intended to 
 represent a man in a sky-blue spencer and pea- 
 green breeches w T as made to lean against a tree 
 that might have been mistaken for a cabbage,
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 9 
 
 holding a long crook in the direction of several 
 nondescript animals, looking very unlike sheep, 
 which were supposed to be kept in their places by 
 the assistance of an indistinguishable black mass 
 near them that did duty for a dog, and might have 
 represented an elephant with equal fidelity. 
 
 In each corner of this admirable landscape was 
 a kind of lilliputian spread-eagle, intended to re- 
 present a butterfly, and underneath several lines 
 speaking decidedly on the happiness of shepherds 
 in general, and highly laudatory of the morals of 
 this one in particular. 
 
 Another specimen of this accomplishment con- 
 tained two full-length figures, displaying great 
 masses of yellow, crimson, brown, and white, 
 which it was usually asserted the artist considered 
 to be resemblances of King Solomon and Queen 
 Sheba ; but which was Solomon and which 
 Sheba the most learned had not ventured to pro- 
 nounce. Many other examples of the same art 
 were in this chamber, which unnecessarily cor- 
 roborated the evidence of the extraordinarv skill 
 the two just described so fully established. 
 
 In her store of useful knowledge we may name 
 at least a dozen washes for the complexion, an 
 incomparable salve for chapped hands, and an un- 
 
 b 3
 
 10 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 rivalled pomatum for the hair. But Mary Lepel 
 had managed to acquire other resources, for which 
 she was very little indebted to her careful teachers. 
 Conspicuous among these was an extraordinary 
 appetite for romance, which, while it made her an 
 indiscriminate reader of all the extravagant fic- 
 tions of the last age, tinged her whole nature so 
 completely with the exaggerated colouring that 
 distinguishes them, it was scarcely possible to 
 imagine, even amongst the heroines of those very 
 heroic productions, a creature at once so exceed- 
 ingly beautiful, and so exceedingly romantic. So 
 absorbed had her youthful mind become by these 
 imposing productions, that she was continually 
 referring to the proceedings of those personages 
 who were described as figuring in them most 
 prominently; and a certain " Prince Oroondates" 
 had so captivated her fancy, that she regarded 
 him as her beau ideal of a lover, and would not 
 have listened to any one presenting himself as a 
 suitor, had he fallen short of the Prince's perfec- 
 tions. In this enthusiasm, however, she was 
 not alone ; for a French lady of distinction had, 
 under similar impressions, caused her infant to 
 receive at the font this fashionable hero's name, 
 and the child so distinguished, afterwards be-
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 11 
 
 came the father of the celebrated Marshal Vil- 
 lars. 
 
 But what can be said of a young lady of fifteen, 
 whose ideas had been almost wholly drawn from 
 the interminable narratives of Calprenede and 
 Scudery ? And, moreover, what could be expected 
 from one so fair and imaginative, taken from the 
 dull formality of the school-room, cheered only 
 by the false brilliancy of the erroneous specula- 
 tions and delusive visions, arising from such a 
 course of reading, to be placed at the head of 
 the handsome establishment of Brigadier-General 
 Lepel. 
 
 The General, though not famous for much con. 
 sideration, had considered that, although his 
 daughter might not be deficient in the proper 
 accomplishments suitable for a child of his, for 
 whom he entertained particularly proud notions, 
 a little experience might be of great advantage to 
 her, and he judiciously sought the assistance of 
 one better qualified to bestow it, in his opinion, 
 than any one of his numerous acquaintance, male 
 or female. 
 
 A little time after the return of the young lady 
 to the paternal home, the Brigadier was seated 
 bv the breakfast table on a heavv cushioned chair
 
 12 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 with a broad back, in a flowing dressing-gown of 
 brocaded silk, that left nothing of his garments 
 visible, but two handsome morocco slippers and 
 a small portion of a pair of very fine clocked 
 stockings, that encased his feet as they rested, 
 his legs stretched at full length, on a cushioned 
 footstool before him. 
 
 On the table covered with a handsome damask 
 cloth, was a very beautifully chased silver tea 
 equipage and costly china service; and among 
 various plates of viands was a silver-bound inlaid 
 chest opened, displaying a small gold bowl, with 
 tongs of the same precious metal resting upon 
 the lumps of fine sugar with which it was filled, 
 having on each side of it, a silver cannister to 
 contain tea. 
 
 The room was capacious and lofty : its floor 
 covered with a Turkey carpet, with a pile thick 
 enough to outlast the wear of many generations ; 
 round the walls were portraits, as might be sup- 
 posed, of the Lepel family ; but this was a 
 mistake, though from a family likeness that ran 
 through them all, it was evidently a mistake that 
 might very readily be made. 
 
 Prominent among these was the full length of 
 a youth on horseback, wearing a campaign coat.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 13 
 
 pistols at his holsters, jack boots, his cocked- 
 hat standing on the top of a very full wig, and 
 his sword drawn. This was Cornet Lepel. 
 
 Not very far off, the eye rested upon the same 
 features. This person wore a green silk knit 
 waistcoat — the pockets falling to the hips — orna- 
 mented with gold and silver flowers, and almost 
 covered with gold lace; over it was a brown 
 flowered velvet coat with cuffs extending back 
 to the elbow_, also richly trimmed with em- 
 broidery ; his head and shoulders bore a tre- 
 mendous white periwig ; a sword was at his side ; 
 the breeches were of the same material as the 
 coat -, and below were blue silk stockings with 
 silver clocks, velvet garters, and high shoes with 
 red heels and small silver buckles. The gentle- 
 man was in the act of taking a pinch of snuff from 
 a gold box. This was Captain Lepel. 
 
 Further on, was the same excellent officer in a 
 different dress, and by the foliage and fountain 
 introduced in the canvas, and by the clouded 
 cane dangling at the wrist, he was supposed to be 
 taking an airing. This was Major Lepel. 
 
 Colonel Lepel was represented in another frame 
 leaning on a cannon ; and General Lepel sat 
 at a table covered with papers, with a scroll in
 
 14 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 one hand, bearing the words, u Member for Old 
 Sarum," he having been returned for that im- 
 portant , constituency. In short, the series of 
 portraits were drawn from one original — the owner 
 of Petersham Manor. 
 
 Opposite to the Brigadier sat the very youth- 
 ful and very graceful figure of the young mistress 
 of the mansion, with laced stomacher and a small 
 white muslin apron over a very full morning 
 dress ; her hair tied up with ribands and curled 
 at the sides. She occasionally amused herself, 
 whilst sipping from a tea cup and saucer she held 
 in one hand, by playing with the long ears of a 
 pet spaniel that rested at her feet. 
 
 The Brigadier turned with complacency from 
 the reflection of his costly dressing gown in the 
 mirror before him to his various representatives 
 on the walls. His eye travelled from one to 
 another with increasing satisfaction, till they 
 dwelt on that of the glittering, handsome captain ; 
 and as he remembered his celebrity as Beau 
 Lepel, of the Court of William and Mary, he 
 could not help contrasting with many regrets, the 
 personal appearance of the Brigadier with that 
 of his junior in command; and thought it would 
 be highly desirable, if rank could be purchased
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 15 
 
 without wrinkles, and fortune procured devoid 
 of crows 5 -feet, failing eye-sight, deficient hearing, 
 and shrunken limbs. 
 
 The General put down " the Post-Boy," whence 
 he had been gleaning the latest news, and sighed 
 for the golden days that never could return ; but 
 in making this movement his eyes fell upon the 
 animated features of his beautiful daughter, and 
 their happy sunshine dispersed in a moment the 
 gloom that had fallen on his spirits. His self- 
 love drew an inexhaustible fund of consolation 
 from that faultless form and countenance. How 
 admirably were they formed to shine at Court ! 
 what a sensation they would cause amongst the 
 brilliant circle at St. James' ! What importance, 
 what consideration, what preferment might he 
 not look for, when his matchless daughter was 
 acknowledged the chief attraction in the roval 
 palaces ! * 
 
 He called to mind his early courtier days — for 
 he was still a courtier — how readily by a prepos- 
 sessing appearance and devoted manner he had 
 obtained the favour of two female sovereigns, and 
 bowed, and smiled, and flattered his way to patro- 
 nage and distinction ; became the idol of all the 
 women, and the envv of all the men. He remem-
 
 16 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 bered how easily he had obtained place and 
 honour, with little talent beyond the talent to 
 please, and no great virtue except that of re- 
 fraining from any vice which chanced to be 
 out of fashion. Surely, he thought, the ca- 
 reer would be no less easy, and might be much 
 more brilliant, of a Court favourite of the other sex. 
 
 To do him justice, he did not anticipate for 
 his innocent and beauteous daughter the employ- 
 ment of any of the very questionable means of 
 advancement, he had himself found it necessary 
 to use ; he would have recoiled from submitting 
 her to so terrible an ordeal, had he imagined such 
 essential to the fulfilment of his views. But his 
 ambition appeared to have thrust his experience 
 aside, and clothed his dreams of greatness with 
 a splendour that allowed of neither blot nor 
 flaw. 
 
 He did not for a* moment consider the danger 
 of abandoning a young and pure-minded woman 
 of rare personal attractions, to the blandishments 
 of a thoughtless and licentious circle. He who 
 presided over it, King George I., was a cha- 
 racter with whom delicacy and refinement were 
 entirely unknown; and his son the Prince of 
 Wales, was allowed the merit of exceeding his
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 17 
 
 august parent in the coarseness and vulgarity of 
 his disposition. 
 
 Neither of these princes excited in General 
 Lepel any misgivings or fears respecting the 
 welfare of the lovely being he wished to place 
 near them ; as the affections of the first were 
 known to be monopolized by the ugliest mistress 
 in his dominions, and the other was married to 
 a beautiful and talented princess who gave him 
 no cause for seeking gratification beyond the 
 sphere of her influence. 
 
 Dishonourable intimacies he did not fear, in- 
 deed he did not think of them, his mind was too 
 much engrossed with proud and happy visions, 
 in which an alliance with some powerful prince 
 or wealthy duke at the least, formed always a 
 principal feature, to find entrance for anything 
 discreditable pr humiliating. 
 
 The Brigadier had already considered the line 
 of operation necessary to the complete realization 
 of his wishes. He would open his house to the 
 visits of the most distinguished members of that 
 select coterie so admired and honoured under 
 the title of " the Court/' He would do more, he 
 would entertain at his table the most celebrated 
 members of the world of letters, the rising wits,
 
 18 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 the famous scholars, the most admired poets, and 
 the ablest writers in different branches of litera- 
 ture. His daughter would be the admired of all, 
 the general toast of the town, the theme of every 
 pen, and the subject of every tongue ; till the 
 royal attention was sufficiently excited and the 
 necessary influence exercised, to cause her sphere 
 of action to become the exalted one, her ambitious 
 father desired. 
 
 As he developed this plan in his mind, the 
 General resolved to take the advice of a friend, 
 who though belonging to that much abused class, 
 " old women," was well entitled to be considered a 
 counsellor in all matters relating to court patron- 
 age, such as the whole world could not produce.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 19 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE GREAT DUCHESS. 
 
 That face, that form, that dignity, that ease, 
 Those powers of pleasing, with that will to please, 
 By which Lepel, when in her youthful days, 
 Even from the currish Pope extorted praise. 
 
 CHURCHILL. 
 
 The Brigadier had taken snuff from a super b 
 box, as he always did when engaged, or wishing 
 to be thought engaged in deep reflection, and had 
 wiped very carefully, with a cambric handkerchief 
 the stray particles of the dust from his upper lip. 
 which was generally a sure sign that he had finished 
 his thoughts and was about to give them utterance. 
 
 " Madam Lepel," said he with the deliberation 
 of one who considers well before he speaks. The 
 young lady left off balancing her spoon on the 
 edge of her tea-cup, a performance she had assi-
 
 20 MAIDS OF HOXOUR. 
 
 duously been engaged upon during the last ten 
 minutes, and placed herself in the most orthodox 
 attitude of attention and respect, taught at the 
 fashionable school of Penelope Stiffandstern of 
 Minerva House, Newington Butts, where she had 
 obtained her education. 
 
 " Madam Lepel/' repeated the General, " I 
 have thought it necessary, and I have no reason 
 to doubt it will be mightily to your advantage, 
 that you should cease to attend the course of 
 instruction considered essential to young ladies 
 of high connexions/' 
 
 The Brigadier paused; but if he expected any 
 remark from his daughter, he must have been 
 greatly disappointed ; for she had been too com- 
 pletely a pupil of the peerless Penelope Stiffand- 
 stern, to change the upright attitude and atten- 
 tive gaze with which she had been taught to 
 receive communications from superiors, teachers, 
 parents, and guardians. 
 
 The Brigadier pursued the thread of his dis- 
 course with exactly the same stateliness and 
 verbosity he was wont, in his place in Parlia- 
 ment, to address the speaker when representing 
 the enlightened and respectable constituency of 
 Old Sarum.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 21 
 
 "You will find yourself in a new sphere, and 
 to accommodate yourself to it entirely, you will 
 be so good as to divest yourself of all those 
 thoughts, feelings, and pursuits which though 
 mighty proper as a school-girl at Minerva House, 
 would be monstrous out of place, and prodigious 
 unbecoming in the heiress of Brigadier-General 
 Lepel doing the honours of Petersham Manor/' 
 
 Again the Brigadier paused, and Miss Lepel con- 
 tinued to sit with her hands on her lap, her chest 
 thrown forwards, and her shoulders at a due dis- 
 tance from the back of the chair on which she sat. 
 
 li I intend to entertain, '' added he, " the very 
 best company that can be attracted to my house : 
 people of the highest distinction — alike celebrated 
 as persons of family, of rank, and of good breed- 
 ing. I intend you to sit at the head of my table ; 
 and expect that you will consider yourself as the 
 mistress of my house, to whom both my guests 
 and my servants are bound to shew the most 
 marked respect." 
 
 This pause received no more interruption than 
 the others ; notwithstanding it was a somewhat 
 startling announcement to the very young crea- 
 ture to whom it was addressed. 
 
 " As I am infinitely anxious," continued the
 
 22 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 Brigadier, " that under these circumstances you 
 should conduct yourself in a manner becoming 
 your birth and breeding, I have endeavoured to 
 obtain for you the advice and countenance of a 
 lady of quality, whose familiarity with the very 
 best company cannot be surpassed by any one. 
 I trust that I shall have no reason to complain 
 of your inattention to my wishes. I hope that 
 you will at all times cheerfully and carefully 
 endeavour to fulfil them/' 
 
 As the General took out his snuff-box to 
 replenish his nostrils, it was a sign that he had 
 completed his speech; and as this movement 
 assured his daughter he had ceased to address 
 her and waited her reply, she knew she might 
 now venture to speak. 
 
 " I am sensible, honoured Sir, of your very great 
 kindness/* she replied, preserving her attitude as 
 though she had been cast in the material of the 
 figures in toy-shops, u and shall be but too happy 
 to shew my urgent desire to give you plea- 
 sure." 
 
 Mistress Penelope Stiffandstern herself could 
 not have received such a communication with 
 more respect, or replied to it with more pro- 
 prietv. Perhaps the General thought so. He
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 23 
 
 seemed to dwell on the words he had heard, 
 perfectly satisfied that they contained just as 
 much affection as ought to proceed from a duti- 
 ful daughter, and just as little familiarity as 
 should be found in the language addressed by 
 such a daughter to a Brigadier-General. But 
 whatever his sentiments may have been, he had 
 no time just now to entertain them, as a loud 
 summons at the house-bell announced visitors ; 
 and scarcely had he taken a full survey of himself 
 in the mirror, when a servant in livery threw open 
 the door of the breakfast-room, and announced 
 in a loud voice — 
 
 " The Duchess of Marlborough \" 
 
 " Madam Lepel," observed the General in 
 his stateliest manner, as he rose from his seat, 
 i; you will be so good as to meet the Duchess in 
 the amber-room, and prepare to find in her Grace 
 the lady of quality whose countenance and ad- 
 vice I promised you a few minutes since. I will 
 do myself the honour to join you as soon as I 
 have completed my morning toilet." 
 
 The well-schooled young lady had quitted her 
 seat directly it became evident to her quick 
 apprehension it was proper for her so to do, 
 and dropping to her father a respectful, but very
 
 24 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 graceful curtsey, moved out of one door as the 
 General took his departure by another. 
 
 She crossed the hall not without considerable 
 awe at having before her an interview with a 
 person of such celebrity as her father's visitor, 
 and directed her steps towards the apartment to 
 which her Grace had been ushered, with some 
 unpleasant misgivings she should fail in securing 
 her promised good offices ; nevertheless she laid 
 her little hand on the handle of the door with 
 the fullest determination of recommending her- 
 self to the dreaded Duchess as much as the 
 knowledge she had acquired at Minerva House 
 would allow. 
 
 Acting on this resolution it was impossible 
 for the most perfect of the inmates of that 
 fashionable seat of learning, to have acquitted 
 herself in the valuable art of entering a room 
 with more studied propriety of demeanour, than 
 was exhibited by the youthful Mary Lepel, as 
 she ventured into the presence of the stern and 
 stately Duchess of Marlborough. 
 
 Alas ! for the ardent aspirant for her Grace's 
 patronage, the attention with which she fulfilled 
 the ceremony just mentioned, prevented her from 
 discovering, till too late, that it had been entirely
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 25 
 
 thrown away : — her father's visitor having placed 
 herself at the end of that long and handsomely 
 decorated apartment, where she was intently 
 examining some enamels. Pictures of battles 
 were round the walls — battles which had been 
 no less glorious to Marlborough than to England; 
 but the attraction they had for their owner 
 was less, infinitely less drawn from the great 
 triumphs they delineated, than from each pos- 
 sessing a figure of an officer signalising himself 
 in an extremely heroic fashion : — that of course 
 represented the owner of Petersham Manor. 
 
 Mary Lepel, as she stood at the door some- 
 what irresolute and disconcerted at the complete 
 failure of her irreproachable entrance, was ena- 
 bled to observe the figure of an old lady in a 
 sacque, seated in a fauteuil, bending over the 
 miniature of a very handsome young man. It 
 was the General once more ; but it was the 
 General at a period when he first attracted the 
 attention of the Duchess ; and those much ad- 
 mired features awakened in her Grace a whole 
 flood of recollections that had lain dormant long 
 enough to have been forgotten. 
 
 The intimacy which had existed between the 
 young officer and his influential friend did not 
 
 vol. i. c
 
 26 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 escape comment; but if he had excited any 
 tender emotions in her breast, she was but one 
 among the legion whose susceptible natures had 
 felt the influence of his delicate attentions. 
 
 The Brigadier's daughter found herself placed 
 in a situation where the numerous lessons in good 
 breeding she had received from the careful Pene- 
 lope Stiffand stern did not afford her the slightest 
 hint by which she might profit. None knew 
 better how to enter a room ; few could leave one 
 with so graceful a ceremoniousness : she could 
 pay her respects and offer her adieus, after the 
 most approved mode known to the polite world. 
 These observances formed an important feature 
 in her daily instruction at Minerva House ; but 
 however she might profit by them, it became 
 unpleasantly evident to her that they could not, 
 in the slightest degree, help her in her present 
 rather embarrassing position. 
 
 Left entirely to her own resources, she could 
 think only of endeavouring to attract the Du- 
 chess's notice. With that view she ventured 
 upon a cough — at first very slight and short, but 
 gradually increasing in length and sharpness. 
 She advanced further into the room at every 
 fresh experiment, feeling every minute more awk- 
 ward and ill at ease.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 27 
 
 Poor girl ! she would have spared her lungs 
 had she known that their exercise was bestowed 
 upon a person as deaf as a post. Her only hope 
 seemed in the chance she had of attracting the 
 Duchess's attention, and she continued to advance 
 nearer and nearer in the belief that the moment 
 her father's visitor moved her eyes from the ena- 
 mel, she must come under her observation. 
 
 Alas ! for any consolation coming from such 
 belief; — the poor lady could not see, with any 
 accuracy, an inch beyond her nose. Probably 
 Miss Lepel might very soon have given up her 
 hope of introducing herself to so important a 
 personage ; but at that moment a heavy sigh was 
 breathed by the old lady as she replaced the 
 miniature, and her reminiscences of power and 
 worship appeared to be brought to a conclusion. 
 
 " What are you doing there !" was the start- 
 ling intimation given to the young heiress that 
 she had been observed, expressed in a very 
 abrupt manner, and with a very sharp voice. 
 
 Mary Lepel did not feel less embarrassed for 
 being addressed so rudely; and the searching 
 restless eyes that met her own, the dark frown, 
 the dissatisfied yet haughty expression that ap- 
 peared in the severe scrutiny she seemed to be 
 
 c 2
 
 28 MAIDS OP HONOUR. 
 
 experiencing, made her exceedingly uncomfort- 
 able. 
 
 a What are you doing there, I say \" continued 
 the harsh voice. " Come forward, and tell me 
 who you are, and what you want." 
 
 Mary Lepel made her most perfect curtsey ; 
 but she was much too frightened of her compa- 
 nion to be eager to get into a closer neighbour- 
 hood. She scarcely advanced a step. 
 
 " D'ye hear \" shouted the Duchess in a tone 
 that literally made her start. " Don't stick there, 
 like a fool. What are you doing?— what brought 
 you here ? Say your errand, and go about your 
 business." 
 
 " Please your Grace — " murmured the terrified 
 girl. 
 
 " Speak out \" interrupted the other in a voice 
 of thunder. 
 
 " Please your Grace," repeated the young lady, 
 a very little elevating her tones, "please your 
 Grace — " 
 
 "What can the creature be mumbling about?" 
 growled the old lady. " Come here, if you want 
 to be heard. Closer ! — Closer yet ! — A little 
 nearer. — And now, who are you ? and what d'ye 
 want }"
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 29 
 
 The young heiress had got near enough to her 
 dreaded visitor to be in some degree within the 
 scope of her observation, which seemed to be 
 every minute getting more close and severe. 
 
 " Please your Grace I — that is to say, my 
 father—" 
 
 "Oh, you are the Brigadier's daughter are 
 you?" rudely, and somewhat fiercely cried her 
 Grace of Marlborough, as she continued her 
 scrutiny. " I don't think much of your breed- 
 ing. You are as awkward as if you had been 
 brought up in a dog-kennel. What have you 
 been doing with yourself? Where have you 
 been taught ?" 
 
 Poor Mary Lepel ! Often had she heard her 
 father dilate on the immense authority of his 
 valued friend the great Duchess of Marlborough 
 — as he always styled her in honour of her illus- 
 trious husband — in all matters in the slightest 
 degree relating to personal appearance, which she 
 derived from her long residence at Court, where 
 so extraordinary was her influence, she was far 
 more queenly than the Sovereign ; and the young 
 lady had been taught to regard her favour as 
 equivalent to success, and to look upon her cen- 
 sure as the most certain sign of her prospect?
 
 30 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 in life being completely desperate. She had relied 
 upon propitiating this important personage with 
 a display of that gentility she had acquired to 
 such perfection at Minerva House ; but when she 
 heard how rudely her deficiency in good manners 
 was insisted on, she felt ready to sink into the 
 earth for very shame and mortification. 
 
 But the trials of the young heiress had scarcely 
 commenced. The Duchess, still continuing her 
 rough and abrupt address, presently began to 
 catechise her as to what she had been taught, 
 and treated the information she received with 
 superlative contempt ; taking care to make this 
 known by a few sharp ejaculations, the tenour 
 of which it was impossible to doubt. 
 
 She then commenced an examination into the 
 nature and extent of such accomplishments, by 
 making the terrified girl display her proficiency 
 before her. Her Grace commanded her to dance 
 a minuet; — a command the poor girl found it 
 almost as impossible to fulfil as to evade. She 
 began the figure ; her companion humming the 
 air and beating the time with more precision 
 than harmony. Her performance of this dance 
 had received the cordial applause of the ever very 
 difficult to please Penelope Stiffandstern ; but
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 31 
 
 Mary Lepel was now before a much more formida- 
 ble judge, whose previous harsh bearing, re- 
 peated violent exclamations of disapproval, and 
 directions to alter this and the other as she 
 proceeded, so confused her, she felt powerfully 
 convinced the youngest of her school-fellows 
 would have acquitted herself better. When the 
 Duchess finished her most unmusical accompani- 
 ment, she therefore was not greatly surprised at 
 being told that she danced like a Polar bear. 
 
 The young lady was next desired to sing. If 
 she had felt disqualified for all graceful exertion 
 of her limbs, she was a thousand times more unfit 
 for any melodious exercise of her voice. Neverthe- 
 less the mandate had gone forth, and sing she 
 must. She could have cried with a vast deal more 
 ease. Her lute was in the room, she took it up 
 mechanically, and as directed, placed herself op- 
 posite her severe examiner. 
 
 Often had she won the warmest praise of 
 excellent judges, by her singing; and one song 
 particularly never failed of securing for her univer- 
 sal admiration. But now, scarcely able to breathe, 
 hardly conscious of where she was, or what she 
 was about, she despaired of producing the 
 smallest degree of commendation from her pre- 
 sent audience.
 
 32 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 However, there was no alternative : the dreaded 
 Duchess, with a visage that seemed to grow 
 darker every moment with pride and hauteur 
 was unpleasantly near her ; and with the look of 
 a martyr being consumed at the stake, and the 
 voice of one whose sense of speech is rapidly 
 disappearing, the trembling, sinking, palpitating 
 Mary Lepel, commenced the following 
 
 CANZONET. 
 
 How happy with my silly sheep 
 
 I passed the live-long day, 
 With nothing but my crook to keep 
 
 The hungry wolf away. 
 I would have learned the danger near 
 
 To view with fear and loathing, 
 Had not the wolf I'd cause to fear 
 
 Approached me in sheep's cloathing. 
 
 Oh ne'er did I my charge neglect 
 
 Since Damon first drew near, 
 And spoke in fondest phrase unchecked, 
 
 And piped so sweet and clear. 
 Ah ! sillier than the silly sheep 
 
 That wolves to slay endeavour ; 
 Although the flock from harm I keep, 
 
 The shepherd's lost for ever ! 
 
 Mary Lepel sung certainly, but it was much 
 nearer like crying than singing : a sort of indis-
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 33 
 
 tinct murmur mixed with a stifled sobbing, and 
 not altogether without tears — for she was hurt by 
 the unceremonious treatment she had received. 
 She laboured through the song with an over- 
 charged heart, wishing at every bar of the melody 
 she could find some means of bringing it to a 
 speedy end. Her auditor stared at her during 
 the performance with so contemptuous an indif- 
 ference as greatly to increase her confusion and 
 distress. At the conclusion there was a brief 
 silence, which the Duchess at last broke. 
 
 " Child/' said she, very coldly, " your voice is 
 like a bee in a bottle. " 
 
 This unpleasant examination was brought to a 
 conclusion, by the opening of the folding doors 
 of the apartment and the announcement by a 
 footman of " Brigadier General Lepel !" He im- 
 mediately made his appearance, with a profound 
 reverence, in a brown-flowered velvet coat, richly 
 trimmed, and further set off by a pair of very 
 handsome ruffles ; his cocked hat under his arm, 
 and his sword knot dangling beside his velvet 
 breeches. 
 
 He advanced, every handsome feature giving 
 indication of extreme suavity, devotion and satis- 
 faction, and bowing easily and gracefully as he 
 
 c 3
 
 34 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 approached with all the air of an old courtier, 
 and all the elegance of an old beau. 
 
 His u: .happy daughter felt a great relief on his 
 appearance. It was a welcome release from the 
 most disagreeable situation she had ever been 
 placed in. Now she thought the great Duchess 
 would unbend, and to her father and herself con- 
 verse in a pleasant familiar manner on the footing 
 of old friends ; but here again she was sadly out 
 in her reckoning. To her surprise, the General, 
 instead of taking her by the hand as she was 
 expecting, to present her to his powerful friend, 
 passed her by, without bestowing upon her the 
 slightest notice. 
 
 Her Grace of Marlborough would hardly have 
 raised herself from her seat at the entrance of an 
 emperor, therefore it is not singular she accorded 
 to the Brigadier General nothing more than a 
 slight bend as he approached. She recognised 
 him by his title, and soon commenced a conver- 
 sation of which she took upon herself the lion's 
 share, as became a lion of her pretensions ; and 
 as though the more completely to prove herself 
 worthy of that character, her portion of the dia- 
 logue was composed of a succession of magnifi- 
 cent growls at every thing and every body con-
 
 MAIDS OP HONOUR. 35 
 
 nected with the Court of England. Now and then, 
 glancing off into notices of the great Duke, her 
 husband, for the purpose of drawing comparisons, 
 by which some distinguished statesman or general 
 was made to sink into contempt. 
 
 All this time the beautiful Mary Lepel stood 
 a little apart from the two seniors, fully convinced 
 that when they had done with the important mat- 
 ters on which they were conversing, she should 
 be called into notice ; but to her extreme aston- 
 ishment on went the Duchess, demolishing kings, 
 princes, commanders, ministers of state, senators, 
 ambassadors, lawyers, poets and divines, as though 
 they were so many rotten sticks put up but to 
 be knocked to pieces by her rhetoric. 
 
 The Brigadier was the mirror of courtesy 
 all this time; although he heard many of his 
 most esteemed associates borne down by a tor- 
 rent of vituperation— men of whose notice he 
 had been in the habit of boasting as of a personal 
 honour peculiarly agreeable to his vanity — he 
 stood before their defamer, smiling and assenting 
 as graciously, as if she was prodigiously recom- 
 mending herself to his good will by her exertions 
 against his best friends. 
 
 Suddenly as if satisfied with the extent of her
 
 36 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 operations in this way, the Duchess rose from 
 her seat and walked towards the door. The 
 Brigadier placed himself at her side, and con- 
 tinued, as if in respectful attendance upon her, 
 listening and bowing apparently with immense 
 satisfaction. 
 
 His daughter felt as if she could die of vexa- 
 tion, as she observed the great Duchess on whose 
 patronage she had so strongly relied, sailing out 
 at the door, which would hardly allow her free 
 passage, so prodigious was her hoop, without 
 bestowing upon her either a word or a glance. 
 As soon as they had disappeared, she hurried to 
 her own chamber, where she gave full vent to 
 her tears, heartily wishing herself again under the 
 austere rule of Penelope StifTandstern 5 and the 
 only consolation she could find from such extra- 
 ordinary humiliation as she had just been made 
 to experience, was derived from the knowledge, 
 that there was no heroine in " Le grand Cyrus" 
 who could by any possibility have endured so 
 cruel a disappointment. 
 
 Had, however, the young heiress accompanied 
 her father and his important friend out of the 
 reception room, it is likely she might have de- 
 rived consolation from another source : for as they
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 37 
 
 were approaching the Duchess' sedan, by which 
 the bearers stood ready to receive her, and 
 the General's lacqueys to attend her exit from 
 their master's house, the Brigadier said in a 
 distinct voice : u What does your Grace think 
 of her ?" 
 
 "There is much for her to learn," replied the 
 Duchess, in a similar tone. " She is very young, 
 Brigadier, very young, and certainly very good 
 looking; in the latter respect she is a true 
 Lepel." 
 
 The Brigadier bowed his best bow, and paid 
 one of his most irresistible compliments. 
 
 " As I am now living so very near you," added 
 her Grace, condescendingly, "I may perhaps find 
 an opportunity of calling here occasionally to give 
 Madam Lepel a few hints, which may be va- 
 luable to her. With these, I have no doubt in 
 a short time she will be able to make such a 
 figure at Court as must satisfy her best friends/' 
 
 The Brigadier handed the Duchess into her 
 sedan with an appearance of gallantry, never ex- 
 ceeded in his most brilliant days. The chairmen 
 took up their burthen, the lacqueys drew back 
 the doors as wide as possible, with a most res- 
 pectful alacrity, the iron gates were thrown open
 
 ^ 
 
 38 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 with the same attention, and the great Duchess 
 of Marlborough, almost for the first time in her 
 life, left behind her at least one heart compara- 
 tively happy.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 39 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HIGH LIFE BELOW STAIRS. 
 
 From hence it arises, that they are but in a lower degree 
 what their masters themselves are ; and usually affect an 
 imitation of their manners : and you have in liveries beaux, 
 fops, and coxcombs, in as high perfection as among people 
 that keep equipages. 
 
 THE SPECTATOR. 
 
 This is an age of inventions : all sorts of won- 
 derful machines are continually being produced 
 to create all sorts of wonderful effects. There 
 seems to be no bounds to the experiments of the 
 projector. The ancient mechanic modestly said, 
 if a place could be found in which to fix his ma- 
 chinery, he would move the world ; but the 
 Archimedes of our times dispense with ifs, and 
 are ready to move Heaven and earth every day 
 of their lives to gain a respectable subsistence. 
 
 The famous mill that ground old people young,
 
 40 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 must assuredly be set down as something more 
 than a nursery fiction, if we notice the numerous 
 metamorphoses of old beaux and antique dow- 
 agers into youthful gentlemen and juvenile ladies, 
 that present themselves to our notice in the gay 
 world around us. 
 
 Some machine no less miraculous must be in 
 existence, that changes great sinners into greater 
 saints, and sprouting Whigs into full-blown 
 Tories; but despite of the seemingly endless 
 variety of marvellous inventions, we are left with- 
 out many very necessary machines, which it is 
 surprising have never been thought of. What 
 would be given for some patent apparatus to 
 transform the intractable shrew into the affec- 
 tionate helpmate ; the notoriously overreaching 
 knave into the man distinguished for a nice sense 
 of honour ; the unsuccessful author into the 
 amiable critic ; the defeated minister into a liberal 
 and considerate leader of the opposition; some 
 new convert into a tolerant observer of the 
 abandoned faith ; or some faded beauty into an 
 honest admirer of a youthful rival. 
 
 But in spite of the miracles of machinery, these 
 are results that we are afraid are beyond the reach 
 of the mechanical arts. Other changes, however,
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 41 
 
 no less marvellous, are frequently brought before 
 us, and of these the most wonderful is the trans- 
 formation by which the simple girl is changed 
 into the knowing woman. Of all the phenomena 
 to be found in this strange world, nothing is so 
 singular ; you see the modest, blushing, quiet, 
 dependant maid, suddenly change to the steady, 
 self-possessed, dignified, governing woman. The 
 reefer who climbs aloft in his storm-tossed bark, 
 must wait almost an honest man's life-time and 
 suffer many a sea-change, before he can attain 
 an admiral's rank and influence; but a girl start- 
 ing at the same age into the perils and troubles 
 of her career, glides at once and imperceptibly 
 into a woman's highest responsibilities. 
 
 It seemed thus with our heroine. The daugh- 
 ter of the Brigadier took up her important posi- 
 tion as directress of the household at Petersham 
 Manor, apparently as completely at home in all 
 its duties, as though she had been its mistress 
 some twenty years. The domestics, from Rack- 
 straw, the white-headed butler, to the young 
 woolly-pated negro page, Pompey, seemed never 
 to tire of expressing their astonishment and ad- 
 miration at her extraordinary familiarity with the 
 most minute matters connected with household
 
 42 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 economy. The directions she gave them exhibited 
 a knowledge of below-stairs' duties, that made 
 one and all satisfied that they had got a sovereign, 
 who knew what she was about and what they 
 were about too. They soon saw that peculation 
 was dangerous, and waste not to be allowed, and 
 became unusually attentive in their worship of 
 the domestic deities, cleanliness, order, and so- 
 briety. Even the despot of the kitchen, Mrs. 
 Molly, neglected usquebaugh and a too frequent 
 abuse of the powers of speech, when listening to 
 the commands of the fair young girl who was 
 now, in domestic affairs, the acknowledged head 
 of the family. 
 
 But the opinions of the lower house may best 
 be gathered from the whole body corporate in 
 full conclave assembled, one summer's evening 
 in a long narrow chamber, called the servants' 
 hall where they were wont after supper, to discuss 
 the merits and demerits of their betters, with 
 whatever eatables and drinkables belonging to 
 them, they could get access to. A large brass 
 lamp swung by an iron chain from the ceiling, 
 over a long deal table, threw a lurid light upon 
 the heads of the group below, who differed as 
 much in their positions as in their dispositions.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 46 
 
 At the head of the table was always conspi- 
 cuous the white head, displaying its peculiar 
 cauliflower luxuriance, and almost endless curls, 
 of the sedate and sententious Rackstraw, the 
 highly respectable butler of the Brigadier. He 
 was a smooth-faced, clear-complexioned man with 
 a few well marked wrinkles on the forehead and 
 about the mouth. Whether these marked the 
 play of the muscles in thinking, laughing, or 
 eating we have not been able to ascertain. We 
 know only that he thought a little, he laughed 
 much, and he ate more. 
 
 His reflections were, of course, such as became 
 a person of his importance in the family ; but it 
 is at least doubtful they were of such weight as 
 would leave a sensible impression on himself, or 
 any body else. Consequently they scarcely serve 
 to account for the wrinkles. 
 
 Rackstraw may very possibly have laughed his 
 face into a complete map of lines ; for be it known, 
 before his betters he ever wore that becoming 
 gravity that the proverb allows to judges, and to 
 judges only. He knew his place better even than 
 to smile, notwithstanding he had been frequently 
 present when amongst his master's guests, jokes 
 flew about that might have raised a cachinnation
 
 44 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 from the driest mummy in Surgeon's Hall. And 
 this rigidity of muscle was with no slight diffi- 
 culty broken through, when he sought to be 
 jocular amongst his fellow servants at Petersham 
 Manor ; the force then employed no doubt caused 
 some marks, like that of the tide on the sands, 
 from the frequency and liberality with which he 
 then and there expended his jocularity. 
 
 At the moment we are drawing his portrait, 
 the butler sat back in his capacious arm-chair 
 away from the table, his portly figure well dis- 
 played, notwithstanding, so much of it was con- 
 cealed under the flaps of the ample waistcoat, 
 that almost covered his entire body. But though 
 evidently a little inclined to run to stomach, his 
 stretched out legs crossed at the instep, the feet 
 cased in silver-buckled shoes, shewed that he 
 possessed well knit limbs, and a frame that had 
 lost little of its original strength and symmetry. 
 
 Rackstraw's whole attention appeared absorbed 
 in smoking a long clay pipe, from which a cloud 
 of vapour hovered around his head, till it drew 
 off through an open window a little way behind 
 him, that looked out into the stable yard ; but 
 though the Virginian weed doubtless obtained his 
 best consideration, it did not prevent his listening
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 45 
 
 to a singularly bull-necked, bullet-headed, broad- 
 backed old fellow, with a rubicund spongy nose, 
 adorned at the base with a most picturesque- 
 looking mole, that heightened the effect of his 
 broad blooming countenance exceedingly. 
 
 He too wore a coat, with tremendous cuffs, of 
 the Lepel livery, and saucepan lid like buttons 
 bearing the Lepel crest, and smoked a long pipe ; 
 but he was distinguished from his fellow servant 
 by wearing a huge powdered periwig with stiff 
 curls all round, that as it happened to be worn 
 very much on one side for the greater convenience 
 of occasionally scratching the bald pate under- 
 neath, added greatly to the singularity of his ap- 
 pearance. This was John, the Brigadier's coach- 
 man. 
 
 Not far from this pair of important officials, ap- 
 peared an immense face of a red hot hue, resemb- 
 ling in its intensity of colour the brick floor of the 
 chamber. To speculate from its odd cap negli- 
 gently put on, it was that of a woman ; a guess 
 which a glance at the owner's vast extent of neck, 
 and abundance of feminine drapery clearly estab- 
 lished. But what woman before or since ever pos- 
 sessed such a face, as presented itself above the 
 broadbacked chair in which she reposed herself
 
 46 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 after the fatigues of the day ? It may be said, with 
 perfect truth, that she reposed herself, for she 
 was enjoying the indulgence of that sort of dog 
 sleep, which persons of her habits are wont to 
 fall into, often with more convenience to them- 
 selves than to others. 
 
 In her present position, Mrs. Molly would have 
 formed an admirable subject for a Dutch painter. 
 Her eyes were closed and her mouth open — the 
 latter disclosing a thoroughfare of rather awful 
 dimensions. Her head having no support kept 
 falling back, till its weight became disagreeable, 
 when it was thrown up with a spasmodic jerk, 
 that acted also upon the extended jaws, bringing 
 them together with a snap that would make the 
 sleeper open her drowsy eyes, stare bewilder- 
 edly for a moment, and then close them till 
 a jerk more violent than the last again roused 
 her. 
 
 Mrs. Molly reclined with folded arms, that 
 looked like the folds of some huge reptile coiled 
 around her ample person, of the same hue as her 
 face, and shining like one of her own stew pans, 
 to which her skin bore a marked resemblance at 
 all times. Her attitude shewed her independent 
 spirit ; and either this was so well known, or her
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 47 
 
 sleep was so customary a matter, that no one 
 present attempted to disturb her or even to risk 
 a comment on her position. 
 
 But the cook at Petersham Manor was a per- 
 sonage not to be disturbed with impunity ; she 
 was a despot in her domain, such as even the 
 powerful Rackstraw did not choose to offend, 
 and the minor domestics dared as soon beard a 
 lion as attempt. So Mrs. Molly, when she had 
 made herself comfortable with a social glass with 
 her fellow servants, after the termination of the 
 day's work, was invariably allowed to indulge 
 in a nap, broken only by those powerful jerks 
 of the muscles of her neck, aforesaid. 
 
 Opposite to her were the two young house- 
 maids, Mrs. Lucy and Mrs. Kitty, with gay, 
 good-humoured faces, and neat cotton gowns ; 
 each wearing an aspect of much mystery, mingled 
 with a little apprehension, for they were quietly 
 engaged in telling their own fortunes, by means 
 of a pack of cards spread out on the table before 
 them. 
 
 Lower down the table, at the further end, sat 
 Pompey on a tall stool, playing at draughts with 
 a lean, long-visaged, spindle-shanked man, with 
 a mop of what looked like burnt tow on his
 
 48 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 head ; — but which out of doubt was his natural 
 hair. He had on a green-sleeved waistcoat, with 
 a green baize apron, nearly hiding a pair of bright, 
 new, leather breeches, tied at the knee with nume- 
 rous strings, which with speckled stockings and 
 buckled shoes, completed his costume. He was 
 Sandie, the Brigadier's gardener. It was no diffi- 
 cult matter to guess who was winning ; for the 
 little negro was grinning at a rate that made every 
 one of his white teeth visible, whilst the high- 
 dried physiognomy of the Scottish gardener, bore 
 an expression both troubled and puzzled. 
 
 On the table were various mugs and jugs, a 
 candle burning in a brass candlestick, and a small 
 jar containing tobacco for the use of the smokers ; 
 and on the walls of the room were two or three 
 unglazed, rudely coloured prints of the battles 
 of the Duke of Marlborough, scarcely to be 
 made out from the united effects of smoke and 
 dirt. 
 
 There was a conversation going on between 
 Rackstraw and John Coachman: the subject of 
 which was — their new mistress. John had begun 
 to wax very emphatic in his praises. He thought 
 himself entitled to know something about young 
 Madams of quality, having been in the service
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 49 
 
 of many of the highest families from the time he 
 was a stable-boy, up to that glorious period of 
 his existence when he ascended the coach-box 
 of the carriage of the Hero of Blenheim : — an 
 epoch in his life which he regarded with such 
 interest, that he always took great care to have 
 about him some memorials of the event ; of which 
 the coloured prints on the walls, and the brass 
 head of the Duke in the form of a tobacco-stopper 
 he carried in his pocket, were the principal. 
 
 If John Coachman had a fault, it was an incli- 
 nation to be confidential over his pipe ; — not that a 
 confidence that begins in smoke, in which of 
 course it has a natural tendency to end, is par- 
 ticularly dangerous under ordinary circumstances; 
 but John's confidences were not always discreet. 
 He possessed the ordinary failing of ordinary 
 servants — a taste for slandering their betters. 
 In some cases this proceeds from mere vulgar 
 malevolence ; but the Brigadier's coachman, when- 
 ever he did anything not particularly creditable 
 to his numerous masters and mistresses, did so 
 from habit, rather than from malice. We don't 
 know whether, like the lower House of Parlia 
 ment in times gone by, before proceeding to 
 business, he craved liberty of speech on his enter- 
 
 vol. i. P
 
 50 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 ing service, we only know he used it, and that some- 
 times with a freedom which would not have been 
 quite agreeable to some of the persons spoken of. 
 
 Nothing of the kind could ever be attributed 
 to his fellow-smoker, or he never would have 
 obtained his confidential position in the establish- 
 ment of so particular a master as Brigadier- Ge- 
 neral Lepel. The sagacious Rackstraw made no 
 confidants. He followed, as far as was possible, 
 an admirable maxim, which in golden letters 
 ought to be fixed in some conspicuous place 
 in all domestic establishments : " Hear, see, and 
 say nothing." In the course of his career he had 
 heard a good deal, he had seen a good deal, and 
 concerning what he had heard and seen, he had 
 exercised a most praiseworthy discretion. 
 
 Nevertheless, however averse to making confi- 
 dants, he was far from being opposed to receiving 
 confidential communications from others. In- 
 deed it appeared as though he experienced con- 
 siderable gratification in obtaining from his less 
 guarded associates, every little matter of secret 
 intelligence it was in their power to supply. In 
 his social relaxations with a communicative friend 
 in livery, he sat very much at his ease, smoking 
 and drinking, listening attentively, laughing when
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 51 
 
 required, and sometimes putting in an exclama- 
 tion of surprise or encouragement ; but when his 
 friend had come to the end of his revelations, 
 and expected as a matter of justice, his attentive 
 listener would be equally communicative, he 
 found him as dry as a tinder-box. 
 
 "Ah 1" said John Coachman, pathetically, as 
 he knocked the ashes out of his exhausted pipe, 
 to replenish the bowl, " it's much to be hoped 
 our master's daughter aint a-going to Court.' 5 
 
 "Why not, John?" inquired the Butler. 
 
 " Why not \" repeated the other, sharply. 
 " Because it's a shame and a disgrace for a young 
 innocent creature like such as our sweet young 
 Madam Lepel to be seen at such a place. I 
 remember the time, when good Queen Anne was 
 alive, when quality-folks showed a proper respect 
 for their own reputations, and were sure of hav- 
 ing good servants to wait on them ; but now there 
 aint one in ten of tip-top masters and missises, as 
 any honest servant as knows the value of his 
 character, would demean himself by looking 
 after." 
 
 " Bless me ! I did not think things were so 
 changed," exclaimed Rackstraw. 
 
 " Lord love you, Mister Butler, no change 
 
 d 2 

 
 52 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 could have been for the worser. When I was se- 
 cond coachman of the great Duke's, both at Marl- 
 borough House and at Blenheim, I had opportu- 
 nities of seeing what was going on in the great 
 world, such as fall to the lot of few, even in my 
 honourable and useful situation. Places ivas 
 places then. And though the Duke was uncom- 
 mon particular, and the Duchess an uncommon 
 deal more so, there was at least the comfort of 
 knowing we lived in decent society. But Queen 
 Anne dies, and the Elector of Hanover comes over 
 from foreign parts to take the reins. The Duke 
 and the new government didn't hit their osses 
 well together at all ; and as they seemed despe- 
 rately inclined to drive over him, I took it into 
 my head to look out for another service." 
 
 The butler puffed away with a placid coun- 
 tenance, and evidently gave his whole attention 
 to his friend's narrative. 
 
 "They did say the great Duke contrived to be 
 in high favour with the Pretender, and secretly 
 opposed our having a King from Hanover ; this 
 is as like as not, and after what I saw with my 
 own eyes, though I can't abide wooden shoes 
 and popery, any more than I can the devil, or 
 a glandered horse, I should say, it wasn't at all 
 surprising."
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 53 
 
 "What did you see, John ?'' quietly inquired 
 Rackstraw, as he filled his companion's mug 
 with ale. 
 
 " I saw the Hanoverian King almost as soon 
 as he came over, Mister Butler,' 5 replied the 
 other ; and then replacing his wig, which had 
 almost fallen off, added in a lower tone, " I don't 
 like to say anything likely to be twisted into 
 treason— and these are ticklish times when an 
 honest coachman aint no safer than a lord — but 
 had his Hanoverian Majesty come to me to be 
 my deputy in driving the Brigadier's carriage, on 
 the first look at him, I should have said he was 
 hardly fit to be trusted with the washing of the 
 wheels." 
 
 The butler was too prudent to make any com- 
 ment on such a dangerous subject as their un- 
 popular sovereign ; but as his associate took a 
 draught, his silence passed unobserved. 
 
 "But looks mustn't always be trusted," said 
 John, as though he thought he had said too 
 much. " " I dare say an honest cheerful face ain't 
 so necessary to a king as it is to a coachman ; so 
 1 don't pretend to blame King George on account 
 of his want of handsomeness. His appearance 
 might do very well for a throne, however ill it
 
 54 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 would become a coach-box ; and I don't doubt at 
 all that a good shilling would go for twelve-pence, 
 though the King's head on it was as ugly as 
 sin." 
 
 « Undoubtedly, John." 
 
 " Well, let the King look like a cobbler, there's 
 no act of Parliament to shut him out of his rights ; 
 so I shouldn't be led away by that. I've heard of 
 people though who carry about them little pic- 
 tures of the Pretender, and when any one remarks 
 on the King's features or person, they shew 
 how prodigious good looking is the Chevalier, 
 as they calls him, and make comparisons, which 
 King George would not be altogether pleased 
 with." 
 
 "Very indiscreet, John." 
 
 " But, Mister Butler, what aggravates this, is 
 the queer cattle as the Elector of Hanover thought 
 proper to bring over with him. There wasn't one 
 of them that looked respectable enough to be 
 harnessed with a costermonger's donkey." 
 
 " Bless my heart, John, you don't say so !" 
 
 " Every word I'm saying is as true as that 
 osses eat oats. Now I don't pretend to be much 
 of a politician, or care to meddle with what don't 
 belong to my place ; but I can't help thinking that
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 55 
 
 if Hanover is the fine country it was cried up to 
 be, in the good old times ; as far as Englishmen 
 have been allowed to judge, men and women 
 must be amongst the worst of its productions." 
 
 u But what have you seen of the men and 
 women ?" 
 
 " Seen ! — Pve seen enough to make my hair 
 stand on end," exclaimed John, quite forgetting 
 the very evident fact, that his bald head was pro- 
 tected by an artificial covering. " First of all 
 there was the women. I'm not very squeamish 
 myself; have known of some queer goings on in 
 families ; and remember even as far back as the 
 gay doings of our merry monarch, Charles II., 
 who played old Harry amongst the women. But 
 then as I have heard from them as was eye wit- 
 nesses, King Charles had some sort of excuse for 
 being fond of them, for there wasn't one of the 
 whole team, but what was the prettiest piece of 
 flesh that eye ever looked upon ; perfect in all her 
 paces, young, full of blood, and in first rate con- 
 dition. But the /rows, as they call them, who 
 stabled themselves in King George's palace, 
 after he got the crown, were of all the animals I 
 ever beheld, the most worthless, ugly, ill-shaped,
 
 56 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 worn-out, ill-conditioned screws, that ever were 
 sent to the knackers." 
 
 The cautious butler was too busy re-filling his 
 pipe, to make any remark on this extraordinary 
 description of the royal favourites ; and the only 
 audible sounds that followed the termination of 
 the sentence, were two or three words from one 
 of the housemaids, respecting the juxta-position 
 of " a dark man and a fair woman'' — a chuckle of 
 delight from the grinning Pompey — and a sound 
 partaking of the two-fold character of a grunt and 
 a snore, from the sleeping Mrs. Molly. 
 
 " I can't say much more for the men/' resumed 
 the coachman, " though of the two, they looked 
 certainly the most wholesome. There was Count 
 this, and Baron t'other ; and some said, notwith- 
 standing their titles, they were the most un-a- 
 count-able beings ever seen in England. But the 
 King's prime favourites of the male sex were two 
 heathen Turks, he had taken prisoner in the 
 Imperial wars, who were said to be hand and 
 glove with their master, and could drive and turn 
 him in any direction. All these outlandish crea- 
 tures combined ^to get for themselves whatever 
 came in their way ; and I have been told they
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 57 
 
 filched from the corn-bin of the state to an extent 
 that left the cattle that did the work, scarcely a 
 good feed a-day. The women, however, ugly as 
 they were, took care to have the best stalls, and 
 lived at rack and manger at the expense of their 
 owner, in a way no fortune could stand. The 
 King could not render them respectable or decent 
 in their appearance ; it was out of his power to 
 make them in the least less intolerably old or 
 less outrageously ugly ; but he seemed to think 
 he could never do enough for them. He gave 
 them buckets full of guineas, and allowed them 
 to take whatever they asked for, or didn't ask 
 for. The consequence was, if they heard of any 
 thing worth having, they would try to get it by 
 hook or by crook ; and if an Archbishop died, or 
 a Lord Chancellor resigned, these unchristian 
 looking old faggots would rush to their prodigal 
 patron, and worry him to bestow the vacant posts 
 upon them. No matter how unfit they were to 
 draw in such harness, they knew what a warm 
 stable and what capital feeds these Archbishops 
 and Lord Chancellors had, and that was all they 
 cared about. 
 
 u Now it so chanced, Mister Rackstraw, that 
 after leaving the great Duke I took service with 
 
 d 3
 
 58 MAIDS OP HONOUR. 
 
 one of the King's German ladies : of course with- 
 out knowing who or what she was. I'll never 
 take a Missis without a character again, as long 
 as I drives osses l" exclaimed he with fervour. 
 "Servants can't be too particular, and if the 
 Master or Missis can't give at least a twelve- 
 month's good character with themselves, you may 
 be sure that ain't a proper place for a respectable 
 upper servant." 
 
 " Of course, John," replied the butler, evidently 
 regarding the observation with all the respect of 
 an axiom. 
 
 " I was led away like a colt in a paddock after 
 a whisp of hay, by the prospect of pushing my 
 fortune at Court ; and when I found the halter had 
 been slipped over my head, and I was fairly in 
 for service, I soon discovered the prospect was 
 all a catch. There seemed to be nothing going 
 on but bribery and corruption : the lady had no 
 more conscience than beauty, and seemed to care 
 for nothing but plundering and cheating. Indeed 
 her conduct would have disgraced the commonest 
 baggage that lived upon the streets. I found my- 
 self driven out of my pace, and began to kick, till 
 things getting worse, I one day got the bit in my 
 mouth and bolted right away. I saw, however,
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 59 
 
 enough of the doings at Court with her and the 
 rest of the ladies from Hanover to make me 
 thank my stars I had been born a coachman 
 instead of a courtier. Bless your heart, it's not a 
 place for our young Madam at all. Every horse 
 to his crib say I ; but beauty and good nature are 
 as much out of place there, as I should be at 
 young Madam's toilet." 
 
 " You at young Madam's toilet !" exclaimed 
 Mrs. Kitty, who had been drawn from the attrac- 
 tions of fortune telling, by some observations that 
 had met her ear respecting the behaviour of the 
 Court ladies. " Vastly well, indeed ! I should 
 think one of the coach-horses would be quite as 
 useful there." 
 
 ^And a monstrous deal more ornamental," 
 added Mrs. Lucy. 
 
 This caused both John Coachman and the 
 butler to laugh so heartily, that Mrs. Molly, who 
 had been jerked out of a dream, in which she 
 fancied she had been fruitlessly engaged in play- 
 ing at the rustic game of bob-apple, which every 
 time she made a bite at, most tantalisingly 
 bobbed away from her — a delusion caused by the 
 continual jerking of her head we have already 
 alluded to — jumped up on her seat, looking be-
 
 60 MAIDS OF HONOUR, 
 
 wildered and very much astonished at the laugh- 
 ing faces that met her gaze. 
 
 " Why bless my heart, John Coachman ! La, 
 Mister Rackstraw," she cried at last turning from 
 one to the other. " I've been dreaming surely !" 
 
 " Both surely and securely, Mrs. Molly," re- 
 plied the butler; and then there was another 
 laugh, which the fiery head of the kitchen was in 
 doubt whether to be angry or amused with. How- 
 ever, before she could make up her mind, the 
 door opened, and a new actor entered upon the 
 scene who completely took off her attention. 
 
 He was a young man of a genteel figure and 
 handsome, but effeminate features, his hair care- 
 fully powdered and dressed in the reigning mode, 
 and his person as carefully clothed in the Lepel 
 livery ; for in spite of his affected elegance of 
 manner and his genteel appearance, he was no 
 more important a personage than James, the 
 Brigadier's new footman. 
 
 Nevertheless, though his station was humble, 
 James had managed in the few days he had passed 
 at Petersham Manor, to create a very decided im- 
 pression of his consequence upon the majority of 
 his fellow servants. Even Mrs. Molly was mol- 
 lified whenever, with his careless vet not un-
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 61 
 
 graceful behaviour, he presented himself before 
 her. 
 
 His manners had something in them superior 
 to all footmen of her acquaintance, which boasted 
 of a list of no mean length ; and although there 
 could be little doubt this was merely given at 
 second hand from some polished original, in whose 
 service he had been, it went a great way in his 
 favour in the kitchen, and in the servants hall 
 worked wonders. 
 
 John Coachman, though he never could tell 
 why, always looked up to him with an air of 
 respect, and Pompey never met his glance, but 
 he grinned his approbation, as he gazed in min- 
 gled wonder and gratification. The gardener was 
 heard to mutter something very much resembling 
 the word " Puppy/' when James was once shew- 
 ing off his gentility a little stronger than usual ; 
 and there was every reason to believe he held 
 him in mortal aversion. The butler, like a pru- 
 dent man as he was, whatever opinion he had of 
 the new comer kept to himself, but behaved to 
 him with his usual cordiality. 
 
 As to the girls, Mrs. Kitty and Mrs. Lucy, they 
 were completely fascinated and captivated, and 
 each rivalled the other as far as she dared in the
 
 62 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 presence of the dreaded Mrs. Molly, in shewing 
 their new fellow-servant the most encouraging 
 attentions. They made way for him to sit 
 between them, as he lounged lazily towards the 
 table humming an air, and taking a pinch of snuff 
 from a large round box, with a figure of Cupid 
 on the lid. Then as if to shew the polish of his 
 manners, he with the air of a sovereign to a Du- 
 chess, presented the open box to Mrs. Molly, who 
 with a profusion of the properest phrases she 
 could think of, though in quite as great a fluster 
 as if the compliment had been paid her by a 
 nobleman, inserted her fat red fingers into the 
 pungent powder and applied it liberally to her 
 capacious nostrils. 
 
 Whilst she was shewing by a series of sternu- 
 tations loud enough to be heard throughout the 
 house, the efficacy of the snuff, the polite and 
 agreeable new comer was handing the box to the 
 butler and the coachman, who pipe in hand, rose 
 from their chairs to acknowledge the civility in 
 a way becoming their superior positions; then 
 placing it on the table between the smiling and 
 blushing girls, without deigning to bestow a look 
 on the draught players, he took the seat that had 
 been offered to him.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 63 
 
 "Stab my vitals, child !" he exclaimed, ad- 
 dressing Mrs. Kitty, and drawing a perfumed 
 handkerchief over the lower part of his face, 
 " you seem, to-night, positively to have lost your 
 agreeable spirits. May I be allowed to inquire 
 what has been the subject of your conversation, 
 to have had so terrible and disastrous an effect 
 on you, and all this good company/ 5 
 
 " La, bless your heart, Mr. James/' cried John 
 Coachman, who was never known to be backward 
 when a spokesman was required, " we were 
 merely speaking of our young Madam ; and I had 
 just said I considered it a burning shame so pretty 
 and admirable a creature should go to Court to 
 have any thing to do with them German things 
 as are the leaders of the team there.' 5 
 
 " Well, I've heard of those Hanoverian hus- 
 sies,' 5 exclaimed Mrs. Molly, a flash of indigna- 
 tion breaking over her already too illuminated 
 countenance. " I'm ashamed of King George S 
 Couldn't he find plenty of Englishwomen, that 
 he should disgrace himself with a pack of greedy 
 foreigners ?" 
 
 " Perhaps, Mrs. Molly, he couldn't find any 
 women in this country sufficiently plain to please 
 him," remarked the new comer in his drawlinsr
 
 64 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 tone, as he handed the snuff box from Mrs. Lucy 
 to Mrs. Kitty. 
 
 u Perhaps, 5 ' added John, after a powerful 
 sneeze, " he could find none bad enough." 
 
 " I have seen the persons to whom our es- 
 teemed friend, John Coachman alludes," replied 
 the footman. " Both the Schulenberg and the 
 Kielmansegge ; and am ready to aver, pon my 
 life ! that a cross between a pug-dog and a toad- 
 fish, could never be half so abominably and atro- 
 ciously hideous as either of them " 
 
 There was a general laugh at this extravagant 
 simile, in which Mrs. Molly might be heard above 
 every one. 
 
 " But pon my life r" drawled out their fellow 
 servant, (i I take the very fact of the Court being 
 disgraced by such insufferable monsters, as an 
 unanswerable argument for the presence of some 
 of our most irresistible beauties. In sober truth, 
 I shall be obliged to give up going to Court, if 
 something is not done shortly to make the place 
 more agreeable. Positively the present state of 
 things is quite shocking." Here he helped him- 
 self to a pinch of snuff. "Quite insufferable to 
 any man of sensibility or refinement — stab my 
 vitals !"
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 65 
 
 The women looked sympathizing, the men in 
 various degrees of indignation, save Pompey, who 
 expressed his sense of enjoyment by sundry gut- 
 tural sounds that usually did duty for a laugh. 
 The gardener, however, appeared more indignant 
 at the speaker than with his subject; and the 
 butler seemed as though he thought too evident a 
 display on his part of sympathy with the speaker 
 might not be prudent. 
 
 " But to associate with such horrid bad cha- 
 racters as are these German baggages/' observed 
 the Coachman, again taking the pipe from his 
 mouth, " I am loath our young Madam should 
 come to such a degradation. It is like putting 
 a young, valuable, thorough bred, to draw in 
 harness with some broken down, stone blind old 
 dray oss, hardly good enough to put in the shafts 
 of a sand cart/' 
 
 ei Pon my life, so it is, my worthy charioteer," 
 replied the genteel footman. " You've expressed 
 my sentiments in a manner I could never have 
 attempted, positively. But what are you drinking, 
 child }'' he added, taking up the mug placed 
 before Mrs. Kitty, and putting it to his lips — 
 " Disgusting beer, by all that's vulgar !" he ex-
 
 66 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 claimed, with every symptom of abhorrence, as 
 he put down the liquid. 
 
 " If you don't happen to like beer, Mr. James/ 5 
 here cried Mrs. Molly, in a peculiarly winning 
 accent, u I have a bottle of strong waters, that 
 I have been recommended to take when I've got 
 the vapours, which is quite at your service." 
 
 " Wholesome malt liquor's a deal too good for 
 such a coxcomb," muttered the gardener in an 
 inaudible tone. 
 
 " It's a capital brew this, Mister James," ob- 
 served John Coachman, encouragingly. 
 
 " Very capital, indeed," added Rackstraw. 
 " Indeed we rather pride ourselves upon it." 
 
 " But if he don't happen to like drinking beer," 
 sharply observed Mrs. Molly, bringing forward a 
 well filled black bottle, " he may leave it alone, I 
 suppose ? This is Liberty Hall here. We forces 
 no one to swallow what they doesn't like. Here 
 are the strong waters I spoke of, Mr. James," 
 added she, turning with a smile meant to be very 
 gracious to her new fellow-servant. " You're vastly 
 welcome to 'em, I assure you. With a little hot 
 water and sugar, there's lots of things in this 
 world a precious deal less pleasant to taste. Help
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 67 
 
 yourself, Mister James, and make yourself com- 
 fortable." 
 
 James made many gracious acknowledg- 
 ments, and did help himself; after he had mixed 
 the steaming beverage in a vessel brought him 
 for that purpose, he very civilly handed it to his 
 female fellow-servants. u Mrs. Molly, I kiss your 
 fair hand. Ladies, I drink to our better acquaint- 
 ance. Gentlemen, my service to you :" he cried 
 with all the ceremonious politeness of a finished 
 courtier at a royal banquet. He drank a fair 
 portion of it at once, making a decided wry face 
 at the flavour, but it did not deter him from 
 having recourse to it again. 
 
 " But I was about to say," added the new 
 comer, addressing the two seniors, "that the 
 very existence of these German monstrosities at 
 Court made it imperative that the divinest crea- 
 tures in England ought to be seen there. Indeed, 
 I am in a condition to state, from very high 
 authority, that it is intended the most beautiful 
 of our young countrywomen shall be placed there 
 as quickly as possible. Indeed, I have heard 
 that his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales" — 
 
 " Sad doings there too/' suddenly observed John 
 Coachman, who never missed an opportunity of
 
 63 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 making his voice heard. ft A friend of mine who 
 looks after the royal carriages, says that the 
 manner in which the father and the son conducts 
 themselves towards each other is quite scandal- 
 ous in a Christian country. The King regards 
 the Prince with the bitterest feelings of animosity, 
 and the Prince looks on his father with about as 
 much affection, as I should on a horse as had 
 kicked my front teeth down my throat." 
 
 " Gad a mercy, friend, you seem well informed 
 on these points !" exclaimed the genteel footman, 
 with a half-concealed yawn. " But concerning 
 the Prince, all I have to say is that his Royal 
 Highness has in contemplation to establish a 
 Court of his own, to be as much distinguished for 
 the extreme loveliness of the ladies, who shall 
 compose it, as that of his royal father has been 
 for their abominable and horrible ugliness." 
 
 "A very proper proceeding, Mister James," 
 said Mrs. Molly, approvingly. 
 
 u Bless your heart i" cried John Coachman, fer- 
 vently, " why, if the young J un chooses to set 
 up a team of his own, and picks 'em out well 
 matched, and well broke to run in harness, he'll 
 distance the old coach in no time." 
 
 " Have you heard of any lady in particular
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 69 
 
 likely to be appointed in the Prince's establish- 
 ment ?" inquired the butler with evident interest 
 for more intelligence. 
 
 " Undoubtedly, most esteemed and honoured 
 butler/' replied the other affectedly. " My friend 
 the Prince, that is to say/' hastily correcting him- 
 self, " the Prince's"— 
 
 " Shoe-black !" added the gardener in a caustic 
 tone. 
 
 " Thank you, friend," replied the genteel foot- 
 man, graciously; then continued with an unem- 
 barrassed air, " my friend the Prince's shoe- 
 black informed me, it was decided that the Prin- 
 cess, his Royal Highness 's inestimable consort, 
 was to appoint four of the most angelic, the-a- 
 most ravishing, divine, beautiful young ladies of 
 quality, that could be found in England as her 
 personal attendants ; and that her Royal High- 
 ness had already named — " 
 
 All the company was listening with more than 
 ordinary attention to the account that was 
 being rendered to them, of this interesting and 
 important arrangement ; but of course they were 
 anxious to catch the names of the fair crea- 
 tures who had been selected to put to shame the 
 Hanoverian frights. Greatly to their vexation,
 
 70 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 however, just as the speaker came to mention the 
 honoured individuals, a sudden and violent peal 
 at the door bell made them start from their 
 chairs, and hurried them away to see who was 
 the untimely visitor.
 
 AIDS OF HONJUR. 71 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 OUR heroine's first adventure. 
 
 But Bellenden I needs must name, 
 
 Who, as down stairs she jumps, 
 Sings "O'er the hills and far away," 
 
 Despising doleful dumps. 
 
 LORD CHESTERFIELD. 
 
 " Ma foi, now I look at you, child, you've 
 grown vastly handsome !" exclaimed in a lively 
 manner, in some slight degree tinged with affec- 
 tation, a young and extremely beautiful woman 
 dressed completely a-la-mode, as she gazed with 
 evident gratification on the Brigadier's daughter. 
 u When I left you in the careful guardianship of 
 the peerless Penelope Stiffandstern to finish my 
 education in France, you were a mere girl, — not 
 without good looks certainly, ma chere, but in 
 nothing varying from all the other good-looking
 
 72 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 girls, whose sober yet rosy physiognomies were 
 wont to be seen in a row, rising above their white 
 pinafores on the benches of Minerva House, like 
 so many beau-pots in a gardener's window." 
 
 This complimentary speech was from a much 
 loved school-fellow, Mary Bellenden, with whom 
 Mary Lepel had so oft sworn an eternal friend- 
 ship ; with whom she had so oft shared her stolen 
 readings of forbidden romances ; and with whom 
 she had so oft been in the habit of depositing her 
 most sacred confidences and all her romantic con- 
 ceptions. The two Marys, in short, were the 
 female Damon and Pythias of the school, and 
 when they were forced to separate, they entered 
 into the most solemn engagements when both 
 had finished their studies, to be as much together 
 as possible. 
 
 Two years had elapsed, since Mary Bellenden 
 had left her young friends at Minerva House ; and 
 these two years she had passed in the Convent of 
 St. Omer, then a fashionable finishing school for 
 the young ladies of this country. What she had 
 acquired there, and what she had learned in a 
 subsequent visit to Paris had very much enlarged 
 her ideas, not only as regards morals, but as 
 affects a subject no less important to a young and
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. JS 
 
 pretty woman — dress. Mary Bellenden, on the 
 strength of her dressing in the last Parisian mode, 
 and on her familiarity with certain phrases and 
 actions she had heard and seen in constant em- 
 ployment amongst her French friends, together 
 with a happy audacity and never failing good 
 temper, appeared inclined to play a particularly 
 leading part on her return to her friends in 
 England. 
 
 She was of a noble family, being the daughter 
 of Lord Bellenden ; of a medium height, possessed 
 an expressive oval face, with features delicately 
 distinct, very brilliant eyes, dark hair, and a fine 
 symmetrical figure. 
 
 It was the late arrival of the schoolfellow of 
 their master's daughter that had so much dis- 
 turbed the Brigadier's domestics ; and now after 
 having enjoyed as much rest as could be obtained, 
 as soon as their extraordinary conversational powers 
 had become a little subdued, the two schoolfellows 
 were sitting together in Mary LepePs delightful 
 little sitting room, recounting to each other their 
 individual history with all the adventures, im- 
 pressions, doubts, fears, and pleasures they had 
 experienced, since they had parted at the well 
 known mansion in Newington Butts. 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 / 1 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 This honoured chamber deserves some des- 
 cription. The window looked out on a beautiful 
 prospect to a considerable distance ; a honeysuckle 
 was trailed round it, and the sill contained as 
 many flowers as could be placed there ; a goldfinch 
 in a cage hung on one side, and a tame squirrel 
 on the other. The room was handsomely furnished 
 with all requisites for a lady's ease, and possessed 
 several pretty ornaments, that gave a still more 
 feminine aspect to the refinement the ordinary 
 decorations expressed. These ornaments chiefly 
 consisted of China figures of shepherds and shep- 
 herdesses, pretty nick-nacks in carved ivory and 
 Tunb ridge ware — birthday presents from esteemed 
 friends and relatives — a few shells and minerals, 
 and a small collection of favourite volumes, 
 chiefly romances, plays, and poetry. 
 
 This room had been styled by the domestics, 
 " young Madam's study," to distinguish it from 
 the neat and comfortable bed- room adjoining, 
 which was " young Madam's chamber :" for here 
 she had been wont to retire, to read, to work, or 
 play on the harpsichord or lute — both of which 
 instruments were there — when she could escape 
 from her domestic duties, or when the Brigadier 
 was absent from Petersham Manor. Here she took 
 refuge and forgot all her troubles, her responsi-
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. J5 
 
 bilities and apprehensions, over a new volume 
 from France, or a new sonata from Italy. 
 
 But the chief delight of Mary Lepel was to 
 retire to a place so sacred from intrusion, with a 
 young friend of her own sex, particularly one 
 who had been her associate at Minerva House, 
 there to indulge in reminiscences of their school 
 career, and above all there to repose a mutual con- 
 fidence ; and after listening to a detailed account 
 of her friend's adventures, thoughts, and feelings 
 with reference to one all absorbing subject to the 
 female heart, to express her own. 
 
 The little heart of the Brigadier's daughter was 
 a complete store-house of romance ; but the most 
 romantic of her ideas was her complete identifi- 
 cation of herself with her favourite heroines, 
 whom she longed to imitate in the strangeness 
 and mystery of their adventures. Anything that 
 happened in the slightest degree out of the way, 
 she regarded as being enveloped in mystery, and 
 whatever occurred to her in the least to vary her cus- 
 tomary routine, she was eager to look upon as an 
 adventure. These impressions always formed a 
 prominent feature in her confidences ; and now that 
 she had got with her the best beloved of all her bo- 
 som friends, Mary Bellenden, she was burning with 
 
 E 2
 
 76 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 anxiety to relate a certain very extraordinary ad- 
 venture that had recently happened to her. 
 
 But Mary Bellenden seemed in very little 
 humour to listen. She had her own budget to 
 dispose of; and as she was the elder and had seen 
 so much more of the world, and moreover had 
 finished her education at St. Omer, and had just 
 come from Paris, of course it was but right she 
 should claim precedence. Indeed, of her supe- 
 riority, she appeared so sensible, that no one 
 could mistake the patronising tone and air affected 
 by the young beauty towards her junior ; and the 
 compassion she seemed to feel for her friend, for 
 not having had the advantages she possessed. 
 
 And then the use she made of her stock of 
 familiar French phrases and gestures, in her own 
 estimation gave her so vast a superiority over 
 her friend — who, although a tolerable French 
 scholar, rarely ventured upon a foreign word in 
 conversation, and knew nothing of the eloquence 
 of shrugs and the thousand and one resources of 
 French pantomime — that she could not avoid, 
 with all her affection for her, which was deep and 
 genuine, regarding her English manners with a 
 feeling mingled of pity and contempt. 
 
 " Yes, Mary, ma mignonne" exclaimed the
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 77 
 
 young lady, as she sat opposite the daughter of 
 her host knitting a purse, whilst the other was as 
 busily employed at some worsted work; "you 
 are very much improved in your face and figure ; 
 but pardonnez-moi, you have the most barbarous 
 notion of dressing yourself, child." Here fol- 
 lowed an elevation of the shoulders to the ears. 
 
 " Why, what can there be so mightily amiss in 
 my dress ?" innocently inquired the Brigadier's 
 daughter, glancing at her neat and not ungraceful 
 though somewhat formal morning robe. 
 
 u Amiss, child !'' echoed her companion, with 
 a peculiar elevation of the eye-brows, as she 
 glanced rapidly from her feet to her head. " Ma 
 foi, every thing is amiss. Par exemple, look at 
 your head-dress — did ever any one see any thing 
 so abominable I" 
 
 Now the head-dress of Mary Lepel, as des- 
 cribed in a preceding page, was certainly far from 
 being unbecoming, for the beautiful silken tresses 
 tied with ribbon, produced an effect that would 
 have delighted Sir Godfrey Kneller, and which 
 had already occasioned a tolerably extensive 
 creation of fugitive verse from various as yet 
 secret admirers. 
 
 " Voilh, look at mine !" exclaimed the fair
 
 78 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 Anglo-Parisian ; and then in a triumphant tone 
 added, " Que dites-vous de cela ?" 
 
 Her friend looked as if she did not know 
 exactly what to say of it. If the truth could be 
 told, she did not quite like it, and had many 
 times gazed at the curious mass that rose above 
 the head of her beautiful friend, wondering what 
 it was composed of; as the powder quite concealed 
 the substance on which it was laid. 
 
 Mary Bellenden gave her head the slightest 
 shake in the world, as she again raised her eyes 
 to that of her lovely schoolfellow ; but it was a 
 shake, that in Paris at least, was of great signifi- 
 cance. "Mafoi, at Versailles with such a head, 
 you would be as much stared at as a native Indian. 
 Va tefaire coffer.' 3 
 
 Mary Lepel promised, if her father approved, 
 she w r ould lose no time in having her hair arranged 
 according to the French fashion. 
 
 " Out, out, ma petite" cried her companion with 
 a wave of her white hand, such as she had often 
 seen employed by Parisian belles, " It must be 
 done, be assured. And now for your dress. Did 
 any one ever see so barbarous a fashion ? Par- 
 donnez-moi, ma chere fille, it is only fit for a milk 
 maid.' 5
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 7^ 
 
 Now any indifferent English spectator would 
 have been ready to assert, that the graceful figure 
 of Mary Lepel was as well set off as her beautiful 
 hair ; but he of course would not have been so 
 well informed on the important subject of the 
 very last new fashion, to which ladies must con- 
 form in every article of personal decoration, as 
 Mary Bellenden. 
 
 " Voila /" exclaimed the young lady rising from 
 her seat and turning herself round for the better 
 inspection of her companion. Mary Bellenden 
 displayed a form, beautifully fitted at the bust, 
 with a very long stomacher, and swelling out from 
 the waist as if her drapery hung over a barrel or 
 a drum-head. She paced up and down, drawing 
 aside her skirts to display a pair of red morocco 
 shoes, with heels so high, Mary Lepel wondered 
 how she could keep her footing. 
 
 " This is how a lady of quality should appear," 
 she added, walking back with a well satisfied air 
 to her seat ; " and I must insist, child, that you 
 dress as becomes your station. Mafoi, I wonder 
 what Philip Dormer would have said had he seen 
 you at Paris }" 
 
 " Philip Dormer V cried the BrigadieVs daugh- 
 ter with animation.
 
 80 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 "Yes, child, the handsome, elegant and ac- 
 complished Philip Dormer, who will in time be 
 the Earl of Chesterfield. Do you not know him, 
 ma chere ?" 
 
 " No, I have not seen him ; but I heard my 
 father say, the Prince of Wales was partial to him, 
 and had lately appointed him to a situation in his 
 Household. He was one of your admirers at 
 Paris, I suppose, Mary ?" 
 
 " Of course, child. H a bien de V esprit, and I 
 must confess I like witty men. I met him several 
 times. He declared himself quite smitten ; ready 
 to give up the ghost pour V amour. I found him 
 agreeable enough : indeed he was monstrous atten- 
 tive to me, vastly polite, my most devoted, and all 
 that; but I did not think it necessary to fall in 
 love just then, so I only amused myself with 
 him, pour passer le temps" 
 
 It may perhaps be necessary to inform the 
 reader that the fair Bellenden exaggerated a little 
 as to the extent of her acquaintance with the 
 handsome Philip Dormer — a failing not at all 
 uncommon with her dear sex, when mentioning 
 to each other men whose position accomplish- 
 ments, or personal attractions render them 
 desirable acquaintances.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 81 
 
 Philip Dormer was a very elegant young man 
 of high connexions, his nearest relative, Lord 
 Stanhope, being one of the most influential mi- 
 nisters of George I., and his grandfather being the 
 Earl of Chesterfield ; and although rumours res- 
 pecting his wildness and extravagance had already 
 got into general circulation, they were not likely 
 at this particular period to prevent any young 
 lady of fashion from desiring to have him at her 
 feet, or where it was safe, to boast of her having 
 brought him there. 
 
 " I'm sure it must be very delightful to make 
 such a conquest/' said the Brigadiers daughter, 
 with a sound very much like a sigh ; " but I 
 heard some one say at dinner last week — I think 
 it was the new Dean of St. Patricks ; I'm not sure 
 it wasn't Mr. Pope — that he was known to asso- 
 ciate a good deal with that abominable Duke of 
 Wharton, and that singular Earl of Peterborough, 
 and other reckless characters, with whom he 
 joined in all sorts of mad frolics, and shock- 
 ing-" 
 
 " Ma foi" cried her companion, laughingly, 
 " he told me all about it ; he confessed to me he 
 was a member of the Hell-fire club, and had been 
 employed as Provost Martial to the Emperor of 
 
 e 3
 
 82 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 the Mohocks. He narrated all sorts of devices 
 he had had recourse to, and the tricks he had 
 played. Par del ! some of them certainly, if done 
 by a common person, would have brought his 
 head into the pillory ; but with people of quality, 
 such things are mere bagatelles, child." 
 
 i( I suppose, Mr. Dormer was not your only 
 admirer, Mary?" inquired her young schoolfellow 
 archly. 
 
 u La, child, how you talk !" exclaimed the 
 other quickly. ie I had a score of them while I 
 remained in Paris." 
 
 " A score, Mary V 3 inquired her friend, looking 
 up with some astonishment. 
 
 " Oui, ma petite, a score at the least : I won't 
 say there might not have been a few more. First 
 there was the Due d' Orleans" — 
 
 " The Due d^Orleans !" cried the Brigadier's 
 daughter, with increased wonder. 
 
 " Oh, the Duke was the most ardent of all," 
 her schoolfellow replied, with a little laugh, 
 the facsimile of one she had heard employed 
 with great effect by a Frenchwoman of the 
 highest fashion. " Then there was the Abbe 
 Dubois—" 
 
 " What, a Popish priest, Mary ?"
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 83 
 
 " I had seven abbes, three bishops and one 
 cardinal," said the fair Bellenden, scarcely noticing 
 the interruption ; " but if I had a partiality for 
 any one of these reverend gentlemen, ma foi, it 
 ought to have been for the good Abbe Dubois, 
 for he was the greatest rogue of them all. He 
 introduced himself to me as the Duke's agent, 
 and whilst displaying the monstrous intensity of 
 his master's passion, he made the most prodi- 
 gious demonstrations of his own." 
 
 " What a wretch \" burst from her indignant 
 companion, who apparently could not reconcile 
 herself to such priestly devotion, " I should be 
 terrified to death if I fell among such infamous 
 people." 
 
 " Je ne les cretins point" replied the other with 
 a shrug of much meaning ; a then I had five 
 captains, three counts, two marquises, one general 
 — and let me remember — en verity ma chere, I 
 had six judges." 
 
 " Six judges !" cried out her friend at the top 
 of her voice. 
 
 " Sa?is doa.te, six judges," quietly responded her 
 schoolfellow. " Every one makes love in France, 
 ma miynonne ; from the prince on the throne to
 
 84 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 the link boys in the gutters, this is the first 
 business of their lives ; and it possesses so firm a 
 hold upon their minds, that their last thought at 
 night and their first in the morning, is how they 
 shall most effectually recommend themselves to 
 their female acquaintance." 
 
 "You must really have had some extraor- 
 dinary adventures among so singular a people." 
 
 "Adventures ! la, child ! I have had adven- 
 tures out of all possibility of counting. I have 
 seven times designedly been made to lose my 
 way, that I might be put in the right direction by 
 unknown adorers, wanting an introduction. I 
 have five times been rescued by robbers, by as 
 many devoted swains anxious to testify their 
 devotion ; twice saved from fire, and once from 
 drowning. I have ten times been run away with ; 
 four times suddenly found myself locked in 
 strange rooms in mansions where 1 had been 
 visiting. I have been the cause of fifteen duels, 
 six lettres de cachet, drove five despairing lovers 
 to the cloister, and eight to the army desperately 
 intent to lead forlorn hopes, or rush at impene- 
 trable positions. Oh, bon Bleu ! adventures ! My 
 dventures would fill volumes."
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 85 
 
 " It's wonderful how you could have escaped 
 so many perils/* observed the other almost 
 breathless with astonishment. 
 
 " Ma foi, such matters have ceased to be 
 wonderful in France/ 5 coolly replied her friend. 
 
 It might in some respects be true, that the 
 picture the fair scholar of St Omer had sub- 
 mitted to her youthful friend, was a little over- 
 drawn ; nevertheless, it cannot but be admitted, 
 that the presence of a very young and beautiful 
 woman at the gay capital of France at this period 
 was attended with many risks, not only to her- 
 self, but to the numberless highly susceptible 
 gentlemen who might happen to behold her; and 
 it is not improbable that the extreme loveliness 
 of the fair Bellenden occasioned her a greater 
 display of gallantry than may have been quite 
 agreeable to her. We entertain, however, just the 
 slightest suspicion in the world, that for many 
 of the features in the very lively description we 
 have just given, the gay beauty was indebted to 
 her own imagination. 
 
 She, however, as if she thought she had not as 
 yet half sufficiently astonished her inexperienced 
 companion, launched into narratives of the most
 
 S6 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 extraordinary adventures, that certainly ever 
 happened to so young a female ; and a gallant 
 band of abbes, counts, captains, judges, and so 
 forth were brought on the scene one after the 
 other and occasionally a few together, saying and 
 doing things which more and more astonished 
 her unsophisticated listener. 
 
 Poor Mary Lepel never thought of doubting a 
 word of these marvellous statements ; and as her 
 schoolfellow proceeded with a happy assurance, 
 mixing real names and real places with events of 
 the most apocryphal character, she seemed to 
 think her favourite heroines had not met with 
 half the strange and wonderful adventures her 
 dear friend had. At last when wonder could be 
 excited no further, Mary Bellenden came to 
 a sudden check in her revelations. 
 
 " But now, child/' said she, in a different tone, 
 4i it is your turn ; I must hear your adventures. 
 Indeed, ma belle, I have been dying to hear them, 
 ever since I entered the house." 
 
 There assuredly might be room for some doubt 
 as to the dangerous state of anxiety the young 
 lady had indicated ; but as to the extreme desire 
 of the other to disburthen her mind to her, there
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 87 
 
 was none. There was, however, a vast contrast 
 in the manner in which these confidential com- 
 munications were made. 
 
 The more accomplished beauty, who could boast 
 of her stay in Paris, entered with the most happy 
 audacity into the relation of anecdotes and inci- 
 dents, that the other could not listen to without 
 becoming bewildered with wonder and alarm ; 
 while she, when her turn came to be narrator, as 
 though overpowered with a sense of the import- 
 ance of what she was going to communicate, went 
 hesitatingly and tremulously on with her story, 
 which when uttered, could not but be thought 
 extremely insignificant, when compared to the ex- 
 traordinary declarations that had just preceded it. 
 
 If the truth must be told, the modest and 
 romantic little mistress of Petersham Manor had 
 but very little to confide. She expatiated with 
 considerable emphasis on sundry squeezes of the 
 hand she had received from some of the most 
 agreeable of her father's guests, and gave a long 
 and circumstantial account of the marked admi- 
 ration, during the whole of every dinner, of a sea- 
 captain ; but the squeezes were far more cordial 
 than amorous, and the other instance was still 
 more delusive, for the poor captain happened to
 
 88 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 suffer from the often puzzling infirmity of an 
 obliquity of vision, so that when the Brigadier's 
 daughter was satisfied her charms engrossed the 
 attention of this new admirer, his gaze was fixed 
 upon the good things on his plate. 
 
 Mary Lepel then went into a long catalogue of 
 compliments and attentions, and gave graphic 
 sketches of the various attractive features of the 
 different gentlemen to whom she was so in- 
 debted. After these, sundry neatly folded pieces 
 of writing paper were produced, which, when 
 carefully opened, the fair Lepel with an ill-con- 
 cealed expression of extreme gratification began 
 to read. These were various poetical composi- 
 tions, which had been conveyed to her at divers 
 times, mostly by some singular channel. They 
 were of the usual description — expressing high 
 flown compliments, and laboured metaphors to 
 the party addressed, and infinite respect, and in- 
 expressible devotion of the party addressing. 
 Some were rather pretty, for Mary Lepel ought 
 to have inspired the dullest votary of the Tuneful 
 Nine ; and many were very absurd. Nevertheless, 
 the Brigadier's daughter, in an ecstacy of delight, 
 read each with its proper illustrative comments, 
 and all with ready and eloquent commendation.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 89 
 
 " Mafoi ! is this all you have got to tell me ?" 
 inquired Mary Bellenden, with her most signifi- 
 cant shrug, secretly pitying her young friend for 
 the barrenness of her reminiscences. * What a 
 vast deal you have got to say about nothing, 
 child ! Why, if I had began to tell you of the hand- 
 pressings, the looks, the compliments, and the 
 verses I have received, I should despair of ever 
 getting to the end. Ah, ma petite, it is easy to 
 see you have not received part of your education 
 at a French convent, or you would have laid no 
 stress on such trifles ; but have you nothing else 
 to tell me— no adventure of any sort ?" 
 
 " Yes, dear Mary, I have had a very singular 
 adventure," she replied, humiliated by her friend's 
 depreciation of her little interesting revelations. 
 " A most singular adventure, indeed.' 5 
 
 " Pray let us have it. I am impatient to hear 
 what it is about. Quelle aventure vous est-il 
 arrivee ?" 
 
 " It is very mysterious, Mary." 
 
 " So much the better. An adventure is nothing 
 without a sufficiency of mystery. Commencez, 
 commencez, ma mignonne" 
 
 At this urging the Brigadier's daughter, with
 
 90 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 much embarrassment and no little circumlocution, 
 began to relate, that she was in the habit of 
 walking in the garden, at a certain hour in the 
 morning, to notice the state of the fruit and 
 vegetables as to their readiness for domestic 
 purposes ; and that every day for the last three 
 days, directly she entered the walk that leads 
 along the wall where the best peaches grow, she 
 heard the sounds of a flute, evidently proceeding 
 from the other side. She could not help listen- 
 ing, it was so exquisite a performance, and the 
 concealed musician played the most plaintive and 
 touching airs — it was as sweet as the thrush and 
 as tender as the nightingale. Directly she en- 
 tered the walk he commenced, and he left off the 
 moment she quitted it. 
 
 She owned she thought it very strange, very 
 strange indeed; but the strangest part of it was 
 yesterday at the same hour, she heard as usual 
 the same beautiful playing; but after she had 
 listened a short time it appeared as if the instru- 
 ment was abandoned, for the playing stopped, 
 and the player commenced a song which was all 
 about love, and the name of Mary was mentioned 
 in it several times, so that it required no great
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 91 
 
 stretch of imagination to satisfy herself for whom 
 the music was intended. 
 
 To Mary Lepel the mystery of it lay in the 
 extreme care with which the musician kept out of 
 sight, and in his managing to reserve his per- 
 formances till she entered that particular walk : 
 and as she poured out her marvellous narrative 
 to her confidante, who could scarcely keep her 
 countenance, she could not avoid indulging in 
 innumerable conjectures as to who was the con- 
 cealed musician, why he took such measures 
 to attract her attention, and what was his object 
 in continuing this mysterious serenade. 
 
 Her fair companion heard her out with admi- 
 rable patience, and when she had concluded burst 
 into a loud fit of laughter. The Brigadier's 
 daughter felt satisfied that these periodical per- 
 formances betokened some very extraordinary 
 adventure, and she was completely under the 
 impression that she was about to become a 
 heroine, worthy of the pages of " Le Grand 
 Cyrus." 
 
 " Mafoi, you call this an adventure, do you ! ,J 
 exclaimed Mary Bellenden, as soon as her mirth 
 had a little subsided. " Why child, before I had
 
 92 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 been a week at St. Omer, I had had at least fifty 
 little incidents of this kind. In France we hold 
 these sort of things as matters of course. But 
 have you no suspicion who is your serenader ?" 
 
 " Not the slightest." 
 
 u Have you never attempted to find out who 
 it was, by causing the other side of the wall to be 
 explored ?'' 
 
 " No. I have never mentioned the subject to 
 any one but yourself." 
 
 " I suppose you would like to discover your 
 admirer, eh, ma petite !" 
 
 ie I am dying to hear who he is." 
 
 " There is nothing so easy. It is now close 
 to the hour: let us go together into the garden. 
 I doubt not it will repay us for the trouble." 
 
 A very few minutes after this the two friends 
 were seen walking leisurely together through 
 the gravel walks of the Brigadier's garden — his 
 romantic little daughter convinced she was en- 
 tering on an adventure full of the deepest mys- 
 tery. Certainly two lovelier creatures were never 
 seen in any garden, save that of Eden, as they 
 tripped lightly along on their way to the path by 
 the side of the wall. The dark yet extremely
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 93 
 
 expressive features of Mary Bellenden were lit up 
 with a saucy sense of her own power, whilst the 
 fair complexion and child-like innocence of fea- 
 tures of the unsophisticated Mary Lepel, were 
 full of interest and anxiety. 
 
 As yet they had met nothing and heard nothing, 
 and as they turned into the walk beside the indi- 
 cated wall, and could distinguish nothing in the 
 most remote degree approaching the expected 
 serenade, both began to fear they should return 
 as wise as they came. They had proceeded, 
 however, but a very few steps, when they came 
 to a sudden halt. 
 
 a Hush !" exclaimed the Brigadier's daughter, 
 her little heart palpitating as though she had 
 unexpectedly found herself in a position of ex- 
 treme danger. The sounds of a flute were heard, 
 the instrument played with singular delicacy and 
 taste. The friends listened. The performer was 
 evidently on the other side of the wall, which was 
 of a height that effectually screened him from ob- 
 servation on the garden side. 
 
 " Hush/' again exclaimed Mary Lepel in a 
 whisper, "he is going to sing/' And then in 
 clear rich tones a voice commenced singing the fol- 
 lowing words :
 
 94 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 THE AVOWAL. 
 
 Said Daphne to Chloe one day they reclined 
 
 On a moss covered bank by a murmuring rill, 
 " Come tell me what shepherd is most to your mind, 
 
 As we watch the young lambs climb the side of the hill." 
 " Oh Daphne !" the rosy cheeked Chloe replied, 
 
 And she held down her head half ashamed to confess, 
 " If Granny would cease so to frown and to chide 
 
 More happy should I be than I can express/' 
 " Oh," said Daphne to Chloe, " ne'er mind the good dame, 
 
 When old folks were young they have felt just the same." 
 
 " I first met the youth at a dance on the green. 
 
 And thought, as he moved on so fair and so tall, 
 There were plenty of handsome young swains to be seen, 
 
 But Lubin, dear Lubin, was flow'r of them all. 
 He asked me to dance, and he led me along, 
 
 With such rich silken curls waving over his brow — 
 Oh, Daphne, though Granny declares it was wrong, 
 
 I could not help feeling, I can't tell you how. 
 " Oh," said Daphne to Chloe, '* ne'er mind the old crone, 
 
 When she was as young she'd a heart like your own/' 
 
 " When next I met Lubin 'twas down in the grove, 
 With the nightingale's song falling sweet on the ear ; 
 
 And there with such fervour he whispered his love, 
 
 That my heart thrilled with joy, as I trembled with fear. 
 
 Oh the rapture I knew, it can never be told, 
 
 As he vowed to be constant, and called me his own :
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 95 
 
 Oh, Daphne, I wish Granny wouldn't so scold, 
 
 Because in the grove I met Lubin alone." 
 " Oh," said Daphne to Chloe, " ne'er mind the good dame., 
 
 When she was as young she has donejust the same." 
 
 Mary Bellenden gazed around her with her 
 quick intelligent eyes as the song commenced, 
 and soon remarked a ladder that had recently 
 been employed by the gardener to enable him to 
 trail some of the wall-fruit. She pointed it out 
 to her friend, and presently these beautiful girls 
 were seen quietly bearing the rude ladder between 
 them ; and then they placed it against the wall, 
 as near as possible to the spot whence the sounds 
 were proceeding. 
 
 Mary Bellenden offered to hold the foot of 
 the ladder whilst her friend ascended to take a 
 peep over the wall ; this arrangement the Briga- 
 dier's daughter did not seem to approve at all, 
 till her friend convinced her that as it was her 
 own adventure, she ought to take the most pro- 
 minent place in it. 
 
 At last her timidity gave way before the as- 
 surances of her more experienced friend, and she 
 ascended the spokes of the ladder almost over- 
 come by her feelings. She was fairly embarked 
 in an adventure — the first adventure she had ever
 
 96 MAIDS OF HONOUR." 
 
 met with. All was mystery and romance. She 
 longed to know who was the concealed musician 
 — of course he was some great personage, or he 
 would not have cared for concealment. If he 
 should turn out to be a second Prince Oroon- 
 dates, her highest ambition would be satisfied. 
 
 Mary Lepel ascended the spokes one by one 
 encouraged by the cheering pleasantry of her 
 friend, and as she rose, her self-confidence 
 seemed to fall. Her heart beat as though it 
 would presently break through her little boddice, 
 and her colour went and came a dozen times in 
 as many minutes. And what a quick succession 
 of ideas presented themselves to her agitated 
 mind ! 
 
 Suppose he should see her — what should she 
 say to him ? Suppose he should prove old and 
 ill-looking, what a disappointment ! No, he must 
 be young, and it was equally conclusive he must 
 be handsome. Suppose the ladder were to slip, 
 and she should be thrown to the ground I 
 
 " Courage, ma petite f* whispered her friend 
 from below. 
 
 Mary LepePs beautiful head was nearly on a 
 level with the edge of the wall — another step 
 would place her in the position she coveted. Her
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 9/ 
 
 palpitations became more rapid. She could not 
 have supported herself in this critical position, 
 but for her profound conviction that nothing in 
 Le Grand Cyrus ever could be half so romantic 
 an adventure, as her present elevation on the 
 gardener's ladder. Her concealed admirer ought 
 to be a Prince Oroondates, at least, to repay her 
 for what she was undergoing. The idea that he 
 might be such a character, gave her sufficient nerve 
 to mount a step higher. 
 
 Suddenly the music ceased, and as her head 
 rose above the wall, so a head arose on the other 
 side — Mary Lepel gave a scream, and found her- 
 self in the arms — oh, the horror to her romantic 
 notions — of James, the new footman 1 
 
 vol. i.
 
 93 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 TURNING THE TABLES. 
 
 Lives there a roan so dull and stupid, 
 As not to know the power of Cupid ? 
 Where'er the sun his journey races, 
 That god enjoys his sacred places. 
 
 ANON. 
 
 " No, I never shall be able to endure that im- 
 pudent fellow again \ ,} exclaimed the Brigadier's 
 daughter petulantly, as she flung herself into a 
 chair in the breakfast room. 
 
 " Nonsense, child !" replied her friend, who, 
 if the truth might be told, could not avoid being 
 amused at the termination of the adventure. 
 " Take my advice, ma petite, do nothing likely 
 to make so ridiculous an affair an entertainment 
 for the town. Leave your foolish swain to me — 
 I will make him know his distance, and repent
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 99 
 
 his insolence. But what did he say to you ? — 
 I'm sure he made some sort of speech ; but I 
 could not of course hear so well at the bottom of 
 the ladder, as you could at the top ; and when I 
 saw the old gardener coming, I was obliged to 
 give the alarm." 
 
 u Oh, I was so frightened, I hardly know 
 what the wretch said ; but I believe it was about 
 his mistaking me for one of the maids. I, how- 
 ever, lost no time in descending the ladder at your 
 signal, and getting away from the place as fast as 
 I could, without troubling myself about the fel- 
 low's apologies/' 
 
 u I don't think, in mistaking you for Mrs. 
 Kitty, he paid you any compliment, ma mig- 
 nonne" 
 
 " Deuce take him, and his compliments too \" 
 cried the young lady in a pet, starting up from 
 her seat, and beginning to pace the room. " His 
 impudence really is unbearable : I never felt so 
 vexed in my life." 
 
 " Mafoi, it is but an unsatisfactory beginning 
 for you, I must confess, child/' quietly observed 
 the other. " But these sort of accidents will 
 occur. In France, they think nothing of them ; 
 
 f 2
 
 100 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 and French lacqueys, ma ch£re, are much more 
 forward than English ones/ 5 
 
 This consolation did not produce all the effect 
 that was required. The .gentle and sensitive na- 
 ture of Mary Lepel had received a rude shock. 
 Her imagination had played her a very sorry 
 trick, and all her romantic associations had been 
 sent to the right about, in the most summary 
 and undignified way possible. She could not di- 
 vest her mind of certain apprehensions. " If the 
 affair came to the ears of the great Duchess, what 
 would she think of her ?" 
 
 She took counsel of her more experienced com- 
 panion, who laughed away her fears, and even 
 spoke of that important personage, in terms of 
 ridicule and contempt. Very much astonished 
 at this, the Brigadier's daughter made her friend 
 acquainted with the Duchess's recent visit, and 
 the humiliation it brought with it; and informed 
 her of her father's expectations arising out of 
 that dreaded lady's good offices : at which Mary 
 Bellenden, with that happy audacity that was so 
 irresistible with her, laughed still more. She evi- 
 dently thought very little of the great Duchess, 
 and cared for her still less.
 
 MAIDS OF HOXOUR. 101 
 
 Much confidential conversation followed between 
 the two school-fellows, in which Mary Lepel 
 learned that her friend entertained expectations 
 of obtaining some situation about the person of 
 the Princess of Wales — her father having pro- 
 mised to exercise his influence in procuring for 
 her such an appointment. Upon no firmer basis 
 than existed in this prospect, the fair Bellenden 
 presently erected a most agreeable structure, 
 which did no less credit to her ingenuity, than 
 to her ambition. 
 
 In this way an hour passed pleasantly, and 
 Mary Lepel was rapidly recovering from her vex- 
 ation, when at her companion's wish, she rang the 
 bell for lunch. Very little time elapsed before the 
 door was opened, and James, the new footman 
 entered, bearing a well covered tray. It might 
 have been supposed that he would have exhi- 
 bited some sense of his delinquency, instead 
 of which he bore a most steady countenance, and 
 proceeded to place the things on the table, as 
 though he was perfectly unconscious of having 
 given offence. 
 
 Mary Lepel, apparently, took no notice of him. 
 She sat back in her chair, with a countenance 
 eloquent with indignation ; but she neither looked
 
 102 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 at him nor near him. Not so her more accom- 
 plished school- fellow, who had determined, on ob- 
 serving the fellow very narrowly, with the object 
 of discovering whether it were by presumption or 
 mistake her fair friend had been placed in such 
 undesirable juxta position with him on the top 
 of the wall. 
 
 Whilst he was placing the tray on the table, 
 Mary Bellenden approached him closely. Sud- 
 denly she turned her back to him, and placed her 
 handkerchief to her mouth, as though to prevent 
 a sudden burst of laughter. Whether the ridicu- 
 lousness of her friend's adventure overpowered 
 her, or the foppish appearance of the Brigadier's 
 footman, was so ludicrous, she could not resist 
 the impulse to laugh ; certain it is she was obliged 
 to make a powerful effort to recover her gra- 
 vity. 
 
 The man was about to withdraw as silently as 
 he had entered, when Mary Bellenden suddenly 
 putting on a very grave, and indeed, somewhat 
 severe aspect, turned round, and as it appeared, 
 to his astonishment, suddenly addressed him. 
 
 u James, what were you doing at the garden 
 wall, just now V s she inquired. Mary Lepel 
 began patting the carpet with her little foot, evi-
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 103 
 
 dently striving to put a restraint upon her feel- 
 ings. 
 
 " An it please you, Madam Bellenden," he an- 
 swered quite at his ease, u I had obtained a lad- 
 der for the purpose of getting a bird's nest, that 
 was at the top.' 5 
 
 K Did you take your mistress for one of the 
 young, or for one of the old birds, sirrah r" de- 
 manded his questioner sternly ; and the little foot 
 patted the carpet with increased force. 
 
 " An it please you, Madam Bellenden," an- 
 swered the man, still without the slightest dis- 
 composure, (( as I was getting up to the top of 
 the wall, 1 heard a voice, which I believed to be 
 that of my fellow servant, Mrs. Kitty, though I 
 could not hear well enough, to distinguish what 
 was said, and I became aware that some one was 
 ascending a ladder on the garden side. Believing 
 it was Mrs. Kitty, in an idle frolic I suddenly 
 darted up, and caught hold of her/' 
 
 The little foot patted more vigorously than 
 ever, and the beautiful face grew a shade or two 
 darker in its expression. Mary Bellenden seemed 
 to hesitate ; but she was only forming a determi- 
 nation. The man was perfectly respectful ; his 
 affectations seemed reserved for the servant's
 
 104 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 hall, and there was nothing in his manner to 
 belie his statement. His catechist, however, 
 seemed far from being satisfied. 
 
 ei Is it usual with you, when you are bird's nest- 
 ing, fellow/' she asked in the sternest manner, 
 she could employ, " to commence your proceed- 
 ings by a performance on the flute, varied with 
 the singing of a love ditty ?" 
 
 The little foot did not proceed at quite so rapid 
 a pace, and the expression of the fair owner's 
 countenance changed from indignation to curio- 
 sity. The man, however, did not immediately 
 answer. Indeed, he looked as though he did not 
 comprehend the question. It was repeated with 
 increased severity of manner. At last with a 
 steady countenance, and in a way perfectly re- 
 spectful, he said : " I humbly beg pardon, but 
 surely there must be some mistake." 
 
 " None at all, fellow, none at all ! I heard 
 both the song and the instrument," said Mary 
 Bellenden, very sharply. 
 
 " An -it please you, Madam Bellenden," 
 answered the man with an unaltered look, 
 " save the Jew's trump, which I once played 
 upon, with scarce any skill, I know nothing of 
 music; and in all my life I never could sing so
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 105 
 
 much as might suffice, for a chorus of ■ Derry 
 Down.' » 
 
 The little foot grew much more quiet, and the 
 pretty face wore an expression of wonder, that 
 thrust out all the indignation. Her friend, how- 
 ever, was far from being satisfied, even by so 
 decisive an answer. Nevertheless, she laboured 
 under the difficulty of having no means of dis- 
 proving it. She fixed her gaze upon James ; but 
 James bore it unflinchingly. 
 
 " Mark me, sirrah \" she exclaimed, sharply, 
 " mind what you are about. Another such a 
 liberty with your master's daughter, and your 
 livery shall be torn off your back, and your im- 
 pertinence cooled in the nearest horse-pond. 
 Kneel down, and ask her pardon.'' 
 
 " No, dear Mary, there is no occasion," said 
 the now pacified young lady. " Pray, send him 
 about his business. I don^t want to hear any- 
 thing more on the subject. I beg he may leave 
 the room." 
 
 li Kneel, fellow !" was the stern mandate of her 
 more experienced friend. Without another word 
 the man walked to the place where his young 
 mistress sat, and knelt by her chair ; not on both 
 knees, but, as though he could not avoid his 
 
 F 3
 
 106 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 natural coxcombry appearing, he placed himself 
 in a somewhat too studied attitude for the occa- 
 sion. The indignant beauty shrunk back, but as 
 she did so, could not help giving a hurried glance 
 towards the supplicant, which completely con- 
 vinced her, he was much better looking than 
 she thought it was possible for any footman to 
 be. 
 
 The expression of Mary Bellenden's features 
 were now anything but stern. She seemed to re- 
 gard the position in which she had placed the 
 two persons before her, as particularly diverting, 
 but whether her amusement was at the expense 
 of the mistress of the mansion, or her domestic, 
 we cannot say. Not a word was spoken by 
 either party, for the culprit seemed as if he 
 could not find words sufficiently expressive to ask 
 his pardon ; and neither of the beauties attempted 
 to interrupt his reflections. At last, as though 
 he could not resist the impulse to indulge in the 
 second hand airs and graces, he had played off 
 with such effect on his fellow servants, he 
 began : 
 
 u Fairest of thy sex !"— 
 
 " What the devil's this ?" suddenly exclaimed 
 a familiar voice \ and all turning to the spot
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 107 
 
 whence it proceeded, to their astonishment and 
 no slight embarrassment, beheld the Brigadier, 
 who had entered the room unperceived. 
 
 The footman was on his feet in a moment, and 
 met the angry and bewildered stare of his mas- 
 ter, who looked from him to his daughter, and 
 from his daughter to him, as though he hardly 
 believed the evidence of his own senses. 
 
 " What in the name of Heaven does all this 
 mean r 5 ' he thundered out. 
 
 Mary Bellenden came forward. There was 
 mischief gleaming out of her very sparkling eyes, 
 as she approached the bewildered Brigadier, his 
 embarrassed daughter, and the astonished culprit, 
 who possibly would rather have had his master 
 remain in ignorance of the accusation that had 
 been brought against him. 
 
 "I am sorry to tell you, Brigadier General 
 Lepel," said his fair guest, striving to assume a 
 grave aspect, " that your appearance here is quite 
 mal-a-propos. You have disturbed the course of 
 justice/' 
 
 The Brigadier looked puzzled, his daughter 
 gave a look of earnest appeal to her schoolfellow, 
 and James seemed as if he would have felt a great 
 deal more comfortable out of the room.
 
 108 MAIDS OP HONOUR, 
 
 "Mafoi, the fact is, I had detected this fellow 
 in the act of purloining some of your plate, and 
 just as you were coming in, he had gone upon his 
 knees to your daughter, and was praying for 
 mercy as it was his first offence, and if he were 
 given up to justice it would be the ruin of himself 
 and the disgrace of his family." 
 
 Had a thunderbolt fallen in the midst of them, 
 it could not have excited more astonishment in 
 all her companions than did this announcement. 
 The supposed robber gazed on his accuser as 
 though his ears must have deceived him; the 
 young lady looked with reproach not un mingled 
 with alarm at her friend; whilst the Brigadier 
 glanced from one to the other with an expression 
 of countenance in which rage, mortification, and 
 wonder seemed struggling for the mastery. 
 
 " Can it be possible \" exclaimed he, as soon as 
 he could find words ; " has Petersham Manor 
 been harbouring a house-breaker ? Could you 
 have had the audacity, rascal, to plunder a Briga- 
 dier General ? Here Rackstraw ! John Coach- 
 man ! San die ! Pompey !° he cried at the top of 
 his voice, ringing at the same time a hand-bell 
 that lay on the table. It so chanced that these 
 worthies were close at hand, for they answered
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 109 
 
 the summons immediately, rushing in together 
 with alarm in every face, as if they fancied the 
 house was on fire. 
 
 " Strip the Lepel livery off this scoundrel Y* 
 exclaimed the Brigadier, with every symptom of 
 being in a towering passion, " and then give him 
 into the hands of the constable. Hanging's too 
 good for him." 
 
 All except Pompey hurried to do the bidding 
 of their master, and he did nothing but stand at 
 the door and grin, apparently intent upon shewing 
 his teeth to the very last in the set. 
 
 " Stop, Brigadier !" cried Mary Bellenden, " I 
 insist upon it you do not take the matter out of 
 our court. The criminal is in our custody, and 
 before I acknowledge his guilt, you must allow 
 me to examine him apart. He may probably 
 have accomplices, and I may be able to induce 
 him to confess when their appearance may be ex- 
 pected." 
 
 "Very true, Madam Bellenden," replied the 
 Brigadier, who had long made it a point never to 
 dispute the will of a lady. Then added to his 
 domestics : " You may retire to the next room, 
 where you can be in readiness, when required. I
 
 110 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 must learn from my daughter how this intolerable 
 villany came to be perpetrated." 
 
 The servants took their departure ; Sandie par- 
 ticularly loath to lose sight of a person for whom 
 he had already contracted a considerable amount 
 of ill will. As they left the apartment by one 
 door, the Brigadier retired with his daughter by 
 another. 
 
 Mary Bellenden looked to see that both doors 
 were closed, and then signed for the criminal to 
 follow her to the window. It might have been 
 thought that so youthful a female would scarcely 
 have liked being left alone with a man whom she 
 had just charged with a crime affecting his life ; 
 but so far from exhibiting any trace of fear, her 
 beautiful features were lit up with the true spirit 
 of mirth, in which by the way, no slight degree 
 of mischief evidently mingled. 
 
 As for the presumed criminal, save a slight 
 degree of annoyance, he seemed scarcely at all 
 impressed with the disagreableness, much less the 
 peril of his position. The lady was the first to 
 break silence, which she did not do, however, till 
 she had satisfied herself that she was not likely 
 to be overheard ; then going close up to him, ap-
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. Ill 
 
 parently much to his surprise, she addressed him 
 in a low voice to the following purport : 
 
 " Philip Dormer, your disguise has been pene- 
 trated." 
 
 " Stab my vitals, Madam Bellenden V ex- 
 claimed the other, " if you did discover me, there 
 was no reason for your playing me such a scurvy 
 trick. I am the first of the Chesterfields who 
 ever took to the profession of house-breaking." 
 
 " Ma foi, so you are, I have no doubt/' ob- 
 served the young lady, mightily pleased with her 
 companion's chagrin, " and I believe you are the 
 first of your family, who ever put on another 
 man's livery?" 
 
 This was a home thrust, and the gentleman so 
 felt it; for he sagaciously held his tongue. 
 
 " Philip Dormer," she continued with as grave 
 a face as she could assume, " I am obliged to tell 
 you, that you are in a very disagreeable predica- 
 ment. Stealing in a dwelling house — " 
 
 "Curse me, Madam Bellenden, what's this you 
 say }" exclaimed the assumed footman with an air 
 of dignity which completely broke down her 
 gravity. 
 
 " Stealing in a dwelling-house by a servant is 
 a hanging matter," observed she, " and I do not
 
 112 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 see how you are to escape so just a punish- 
 ment." 
 
 " Stab my vitals, but / do/' he replied with 
 emphasis, " I never dreamt of depriving the Bri- 
 gadier of a straw. 3 ' 
 
 " How are you to prove that ?" she inquired 
 quickly, u the accusation brought against you, 
 whatever you may say and do to the contrary, 
 will in the first place lead to your taking up your 
 residence in anything but comfortable quarters, in 
 the county jail." 
 
 " County jail, Madam Bellenden ! My father 
 will soon put a stop to that." 
 
 "Mighty good, Sir; but as you are sure to 
 be treated as an impostor, any communication 
 with my Lord Stanhope would be out of the 
 question. You would be obliged to lie in prison 
 till your trial came on, which might not be for 
 the next six months." 
 
 " Cursed unlucky ! Deucedly provoking ! What 
 the dickens could have induced you to play me 
 such a scurvy trick ?" 
 
 " Mafoi 3 nothing but a wish to turn the tables,' 
 on you, Philip Dormer, and you will say this has 
 been done most completely, when you are in snug 
 quarters in Kingston jail."
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 113 
 
 "On my honour, Madam Bellenden, this is 
 intolerable. Deuce take you and your jail too ; 
 you are carrying your jest too far." 
 
 " I rather think you will find it carried a good 
 deal farther. 1 protest to you, I doubt very much 
 it will stop till it comes to Tyburn. There is one 
 way left you to escape the very unpleasant posi- 
 tion in which you find yourself. 3 ' 
 
 " Ah, indeed ! then I shall be vastly obliged to 
 you to tell it me." 
 
 " Ma foi, it is merely to make me acquainted 
 with your purpose in having recourse to your 
 present disguise, and getting surreptitiously into 
 the house of Brigadier General Lepel. 5 ' 
 
 " Purpose ! faith what purpose could I have 
 beyond an idle frolic ?" 
 
 " I know your frolics ; but this adventure 
 is the result of no idle frolic I am convinced. 
 However, it is high time I put an end to this 
 conference, and give you up to your impatient 
 friends outside, who are so anxious to pay you 
 every attention on your way to prison." 
 
 " Prison ! — stab my vitals, Madam Bellen- 
 den l" 
 
 " Dear now ! I must tell the Brigadier I give 
 you over to the civil power to be dealt with as
 
 114 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 the law directs. I dare say they will find you 
 some sort of conveyance to Kingston, when they 
 have placed on you, for better security, the usual 
 handcuffs/ 5 
 
 " Handcuffs ! I tell you I will never submit to 
 such an unheard of indignity.' 5 
 
 Mary Bellenden made a movement as though 
 about to summon the Brigadier. 
 
 " Positively this is too bad of you ! — but I sup- 
 pose I must tell \" he exclaimed hurriedly. 
 
 " There is no help for you. You had better 
 not attempt to deceive me or to withhold any- 
 thing. Let me know all, and let me know it 
 quickly ; and I'll promise to get you as easily out 
 of this extremely awkward position, as I have got 
 you into it !" 
 
 " Well, that's civil of you, positively. Stab my 
 vitals, I don't know for which to thank you most 
 — making me out a pilferer of paltry forks and 
 spoons — or freeing me from the consequences of 
 such an infamous accusation.' 5 
 
 " You are too good. If you hadn't been dis- 
 covered in the house under such very suspicious 
 circumstances, there would have been no pos- 
 sibility of fixing on you such an accusation. But 
 we are losing time. Tell me at once what
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 115 
 
 brought you here, and how you contrived to 
 obtain your present position in the establish- 
 ment/' 
 
 " Well then to be honest with you, I was sent 
 here by the Prince of Wales." 
 
 " I thought as much." 
 
 " He is mighty curious to know what sort of a 
 person is young Madam Lepel, as there is some 
 talk of her being attached to the suite of his 
 Royal Highnesses consort." 
 
 " The Prince wished to know whether she was 
 likely to please him as well as the Princess ?° 
 
 " Egad you've hit it, Madam Bellenden. He 
 wished me to observe the young lady as closely 
 as possible, without betraying myself or my 
 mission. So finding t'other day, in the course of 
 my inquiries, that a footman was wanted, with the 
 assistance of Pompey, our Prince of Darkness, 
 whom I well bribed, I took upon myself that 
 character, in which I easily established myself in 
 the house ; and by his doing the principal duties 
 of my office I managed to pass for a very credita- 
 ble member of the establishment." 
 
 " Did the Prince commission you to serenade 
 your master's daughter by the side of a garden 
 wall ?" inquired the lady, with a most provoking
 
 116 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 air. The question appeared rather difficult to an- 
 swer, and the assumed footman looked a little 
 unprepared for it; but just at this moment the 
 Brigadier and his daughter re-entered the room. 
 
 "Ma foi, was ever such a stupid mistake, 
 Brigadier r? exclaimed Mary Bellenden, approach- 
 ing her host with well-feigned concern, " I pro- 
 test to you I thought the man had bad inten- 
 tions; but he has convinced me, poor honest 
 creature, that I was deceived. Dear now, I am 
 quite shocked at the wrong I have done him. 
 He is a very good sort of a person, I havn^t the 
 slightest doubt, and has highly respectable friends. 
 Such an accusation might be the death of his 
 poor mother : — a worthy old soul, who washes for 
 my Lord Mayor." 
 
 An execration was about to burst from the lips 
 of the high-born favourite of a Prince, at being 
 given such an ignoble origin ; but he possessed 
 sufficient self-control to swallow his indigna- 
 tion. 
 
 iC And his father," continued the malicious 
 beauty with the most intense enjoyment of the 
 mischief she was causing, "who is well known as 
 a sober and industrious chairman — or link-boy — 
 which is it, James ?" she suddenly inquired, turn-
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 117 
 
 ing round upon the disguised son of Lord Stan- 
 hope, whose rising wrath he was making immense 
 efforts to keep down. 
 
 " Oh — ah ! yes, Madam Bellenden. Chairman, 
 I thank you humbly," exclaimed Philip Dormer, 
 struggling to keep up his assumed character; then 
 muttered to himself, " Curse me, if her impudence 
 isn't unbearable !" 
 
 ie Yes, as sober and industrious a chairman as 
 any in Marylebone," repeated the lady with the 
 most provoking gravity. a Was it Marylebone, 
 or St. Giles's, James ?" she asked, again turning 
 to see the effect of her bantering. 
 
 " Oh, St. James's, an it please you, Madam," 
 said the assumed footman, with no slight diffi- 
 culty. 
 
 " Ma foi ! St. James's, was it ? Well, I am 
 monstrously afraid he would never hold up his 
 head afterwards. So, Brigadier, I must request 
 you will not suffer this foolish blunder of mine to 
 injure the young man's prospects, or disturb the 
 peace of mind of his respectable parents." 
 
 The Brigadier was not so astonished at this 
 sudden change in the opinion of his fair visitor 
 as might have been anticipated, for he had been 
 closely questioning his daughter, whose examina-
 
 118 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 tion threw considerable doubt on the accusation. 
 Moreover, the genteel appearance of his new 
 domestic had very much prepossessed his master 
 in his favour; for if there was anything which 
 particularly influenced him in another, it was in 
 the shape of that attention to dress and behaviour 
 which he himself so greatly affected. 
 
 u I regret, James, this mistake should have 
 occurred/ 5 said the Brigadier. "You need not 
 think any more about it." 
 
 The pretended James bowed respectfully, and 
 was about to leave the apartment when Mary 
 Bellenden stopped him, and put a guinea in his 
 hand. 
 
 " This will be an addition to your wages, 
 young man," she observed, with the look of a 
 patroness, " and will enable you to add something 
 to the comforts of your honest parents.*' 
 
 " Stab my vitals, Madam !" exclaimed Philip 
 Dormer perfectly unable to restrain himself at 
 this new affront ; but as the Brigadier turned sud- 
 denly round, having partly overheard this exclama- 
 tion, he thought it best to defer his indignation, 
 and made a hasty exit from the room ; — so hasty 
 that he nearly upset the butler, the coachman, the 
 gardener, and the other members of the establish-
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 119 
 
 merit who had crowded to the door, where one of 
 them had for some time been busily engaged 
 taking a reconnoissance at the key-hole for the 
 benefit of the rest. 
 
 They had evidently gained but an imperfect 
 idea of what had served so completely to change 
 the aspect of affairs, and on his re-appearance 
 among them they regarded their fellow servant 
 with a reserve very different to their previous 
 cordiality. Mr. Rackstraw was more than usually 
 stately ; John Coachman anything but communi- 
 cative ; Mrs. Molly was sullen and snappish ; Mrs. 
 Kitty and Lucy sat at another part of the table, 
 and conversed with each other only in whispers ; 
 whilst Sandie every now and then gave utterance 
 to some pithy proverb respecting honesty being 
 the best policy, that lost nothing, in his opi- 
 nion, from the sarcastic tone in which it was 
 spoken. 
 
 The only cheerful individual of the party was 
 little Pompey, who exercised his features in the 
 broad grin with a pertinacity that looked as 
 though he knew no other expression of counten- 
 ance ; and when the caustic Sandie expressed 
 some reflection about the necessity of every one 
 locking up his things, who had reason to doubt
 
 120 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 their safety, he burst out into such a laugh as to 
 cause him to be called to order by the stately and 
 taciturn Mr. Rackstraw. 
 
 Philip Dormer paid no attention to this evident 
 disrelish of his society. He whistled with a vacant 
 air, and sometimes drummed the table ; now and 
 then casting a glance at his companions ; and was 
 more amused than disconcerted at their studied 
 avoidance of it. At last the ludicrousness of his 
 position in being sent to Coventry by such as- 
 sociates overpowered his sense of the annoyance 
 he had endured upstairs, and he gave vent to his 
 mirth in laughter louder and longer than that of 
 Pompey had been — which of course caused a 
 fresh display of the little negro's very white 
 teeth. 
 
 At this indecorum, the respectable butler 
 frowned, the coachman hemmed, and the gar- 
 dener gave the table a sharp thump with his fist. 
 The assumed footman rose from his seat, and 
 without paying the slightest attention to the men, 
 addressed a suitable apology to the females for so 
 forgetting himself in their company, which was 
 expressed in a style that ought to have won 
 respect from the rudest savages ; but Mrs. Molly 
 deigned no other reply than a toss of her head,
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 121 
 
 and Mrs. Kitty and Lucy looked as though they 
 had not heard a word of it. He then quitted the 
 servant's hall. 
 
 " Couldn't have supposed it possible," observed 
 John Coachman, looking after the supposed cul- 
 prit with no slight degree of concern expressed 
 in his honest features. " I shouldn't have thought 
 there was a bit of vice in him. Never seed any 
 animal as looked less to require a warranty." 
 
 " Looks are deceptive, John Coachman," 
 was the pithy reply of the cautious Mr. Rack- 
 straw. 
 
 " I knowM he was no good," said the indig- 
 nant gardener. " Such skip-jack fine fellows are 
 never to be trusted out of your sight, and are fit 
 for nothing but to turn the heads of a parcel of 
 weak-minded women-folk, who havn't the sense 
 to respect a man as is honester and usefuller." 
 
 " Marry come up \" exclaimed Mrs. Molly, her 
 red face turning to scarlet, " Pd have you to 
 know, Mr. Cabbage-grower, I'm no more weak- 
 minded than yourself, though I am a woman ; 
 and as for honesty, I shouldn't advise them to 
 brag of it as sells their master's fruit unbeknown 
 to him." 
 
 " Honester, indeed !" added Mrs. Kitty scorn- 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 122 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 fully, who also felt the insinuation. " Charging 
 double for his seeds, isn't a bit better in my 
 opinion, than making free with master's plate/ 5 
 
 "And as for usefuller," joined in Lucy with a 
 particularly contemptuous glance, " what use some 
 people could be put to, I really can't pretend to 
 say — unless it be as a scarecrow/' 
 
 Poor Sandie knew of old, it was a hopeless 
 matter to attempt to answer either one of his op- 
 ponents; nevertheless, the charges now made 
 against him, and the laugh that was raised at his 
 expense, exasperated him extremely. He was 
 about to retort when he thought of the odds 
 against him, and prudently held his tongue. 
 
 " For my own part/' added Mrs. Molly, " I can't 
 help saying I pities the young man. Nobody knows 
 what temptation he might have had, that is to say 
 provided he took any thing; for it ain't quite 
 clear to me as he did, though I is weak-minded/' 
 
 The last words were given with especial em- 
 phasis, and a look intended to annihilate her 
 fellow-servant. Her observation brought to the 
 recollection of all, the want of anything like proof 
 of the imputed dishonesty of the new footman, 
 and this led to one or two observations made in 
 his defence.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 123 
 
 Mr. Rackstraw, with his customary prudence, 
 hoped James would be able to clear his character. 
 John Coachman ventured upon an anecdote, 
 shewing the facility with which false charges 
 might be made against respectable upper ser- 
 vants, particularly coachmen ; and the women one 
 and all thought it a burning shame, so well be- 
 haved and genteel a young man should have had 
 his good name taken away. Sandie dared not 
 venture to express his thoughts, but he was fully 
 satisfied that hanging ought to be the fate of such 
 an empty coxcomb, as his opponents were so 
 ready to befriend. 
 
 As for Pompey, he had slipped out of the 
 room unobserved, therefore there was no way 
 of judging how he stood affected towards the 
 person, whose merits and demerits they were so 
 busily discussing ; but had they seen the grin on 
 his ebony face, as he was at that moment assist- 
 ing to divest Philip Dormer of his livery, prepa- 
 ratory to that gentleman's taking his departure 
 from Petersham Manor, they need not have been 
 in any doubt as to their dusky friend's senti- 
 ments. 
 
 Notwithstanding that the majority of the Briga- 
 dier's establishment were more nearly agreed as 
 
 G 2
 
 124 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 to the honesty of their new associate, the offence 
 with which he had been charged sunk too deeply 
 into their hearts to be readily removed, and the 
 evening passed off very heavily. Such was the 
 state of things below stairs, but upstairs very 
 little of the same gloom prevailed. 
 
 The delight of Mary Lepel, on hearing who she 
 had got disguised in the house, was unbounded. 
 She seemed as though she could never tire of 
 expressing her wonder, that the handsome, gay, 
 and accomplished Philip Dormer, should have 
 sought to obtain her acquaintance in so singular a 
 manner. She never once thought it necessary to 
 recollect that he was attached to her bosom friend. 
 Her first adventure now assumed a very different 
 aspect to what it had, when her romance received 
 so rude a shock, on the supposed discovery other 
 menial admirer. She remembered with peculiar sa- 
 tisfaction, that throughout Le Grand Cyrus, there 
 was no instance of a heroine being attended by a 
 lover disguised as her servant, who serenaded her 
 on the flute, and sung delightful songs concealed 
 behind a garden wall. Then she thought if some 
 of her schoolfellows knew it, how astonished they 
 would be ; and debated in her mind whether she 
 ought not to invite her intimate associates, Sophy
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 125 
 
 Howe and Fanny Meadows, expressly to tell them 
 of her extraordinary good fortune. 
 
 In all this exultation, the Brigadier's daughter 
 was not without certain feelings of disquietude, 
 as to how she should behave to her disguised 
 admirer, so as not to excite the suspicions of her 
 father or of the servants. There seemed to be a 
 good deal of danger and difficulty in the case, and 
 she was incessant in her applications to her more 
 experienced friend, as to what she should do. 
 
 Mary Bellenden, who had told her dear friend 
 only just as much as she thought proper, laughed 
 at her fears and referred to her Parisian reminis- 
 cences for numberless similar cases ; at the same 
 time cautioning her that it was a mere frolic of 
 Philip Dormer's such as he was being continually 
 engaged in, so that she ought not to think any 
 thing of it. She was fully convinced that now he 
 was known, especially as the discovery had been 
 attended by such disagreeable circumstances, he 
 would remain but a very short time in his present 
 quarters ; but of this she said nothing to her dear 
 friend. 
 
 The truth of her conjectures was soon made 
 manifest; for in the morning the whole house 
 was in confusion. James had disappeared. As
 
 126 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 the valuables had not been disturbed, and there 
 was nothing missing, the Brigadier thought the 
 young man had taken offence, at having been 
 unjustly accused; and in the servants' hall there 
 began to lurk a terrible suspicion, that their ill 
 used fellow-servant, unable to hold up against his 
 disgrace, had gone and made away with himself. 
 Mrs. Kitty almost immediately left her place ; her 
 feelings had been so touched by the uncertain 
 fate of the unfortunate James that she could no 
 longer stay, where she had lived so pleasantly in 
 his company.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 127 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 GEORGE I. IN HIS CABINET. 
 
 This has often made me compare the virtues of great 
 men to your large China jars : they make a fine shew, and 
 are ornamental even to a chimney. One would by the bulk 
 they appear in, and the value that is set upon them, think 
 they might be very useful ; but look into a thousand of 
 them, and you will find nothing in them but dust and 
 cobwebs. 
 
 BERNARD MANDEVILLE. 
 
 Royal palaces are usually looked upon as the 
 head quarters of refinement and good breeding, of 
 elegance and luxury ; there all that ingenuity can 
 devise, and unlimited resources procure, may or- 
 dinarily be found, striving to give to prodigality 
 the aspect of good taste ; and whatever is most 
 attractive in decoration, whether it belong to the 
 chamber or its inhabitants, is called into requisi- 
 tion to confer on both a manifest superiority as 
 far as regards appearance, to all other people and 
 all other places.
 
 128 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 A Court is ever regarded as the holy of holies, 
 of the worldly, and ambitious ; and courtiers, as 
 the tribe of Levi set apart for the performance of 
 its ceremonies. There, personal advantages are 
 insisted on as cardinal virtues, and a handsome 
 style of dress is your only morality ; beauty 
 therefore becomes a positive necessity, and dress 
 a science, that deserves to be held a source of 
 never ending study. 
 
 Among all the great potentates of Europe, the 
 grace of the women and the dignity of the men 
 who constituted the Court, were passports to 
 favour no one thought of challenging. Long 
 before the first quarter of the eighteenth century 
 had been concluded, the influence of this osten- 
 tatious grandeur, and seductive beauty, was para- 
 mount in most of the principal capitals ; in that 
 of Louis XIV of France, and of Augustus of 
 Saxony, it was carried to an extent, that was at 
 once the boast and the shame of the age. 
 
 But it was reserved for the monarch of Eng- 
 land to possess a Court, where there was neither 
 splendour, grace, nor dignity ; where there was 
 neither domestic comfort, nor moral respectability ; 
 where there was nothing but what offended the 
 eye, shocked the ear, and disgusted every moral
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 129 
 
 and intellectual sense. The Elector of Hanover 
 had been called from the government of a poor 
 province in Germany, to take possession of the 
 triple crown of England. It was not for his reli- 
 gion, because no one ever heard of his having 
 any; it was not for his wisdom, for that was 
 equally deficient ; it was not for any personal 
 gifts, because he was as repulsive in aspect, as he 
 was undignified in his carriage. No, it was be- 
 cause he inherited from his mother a claim on 
 the British throne, as the nearest descendant of 
 the Stuarts, professing the Reformed Religion. 
 
 The Elector of Hanover was arbitrary, bigotted, 
 avaricious, and profligate. To his English sub- 
 jects, there seemed to be some mystery connected 
 with his matrimonial existence, that intimated his 
 consort had been got rid of in some peculiar un- 
 warrantable manner; the story was one that 
 seemed to belong to the darker ages, when lordly 
 oppressors flourished in greater vigour than has 
 been known of late years. The Elector of Ha- 
 nover was also stupid, obstinate, passionate, and 
 vulgar. 
 
 There was evidently some mistake in making him 
 a king, for he had neither kingly tastes, nor kingly 
 feelings ; he neither looked like a king, behaved 
 
 G 3
 
 130 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 like a king, nor thought like a king. With such aking 
 the Court may be imagined : it was a representation 
 of the thing, that would have disgraced a com- 
 pany of strolling actors. It was an undisguised 
 exhibition of vulgarity, roguery, ugliness, depra- 
 vity, and meanness ; it was not only a burlesque 
 upon the ordinary appendages to royalty, but it was 
 a caricature apparently expressly designed to turn 
 such an institution into contempt. In this picture, 
 the King and the principal ministers of his plea- 
 sure resembled Dutch representations of the 
 temptations of St. Anthony, where the fair 
 tempters possess features that are a complete 
 antidote to any thing in the shape of the tender 
 passion, and the saint seems as susceptible of 
 any such emotions as the well painted pitcher in 
 the foreground, which is the only thing in the 
 crowded canvass, the spectator is likely to be 
 satisfied with. 
 
 George I. seemed out of place in the palace of 
 St. James 5 . He appeared in his own person to 
 realize to the spectators, two personages familiar 
 to all who were acquainted with old English 
 sports — the Abbot of Unreason and the Lord of 
 Misrule ; but though we neither like the King, 
 nor the favourites male and female who composed
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 131 
 
 his Court, they belong to our story, and we must 
 do the best we can with them. 
 
 We, therefore, without further introduction, 
 place the reader within the palace of St. James' 
 in a lofty apartment hung round with pictures, 
 mostly portraits of the Stuart family, from such 
 able painters as Vandyke, Sir Peter Lely, and Sir 
 Godfrey Kneller. The furniture of the room was 
 extremely rich in crimson velvet, embroidered in 
 the most splendid manner; nevertheless, a slo- 
 venly air seemed to pervade every thing, from the 
 ill hung curtains at the windows, to the mis- 
 placed chairs against the wall. 
 
 There was a profusion of ornaments of every 
 description on the richly gilt tables ; many match- 
 less enamels, some exceedingly rare vases, china 
 ornaments of the most delicate beauty, costly 
 gems, and the choicest specimens of goldsmith's 
 work ; but every thing seemed in confusion, out 
 of place, and jumbled together without taste or 
 order, as if the possessors were ignorant both 
 of their character and value. 
 
 A large Chinese screen stood at one part of the 
 apartment, as though defending from the cold air 
 or the glances of the inquisitive, a particular easy 
 chair, bearing the royal arms of England worked
 
 132 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 in gold, with a table placed near it, or some per- 
 son, who occupied the one and made use of the 
 other. 
 
 The individual seated in the chair was an elderly- 
 man plainly dressed, and still more plainly fea- 
 tured. He wore the usual heavy wig of innu- 
 merable curls ; but it failed to confer dignity on a 
 countenance, particular only for its want of re- 
 finement. Beetling brows, shaded eyes, in their 
 general expression as dull as those of a dead fish ; 
 the lower part of the face was vulgar and sensual, 
 and marked with wrinkles at the corners of the 
 heavy mouth, indicative of distrust and ap- 
 prehension. 
 
 The ordinary look was grave even to sternness, 
 changing frequently to suspicion ; but the more 
 careful observer might have noticed in the fea- 
 tures a wild, uneasy expression, that spoke of a 
 mind disturbed by some secret disquietude. The 
 whole face was without a single gleam of intellect; 
 it gave evidence neither of heart nor of mind ; it 
 seemed to belong to some member of the animal 
 kingdom, as ignorant of human knowledge as in- 
 capable of human sympathies. 
 
 The form was as ungraceful as the countenance 
 was unprepossessing. Physical power had been
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 133 
 
 given at the expense of symmetry, and broad 
 shoulders, large extremities, short body, a pro- 
 truding stomach, and thick legs, seemed rivalling 
 each other which should contribute the greatest 
 share of vulgarity to the general effect. 
 
 At a glance it was easy enough to perceive that 
 the individual seated so clumsily in that splendid 
 fauteuil, within one of the most magnificent apart- 
 ments in the palace of St. James^, was every 
 inch not a king. Nevertheless, he boasted of being 
 monarch of three kingdoms \ and, much more dear 
 to him, was sovereign of a considerable German 
 territory. Yes, for although the snuff-coloured 
 suit did not indicate any very high degree of 
 rank, the broad ribbon across his chest, the star 
 at his breast, and the band below his right knee, 
 pointed him out as George I., by the grace of 
 God, King of England, Scotland and Ireland, and 
 Elector of Hanover. 
 
 King George sat with his legs crossed under 
 his chair, his head bent forward, and his dull eyes 
 staring vacantly at the fire — for though the sum- 
 mer had scarcely departed, a blazing fire was in 
 the grate. There were many papers on the table, 
 but all in confusion, notwithstanding they were
 
 134 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 of vast political consequence, and that some 
 affected human life. 
 
 The King it was evident had quite forgotten he 
 had such important business to attend to ; his 
 thoughts were elsewhere — he was oblivious of 
 kingly duties — he had completely lost sight of 
 his new kingdom. The royal mind had wandered 
 back to scenes that had been unconscious of such 
 dignities. Memory had carried him to the one" 
 sunny spot in the gloomy wilderness of his Past : 
 that spot so rich in bloom, so green in ver- 
 dure. 
 
 The angelic face, whose smiles gave it all its 
 sunshine, again shed her hallowed influence over 
 his threshold; the young creature whose affec- 
 tions he had gained by means so unworthy, made 
 his home that perfect Eden, which exists only in 
 woman's devotion. But that Paradise too had 
 its serpent, and as the crafty features of her first 
 and bitterest enemy obtruded upon his reminis- 
 cences, the royal visionary had sufficient sense of 
 good in his dull and sluggish nature to feel dis- 
 turbed ; and as if to divert his thoughts, although 
 there was a tremendous heat from the grate, he 
 began to poke at the fire with startling vigour.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 135 
 
 This action roused him out of his reminiscences 
 of the brief felicity he had been allowed to enjoy 
 in the well remembered Herenhausen palace of 
 his beloved Hanover ; and he changed his position, 
 glanced uneasily at the contents of the table, 
 looked at his watch, and then rang a silver hand 
 bell. The summons was immediately answered 
 by the entrance from the ante-room of two indi- 
 viduals of swarthy features, large mustachios and 
 beards, black as jet, eyes as full of cunning as of 
 fierceness, dressed in magnificent turbans, and 
 costly Turkish dresses. 
 
 Their sudden apparition might have caused a 
 suspicion to enter the mind of the spectator, that 
 he was in Constantinople instead of in London ; 
 for it seemed altogether out of nature that a 
 Christian monarch should be waited upon by In- 
 fidels. Nevertheless, he was in the English me- 
 tropolis, though these swarthy personages were 
 genuine Mahometans. 
 
 Mustapha and Mahomet had been taken pri- 
 soners by the King many years back, when he 
 held a command in the Imperial army, then 
 engaged in a war against the Turks ; since when 
 they had been employed by their captor in various 
 capacities, in which their freedom from Christian
 
 136 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 scruples was an advantage, and were now holding 
 the post of Pages of the Back Stairs and confi- 
 dential attendants on the person of their royal 
 master, together with various other honourable 
 employments, such as spy, informer, parasite, 
 counsellor, and broker for the sale of government 
 appointments, which they had discovered to be 
 equally profitable. 
 
 Indeed there was very good reason for believing 
 that Mahomet and Mustapha possessed so much 
 influence with the King, that either of them had 
 more power in his hands than all the English 
 ministers put together ; and with a sagacity that 
 reflected credit on their black beards, they were 
 not slow in perceiving the advantage to themselves 
 that might be made to accrue from it. 
 
 " Mustapha \" said the King in German, u who 
 waits ?" 
 
 "The English nobleman, Stanhope, please 
 your Majesty/ 5 replied the Turk, in the same 
 language, after making a humble obeisance to his 
 master in the Turkish fashion. 
 
 66 Any one with him ?'' 
 
 "The English nobleman, Townshend ; and the 
 English Minister of State, Sir Robert Wal- 
 pole."
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 137 
 
 The King uttered a German execration of con- 
 siderable length and intensity. 
 
 " These men are always disturbing me. I can- 
 not be troubled with their long speeches and 
 longer faces, about the ominous state of the 
 nation. Let them be told I cannot grant them 
 an audience this morning." 
 
 Mustapha, making another humble genuflexion, 
 withdrew, with his face turned towards his master, 
 till he had backed himself out of the apartment. 
 Mahomet remained quietly where he had at 
 first placed himself; standing erect, with eyes 
 fixed upon his sovereign, ready to gratify his 
 slightest wish, from simple mendacity up to the 
 most daring assassination. For some time, how- 
 ever, the King 1 either did not observe him, or did 
 not think it necessary to call his services into 
 requisition. 
 
 His eyes were fixed on the fire, and he was 
 again lost in deep reverie ; but an unwelcome 
 remembrance of the handsome and gallant Count, 
 whom his vindictive enemies had pursued till 
 they slaked their vengeance in his blood, once 
 more disturbed the agreeable current of the royal 
 ideas, and with a wild, threatening glance, the 
 King moved himself uneasily in his chair.
 
 138 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 " Mahomet, what have you learnt about the 
 Prince?" at last he observed, as if for the first 
 time conscious of the presence of his attendant. 
 
 " The King's humble slave has heard much/ 5 
 replied the Turk, with the proper salutation, and 
 with as grave an aspect as ever became a Mus- 
 sulman. " The Prince has rode in the park, has 
 gone to the play, has written letters, has received 
 visits from his principal friends, has held much 
 confidential talk with his chamberlain, and has 
 made love to three new English beauties, one of 
 whom is the lady in waiting on his honoured 
 consort." 
 
 " Fool \" exclaimed the monarch, fiercely ; but 
 if fool he was, it was merely after the fashion of 
 his parent, who had exactly in the same way — 
 however completely he now contrived to forget 
 it — neglected a fair and virtuous wife, to intrigue 
 with the first woman who would listen to his 
 addresses. 
 
 "Moreover, your Majesty has to learn from 
 the lips of the humblest of your slaves," conti- 
 nued the man, " that the Prince is believed to be 
 engaged in some secret enterprise. There is much 
 mystery ; many closetings ; words let drop of more 
 than ordinary import, and an air of triumph
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. J 39 
 
 in his Royal Highness's features that seem to 
 point to some action about to be done, from 
 which the most perfect success is anticipated.' 5 
 
 " Idiot \" cried the King, with increased bit- 
 terness. u He is ever intent upon running his 
 worthless head into dangers from which he cannot 
 withdraw it. He must be closely watched, and 
 his principal associates dogged, to ascertain where 
 they go to. See that it be done, Mahomet/ 5 
 
 "The King's will is the law of his slave," 
 answered the subservient infidel. " It has also 
 been stated to me, from a trustworthy source, 
 that the Prince has spoken disrespectfully of his 
 Sovereign and parent, declaring him to be — " 
 
 " Say on \" thundered out the King, finding 
 his swarthy attendant hesitate. " What new 
 ribaldry has he dared to utter V 
 
 " I tremble to repeat it to your sublime Ma- 
 jesty/' said the Turk. 
 
 " Omit it at your peril V shouted the King. 
 
 " c A pig-headed old fool/ Sire ?" added the 
 Mahometan, cautiously edging back from his 
 royal master as he noticed his glaring eye, and 
 livid face ; " f with as little feeling as sense/ may 
 it please you, my most worshipful Lord and Sove- 
 reign, ' and with just such ideas of governing as
 
 140 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 might lead you to become a tyrant to your family, 
 and a slave to your parasites.' " 
 
 It is believed that the whole of this statement 
 respecting the Prince of Wales was a fabrication, 
 invented by those whose interest it was to foster 
 the ill-feeling that existed between father and 
 son ; of which inventions these favourite attend- 
 ants were the ordinary channels of communica- 
 tion. The Prince was not very careful in his 
 expressions, and entertained most unfilial senti- 
 ments ; but whether such words had or had not 
 been uttered by him, they produced all the effect 
 expected from them. 
 
 The King burst out in one of those appalling 
 fits of rage, which of late years had been much 
 too frequent with him ; his face became of a 
 purple hue, and his mouth worked convulsively ; 
 his eyes gleamed with an unnatural ferocity ; and 
 clenching his heavy fists — the lace ruffles that 
 ornamented them could not take anything from 
 their clumsiness — he poured out a volley of curses 
 in the German language, in words so long, and so 
 dissonant, that in their utterance they must have 
 broken the teeth of any one less used to them. 
 
 It is impossible to convey an idea of the 
 innumerable picturesque epithets that burst in
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 141 
 
 an impetuous stream from the royal mouth, or 
 give an adequate conception of the denunciations 
 that rushed like an overwhelming avalanche from 
 the same source. The King, however, had a 
 stock of such flowers of rhetoric not to be matched 
 by any of his royal brethren : — no, not even by 
 that peculiarly abusive Sovereign, his son-in-law, 
 the King of Prussia. 
 
 Mahomet watched his patron's passion with an 
 unflinching gravity that shewed he had become 
 somewhat familiarised with such explosions. He 
 looked on as steady in his features, and as stiff in 
 his drapery, as though he had been but a w r ell 
 modelled figure of wax. 
 
 " Let him be w r atched," cried the monarch, 
 fiercely. " Note all w T ell who come and go. A 
 thousand devils ! Had I but another son I would 
 teach him better conduct. I would make him 
 repent his insolence. I would — " 
 
 Here commenced another burst of unpro- 
 nounceable, as well as of unreasonable hatred, 
 which was evidently the tail of the storm, for the 
 gloom in the King's saturnine countenance, seemed 
 breaking off, and his savage glances became again 
 dull and spiritless. 
 
 The wily Mussulman saw the change, and with
 
 142 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 his invaluable experience was prepared to take 
 immediate advantage of it. He had done his 
 duty to those who paid him well, and now sought 
 to avail himself of an opportunity to perform a 
 still deeper duty he owed himself. The firm of 
 Mustapha and Mahomet, ever since they had 
 been established in England, had carried on a 
 traffic, the profit arising from which their brethren 
 in Asia could never have surmised. They had 
 traded with a capital which must have put them 
 to very little inconvenience in the management, 
 large as it was, for it consisted of impudence, lies, 
 and cunning. In their long experience of their 
 royal master, they so thoroughly knew how to 
 take advantage of his follies and weaknesses, that 
 on their arrival in a country where all who sought 
 his favour were strange to his person, they 
 immediately commenced selling their services to 
 whoever chose to apply to them ; and the singular 
 extent of their agencies was only to be equalled 
 by the contradictory nature of their several pur- 
 poses. 
 
 It is quite impossible that any Christian should 
 have possessed that happy indifference to objects 
 which these Turks exhibited in their various trans- 
 actions with the multitude of their clients. They
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 143 
 
 received bribes from foreign ambassadors to betray 
 their King ; — they were equally well rewarded by 
 the King to mislead the foreign ambassadors ; 
 the King's mistresses feed them, to keep them ac- 
 quainted with the transactions of the King's 
 ministers ; the King's ministers feed them better 
 to put them in possession of the intrigues of the 
 royal mistresses ; they were paid spies employed 
 by the father to watch the son ; they were no less 
 well remunerated informers for the son against 
 his parent. The leading parties in the interest 
 of the Pretender had made it worth their while to 
 keep them informed of the sayings and doings of 
 him whom they obstinately continued to call the 
 Elector of Hanover ; and the great promoters of 
 Protestant ascendancy saw equal reason to hold 
 them in their pay in expectation of early infor- 
 mation from the friends of " the Chevalier.'' 
 
 No philosophers ever learned such practical 
 philosophy as was displayed by these well known 
 personages ; they so well combined the inap- 
 proachable art of doing everything, with that 
 equally valuable one of doing everybody. Then 
 the rogues looked so respectable in their beards ; 
 so dignified in their turbans; so honourable in 
 every article of their infidel costume.
 
 144 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 The simple applicants for Court patronage to 
 whom these things were unfamiliar, could not 
 avoid being influenced by the impression that 
 such great trowsers must indicate very great men ; 
 — their confidence in such imposing garments 
 might have been lessened had they known that in 
 his own country the highest dignity the hook- 
 nosed Mustapha had ever attained, was that of 
 attendant on a public bath ; whilst the martial- 
 looking Mahomet, before, in company with his 
 associate, he had quitted the City of the Sultan 
 to war against the Franks, had been satisfied with 
 the humble emoluments of a Turkish barber. 
 
 Mahomet waited with his customary air of 
 reverence, till the last ebullition of the King's 
 passion had subsided. He did not speak. He 
 had become too great an adept in the etiquette of 
 palaces to venture to say a word without having 
 been addressed; but he made a movement that 
 attracted the King's attention from the dreary 
 reverie into which he had again been lost. 
 
 " Have you any further communication ?" in- 
 quired he in a careless tone. 
 
 i( If your slave might presume to speak, great 
 King," answered the other, with that oriental 
 recurrence to forms and phrases that had been so
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 145 
 
 familiar to him in early life. " An honest and 
 loyal subject seeks to be your Majesty's purveyor 
 of wines/' 
 
 " Let him possess the office/" said the King, 
 without giving the applicant a thought. 
 
 "The King's goodness is inexhaustible/' ex- 
 claimed the Turk, with his customary salutation ; 
 '•" it is a well that hath never failed. May the 
 generosity of my Lord the King long continue 
 to be the refuge of the deserving ; and emboldened 
 by such condescension, if the King's slave might 
 presume to recommend a worthy, estimable, and 
 industrious artizan, who aspires to be tailor to the 
 royal household ?" 
 
 "Let the man have what he wants," answered 
 the King in the same careless manner. This 
 fresh concession gave rise to a few more nourishes, 
 and a few more recommendations ; all of which 
 were agreed to without the slightest demur : — 
 the King never troubling himself in any instance 
 to ask so much as a single question as to the com- 
 petency and respectability of the parties for whom 
 his Page of the Back Stairs was applying. 
 
 George I. did not like trouble ; and then the 
 King was well aware that he was not in a posi- 
 tion to know whether such persons were or were 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 146 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 not worthy of their recommendation, and that 
 the less he inquired into their fitness, the less 
 was he likely to be deceived. 
 
 The dark eyes of the sinister looking Mahomet 
 acquired additional brightness with every success 
 he achieved ; and when his list of clients had been 
 gone through without the slightest variation in 
 the result, their brilliancy became extraordinary. 
 But his business with the King of England was 
 much more comprehensive. Favouring the views 
 of roguish tradespeople was a trifling matter : he 
 had nobler constituents, and he was not the man 
 to neglect their interest, when there could not be 
 a doubt he was also advancing his own to an 
 amazing extent. 
 
 Mahomet was a profound master of his art. 
 He had served a long apprenticeship to dissimu- 
 lation, and had all the resources of bamboozling 
 at his fingers' ends. He never failed to make the 
 best use of any opportunity he could get, to 
 advance the business of those persons who had 
 chosen to place confidence in him ; therefore, 
 he presently commenced proceedings on behalf of 
 the King's mistresses, of his ministers, of his son, 
 and of the foreign ambassadors ; giving to each, 
 with an admirable sense of rectitude, their due
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 14/ 
 
 importance, until all these delicate matters 
 having been disposed of, he felt upon him the 
 strong conviction that he had done his duty ; and 
 the very pleasant assurance in so doing of having 
 earned an extremely handsome sum in ready 
 money. 
 
 The King, during this colloquy had once or 
 twice changed his position ; — had even looked at 
 his watch, and had rose from his chair to stir the 
 fire ; but he seemed to think better of it, for he 
 returned to his seat, as if he preferred amusing 
 himself by paring his finger nails with a pen- 
 knife, which occupied him for the remainder of 
 the time the conscientious Mussulman was ad- 
 vancing the interests of his employers ; all which 
 period his Majesty contented himself with put- 
 ting a few questions when something in any way 
 aroused his attention, or expressing himself either 
 commendatory or mandatory, on the points 
 brought in review before him. The Monarch 
 then put an end to the interview, by commanding 
 his Page of the Back Stairs to send Mustapha to 
 him. Mahomet received the command with an 
 air of the most profound respect, and with a 
 dignity that would mightily have astonished his 
 
 h 2
 
 148 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 old customers in Constantinople, he retreated 
 backwards out of the apartment. 
 
 The King was again alone ; but never was he 
 less alone than in his solitude. He reclined in 
 his luxurious chair, and fixed his eyes on the 
 fire ; but they saw nothing of the bright cheering 
 flame that met their gaze : they beheld only the 
 face of a beautiful and sorrowing woman, who 
 was pining in hopeless wretchedness, a close 
 prisoner in a remote castle in Germany. 
 
 There surely is an omnipotence in innocence 
 which defeats the objects of the vile and the 
 tyrannical. At least so felt the powerful King, 
 as notwithstanding her strict and secure captivity, 
 and the legions of spies and guards who sur- 
 rounded her night and day, to prevent her sad 
 story becoming known, he could not but confess 
 he felt her influence even in the seclusion of his 
 own cabinet. 
 
 He was lost in a reverie, staring on the flaming 
 coals among which he fancied he beheld the 
 tearful eyes and pallid features of the victim of 
 his tyranny, when the monarch was startled by 
 the entrance into the cabinet of the stout Mus- 
 sulman whom he had dispatched some time
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 149 
 
 previously to dismiss his ministers. Poor men ! 
 surely they had fallen on evil times when, while 
 seeking the Sovereign on affairs of pressing 
 emergency, they were denied an audience, and 
 summarily sent about their business, till the 
 King was at leisure, by a rascal who neither of 
 them could have seen in his house, without 
 entertaining reasonable apprehensions for the 
 safety of the plate-chest. But they had served 
 their apprenticeship to their new King, and there- 
 fore with a praiseworthy patience, on hearing the 
 unceremonious intimation of the royal will, quiet- 
 ly took their departures, leaving word they would 
 repeat their visit in a couple of hours, as they had 
 pressing business with his Majesty. 
 
 " Who waits ?" was again the query of King 
 George ; for the entrance of either of his Turk- 
 ish attendants uncalled, always denoted some one 
 applying for an audience. The fierce-looking Page 
 of the Back Stairs made his salutation. 
 
 " Illustrious Lord !" exclaimed he, " I am de- 
 sired to state that the Herr von Sauercraut, the 
 master of the royal kitchen, craves an audience 
 on affairs of great importance connected with his 
 office." 
 
 " The Herr Sauercraut ! What on earth can he
 
 150 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 want with me ?" exclaimed the King in evident 
 surprise. 
 
 " Illustrious Lord, the master of the royal 
 kitchen will only tell his business in the King's 
 ear,'' replied the Mahometan gravely. 
 
 " Let him enter." 
 
 No sooner was the command given than the 
 highly respectable Mr. Mustapha backed himself 
 to the door, and in the lapse of a few seconds he 
 entered with a very short square backed man, 
 with more corporation than was sufficient to 
 prevent his seeing any part of his legs. He 
 possessed a good tempered jolly face, in which 
 the eyes and nose were very much sunk — a round 
 bullet head, set off by a short wig; and was 
 dressed in the court fashion, very handsomely 
 embroidered, with ruffles and sword ; so that the 
 master of the kitchen was able to take his place 
 in the Mall with the best gentleman in town. . 
 
 The Herr von Sauercraut advanced into the 
 King's cabinet making a succession of bows, 
 that proved at least his possessing more flexibility 
 of back than strangers would have given him 
 credit for ; his honest features all the while im- 
 pressed with the strongest feelings of reverence 
 and awe.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 151 
 
 • 
 
 " Good day, Herr Sauercraut/' exclaimed the 
 King to his master cook, who was an established 
 favourite. 
 
 " Von please your Majesty/ 5 replied the little 
 man with great emphasis. " Herr von Sauercraut. 55 
 
 The King, though a man of solemn turn of 
 mind, could not refrain from smiling at . the im- 
 portance which his old domestic attached to the 
 aristocratic prefix to his name. 
 
 " Well, Herr von Sauercraut/' said his Majesty 
 with emphasis as marked as his own, " what was 
 your reason for requesting an audience ?" 
 
 " Please your Majesty I wish to resign/ 5 an- 
 swered the master of the kitchen with the air of 
 a martyr at the stake. 
 
 " Resign, man !" cried the King in genuine as- 
 tonishment — for the idea of one of his country- 
 men giving up the very profitable occupations his 
 succession to the throne of England enabled him 
 to bestow upon them, appeared incredible. 
 
 " Yes, please your Majesty, I wish to re- 
 sign. 55 
 
 u Fellow, have you lost your wits ? Have you 
 grown so fat you can see no more of your own 
 interest than you can of your shoe-buckles ? I
 
 152 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 could not have believed there was such a block- 
 head in all Germany \" 
 
 " Please your Majesty, I am well aware of the 
 extraordinary sacrifice I am about to make ; and 
 be assured that as a true Hanoverian it could 
 only be with extreme reluctance that I am 
 about to give up a good place in this rich king- 
 dom, where there is such plenty to be got, wdth 
 such exceedingly little trouble in getting it. But I 
 entertain scruples of conscience, please your 
 Majesty." 
 
 " Scruples of conscience, sirrah ! Scruples of 
 conscience because you are enabled to make a 
 rapid fortune with little trouble ? Why the man's 
 raving." 
 
 " The fact is, please your Majesty, that the dis- 
 honesty in the royal kitchen has risen to such a 
 height that it can no longer be tolerated w r here 
 there is any due regard for decency. In our be- 
 loved Hanover, that there was some picking and 
 stealing I will not deny ; but then it was done 
 with something like moderation. But in England 
 my fellow servants, who in their own country 
 were satisfied with robbery in a modest and 
 respectable way, plunder in a manner that makes
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 153 
 
 one's hair stand on end. From morning till 
 night, please your Majesty, the royal kitchen seems 
 turned into a den of thieves, each vieing with the 
 other in stealing the stores. 
 
 " I am too true an Hanoverian to be foolishly 
 repugnant to any reasonable acquisitions that 
 bounteous Heaven puts in one's way in other 
 countries; but the wholesale plunder which has 
 for some time been going on around me astounds 
 me, and I fear this rich country under such a 
 system, must soon become as impoverished as 
 our beloved Hanover. 
 
 " I think it my duty, please your Majesty, to 
 make known this awful state of things, and request 
 your Majesty's gracious permission to retire to 
 your Electorate to spend the little competence 
 which under Divine Providence, by industriously 
 availing myself of opportunities for adding to 
 my gains at the expense of your Majesty's 
 excellent English subjects, I have been enabled 
 to obtain." 
 
 The King listened to this complaint with an 
 air half puzzled, half amused. That peculation 
 was going on to an immense extent in the palace, 
 his ministers had long made him aware ; but why 
 this should be made known to him by one of the 
 
 h 3
 
 154 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 depredators, he could not understand. There was 
 no precedent of a Hanoverian ever before having 
 been dissatisfied with the plundering propensities 
 of his compatriots, 
 
 George I. certainly felt some difficulty in dis- 
 posing of so unusual a case; but at last he 
 seemed to understand the true nature of the ap- 
 plication, and the natural stolidity of his counte- 
 nance gave way before the idea that entered his 
 mind of its extreme absurdity. 
 
 " I am much moved, Herr von Sauercraut," 
 replied the King, as gravely as he could, " at the 
 very uncomfortable position in which you seem 
 to be placed; but let your consolation exist in 
 the knowledge, that this fine country of England 
 will bear an extraordinary amount of pillage — more 
 indeed than would destroy a dozen Hanovers, in- 
 clusive of the provinces of Bremen and Verden, 
 Herr von Sauercraut, I recommend you to add to 
 the fortune a generous Providence has allowed you 
 to accumulate, at the expense of these wealthy 
 people, by staying where you are. If you find 
 your fellow servants engaged in the work of 
 plunder, steal too ; and," he added in a significant 
 manner, u Herr von Sauercraut, be sure you steal 
 enough."
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 155 
 
 The face of the master of the kitchen brightened 
 up amazingly at this gracious speech ; and with a 
 smile of intelligence, and a profusion of bows, he 
 lost no time in backing himself out of the royal 
 presence, a happier man by a great deal than when 
 he entered it. 
 
 Scarcely had this highly respectable personage 
 taken his departure, when the vigilant Mustapha 
 returned, and after his customary genuflexions, 
 announced that the principal ministers of state 
 craved an audience on affairs of the greatest im- 
 portance. The impatience of the sovereign, at 
 this announcement was very striking ; the gleam 
 of good humour that had lighted up his heavy 
 countenance at the close of the interview with 
 his master of the kitchen, faded entirely, and his 
 face resumed its wonted sullenness. At this 
 moment, the Turk murmured some observation 
 respecting the probability of the ministers having 
 something of importance to lay before the King 
 relating to Hanover. No sooner was the hint 
 given, than it was acted upon. With a more 
 serene aspect, the German King gave permission 
 for his English ministers to enter the apartment j 
 and presently as their names were announced,
 
 156 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 there entered Lord Stanhope, Lord Townshend, 
 Sir Robert" Walpole and Mr. Secretary Craggs. 
 
 The ministers approached their sovereign with 
 the air of delinquent school boys going up to 
 their pedagogue to receive the reward of some 
 such heinous transgression as robbing an or- 
 chard ; they filed up solemnly in their full wigs 
 and handsome court suits, making due obeisances 
 as they approached. The King kept his seat, and 
 recognizing them as they presented themselves, 
 held out his hand to each in turn, who respect- 
 fully kneeling, raised it to his lips. 
 
 As the early portion of the conversation which 
 ensued was of a very political character, we do 
 not think it sufficiently interesting to report it. 
 We need only state that the subject under dis- 
 cussion was Hanover, wh^se interests were to be 
 regarded at any and every sacrifice to those of 
 England. Much was said about the different 
 states that composed the Electorate ; of Zelle and 
 Calenberg, of Luneburg and Lauenburg, and a good 
 deal of expected additions to it, such as Bremen 
 and Verden ; and various plans were considered for 
 their protection, improvement, and prosperity. 
 
 Once or twice, one or other of the Ministers
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 157 
 
 attempted to turn the conversation to subjects, 
 in which the interests and happiness of England 
 were involved ; but it was soon found to be a 
 hopeless affair. Hanover was the only theme : 
 the most important questions of foreign policy 
 were treated with perfect indifference, when the 
 Electorate was not to be considered in them ; and 
 what related to government at home was regarded 
 as quite unworthy of consideration, simply be- 
 cause Hanover had nothing to do with it. 
 
 Sir Robert Walpole gave an intelligent look to 
 his colleagues, and then boldly sought to create 
 a diversion. It appeared that the real object of 
 the desired audience was very different from the 
 ostensible one. The ministers of the crown had 
 become so deeply impressed with a sense of the 
 wide-spreading mischief caused by the dishonesty 
 of the King^s German favourites, male and female, 
 that they had determined on making a represen- 
 tation of the evil, and a proper remonstrance 
 against its continuance. 
 
 It was amusing to observe the diplomacy of 
 the ministers in bringing the subject before 
 their august master. How cautiously they avoided 
 giving him offence, by any expression or allusion, 
 such as the case really required ; how tenderly they
 
 158 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 passed over the delinquency of his beloved Schu- 
 lenburg; how slightly they dwelt on the disho- 
 nesty of his dear Kielmansegge, though if these 
 women had their deserts, they would have been 
 forced to change their fine apartments in the 
 palace, for bare standing room in the pillory ; and 
 with what extreme considerateness they men- 
 tioned the wholesale and impudent system of 
 plunder which the German attendants on the 
 King, from the chief favourite, Count Bernstorf, 
 to the very humblest scrub in the kitchen, had 
 commenced almost as soon as they arrived in the 
 country. 
 
 But their diplomacy availed them little. The 
 Elector of Hanover, in becoming King of Eng- 
 land, had not entered into a contract to make his 
 Hanoverian subjects abstain from following their 
 natural inclinations ; and those who had ventured 
 to accompany him to his new territories he felt 
 bound to protect in the indulgence of such incli- 
 nations, however greatly his English subjects 
 might surfer. 
 
 This idea developed itself in full force as he 
 listened to the courtier-like statement of Sir 
 Robert Walpole, and the monstrous interference 
 with his royal prerogative apparent in this pro-
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 159 
 
 ceeding, caused his harsh countenance to assume 
 an aspect more and more severe. What was the 
 use of being King, he thought, if he could not 
 reward his faithful followers ; and it was a gross 
 offence in any person to interfere with the indus- 
 trious efforts of his enterprising countrymen to 
 make their fortunes. 
 
 The King very sharply took his ministers to 
 task for presuming to remonstrate with him, on 
 a state of things so necessary to the welfare of 
 his faithful Hanoverians. He did not deny their 
 dishonesty ; but it was evident that in the royal 
 mind honesty was a thing of which be had no 
 definite conception. He perhaps had had no 
 experience of it in his Electorate, for he seemed 
 to doubt it had any existence in his kingdom. 
 He even went so far as to assume that Sir Robert 
 Walpole and of course his colleagues, sold their 
 influence at Court in the same business-like man- 
 ner for which his German mistresses and atten- 
 dants were so remarkable. 
 
 It was in vain for the ministers to have dis- 
 claimed such a proceeding. Sir Robert did attempt 
 to say something respecting the necessity of inte- 
 grity to public men, which Lord Stanhope thought 
 proper to echo, and which Lord Townshend varied
 
 160 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 by a representation of the more imperative neces- 
 sity of sovereigns discountenancing whatever tend- 
 ed in the slightest degree to lessen public confi- 
 dence. Mr. Secretary Craggs then took up his cue 
 and alluded to the growing popularity of the 
 Pretender, and the rapidly increasing discontent in 
 Parliament and elsewhere, arising from the waste 
 of the public treasure, and the traffic in offices of 
 trust and emolument, by foreigners. 
 
 These observations only served to increase the 
 royal displeasure ; the King was convinced he was 
 exceedingly ill used, and under that impression 
 he very quickly got into a passion ; spluttering 
 out a torrent of long German words anything but 
 complimentary to his audience ; but as only one 
 of them could understand what his Majesty said, 
 and as he did not choose to hear, the offensive 
 expressions passed unheeded. 
 
 King George ended the interview by dismissing 
 his ministers, and though each came forward to 
 shew the usual mark of respect, before he bowed 
 himself out of the cabinet, the King sat in sul- 
 len dignity, making an unintelligible muttering 
 noise, much like what might be expected from 
 a caged bear, with whom some unwarrantable 
 liberty was being attempted.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 161 
 
 Sir Robert and his colleagues had departed, and 
 the King was left to the enjoyment of his own 
 reflections, which invariably afforded as much 
 gratification to his solitude as the night's solitary 
 reflections to a criminal about to be hanged in 
 the morning. The same pale accusing face pre- 
 sented itself, the same sense of insecurity filled 
 his soul, the same conviction of his own folly as 
 well as criminality took possession of his 
 thoughts ; till unable to bear these torturing re- 
 miniscences and impressions, he suddenly started 
 up from his chair with a mighty effort, called 
 loudly for his attendants, and on their entrance 
 announced his intention to visit the apartments 
 of Mademoiselle Schulenburg.
 
 162 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE HEIR IN AMBER. 
 
 Pretty ! in amber to observe the forms 
 Of hairs, or straws, or dirt, or grubs, or worms I 
 The things we know are neither rich nor rare, 
 But wonder how the devil they got there. 
 
 POPE. 
 
 We must now beg the reader to follow us 
 from the King of England's cabinet, to the 
 dressing-room of the heir apparent. It was 
 situated in a different part of the same palace, 
 the windows overlooking the gardens and the 
 park. A very handsome chamber, with rich cor- 
 nices and mouldings, superb hangings, rare pic- 
 tures, costly furniture, and most valuable deco- 
 rations of every description suitable to a Prince's 
 dressing-room. 
 
 The same negligence and want of taste was 
 however quite as visible here as in the apartment
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 163 
 
 described in the last chapter. It was encumbered 
 with all sorts of incongruous things — hunting- 
 whips, fowling-pieces, swords, pistols, fishing- 
 rods, walking-sticks, mirrors, pipes, snuff-boxes, 
 books, fiddles, flutes, pomade jars, and bottles of 
 strong waters, seemed mixed up with various 
 articles of dress ; stockings, shoes, boots, breeches, 
 coats, hats, in almost endless number and variety 
 placed on chairs, tables, cabinets, and in fact 
 wherever room could be found for them. 
 
 At a small gilt table near one of the windows 
 there sat a young man rather short of stature, 
 and somewhat pinched in features. The expres- 
 sion of his countenance would have been re- 
 pulsive, had not a sense of good humour, mixed 
 with animal enjoyment visible in the lower part 
 of his face, redeemed in a slight degree the narrow 
 forehead and unintelligent eyes that made his or- 
 dinary look so very ordinary. There certainly was 
 no one feature that could be styled handsome. But 
 though plain, there was a deal of good nature in 
 the countenance, that gave it a great advantage 
 over the dull and harsh physiognomy of his father. 
 For be it known that the portrait we have been 
 attempting to sketch is that of the Prince of 
 Wales.
 
 164 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 His Royal Highness was wrapped in a silk 
 dressing gown, and wore a night cap of the same 
 material, the only finery he seemed disposed to 
 wear — for he usually affected a citizen like plain- 
 ness in his dress; writing materials were before 
 him, near which were a silver candlestick and ex- 
 tinguisher, and an empty Sevres cup and saucer 
 of the most beautiful pattern, which evidently had 
 not long since contained chocolate. 
 
 He sat or rather reclined back in a cumbrous 
 arm chair, looking steadfastly but laughing uncon- 
 strainedly at a person standing before him, in a 
 sky blue velvet suit laced with gold, who notwith- 
 standing he now bore the appearance of a man of 
 fashion, might with very little difficulty have been 
 recognised as the ci-devant genteel footman of Bri- 
 gadier General Lepel, whom we beg to re-intro- 
 duce to our readers with his proper name and 
 office, as the Honourable Philip Dormer, one of 
 the Gentlemen of the Bedchamber to his Royal 
 Highness the Prince of Wales, and believed to be 
 very much in his confidence. 
 
 Now it deserves to be known that the Prince, 
 though a much more amiable character than his 
 father, was scarcely less obstinate or less opinia- 
 tive. He had sufficient sagacity to see that the
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 165 
 
 King was despised by his people, and his filial 
 love was far from being sufficiently strong to pre- 
 vent his endeavouring to take advantage of it. He 
 had suffered too much and too often from his 
 fathers tyrannical temper, to feel either respect 
 or affection for his person ; there was another and 
 deeper cause for his dislike of his progenitor, of 
 which the reader will be fully informed in the 
 course of this narrative. 
 
 There was not much feeling in the Prince ; but 
 there was some, and the wonder is that after the 
 pains that had been taken to fill his mind with 
 the most hateful errors and prejudices, he should 
 possess any. 
 
 The shallow intellect and the still shallower 
 heart of his father had been cunningly filled with 
 all sorts of suspicions and apprehensions. He 
 was made to doubt even that his son was indebted 
 to him for his existence, of which a certain hand- 
 some Count had the reputation. This was one 
 great source of his hatred to his heir — a hatred 
 which was industriously fanned by malicious gos- 
 sips, and industrious mischief-makers, who ear- 
 nestly strove to make the mutual ill-feeling of 
 father and son, conducive to their own inte- 
 rests.
 
 166 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 The Prince had sufficient wisdom to see that 
 some deference to public opinion was necessary 
 in the reigning family ; and although he was very 
 far from being likely to make this deference in his 
 own case as perfect as it ought to be, he was de- 
 sirous of establishing in his own personal atten- 
 dants, a state of things as opposite as possible to 
 the repulsive appearance and contemptible con- 
 duct of those of the King. 
 
 One of the worst features in the Prince's disposi- 
 tion was the little attention he cared to bestow upon 
 the seventh commandment ; but unfortunately 
 this was a vice so common among the Princes 
 and nobles of Europe, that under the name of 
 gallantry it was looked upon as an accomplish- 
 ment worthy of being, classed amongst the fine 
 arts. Even in this, something redeeming might 
 be found : he was too clumsy a seducer to be very 
 dangerous, and too good natured to allow of any 
 of those infamous schemes for the destruction of 
 virtue, which were so common at the period. 
 
 He was listening, evidently greatly amused, at 
 the narrative of his handsome and well-dressed 
 Gentleman of the Bedchamber, who was making 
 the Prince acquainted with his adventures at 
 Petersham Manor.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. ] 6J 
 
 " And so this Lepel is bootiful. Eh, Dor- 
 mer } v said the heir apparent in imperfect En- 
 glish, — in using which, by the way he contrasted 
 favourably with his father, who would not take 
 the trouble to learn a word of the language of the 
 people he had been called upon to govern." 
 
 " Stab my vitals, your Royal Highness," ex- 
 claimed Dormer in a seeming ecstasy, " 1 have 
 seen nothing so young and fresh, and so extremely 
 lovely in all my travels; — may I perish if her 
 very look is not poetry." 
 
 " Boetry ! I like boetry mineself, vid blenty of 
 bassion and bathos, and all de oder tings you read 
 in der poetry of Mr. Bope." 
 
 " Ah, Mr. Pope never wrote anything so beau- 
 tiful in his life as a smile from Mary Lepel. 
 I vow it is beyond poetry or painting either." 
 
 u Beyond bain ting ! but I will shudge for 
 mineself; I will see Madam Lepel vid mine own 
 eyes. Is she more bootiful as Mrs. Howard ?" 
 
 "There is no comparison, your Royal High- 
 ness, strike me dumb \" 
 
 " No gombarison you zay ! Dat is all vat you 
 call vudge. Der Howard is der most agribble 
 vomans as I see in England. Has she such goot 
 gomblexions as der Howard ? — has she such
 
 168 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 goot veatures ? — has she such exzellent brobor- 
 tions ?" 
 
 " May I perish if Mary Lepel's complexion is 
 not an exquisite, an incomparable combination 
 of lilies and roses. Her features are redolent of 
 youth and innocence; and her proportions are 
 such as can only be rivalled by the master-pieces 
 of Grecian art. Stab my vitals !" 
 "Den she must be a Veenix \" 
 "She is a Phoenix undoubtedly, your Royal 
 Highness." 
 
 " Veil I vill see her vid mine own eyes : but 
 does she not abbear mosh too young looking, 
 tink you, for to take her blace vid de oder 
 vemales as shall attend my vife r" 
 
 " I cannot but consider such a position exactly 
 suited to her. Positively the very thing I' 9 
 
 e( I vas tinking how vonderful her booty must 
 abbear ven she gome to Court to be blaced 
 peside dat bair of dam antiderluvian grockodiles 
 der Schulenburg, and der Kielmansegge/" 
 
 At this droll reference to his father's mistresses, 
 the Prince laughed very heartily, and of course 
 his Gentleman of the Bedchamber not less so. 
 
 " But vat you say of der Bellenden ?" inquired 
 his Royal Highness.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 169 
 
 Philip Dormer had suffered considerably from 
 coming in contact with this young lady ; but 
 he harboured no malice. He gave a faithful de- 
 scription of her personal attractions ; her extreme 
 vivacity; her lively conversation; her graceful 
 deportment ; and her numerous accomplish- 
 ments. 
 
 "Dis is von greater Veenix dan de oder," 
 observed the Prince at the conclusion. "Your 
 desgription make my mout water. But I vill zee 
 her vid mine own eyes. Dere most be vat you 
 call vudge, in all dese vine vonderful tings you 
 say of dese two young beobles." 
 
 " If there is a word of fudge, your Royal High- 
 ness, may I perish V 9 replied his Gentleman of the 
 Bedchamber, scarcely attempting to conceal a 
 smile. " I doubt I do the young ladies justice. 
 — 'Pon my life, they are vastly handsome. I vow 
 and protest, in the name of Venus and all the 
 Graces, you might search throughout England and 
 not find two more lovely creatures." 
 
 " Inteed !" cried the Prince, with a look of 
 much humour. "Do you pretend to zay, dat 
 dey shall be more handsome den my fader^s bair 
 of dam antiderluvian grockodiles, der Schulen- 
 burg, and der Kielmansegge I 9 ' 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 170 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 " Oh ! I would not dare to compare them with 
 such incomparable beauties. — Stab my vitals !" 
 said Philip Dormer, joining in his royal master's 
 ready mirth. 
 
 " But you have not told me noting of Madam 
 Howe, and Madam Meadows V 3 observed the 
 Prince. "Who knows, berhaps, dere is more 
 Veenixes ! ° 
 
 "Your Royal Highness shall determine/' re- 
 plied his companion. " I made my way to Isle- 
 worth, where General Howe resides, and watch- 
 ing my opportunity, got into the house in the 
 disguise of a poor soldier wounded in Marl- 
 borough's wars. The young lady heard I was 
 in the kitchen, and sent for me ; and her father 
 and mother being gone to town, as I very well 
 knew, she took upon herself the duties of mistress 
 of the house. She was careful I should have 
 plenty to eat and to drink, and encouraged me to 
 relate my history. And a pretty history I made 
 of it. Stab my vitals ! if I did not prove myself 
 as fine a soldier as ever drew sword, it was no 
 fault of mine. The young lady was mighty free 
 with her tongue, and appeared anxious to make 
 me feel perfectly at home." 
 
 " Dat is all ver goot, Dormer ; but vas she as
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 1 /l 
 
 bootivul as some beobles have said ¥* inquired 
 the heir apparent. 
 
 "I will describe her; and I can do so with 
 some minuteness, as I regarded her with particu- 
 lar attention/' said his informant. 
 
 " Vat an apominable zly rogue ! Dere vas not 
 no need vor you to be so bartiklar. But tell me. 
 how bootivul she vas." 
 
 " I found Sophy Howe possessed of a com- 
 manding figure, with finely shaped shoulders and 
 bust, and monstrous pretty hands and feet. May 
 I perish, if in shape she looked not a perfect 
 Juno ; but her face was that of a Venus, and a 
 most seducing Venus too ! Stab my vitals ! I 
 never saw such full dark eyes, or so rich a com- 
 plexion ; and the mouth was so ripe, so rosy, and 
 so voluptuous." 
 
 "Mein Got, vas dere ever such bainter of a 
 bretty voman's bortrait ! I shall be in love vid 
 her bevore I see her. I shall lose mine avections 
 to dis sharming desgription. I shall be ravish 
 vid de mere talk of her ribe rosy mout. But is 
 dis exquist young greeture von dat shall veel de 
 bowerful bassion of love in her bretty liddle 
 heart r" 
 
 " I vow her beauty is of that character which 
 
 i 2
 
 172 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 breathes of passion in every feature. Her glance 
 is thrilling ; her smile melts the very soul.' 5 
 
 " Ah, you zly rogue ! I tink your soul been 
 melting till, as beople zay, dere is all der vat in 
 der vire." 
 
 The Prince laughed at his own joke, and his 
 attendant, though disclaiming being enamoured 
 of Madam Howe, joined cheerfully in his Prince's 
 good-humour. 
 
 " Is she more bretty as de Montacu ? — She is 
 vat I call most agribble — most sharming — most 
 vascinatin' of all der bretty vomans dat come to 
 my vife." 
 
 " Lady Wortley Montagu positively possesses 
 many and great attractions ; but I protest to you, 
 the beauty of Sophy Howe is far more seduc- 
 tive." 
 
 ee Go on vid your story, mine vriend." 
 
 " I took my departure as soon as I had com- 
 pleted my observations ; and carried with me her 
 good wishes, and some sterling evidence of the 
 young lady's generosity. After inquiring my 
 name, she said at parting : c Farewell, Tobias 
 Bastion, I am sorry the General is not at home, 
 for he would have rewarded an old fellow-soldier 
 handsomely ; but the next time you come by, I
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 173 
 
 hope you will be more fortunate.' 'Egad I con- 
 sidered Tobias Bastion to have been sufficiently 
 fortunate in having escaped the lynx eye of the 
 General; but I merely made my acknowledg- 
 ments, and went my way. 5 ' 
 
 u Berhaps you vos not mosh to plame. But 
 vat did you do ven you vent to de oder young 
 vomans ?" 
 
 " I had great difficulty in getting admission to 
 Madam Meadows. She was living with an old 
 maiden aunt at Twickenham, and their notions 
 were so mighty rigid, that the appearance of a 
 man in their cottage would have caused not less 
 commotion than an earthquake. But when I 
 have a duty to perform to my Prince, if I pay 
 any heed to minor obstacles, strike me dumb !" 
 
 " Dere is noting so goot, and so brober, as your 
 devotion. I am mosh beholden to you. But 
 broceed.'* 
 
 "At last, by monstrous good fortune, I as- 
 certained that a French master was required by 
 the old lady to finish her niece's education ; and 
 getting the necessary recommendations, I pre- 
 sented myself as Monsieur Le Grand. I sup- 
 pose I represented the Frenchman admirably, 
 for after a formal examination touching my
 
 174 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 religious opinions, and moral sentiments, by a 
 most solemn looking old woman, who scrutinized 
 me from top to toe through her spectacles, I was 
 engaged to improve Madam Meadows in the 
 French language." 
 
 " Vat a Brotean berson ! Mine Got, you 
 vould as readily turn Jew, or babist, or der teufel 
 himself, if tings looked likely enough." 
 
 ie Your Royal Highness does me too much ho- 
 nour, stab my vitals ?' replied the Gentleman of the 
 Bedchamber, with a courtly bow. " I was shortly 
 introduced to my pupil, whom I found prodigious 
 starched and formal for so young a person, yet a 
 beautiful little angel in face and figure. Tall, slim, 
 with fine eyes and light hair. Perhaps the least 
 seductive of the four; but undoubtedly an ele- 
 gant and beautiful young woman, who would be 
 an ornament to your Royal Highness' Court." 
 
 " Oh, ah, yes — berhaps I must also have dis 
 young vomans to attend my vife. She vill do to 
 helb put de old grocodiles out of gonzeet of dem- 
 selves ; but how did you get rid of your bubil ?" 
 
 " May I perish if she did not get rid of me, 
 your Royal Highness." 
 
 " Got rid of you ! Is it bossible ? Exblain your- 
 zelf, mine vriend I"
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 175 
 
 tt At the close of our very first lesson, I ven- 
 tured to pay her a compliment, which she re- 
 ceived with so frigid a look, a spectator might 
 have fancied I had just put some gross affront 
 upon her. The same day I received an intimation 
 from the aunt, that her niece declined receiving 
 any more French lessons ; and, stab my vitals ! if 
 she did not reprove me, for the unwarrantable 
 freedom I had taken." 
 
 u Dat is goot joke," exclaimed the Prince laugh- 
 ing heartily, " excellent goot joke, bositively. You 
 vas sent apout your bizness vid von vlea in your 
 ear, eh, mine goot vriend ? You must have peen 
 too barticular in your attentions, or I should zay 
 in paying your gompliments to der young lady. 
 But I must zee dem mine own zelf. I must zee 
 if they be der beerless greatures you have said.' 5 
 
 u A better opportunity cannot present itself 
 than the one now available. By the visit to Mary 
 Lepel of her three school-fellows, the four beau- 
 ties, your Royal Highness has thought worthy to 
 become attendants on the Princess, will then be 
 under one roof, and you can either see them there, 
 or meet them whenever they take their customary 
 walks in the neighbourhood.' 5 
 
 " Dat is drue, and I will take der virst obbor-
 
 176 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 toonity to see dein broberly ; but now subbose 
 you and I go to my vife's abartments. I must bay 
 my respect, and all dat sort of ting." 
 
 The Prince of Wales summoned his valet- de- 
 chambre ; and in a short time, with this person's 
 assistance, a handsome wig was made to take the 
 place of his Royal Highnesses night cap, and a 
 sober looking coat replaced his silk dressing gown, 
 whilst his loose slippers gave way to shoes with 
 gold buckles ; then with his sword at his side 
 his hat on his head, and a cane in his hand, he 
 went whistling out of the room.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 177 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 A PRINCESS RECEIVING MORNING VISITS. 
 
 Formed to gain hearts that Brunswick's cause denied, 
 And charm a people to her father's side. 
 
 TICKELL. 
 
 Caroline Princess of Wales was apparently 
 the most quiet and unobtrusive creature ever dis- 
 covered within the precincts of a Palace. She had 
 enjoyed the benefit of being educated at the Court 
 of Prussia, under the superintendence of one of 
 the most accomplished women of her age ; and 
 while she possessed a mind of a superior order, 
 and attainments rarely met with in royal females, 
 it is not extraordinary that she affected an inclina- 
 tion for the abstruser branches of knowledge, and 
 indeed for many scientific pursuits, which were 
 then rarely sought after, by individuals of her sex. 
 
 The times were not favourable for learned 
 
 i 3
 
 178 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 women. Female influence had been exhibited on 
 a grand and most imposing scale in the capitals of 
 France and Saxony ; but it had not its source in 
 intellectual superiority. The old Electoress So- 
 phia, the mother of George I, was one of the very 
 few royal females, who about the close of the 
 seventeenth century, assumed the distinction of a 
 " blue-stocking." Her pretensions, however, were 
 far from being as exalted as her rank ; and though 
 she did not want the high opinion of several emi- 
 nent scholars she patronised, it was only by con- 
 trast with the very unintellectual personages who 
 constituted the Hanoverian Court, that she could 
 be styled a learned lady. 
 
 There is reason for believing that it was from 
 the Electoress, the Princess of Wales, whilst do- 
 miciled with her after her marriage, contracted 
 her learned propensities ; for in her society she met 
 several distinguished scholars, and continually 
 heard conversation of the most edifyingly philoso- 
 phic character ; and when she arrived in England 
 with her husband, the company she was at first 
 thrown into at St. James's, in which her dull 
 father-in-law, his ill-educated mistresses, and his 
 somewhat weak-minded son, were the principal 
 personages, made her sigh for the more congenial
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 179 
 
 associates, she had been used to converse with 
 under the auspices of the old Electoress. 
 
 The Princess of Wales discovering how uncom- 
 fortably she was placed, aspired to create a Court 
 of her own. She sought to obtain her wishes with 
 equal cleverness and tact. She tried to attach to 
 herself and her husband whatever talent she could 
 come in contact with ; no matter in what direction 
 it displayed itself, and with this design in view 
 she assumed an extraordinary capacity for all sorts 
 of knowledge. Nothing seemed to come amiss to 
 her ; the most abstruse points of philosophy, the 
 most doubtful questions of divinity, the most dif- 
 ficult scholarship, arts, sciences, and manufactures, 
 seemed to come to her as familiarly as though she 
 had studied them all her life. 
 
 With these apparent predilections it is not sur- 
 prising that the Princess Caroline should have been 
 sought by all the rising divines, scholars, poets 
 and men of scientific acquirements England con- 
 tained ; and that to her judgment was submitted 
 every discovery in astronomy, chemistry, or any 
 other branch of study, as well as sermons, poems, 
 critical essays, plays, and books of every descrip- 
 tion. Her tables were covered with new books, 
 her rooms crowded with new aspirants for dis-
 
 180 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 tinction. She soon found that there would be 
 less difficulty than she had anticipated, in having 
 a Court of her own ; still a great deal was to be 
 done, to prevent suspicion in her father's mistres- 
 ses or distrust in her husband. 
 
 The Princess carried on her proceedings with 
 singular caution and prudence. To the King she 
 was always extremely submissive and respectful ; 
 to her husband she conducted herself as though 
 she never interfered with politics, and nothing 
 was so far from her mind, as to do anything which 
 did not appear to emanate from him. The very 
 idea for which the Prince took such credit — that 
 of her possessing female attendants, taken from 
 distinguished English families, who should be as 
 remarkable for their beauty and accomplishments, 
 as the foreign women about the King were for 
 their ignorance and ugliness — had been started by 
 her, though with her usual policy, she allowed it 
 to seem to have its origin in a suggestion of her 
 husband's. With the same prudence, she per- 
 mitted the Prince to pursue his plans, of which 
 she had early intelligence, without apparently 
 taking the slightest notice of them, while she pri- 
 vately took measures to secure her own. 
 
 She was well aware of her husband's gallantries,
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 181 
 
 but never allowed them to trouble her repose. 
 She had been long enough in the family to know 
 the dreadful penalty her mother-in-law had paid, 
 for attempting to check the coarse licentiousness 
 of one member of it; and though the Prince was 
 less disgraceful in his conduct in this respect, than 
 his father, she doubtless saw nothing in his cha- 
 racter to make her desirous of risking her liberty, 
 from over anxiety about his affections. 
 
 She was good looking. That is to say pos- 
 sessed a German physiognomy that was far from 
 being disagreeable ; and her figure was at least ma- 
 jestic if not graceful. Her manners at this period 
 were peculiarly winning — a womanly sympathy for 
 every thing worthy of it, continually shewing 
 itself; and her conduct as a wife was irreproach- 
 able. She won all hearts by her good feeling, and 
 what is scarcely credible, notwithstanding his nu- 
 merous infidelities, so well conducted herself, that 
 she never forfeited her husband's respect, or di- 
 minished his admiration. 
 
 Such was Caroline, Princess of Wales, on that 
 very morning with which we opened our chapter. 
 She was engaged, in accordance with a Parisian 
 fashion then coming into vogue amongst the 
 dames of distinction in this country, in receiving
 
 182 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 her morning visitors in bed. Her toilet had evi- 
 dently been made most carefully, her head-dress 
 being exquisitely elaborate, and such part of her 
 night dress as was visible, a sort of robe of mus- 
 lin of the most delicate texture, seemed admirably 
 adapted to display her well developed bust to ad- 
 vantage. 
 
 The bedstead was placed in an alcove, hung 
 with costly draperies of rose-coloured silk, richly 
 embroidered, and very elegantly arranged ; a mag- 
 nificent white satin quilt, with the royal arms and 
 other devices worked in gold, covered the figure 
 of the Princess, and the bed furniture, excepting 
 the delicate satin pillows, and some portion of the 
 dazzlingly white cambric sheet trimmed with very 
 rich lace. 
 
 A silver rail that run along the alcove, guarded 
 the royal lady from too close approach from the 
 numerous visitors who pressed forward on such 
 an occasion, to pay their respects and to share in 
 the lively gossip with which they were expected 
 to entertain the recumbant occupant of the alcove. 
 Close to this barrier, leaning forward with an air 
 of courtly respect, were several ladies and gentle- 
 men, clad in the richest suits allowable for paying 
 morning visits to a Princess.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 183 
 
 It was a handsome and capacious apartment, 
 redolent of the most delicate perfumes. Pictures of 
 figures in a semi-nude state, from the seductive 
 pencils of Rubens, Titian and Annibale Caracci, 
 adorned the walls. A magnificent Turkey carpet 
 was spread over the floor, and heavy but gorgeous 
 draperies of velvet and gold, curtained the win- 
 dows. Some beautiful marble busts of children, 
 and small figures from the antique, stood on gilt 
 brackets, whilst larger groups were to be seen on 
 pillars placed in convenient corners. 
 
 The furniture was exceedingly rich ; the chairs, 
 tables, cabinets, and mirrors of the costliest cha- 
 racter of Louis XIV. The whole aspect of this 
 apartment shewed how completely the magnifi- 
 cence of the French Sardanapalus had become na- 
 turalised in an English palace, where too, let it be 
 remembered, the sovereign possessed about as 
 much taste as his night cap ; but it must not be 
 forgotten also, that its fair occupant did possess 
 taste, and in her own quiet way was careful to 
 have it properly established. 
 
 The Princess Caroline received company ac- 
 cording to this French fashion, but received only 
 select friends of both sexes, to whom she desired 
 to shew particular honour, or whose society was
 
 184 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 particularly agreeable to her. The persons present 
 on this occasion consisted of several individuals, 
 of whom some were in attendance on her Royal 
 Highness, and the rest were casual visitors. Of 
 the first the most conspicuous was a young and 
 pretty woman, who stood close to the head of the 
 bed, and to whom the Princess frequently referred, 
 by styling her " My good Howard." 
 
 This was Mrs. Howard, a married lady, filling 
 the office of Lady of the Bedchamber to the 
 Princess, and according to general report was one 
 of those fair Englishwomen who had the reputa- 
 tion of receiving the attentions of the Prince. The 
 liaison was as well known to the wife, as to the 
 husband ; but the former never allowed it to inter- 
 fere with her appreciation of her too enticing at- 
 tendant ; the Princess did, however, it must be 
 confessed, sometimes make her Lady of the Bed- 
 chamber feel her insignificance, notwithstanding 
 the Prince's partiality ; but she did it in a manner, 
 which none perceived. 
 
 On all occasions she seemed to regard her with 
 more than usual affection, and, as the person most 
 interested in the affair, treated her with much 
 consideration, it is not to be expected that the 
 lookers on should be more squeamish. Indeed it
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 185 
 
 was anything but the fault of the age to regard 
 this sort of criminality too severely ; in too many 
 instances vice in high places in a much more of- 
 fensive form was permitted to pass without the 
 deduction of a tittle of the respect paid to the 
 station it disgraced. 
 
 Mrs. Howard was apparently of a very cheerful 
 temper, with lively hazel eyes, and a remarkably 
 seductive mouth. Her form was well developed, 
 perhaps a little too full to be strictly beautiful, 
 but it belonged to the type of womanly beauty 
 with which Rubens seemed so thoroughly en- 
 amoured, and no doubt was very likely to entice 
 a man like the Prince of Wales, whose tastes were 
 not more delicate than his principles. Mrs. 
 Howards behaviour to her royal mistress was 
 marked by a singular degree of devotion, as though 
 by the most strict attention to her wishes, in 
 other matters of duty, she desired to make amends 
 for a departure from it in one important point. 
 
 The elderly gentleman in the claret coloured 
 coat and a rare diamond ring on his finger, was 
 the Duke of Devonshire — a courtier whose inti- 
 mate acquaintance with the English Court had 
 been of infinite service to the Princess of Wales. 
 He was a great gossip, and what is more sometimes
 
 1S6 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 an exceedingly agreeable one, full of pleasant 
 anecdotes of interesting personages from the Court 
 of Charles II. down to that of Queen Anne, and 
 abounding in those conversational resources so 
 pleasant to the sex that can make entertainment 
 out of the most trifling materials, and furnish 
 forth a delightful repast of scandal, ridicule, or 
 inuendo, according to the humour of the listener. 
 Near him was another nobleman, his junior by- 
 some dozen years ; but though possessed of less 
 experience, he was not less a courtier than his 
 neighbour. This was Lord Bellenden, the father 
 of the young friend of Mary Lepel. Though in 
 the prime of life, it was evident he had lived too 
 fast for his constitution ; it was equally true he 
 had lived too fast for his fortune. The crows 3 
 feet about the eye, the sunken cheek, the puck- 
 ered mouth, and the colourless visage, contrasted 
 unfavourably with the clearer and better pre- 
 served physiognomy of the wealthier peer. Lord 
 Bellenden had been extremely dissipated in his 
 youth, and had made no improvement in his 
 manhood. His frequent visits to the gaming- 
 table had early impoverished him ; nevertheless he 
 had for a long time contrived to maintain himself 
 in what in those loose times was considered a
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 187 
 
 respectable position, almost entirely by his su- 
 perior skill in those fashionable games quadrille, 
 whist, ombre, pharaoh, brag, and hazard. 
 
 Lady Bellenden had been dead some time, and 
 as his daughter had just completed her education, 
 his Lordship on her return to England thought 
 something might be done with her more advan- 
 tageous to his fortunes than either luck or skill 
 at the cards. He knew the peculiar aspect of af- 
 fairs at St. James's, and as far as the King was 
 concerned, he was well aware there was but an 
 indifferent prospect for her in that direction. Had 
 she been as ill-looking as she was handsome, and 
 as dismal as she was lively, he might have enter- 
 tained hopes of her being properly distinguished 
 there. Nevertheless if ugliness reigned paramount 
 with the sovereign, he was sufficiently well in- 
 formed to know, that under the auspices of the 
 heir apparent such attractions as Miss Bellenden 
 possessed would have full sway. 
 
 To the Prince of Wales he was well known. 
 He now became constant in his attentions to the 
 Princess, and had contrived, by taking unusual 
 pains, to make that lady much pleased with his 
 society. He had even ventured to speak of his 
 daughter, and of her extreme desire to be pre-
 
 188 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 sented ; and had hinted that should Mary Bellen- 
 den enjoy the good fortune of making a favour- 
 able impression on her Royal Highness, nothing 
 could afford him greater gratification than that 
 his daughter should have the honour of serving 
 the Princess, in any honourable capacity for which 
 she might be thought fitted. 
 
 To these complimentary speeches, the Prin- 
 cess of Wales made equally complimentary an- 
 swers, encouraging his secret wishes in the mostgra- 
 cious manner, and making the most friendly inqui- 
 ries after the fair candidate for her service. Lord 
 Bellenden had not the least idea that the Princess, 
 long before he ventured to mention the subject, 
 was as well acquainted with his daughter's at- 
 tractions and accomplishments as he was himself, 
 and possessed a far more accurate knowledge of 
 her disposition ; nor could he have surmised that 
 the favourable way in which she listened to him, 
 arose from the satisfactory report she had re- 
 ceived of the young lady from her constant ad- 
 viser in all such matters, his frequent companion 
 at the bed-side of the Princess, the gossiping 
 Duke of Devonshire. 
 
 The third person in the group possessed of a 
 very dark complexion, with a somewhat reckless
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 189 
 
 expression, yet a handsome and commanding 
 figure, well set off by his velvet coat and breeches, 
 was Evelyn Pierrepoint, Marquis of Dorchester. 
 He was not an exclusive favourer of the heir, 
 though found among the select few who were 
 morning visitors to his consort ; for he quite as 
 frequently was seen at the unselect evening par- 
 ties of the King. 
 
 It was the desire of the Marquis to be in favour 
 with both, and his morning and evening visits he 
 continued with equal punctuality and enjoyment \ 
 not without hopes that such well balanced respect 
 would ultimately be of essential service to him.' 
 His zeal in favour of the House of Hanover was 
 so far acknowledged, that he had a promise from 
 the King to be raised to the ducal dignity, and 
 the Hon. Wortley Montagu, who had lately 
 married his daughter, the celebrated Lady Mary, 
 was created one of the Lords of the Treasury. 
 
 The Marquis was a gay man of pleasure, a 
 member of different convivial clubs, a frequenter 
 of the opera ; and though he had arrived at a 
 time of life when such follies are usually put 
 aside, he still endeavoured to maintain a reputa- 
 tion for gallantry, by keeping half a dozen mis- 
 tresses, and continuing a tender intimacy with
 
 190 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 nearly a score of other ladies of his acquaintance, 
 whom he allowed it to appear, were anxious to 
 be similarly at his devotion. 
 
 The daughter of such a man, who as early as 
 at eight years of age, was nominated by him in a 
 moment of drunken revelry, a member of the 
 famous Kit-Cat Club, to the licentious members 
 of which, she was immediately introduced, and who 
 amid caresses, praises and hiccups drunk her 
 health in bumpers, and admitted her claim to be 
 on the list of the club, could not be expected to 
 be a model of feminine propriety. She had not 
 been married more than two years, yet the con- 
 duct of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, had 
 begun to be the theme of much scandalous ani- 
 madversion ; and among her innumerable admi- 
 rers — for she had long continued the toast of the 
 town — the Prince of Wales was considered one of 
 the most favoured. 
 
 Let scandal say what it would, it was evident it 
 produced no impression against her or upon her ; 
 for there Lady Mary stood, in the gayest of the 
 many gay dresses for which she was celebrated, 
 with her handsome yet rather bold face, dressed in 
 bewitching smiles, joining in the conversation with 
 more freedom than any person present, and giving
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 191 
 
 utterance to witty remarks, that amused the 
 whole circle, and delighted the Princess. 
 
 Lady Mary was a beauty, and had been a 
 beauty long enough to get somewhat tired of the 
 homage she had enjoyed. She was weary of 
 flattery, and satiated with adoration. Her charms 
 had been said and sung till every form of compli- 
 ment had become common-place, and she longed 
 for another sphere where she might feel some 
 excitement in being worshipped. She had been 
 so dosed with admiration ever since her child- 
 hood, that she felt so much distaste for anything 
 approaching it, as to be in the habit of acting with 
 perfect indifference to opinion. 
 
 This was often put down as recklessness ; and 
 the eccentricities in which she chose to indulge 
 were attributed to a character lost to all sense of 
 delicacy. In this the world too frequently did 
 her injustice. She was much too careless of what 
 she said and did : she was in the position of an 
 absolute sovereign, who considers himself above 
 opinion, and conducts himself as under such an 
 impression ; but Lady Mary was not worse than 
 the mass of married ladies at that period, and in 
 many respects better than those who reflected the 
 most severely on her conduct.
 
 192 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 After saying many smart things she carelessly 
 directed her attention to the ornaments with 
 which the apartment was profusely decorated, 
 leaving the Duke of Devonshire, Lord Bellenden 
 and her father, to entertain the Princess according 
 to their own fancy ; and after amusing herself with 
 examining the china figures, and the wax fruit, 
 and the family miniatures that were placed about 
 the tables, she took up a recent volume of Mr. 
 Pope's poems, and quietly seating herself in a 
 well-cushioned chair, prepared to read with as 
 much indifference to the place in which she was, 
 as she would have felt had she been at home. 
 Court etiquette could not have been more com- 
 pletely set at nought; but Lady Mary was a 
 privileged person, and the Princess did not think 
 it necessary to notice her eccentricity. 
 
 Lord Bellenden presently took his leave. He 
 had scarcely departed when Lord Peterborough 
 was announced, and there entered another of 
 the gay spirits so characteristic of that age, who 
 by their actions and their manners made it appear 
 they never intended to grow old. His Lordship 
 had been a soldier and a statesman, and in both 
 characters had greatly distinguished himself: but
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 193 
 
 he was no less celebrated as a wit than as a man 
 of gallantry. And now that he had lived at least 
 fifty-six years of almost constant action, his spirits 
 were still as high even to wildness, as they had 
 been in the meridian of his hot youth. 
 
 He came forward, a tall man, very thin in 
 figure, with a dashing look, clad in a military 
 dress, a black wig tied behind him, and jack boots, 
 which contrasted curiously with the court dresses 
 of the other male visitors of the Princess. The 
 Earl of Peterborough received a most gracious re- 
 ception. His disregard of foppishness, notwith- 
 standing his character for gallantry, was as well 
 known as Lady Wortley Montagu's neglect of the 
 customary ordinances of propriety; and received 
 the same toleration. Even the long thick stick 
 with an ugly head carved at the top, with which he 
 had entered her Royal Highnesses apartment, 
 only raised a laugh from the Princess ; which of 
 course was echoed by her visitors, who knew his 
 Lordship too well to be otherwise than amused 
 at his bringing with him, into a lady's bed- 
 chamber, such a formidable companion. 
 
 The Earl then told a good joke about his 
 wishing to testify his loyalty, and knowing no 
 better way to show it, than by carrying with him 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 194 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 the likeness of the person the King most de- 
 lighted to honour. This hit at Mademoiselle 
 Schulenburg increased the mirth ten-fold ; even 
 the Marquis found it irresistible, despite of his 
 anxiety to do nothing that should jeopardise his 
 promised promotion. 
 
 Lord Peterborough then poured forth a quick 
 succession of jests, that kept the Princess and 
 her visitors continually laughing. One that seemed 
 to amuse them most was his relation of a prac- 
 tical joke he had just played upon a poor dancing 
 master, that shewed his love for this sort of mis- 
 chief, and the recklessness with which he indulged 
 in it. 
 
 Proceeding along in his chariot, the streets 
 being very dirty from constant rain, his Lordship 
 observed a long lank Frenchman in pearl-coloured 
 silk stockings, most carefully and deliberately 
 picking his way over the flags. The opportunity 
 tor fun could not be thrown away ; so the Earl 
 called on his coachman to stop, flung open the 
 door of the chariot, and drawing his sword, leaped 
 out and ran after the man. The dancing master 
 seeing a gentleman approaching in so menacing a 
 manner, was taken with a sudden panic that made 
 him totally regardless of his beloved pearl-silk
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 195 
 
 stockings. He took to his heels through the 
 mud, followed by his pursuer as hard as he could 
 lay foot to the ground. In a very short time the 
 delicate colour of the Frenchman's hose was con- 
 cealed under a mass of splashes ; when the Earl 
 sheathed his sword, and returned to his chariot 
 delighted with the perfect success of his experi- 
 ment. 
 
 At the conclusion of this anecdote the Duke 
 of Devonshire left the apartment ; immediately 
 after which were announced the Duchess of 
 Marlborough and Brigadier General Lepel. The 
 stately old Duchess liked very little venturing 
 as a mere complimentary visitor into a building, 
 where but a few years back she had been more 
 powerful even than the sovereign ; and she had 
 as little relish to pay compliments to any member 
 of a family who, according to her notion, had 
 slighted the great Duke, her husband ; but she 
 wished to serve the Brigadier, and though some 
 thought she would have preferred accompanying 
 him into the presence of the Pretender, she had 
 promised to use her interest with the daughter- 
 in-law of the Elector of Hanover to forward an 
 object her old admirer had so much at heart, as 
 
 K 2
 
 196 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 obtaining for his daughter the honour of being 
 one of the Princess's personal attendants. 
 
 The Brigadier had made himself particularly 
 elegant on this interesting occasion. He had on a 
 new suit of rich velvet cut in the last fashion ; and 
 he looked so fresh and so gay, as with all the de- 
 votion of a gentleman of the Court of Queen Anne 
 he handed the Duchess towards the alcove, that 
 if it were possible to find room on the walls of his 
 house for another portrait of the Brigadier, a new 
 one ought assuredly to represent him in his present 
 satisfactory position, appearing at Court under the 
 auspices of his venerated patroness. 
 
 As for the great Duchess, though in her secret 
 soul she felt nothing but contempt for the whole 
 family of Brunswick, and every step she took in- 
 creased her disdain of every thing and every body 
 about them, she marked her sense of the depar- 
 tures from established etiquette which she had 
 noticed since she had entered the Princess's apart- 
 ments by the most rigid observance of every 
 ceremony exacted from visitors to royalty, when 
 their admission was left to her flat. 
 
 To see the old lady dressed out in the towering 
 head-dress and stiff drapery of a former reign, sail-
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 197 
 
 ing in so stately a manner along the apartment, 
 stopping at certain places to make the most pro- 
 found reverences, yet from the expression of her 
 proud eye, entertaining feelings diametrically op- 
 posed to all such ceremonies, was to behold some- 
 thing worthy of remembrance. She looked neither 
 to the right nor to the left ; one comprehensive 
 glance at her entrance which had taken in every 
 thing — the unheard of indecorousness of the 
 thoughtless reader, and the intolerable indelicacy of 
 a bed-room reception—had sufficed to give to her 
 mind a just conception of the whole scene. She 
 recognised the apartment as the favourite sitting- 
 room of her royal mistress ; and without bestowing 
 any further notice of any thing or any person in 
 it, she advanced with a rigidity of muscle an 
 earthquake would not have disturbed, till she 
 came before the Princess. 
 
 Her Royal Highness welcomed her stately 
 visitor very cordially; but this was far from 
 producing the effect intended by it ; it was in the 
 opinion of the old lady undignified, and she sat 
 down the consort of the Prince of Wales as la- 
 mentably deficient in breeding. After having, 
 with all the stiffness of ceremony, paid her com- 
 pliments, and presented her friend — which she had
 
 198 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 been permitted to do very much by herself, as the 
 Earl of Peterborough and the Marquis of Dor- 
 chester had withdrawn from the rail as she ad- 
 vanced, to allow of her approach — she commenced 
 an address worthy of being a speech from the 
 throne, in which she mentioned the Brigadier's 
 very proper desire to devote his only daughter to 
 the service of her Royal Highness, and entered 
 into a detailed catalogue of the young lady 5 s 
 qualifications for such a distinction. 
 
 The Princess listened more graciously to this 
 intimation, than she had done to the one she had 
 so recently heard from Lord Bellenden : — this 
 may have resulted partly from the extremely 
 favourable opinion she had heard of the young 
 lady, and partly from a desire to propitiate so 
 powerful a person as the Duchess of Marlborough. 
 When the Duchess had ended, her Royal High- 
 ness expressed a profusion of thanks for the 
 trouble she had taken in endeavouring to gratify 
 a favourite purpose of hers ; and turning to the 
 delighted Brigadier, entered into an animated 
 conversation with him respecting his daughter, of 
 whose tastes, thoughts, and feelings, she ap- 
 peared exceedingly well informed ; and concluded 
 a multitude of obliging expressions by intimating
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 199 
 
 a wish that Madam Lepel should be presented to 
 her as early as possible. 
 
 The Duchess barely allowed the Brigadier to 
 express his acknowledgements for such extreme 
 considerateness, when she prepared to take her de- 
 parture. At this moment the Earl of Peterbo- 
 rough joined them, and addressed the Duchess as 
 an old friend, heartily and unceremoniously. The 
 Duchess of Marlborough was one who never 
 forgot or forgave an affront, and she remembered 
 that the Earl had once, not only opposed the 
 great Duke, her husband, but had paid court to 
 her personal enemy, u Lord Oxford^s abigail," 
 the artful Mrs. Masham. The Duchess knew too 
 well what was due to the presence of the Consort 
 of the heir apparent, to express her feelings ; she 
 allowed, therefore, nothing more to escape her 
 than a dry expression of her thanks for the 
 honour the Earl of Peterborough had conferred 
 upon her. Then, without deigning any further 
 notice to him, or to any of the other persons 
 present, she paid her parting compliments to the 
 Princess. 
 
 If the style in which the stately old lady en- 
 tered the room had been a sight worth seeing, 
 much more curious was the manner of her exit.
 
 200 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 She held her person as upright as a dart ; and at- 
 tended by the Brigadier, piloted herself out of the 
 apartment with her face turned to the Princess, 
 with a precision that might have been thought ex- 
 traordinary, by those ignorant of the frequency 
 with which she had previously performed the 
 same manoeuvre. 
 
 In the course of the next half hour many other 
 visitors were announced, who gossiped, and went 
 away, and then a message coming that the Prince 
 of Wales awaited her Royal Highness in the recep- 
 tion-room, she graciously dismissed her company ; 
 and summoning the attendants, whose duty it 
 was to dress her, assisted by her "good Howard/ 5 
 prepared for the business of the toilet.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 201 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE FOUR BEAUTIES. 
 
 Up jumped Lepel and frisked away, 
 
 As though she ran on wheels ; 
 Miss Meadows made a doleful face, 
 
 Miss Howe * * * 
 
 LORD CHESTERFIELD. 
 
 This was a great— a joyous day, at Petersham 
 Manor ; — at least it was expected to be a proud 
 and happy one to its beautiful little mistress. It 
 was the anniversary of her sixteenth birthday, 
 and the Brigadier seemed disposed to make it as 
 joyous for her as possible. With that object in 
 view, a grand party had been invited to dinner, 
 which she cared very little about ; but amongst 
 the guests she had been allowed to invite her 
 school favourites, who were to stay two or three 
 days. 
 
 Mary Bellenden was still with her. She had 
 
 k 3
 
 202 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 exhausted her stock of Parisian airs and graces ; 
 yet not without producing its due impression on 
 the Brigadier's daughter. When the accom- 
 plished young lady heard that there would shortly 
 arrive two more of her less refined school-fellows, 
 whose astonishment and envy she might excite, 
 she greatly rejoiced. She would have been bet- 
 ter pleased had she been allowed to dazzle the 
 whole school, with the once dreaded Penelope 
 StifFandstern at its head. 
 
 To declare the truth, the simplicity of her 
 young friend's character was becoming tedious to 
 her ; her romantic disposition amused her at first, 
 but the very trifling nature of the sources from 
 which it was nourished, gave it too childish an 
 air to suit the more experienced beauty. If it 
 had not been for the genuine affection with which 
 Lord Bellenden's daughter regarded her, that 
 finished young lady would have long been 
 thoroughly sick of her society. As it was, she 
 made amends for her toleration of the daughter, 
 by flirting with the father. The old beau was not 
 insensible to such advances, and taxed his gallan- 
 try to the utmost to recommend himself to his 
 fair young guest. 
 
 Mary Bellenden was well aware of the exer-
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 203 
 
 tions that were being made to get her favourably 
 placed at Court, where she was extremely am- 
 bitious of going ; but of her own destination Marv 
 Lepel had no other means of guessing, than 
 existed in the mysterious hints of her father, and 
 the now encouraging prognostications of his 
 honoured visitor, the great Duchess of Marl- 
 borough. 
 
 That stately old dame had latterly been very 
 regular in her visits ; and had every day she 
 arrived, spoken more and more favourably of her. 
 The fact is, the sweetness of disposition visible in 
 the readiness with which the beautiful girl sub- 
 mitted to her most ungracious observations, had 
 in some degree made tender the tough heart of 
 the great lady ; and she began to take a decided 
 interest in her success. She had even conde- 
 scended to be one of her guests on her birth- 
 day. 
 
 The Duchess, although become so favourably 
 disposed towards the daughter of her old admirer, 
 did not appear to regard her young companion 
 with anything like the same consideration. Mary 
 Bellenden had played off all her accomplish- 
 ments; — every Parisian grace had been exhausted 
 before the Duchess ; but the old lady looked on
 
 204 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 with a cold, contemptuous glance, which all the 
 young one's vivacity could not change. 
 
 Lord Bellenden* s daughter thought proper to 
 resent this, with an air of studied indifference 
 towards the great Duchess : — often entering into 
 conversation with her friend, without the slightest 
 reference to their stately visitor. The Duchess 
 of Marlborough was too old a courtier to be 
 disconcerted by such a manoeuvre, and the only 
 result was, a quiet display of the great lady's 
 contempt, which provoked the saucy beauty still 
 more. 
 
 This humiliating behaviour of their visitor made 
 Mary Bellenden long for more congenial society; 
 and the birth day of her friend came as welcome 
 to her, as if she had been the person to whose 
 honour it was devoted. When the chariot ar- 
 rived which contained two other young ladies and 
 their band-boxes, it was difficult to say who re- 
 ceived them with most gratification, her fair 
 hostess or her fair friend. 
 
 The visitors came early ; they proved to be 
 Sophy Howe, a lovely young creature, who pos- 
 sessed more audacity even than the all-accom- 
 plished daughter of Lord Bellenden ; and Fanny 
 Meadows, who was as reserved and quiet in her
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 205 
 
 demeanour as the other was free and daring. As 
 soon as the guests had entered the house and had 
 been presented to the Brigadier — whose reception 
 was a happy mingling of the welcome that ought 
 to be given to the youthful companions of his 
 daughter, with the attentions due to their sex and 
 beauty — they all scampered upstairs to the familiar 
 chamber, where, amid a thousand references to 
 the well remembered establishment at Newington 
 Butts, they began to unburthen their mutual 
 confidences. As all four persisted in making 
 themselves heard at the same moment, it is quite 
 impossible to convey the effect of their revela- 
 tions ; but nothing seemed to be said in vain, 
 notwithstanding the little listening there appeared 
 to be time for. 
 
 The new comers soon learned the romantic ad- 
 venture of the fictitious footman ; and they in 
 their turns made their friends acquainted with 
 the mysterious visit of the disbanded soldier, 
 and the audacious conduct of the French master. 
 The four young people then compared notes, and 
 their description of the individual who had ma- 
 naged to obtain access to them, agreeing in many 
 particulars, they one and all came to the conclusion
 
 206 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 that Tobias Bastion, Louis le Grand 5 James 
 Pebbles and Philip Dormer were one person. 
 
 This extraordinary discovery gave rise to a 
 great deal of ingenious speculation respecting the 
 motives of Mr. Dormer in employing such dis- 
 guises. Of these, Lord Bellenden's daughter 
 considered herself perfectly well aware ; but she 
 did not think proper to make known her infor- 
 mation. The identity of the footman with the 
 Princess Gentleman of the Bedchamber had been 
 established ; and it seemed equally probable that 
 he was the maimed soldier and the ill-behaved 
 Frenchman; in short, with the shrewdest of the 
 fair schoolfellows, there could remain no doubt 
 of this. 
 
 The next subject of consideration was, what 
 was to be done. There was a good deal of ap- 
 prehension even in the laughter that arose 
 amongst the fair gossips, whilst treating of this 
 extraordinary attempt to deceive them. It was 
 mysterious, thought Sophy Howe. Fanny Mea- 
 dows and Mary Lepel hardly knew whether they 
 ought to be most amused or most frightened. 
 Lord Bellenden^s daughter suspected the Prince 
 of endeavouring to make a selection from the
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 207 
 
 most attractive young beauties in England, to 
 amuse himself with as objects for the display of 
 his gallantry, and began to entertain a strong 
 suspicion that Philip Dormer had deceived her, 
 when he accounted for his appearing in the house 
 under such extraordinary circumstances. 
 
 u l vow and protest now," observed Sophy 
 Howe, her fine full eyes kindling with mischie- 
 vous animation ; " I am for open war against this 
 Philip Dormer. 1 think he deserves monstrous 
 little mercy at our hands ; and should he fall into 
 them, the least he could expect is to be tossed in 
 a blanket. Indeed, I strongly advise that for the 
 tricks he has played upon us, we play one upon 
 him, which shall bring him into our power ; and 
 then, girls, we would have such rare sport in 
 seeing his worship springing up into the air, 
 cutting all sorts of indescribable capers, as with a 
 vigorous pull at the four corners of a stout piece 
 of Witney, warranted to bear a Gentleman of the 
 Bedchamber, we sent him up again at every fall." 
 
 The schoolfellows laughed heartily at the idea ; 
 and possibly under such a leader as the proposer 
 of it, had Mr. Dormer ventured amongst them, 
 he might have been placed in the ludicrous posi- 
 tion, Miss Howe had described.
 
 208 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 u I think it very shocking," said Fanny Mea- 
 dows, in a more serious tone, u that such unpar- 
 donable deceptions should be suffered to go 
 unpunished ; it*s monstrous ! I am quite sure the 
 man had some atrocious object in view.' 5 
 
 " Sam doute, child, he had atrocious objects in 
 view," answered Lord Bellenden's daughter, with 
 one of the most effective of her Parisian gesticu- 
 lations. " Men do not put on disguises to get 
 into houses where there are very charming young 
 women, which of course we must consider our- 
 selves — " 
 
 " Oh, of course !" echoed Sophia Howe saucily, 
 as she glanced at the long mirror. 
 
 " Without entertaining some wicked design," 
 added Mary Bellenden. li Par eocemple, there is 
 no doubt he assumed here the part of a domestic, 
 the more securely to carry out his villanous in- 
 tentions against our sweet young hostess." 
 
 " Oh, the villain V 3 exclaimed the sedate Fanny 
 Meadows. 
 
 " I only wish he had tried such intentions upon 
 me, 5 ' cried the high-spirited Sophy Howe, with a 
 gay hearted laugh. " Footman or no footman, I 
 would have had his ardour cooled in the nearest 
 pond, where he might have found congenial fel-
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 209 
 
 lowship with the last litter of puppies that had 
 there been disposed of.'* 
 
 " Positively, my dear Sophy, you are more 
 daring than ever/' exclaimed Mary Lepel, whose 
 gentle spirit could not approve of such severe 
 retaliation, for an offence she was half inclined to 
 think excusable. " I am vastly concerned. I must 
 own, that a gentleman of Mr. Dormer's noble 
 family should have entered my father's house in 
 a manner so derogatory ; but I am inclined to 
 regard it as an idle frolic, such as many young 
 men of birth and fashion are engaged in every 
 day." 
 
 " Of course, my dear," answered Sophy Howe, 
 mockingly ; " and in such an idle frolic he came 
 to me, and in a similar harmless manner he went 
 to Fanny Meadows. But then your opinion 
 ought to be much more favourable than ours, for 
 he serenaded you over a garden wall, which with 
 us he never attempted, and 1 am inclined to think 
 this mightily amiss in him. Had I been enter- 
 tained with his touching tunes and his tender 
 songs, no doubt I should have taken quite a dif- 
 ferent view of his case. I begin to think I have 
 been shockingly ill used/' 
 
 Much of this sort of bantering followed from
 
 210 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 each of her attached friends, who could not have 
 resisted such an attempt to raise a laugh at the 
 expense of their young hostess. She had little 
 skill to parry such a combined attack; but without 
 intending it, Mary Bellenden caused a diversion 
 upon herself, by indulging in a speech repeated 
 in a manner so extravagantly French, that Sophy 
 Howe burst out into a loud laugh. 
 
 " In the name of every thing ridiculous, what 
 does all this mean ?" exclaimed that young lady, 
 staring at her dear friend with an expression of 
 countenance, far from gratifying to the more 
 thoroughly educated daughter of Lord Bellenden. 
 "As I hope for a husband, when I look at you, 
 I doubt you are Mary Bellenden, who used to 
 find such a world of trouble in learning a French 
 verb. I am almost spiteful enough to consider 
 you some female monkey who has seen the 
 world. Did any one see such a head-dress, or 
 so strange a robe ? Did any one see such out- 
 landish grimaces and manoeuvres ? Why, child, 
 your limbs are as restless as if they moved by 
 wires, and being pulled by unskilful hands were 
 all jerked out at once." 
 
 u Ah, ma chere, you have not been in Paris I" 
 exclaimed Mary Bellenden, with a sort of pity,
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 211 
 
 nevertheless in a slight degree put out by her 
 friend's ridicule. " Had you received the advan- 
 tage of finishing your education at the head- 
 quarters of the beau monde, you would know 
 better how to appreciate those graces of manner, 
 that must be invaluable to every well-bred wo- 
 man." 
 
 "Dear now, is it possible?' 5 exclaimed the 
 other with well-affected astonishment, a I am 
 wonderstruck !" 
 
 " Yes, Sophy/' cried the gentle Lepel interpos- 
 ing for her friend, " our dear Mary has come 
 home quite a Frenchwoman." 
 
 " I would rather not such an opinion should 
 be stated of me," said Fanny Meadows gravely. 
 
 " It is all a matter of taste/' exclaimed Miss 
 Howe laughing. u Mary may have profited 
 greatly by her French experience, but if all that 
 Paris can do be to metamorphose one of the 
 brightest ornaments of dear StifFandstern's school 
 into so bedizened and beshrugged an object as I 
 see before me, why I cannot help thinking I have 
 lost nothing by not finishing my education in 
 France." 
 
 " 1 should like to have gone there vastly," 
 observed the Brigadier's daughter. " I often
 
 212 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 find myself wishing I had been as fortunate as 
 our handsome friend." 
 
 " Depend on't there's no good breeding with- 
 out a familiarity with the observances of the best 
 French society," drily added Lord Bellenden's 
 daughter. " It is a pity that the charms of our 
 exquisite friend should be deprived of attractions 
 so likely to set them off to the best advantage. 
 But mafoi, how late it is !*' suddenly exclaimed 
 she, as she glanced at her watch. u We have 
 been gossiping so long there is barely time left to 
 dress for our friend's company. Let us make our 
 toilet at once as quickly as we can." 
 
 The young beauties took the hint, and all pro- 
 ceeded to their dressing rooms, where we shall 
 leave them engaged in the performance of those 
 duties which to persons so graced by nature were 
 very little required.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 213 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A BIRTH-DAY PARTY. 
 
 The day is come, her ripened charms appear, 
 And Cselia closes now the fifteenth year. 
 The airy sylphs, her ministerial band, 
 Obedient take their delegated stand ; 
 To each fair feature give peculiar grace 
 And add new lustre to an angel's face. 
 
 ANON. 
 
 But how was the Brigadier affected by the 
 arrival of this interesting day ? He was a model 
 of Brigadiers. It is impossible to imagine any- 
 thing more amiable in the conduct of an elderly 
 gentleman than that which he exhibited towards 
 his daughter and her youthful guests. He showed 
 them his pictures, and his curiosities, not forget- 
 ting his gold sugar-basin and all the other beautiful 
 specimens of ostentation with which he had sur- 
 rounded himself. In particular he went through 
 the vast collection of his own portraits, giving to
 
 214 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 each its peculiar history, and dwelling on them all 
 with that deep feeling of affection it was scarcely 
 possible for the Brigadier to help feeling towards 
 a personage so nearly connected with him as the 
 interesting original. 
 
 Many were the pertinent observations made by 
 his fair young friends, as the different objects 
 were brought before their observation. Sophy 
 Howe in particular having a word to say on 
 every thing she saw, and Mary Bellenden making 
 it an occasion for referring to every thing she 
 had seen. But the extraordinary number of the 
 likenesses of their friend's father, surprised them 
 exceedingly. They could not exactly understand 
 why one portrait had not been thought enough. 
 
 Neither of these young ladies was deficient in 
 shrewdness. They detected the very obvious 
 pride and vanity of their host, and they could 
 have entertained no objection to give it a fair 
 trial. They therefore flattered the foible of 
 the old beau, and praised all they saw be- 
 longing to him, and delighted him with the ear- 
 nestness of their appreciation of portraits, curi- 
 osities, tea-chests, and every thing their obliging 
 host allowed them to look at. 
 
 The Brigadier grew more and more gratified
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 215 
 
 with his employment. His gallantry would have 
 led him to derive no slight satisfaction in paying 
 every possible attention to such beautiful young 
 women; but as they were the most intimate friends 
 of his daughter, and they had come to Petersham 
 Manor to do honour to her birth-day, he felt 
 bound to regard them with as much tenderness 
 as he could afford to exhibit under such circum- 
 stances. 
 
 As the hour of dinner approached, the guests 
 began to arrive thick and fast. They consisted 
 mostly of brother officers and brother courtiers 
 of the Brigadier — persons of a certain influence 
 and standing, whom he could not but be happy 
 to entertain at his table. After putting away their 
 superfluous apparel, they collected in the drawing- 
 room, where their young hostess and her young 
 friends had assembled in full dress to receive 
 them. 
 
 It was a very grateful sight to see with what 
 well bred ease the youthful daughter of the Bri- 
 gadier welcomed her guests as they entered the 
 apartment. Her youth and beauty, set off as they 
 were by all the aids of dress then in requisition, 
 told extremely in her favour. None could look
 
 216 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 on her without admiration ; few admire without 
 feeling some symptoms of a tender sentiment. 
 
 In an age when so much gallantry was afloat 
 among both old and young, so exquisite a crea- 
 ture could not escape being the object of it ; but 
 to her it came not as a mere lip homage from the 
 idle, that meant nothing, or an animal impulse 
 from the licentious, the meaning of which was 
 not to be expressed, but as a sense of the respect 
 due to woman in her purity, loveliness, and intel- 
 ligence. 
 
 Among the company who arrived first came 
 General Scroop Howe, a rigid martinet, whose 
 soul was devoted to the machinery of the drill. 
 He marched into the apartment as stiff as a 
 ramrod — a tall, thin, dried up man, with his 
 head in the air, and a glance at the company as 
 scrutinising as he would have given to a batch of 
 recruits turning out of barracks for his in- 
 spection. 
 
 He took no notice of his daughter, but pro- 
 ceeded straight to the Brigadier, by whom he was 
 at once presented to Mary Lepel. He went 
 through the ceremony very stiffly, and seemed as 
 though about to demand where she had served,
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 2] 7 
 
 and in what regiment — questions he had so fre- 
 quently asked, that they came from him involun- 
 tarily whenever he was obliged to address himself 
 to any stranger. He was a man of very few 
 words, and those few were sure to relate to mili- 
 tary matters. Other members of the same pro- 
 fession followed, possessing much the same stiff 
 and pedantic characteristics. 
 
 After them came Lord Bellenden, who made 
 directly to his young hostess, and overwhelmed 
 her with compliments; — nodded to his daugh- 
 ter, requested to be introduced to her female 
 friends ; stared hard at Sophy Howe, and en- 
 deavoured to recommend himself, even to the 
 more reserved Fanny Meadows. 
 
 The next name announced was that of Atter- 
 bury, Bishop of Rochester, a man whose costume 
 was more clerical than his countenance, for the 
 latter was highly expressive of a tendency to 
 good living, which a gouty leg corroborated. He 
 came leaning on the arm of a very pretty modest 
 looking woman, whom it was easy to see was his 
 daughter. His Lordship entered with a graceful 
 air, accosting the young ladies with a degree of 
 freedom which wo aid have been considered highly 
 scandalous in a dignitary of the church a hundred 
 
 VOL. I. L.
 
 21S MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 years later, and addressing the gentlemen with an 
 air of familiarity equally unclerical. But Bishop 
 Atterbury was a great favourite with both sexes, 
 to whom he always recommended himself by his 
 admirable social qualities, and the kindness of his 
 disposition. 
 
 The next name announced was that of Mr. Se- 
 cretary Craggs, a tall thin young man, of about 
 thirty, whose handsome features made their ap- 
 pearance irradiated with smiles, and eloquent with 
 condescension ; he was a perfect man of the world, 
 could do anything, say anything, and deny any- 
 thing, with the most perfect good humour, and 
 good breeding. After paying his respects to his 
 host and hostess, to whom he made his congra- 
 tulations in the most expressive manner, he ad- 
 dressed every body in the room in turn ; and with- 
 out appearing to treat any individual with partiality, 
 he endeavoured to make an impression on all, that 
 he was the most agreeable minister they had ever 
 met with. 
 
 Very close observers might have remarked, that 
 on his approaching the Bishop, the Secretary of 
 State started a little as in some surprise ; but 
 though such was the case, the astonishment was 
 too momentary to attract attention, and he in-
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 219 
 
 stantly addressed himself to the prelate, even 
 with more cordiality than he had exhibited to- 
 wards any of the company. 
 
 He was followed by the Duke of Ormond, a 
 remarkably graceful and well bred man, in a suit 
 of purple velvet, who passed towards his host 
 with that air of ease and elegance, which is to be 
 seen in perfection only, in the more amiable and 
 more intelligent representatives of some of our 
 most illustrious families. 
 
 Then came the Marquis of Dorchester, with his 
 daughter, Lady Wortley Montagu, and her hus- 
 band. The two former were talking in a very 
 animated manner ; but Mr. Wortley Montagu, 
 notwithstanding his intellectual countenance, 
 either had very little to say, or did not think the 
 present a fit time to express it. For so young a 
 man, he appeared very thoughtful. Whether 
 this arose from any uneasiness respecting the con- 
 duct of his wife, or respecting the present alarm- 
 ing state of things in England, we cannot say with 
 any confidence. 
 
 The old Marquis soon made his way to the 
 ladies, where he rivalled Lord Bellenden in the 
 extent of his homage ; and the fervency of his 
 congratulations to his fair young hostess exceeded 
 
 L 2
 
 220 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 by a great deal the intensity of feeling expressed 
 by all the rest of the gentlemen put together. 
 
 Next came a curious-looking, lively dame, in an 
 extravagant dress, who was announced as the 
 Duchess of Bolton ; and hardly had she made good 
 her entrance, when with a most undeniable Irish 
 brogue she addressed herself to the company, and 
 complained of the steepness of Richmond hill, 
 which had caused one of her horses to slip down, 
 and cut his knees. 
 
 Then she launched out in an apparently endless 
 dissertation on the nature and treatment of broken 
 knees : at last she recognised her acquaintances 
 amongst the company, only addressing them by 
 wrong names, and reminding them of matters of 
 which they were perfectly ignorant, every such 
 circumstance having occurred to other parties. 
 
 However, the Duchess went good humouredly 
 blundering on, making the oddest observations, 
 and the most ill-timed remarks, it was possible 
 for her to have made, yet her broad face, and her 
 lustrous eyes beaming with good nature, no one 
 could resist. 
 
 The Brigadier had looked towards the door se- 
 veral times, even in the midst of a most animated 
 conversation, with Mr. Secretary Craggs, and the
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 221 
 
 Duke of Ormond, for by this time, the company 
 had got into little knots of twos and threes ; some 
 discussing politics, some petticoats ; some the new 
 singer at the opera, and some the new head-dress 
 from Paris. The dinner hour had arrived, but 
 all the guests had not. It was not possible for 
 Brigadier General Lepel to commit such a mistake 
 in good manners, as to look at his watch, espe- 
 cially before a nobleman so distinguished for his 
 breeding, as the Duke of Ormond ; but he was 
 getting extremely apprehensive, that the dinner 
 would suffer if the cook was kept waiting much 
 longer, and there was a vast struggle going on in 
 his mind, between his respect for the absent, and 
 his fear of displeasing the present. 
 
 At last, to his great relief, the folding doors 
 opened to their full extent, the Duchess of Marl- 
 borough was announced, and the next moment 
 that very stately lady entered, evidently attired with 
 more than usual care, and fully intent upon ap- 
 pearing before the guests of her old admirer with 
 more than usual dignity. 
 
 There was a curious and not uninteresting les- 
 son exhibited in the fine shades of ceremonious- 
 ness with which her Grace behaved to the different 
 individuals whom she chose to honour with a re-
 
 222 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 cognition. There was a condescending familiarity 
 in her behaviour to Mary Lepel and her father, 
 which contrasted well with her high bred courtesy 
 to such people as the Duke of Ormond, the Mar- 
 quis of Dorchester, and Lord Bellenden. As a 
 minister of state, Mr. Secretary Craggs was en- 
 titled to her favourable consideration; but then she 
 knew his father had been a footman, which in- 
 duced her to mingle her courtesy with a good deal 
 of dignity. Mr. Wortley Montagu also held a 
 government office, and he was well related, so she 
 could safely condescend a little. The Bishop was 
 an old acquaintance, with him she could be plea- 
 sant and social, without committing herself. The 
 officers she seemed to think scarcely worthy of 
 her notice. There was but one officer, she thought 
 in the world, and he was the great Duke of Marl- 
 borough. 
 
 The ladies also had their graduated scale of ci- 
 vility, from the stiff acknowledgment accorded to 
 Fanny Meadows, up to the dignified salutation due 
 to the Duchess of Bolton, and to an EarPs daugh- 
 ter, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. 
 
 The Brigadier had scarcely observed this in- 
 stance of fine discrimination so elaborately dis- 
 played, when the announcement was given that
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 223 
 
 dinner was ready. He quickly presented himself 
 before the great Duchess, and in his courtliest 
 manner asked permission to hand her Grace to 
 dinner. She condescendingly granted the desired 
 honour, but kindly expressed her wish that his 
 daughter should precede her. Mary Lepel was 
 therefore handed first to the dining room by the 
 elegant Duke ofOrmond. She found him a most 
 agreeable companion, and as she walked by his 
 side, did not at all envy " Cleopatra," or " Cle- 
 lia," or any one of her favorite heroines. 
 
 They were followed by the Duchess of Marlbo- 
 rough and her host. The latter as he left the 
 room cast a triumphant glance at his numerous 
 likenesses, who appeared completely to sympa- 
 thize in his present grandeur. Then came the 
 Duchess of Bolton and the Marquis of Dorchester ; 
 the former entertaining her companion with an 
 exceedingly droll story about a Tipperary pig that 
 told fortunes. After them came the fascinating 
 Lady Wortley Montagu and Lord Bellenden. He 
 all gallantry, she scarcely attempting to conceal 
 her ridicule. They were followed by Mr. Secre- 
 tary Craggs and Mary Bellenden ; the well in- 
 formed Secretary extremely amused by his com- 
 panion's affectation of French refinement.
 
 224 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 The Bishup and Mr. Wortley Montagu each 
 laid claim to the blooming Sophy Howe, and she 
 laughingly gave her decision in favour of the pre- 
 late, who rewarded her, till she found her seat, 
 with a succession of complimentary observations, 
 that made her acknowledge she had lost nothing 
 by her devotion to the Church. General Scroop 
 Howe had obtained possession of the Bishop's 
 quiet daughter, Mrs. Morice, who was willing to 
 entertain a favourable opinion of his gallantry, 
 till as they passed out of the door he demanded 
 in a sharp clear voice, where she had served, and 
 in what regiment. 
 
 As Fanny Meadows had also been monopolised 
 by another General, with one eye, Mr. Wortley 
 Montagu found himself under the necessity of 
 taking for his companion a little girl with red 
 hair and a pug nose, as she was the only female left 
 to receive his attentions. To so fervent an ad- 
 mirer of female beauty, this was rather a disagree- 
 able companionship; but his breeding conquered 
 his refinement, and he led the young lady out of 
 the apartment with quite as much deference as he 
 would have displayed, had she been as engaging 
 as Mary Lepel, or as fascinating as Mary Bellen- 
 den.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 225 
 
 Some little time elapsed before all the guests 
 had found their proper places. The young hos- 
 tess sat at the head of a long table, completely co- 
 vered with massive plate and cut glass, wherever 
 the dishes, or rather their silver covers, allowed 
 sufficient space for them. She was supported on 
 the right by the Duke, and on the left by the Mar- 
 quis. At the other end of the table sat the Bri- 
 gadier with the Duchess of Marlborough on his 
 right hand, and the Duchess of Bolton on his 
 left; and a gentleman and lady sat alternately 
 along each side of the table. 
 
 After the Bishop had said " Grace," which not- 
 withstanding the unclerical characteristics he had 
 already displayed, he repeated in an exceedingly 
 impressive and fervent manner, soup was served 
 from each end of the table. Behind his young 
 mistresses chair, stood the grave and respectable 
 Rackstraw, keeping a steady glance at his nume- 
 rous subordinates, and a careful scrutiny at the 
 arrangements of the table. Behind his master, 
 John Coachman had been placed, having been 
 well drilled by his friend the butler, to qualify him 
 for such a post. 
 
 The other male servants of the establishment, 
 including Pompey and a tall young man who filled 
 
 l 3
 
 226 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 the place of footman, made vacant by the disap- 
 pearance of the mysterious James, with several 
 others hired for the occasion, were distributed at 
 intervals along both lines, with strict injunctions 
 to attend to the wants of the guests, with as much 
 celerity as was practicable without breakage or 
 spillage. 
 
 With these admirable arrangements the dinner 
 proceeded most admirably. The soup gave place 
 to turbot and salmon, and the fish having been 
 removed, the more substantial dishes made their 
 appearance. At Mary Lepel's end was placed a 
 haunch of venison. The young lady had served the 
 soup, and the fish with matchless grace and facility; 
 but to carve a haunch of venison was altogether 
 another matter. Nevertheless, the Brigadier's 
 daughter went through her task, in a manner that 
 did credit to the instructions of her carving-master. 
 She was so fortunate as to serve every one with 
 their favourite bits, and was from that time forth 
 quoted by the delighted magnates at both ends of 
 the table, as the most accomplished young lady of 
 their acquaintance. 
 
 Mary Lepel experienced no small degree of pride 
 as she received the graceful compliments of the 
 Duke of Ormond ; she felt her position a very grati-
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 227 
 
 fying one — she doubted whether the heroine, even 
 of " Le Voyage de VIsle oV Amour" ever presided 
 at her father's table to the satisfaction of so many 
 noble guests. She saw her dear school-fellows 
 envied her the admiration her conspicuous posi- 
 tion procured her, and her happiness would have 
 been complete could she only have been seen by 
 the peerless Penelope StifFandstern. 
 
 The Duke early asked her to take wine, and 
 then this social ceremony became general — all the 
 ladies had similar invitation s, but every gentle- 
 man deemed it his duty to pay this mark of 
 respect to his youthful hostess. She acknowledged 
 the compliment with well-bred courtesy, merely 
 touching the wine with lips that looked far more 
 tempting; and as the Bishop for the second time 
 chose to pay her this honour, she could not with- 
 hold from herself the pleasing impression that to 
 the best of her knowledge, there was no instance 
 in " Les Amours d' Aristaadre et de Cleonice," of 
 a lady having been asked to take wine with no 
 less than eight different gentlemen, including a 
 Duke, a Marquis, a minister of state, three general 
 officers and a Bishop. 
 
 As the wine began to circulate, and the appe- 
 tites of the guests were giving way before the
 
 228 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 many good things their hospitable host had spread 
 before them, the conversation became more ani- 
 mated, and a jest now and then began to be 
 heard, and what was far more to the purpose, the 
 wit began to be appreciated. More attention was 
 paid to the ladies both old and young ; not that 
 at any time during the dinner they had been ne- 
 glected, for that was not a fault likely to be attri- 
 buted to the gentlemen of the Court of George I.j 
 but there came now a period more favourable for 
 gallantry, and it was eagerly seized upon. 
 
 The stately Duchess of Marlborough dined and 
 said little, though her attentive host was un- 
 ceasing in his efforts to please her : the Duchess 
 of Bolton, however, made him ample amends for 
 that great lady's silence, for her rich doric flowed 
 on in an apparently inexhaustible stream, on 
 every subject, from the fall of man to the fall of 
 stocks. 
 
 Lady Wortley Montagu was fascinating the 
 gentlemen nearest to her by her careless dis- 
 regard of the most ordinary social proprieties, and 
 making brilliant remarks that still further in- 
 creased their admiration. Mary Bellenden was 
 displaying the most attractive of her Parisian 
 acquisitions, and giving utterance to the newest of
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 22<J 
 
 her French phrases, to Mr. Secretary Craggs on 
 one side of her, and Mr. Wortley Montagu on 
 the other ; and felt assured, from their attentions, 
 that she was creating a sensation. Sophy Howe 
 was rattling on very saucily to the Bishop, who 
 was not backward in paying her with her own 
 coin. Fanny Meadows sat quiet and shy, and the 
 rest merely put in a word or two now and then, 
 satisfying themselves with playing the parts of 
 good listeners. 
 
 So passed the first and second courses, and so 
 in fact passed the dinner, during the whole period 
 of which the Brigadier's daughter continued to gain 
 upon the admiration of her father's guests, by the 
 very winning manner in which she played her 
 part as an agreeable and attentive hostess, and 
 the perfect style in which she carved every dish 
 set before her — fish, flesh, or fowl. 
 
 The enthusiasm of the worthy Bishop was so 
 excited in her favour, that he insisted on taking 
 wine with her a third time, which greatly amused 
 the company, and caused an abundance of witty 
 remarks : the young lady not at all disconcerted 
 nor yet appearing too confident, readily responded 
 to the prelate's challenge. Thanksgiving was 
 then made by the Bishop, and the cloth cleared,
 
 230 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 the wine and dessert put on table, and the ser- 
 vants dismissed. 
 
 Mary Lepel felt a great relief as she saw the 
 dinner things leave the room. The great care 
 she had taken for a week previously, that this 
 entertainment should do honour to her father's 
 hospitality was fully recompensed. Compliments 
 had flown in upon her from all quarters, and in 
 most instances these came from persons well 
 qualified to pass judgment on the merits of such 
 a banquet. 
 
 While she was congratulating herself on the 
 complete success she had achieved, she was 
 agreeably surprised by the Duke of Ormond 
 rising to propose her health, which he did in 
 language the most refined, and in a manner the 
 most flattering that can be conceived. No toast 
 could have given more universal satisfaction ; the 
 gentlemen in a body rose, raised their glasses, 
 alid to the name of Mary Lepel tossed off their 
 bumpers with a devotion worthy of so fair a cause. 
 Even the ladies responded to it with a pleased 
 alacrity ; the Duchess of Marlborough adding 
 to her young friend's name a brief but gratifying 
 compliment, and the Duchess of Bolton giving an 
 addition no less sincere, but a considerable deal
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 231 
 
 longer, uttered in a racy brogue, that made its ex- 
 pression still more emphatic. 
 
 The Brigadier rose, and returned thanks in a 
 neat speech ; — a model of courtly politeness and 
 of gratified vanity. He felt himself a proud, and 
 a happy man. If his daughter could command 
 such success in his own circle, what distinction 
 might she not achieve when removed to a more 
 brilliant sphere ? And then there came a glimpse 
 of Court grandeur, and Court influence, that so 
 dazzled his eyes he could not see that the de- 
 canters had stopped opposite to him. 
 
 The attentions of the gentlemen towards the 
 ladies now became much more marked. These 
 were the golden moments for conquest and com- 
 pliment ; and at the table of Brigadier-General 
 Lepel there were very few individuals of the 
 male sex who did not become as tender in their 
 attentions to their fair neighbours, as the privi- 
 lege of the time allowed. In this general dis- 
 tribution of gallantry, the fair scholars of the 
 estimable Penelope Stiffandstern had nothing to 
 complain of. Mary Lepel, though aiming least 
 at conquest, received the most assiduous atten- 
 tions from her noble and accomplished neigh- 
 bours 5 her schoolfellows, excepting Fanny Mea-
 
 232 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 dows, whose reserve no gallantry could diminish, 
 appeared to be equally well cared for. 
 
 The true spirit of conviviality now began to 
 exert itself. Anecdote followed anecdote, and 
 jest succeeded jest, in quick succession. The 
 stately consort of the great Marlborough began 
 to be communicative ; the Irish pleasantry of the 
 Duchess of Bolton became broader and more 
 piquant ; the Bishop told his most effective 
 stories ; Lady Wortley Montagu uttered her 
 most brilliant sallies ; and Lord Bellenden put 
 forth his most exquisite compliments. There 
 was a good deal of talking, and no slight degree of 
 mirth ; — eyes that were bright before, now seemed 
 to float in splendour; and lips that were so lately 
 admired for the freshness of their colour, now 
 appeared to have their vermilion ripeness bathed 
 in some delicious dew, that gave them a thousand 
 new fascinations. 
 
 After the health of their host's admirable 
 daughter had been drunk, other toasts followed. 
 There was " the King," which, of course, was re- 
 ceived with all proper respect. It was remarked 
 that the Bishop of Rochester at first did not 
 appear very eager to join in this toast ; but at 
 last he raised his glass, and with a peculiar
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 233 
 
 emphasis gave, "the King." Whatever there 
 was remakarble in the Prelate^s manner, it did 
 not escape the quick eye of the Secretary of 
 State ; who, as if to take away any ambiguity 
 there might be in the toast, improved it by say- 
 ing, with an emphasis equally peculiar, " King 
 George I." 
 
 Several loyal and sentimental toasts were also 
 given, and the decanters were going round very 
 merrily, when the Brigadier's daughter caught 
 the eye of her stately friend at the other end of 
 the table, and interpreting its meaning, rose from 
 her seat. Her example was followed by all the 
 ladies of the party. The movement caused a 
 corresponding one in the gentlemen, several of 
 whom hastened to the door. 
 
 In the confusion, the Duchess of Marlborough, 
 unperceived glided close to the Bishop of Rochester, 
 and whispered in his ear, " Beware of Craggs l" 
 She then proceeded to follow her charming young 
 hostess, to whom the principal gentlemen were 
 directing a whole quiver of courtly compliments, 
 bowing, as herself and the rest of the ladies 
 passed them to where the more fortunate Duke of 
 Ormond, with the handle of the door in his 
 hand, was addressing every lady with some well-
 
 234 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 turned compliment; and as each approached 
 acknowledged her departure with that easy grace 
 for which he was so celebrated. 
 
 The Brigadier took his daughter's place, and 
 the gentlemen closed up their ranks ; and a plen- 
 tiful supply of wine having been brought in, the 
 decanters went their round at a brisker pace. 
 The conversation now became much more ani- 
 mated ; the most reserved exhibiting a disposi- 
 tion to be heard; and the jests, and anecdotes, 
 and stories, exemplified the freedom in which the 
 speakers now thought it proper to indulge. 
 
 By the new arrangement, Mr. Secretary Craggs 
 was brought next to the Bishop of Rochester, to 
 whom he immediately began to pay the most 
 particular attention ; challenging him to full 
 bumpers, and giving loose to the jovial spirit of 
 the moment, with a zest that could scarcely fail 
 of recommending him to so eminently social a 
 personage, as the worthy Prelate. 
 
 On the other side of the Bishop sat Mr. Wort- 
 ley Montagu, who was no less assiduous in 
 his attentions. It was rather strange, that 
 while one drew him into a lively discussion, 
 the other kept carefully replenishing his wine 
 glass; and the extreme friendliness which both
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 235 
 
 evinced in their conduct, the high estimation they 
 gave him to understand they felt for his abilities, 
 and the sincere affection with which they re- 
 garded his virtues, could not but be highly grati- 
 fying to a person of the Bishop's warm tempera- 
 ment, particularly as all this proceeded from a 
 minister of state high in the confidence of his 
 sovereign, and from a member of a distinguished 
 family, holding a handsome post at Court. 
 
 His Lordship had reason to congratulate himself 
 on possessing powerful friends in such a quarter, 
 as he had been completely neglected since the 
 present sovereign came to the throne ; the King 
 having on one occasion treated him with marked 
 rudeness owing to his exertions in favour of the 
 exiled Stuarts, which at the death of Queen Anne 
 had been more prominent than discreet. And 
 since he had received this treatment he was well 
 aware that his secret proceedings had been of such 
 a character as in case of discovery to make such 
 friends highly desirable. 
 
 The Bishop was in high spirits, pouring forth 
 a flood of social pleasantry that kept his com- 
 panions in ecstacies, and at every fresh bumper 
 he quaffed giving utterance to some admirable 
 jest more pointed than any of its numerous pre-
 
 236' MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 decessors. By some means or other that never 
 failing subject of ridicule the King's mistresses 
 was started, and nothing could exceed the hu- 
 mour with which he referred to the tall, scraggy 
 Schulenburg, and made allusion to the broad, 
 blowsy Kielmansegge. 
 
 Mr. Secretary Craggs now seemed to take the 
 Bishop entirely into his own hands, for his co- 
 adjutor was engaged in an animated argument 
 with Lord Bellenden as to the relative merits of 
 two rival dancers who had lately appeared at the 
 King's Theatre in the Haymarket. The good 
 prelate had drank what was a large quantity of 
 wine even in those days, when from three to six 
 bottles were very frequently the allowance for a 
 sitting; and he looked and talked as if it was 
 exerting its influence upon him. 
 
 Mr. Secretary became extremely confidential 
 and mysterious — dropped his voice to a whisper 
 — alluded to " a party over the water" — intimated 
 that he had friends in quarters he did not count 
 upon, and in an ambiguous manner appeared to 
 desire nothing so much as the perfect success of 
 those plans which he was well aware that per- 
 sonage was pursuing. 
 
 The Bishop's faculties might have been a little
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 23J 
 
 affected by his copious draughts of his host's 
 claret. He well understood these allusions to 
 the Pretender, and did not see anything remark- 
 able in a Secretary of State to King George I. 
 being so disgusted with his service as to be 
 anxious for a master in the son of James II. He 
 had known of similar things taking place; and 
 thrown off his guard by the apparent sincerity of 
 his companion, he was about to explain the de- 
 signs — with which he was well acquainted — the 
 Chevalier St. George, as he was usually styled, 
 was carrying out to recover the crown his father 
 had lost, when the whispered warning of his 
 friend the Duchess of Marlborough, which he had 
 totally forgotten, recurred to him. 
 
 He saw the imminent danger in which he stood 
 — and this sense of the great peril in which he 
 had placed himself and his friends, sobered him in 
 * an instant. He saw too, or fancied he saw the 
 manoeuvre of the wily statesman beside him in 
 the apparent attentions he exhibited that his glass 
 should never be empty, whilst he now remembered 
 the crafty Secretary seldom had recourse to his 
 own. The Bishop blessed his old friend for her 
 foresight, and cursed himself for a blockhead. 
 
 He contrived however very adroitly to change
 
 238 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 the subject without further committing himself; 
 and notwithstanding the many clever efforts made 
 by his associate to obtain his confidence, eluded 
 making any communication that could prove he 
 knew more of the intentions of the Pretender 
 than had been borne to him by public rumour. 
 
 In the mean time the remainder of the Briga- 
 dier's guests had been proceeding with their po- 
 tations with such good will that their effects could 
 not be mistaken. Their faces were flushed, their 
 wigs awry ; some had soiled their delicate ruffles, 
 and others had creased their magnificent waist- 
 coats. Shouting, laughing, singing, seemed to be 
 mingled together in a riotous jumble — every gen- 
 tleman was made to toast his favourite lady, and 
 several appeared ready to vouch for her superi- 
 ority in personal attractions, and for the gene- 
 rosity of her disposition in their favour. It did not 
 seem to signify a rush to any, that the warmest of 
 these panegyrists were married men, and that the 
 several kind charmers they alluded to, were nearly 
 related to others of the company. 
 
 The Brigadier vainly attempted to obtain si- 
 lence ; and on his legs, holding fast by the table 
 to support himself, he shouted and hiccuped with 
 a praiseworthy perseverance— the only effect of
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 239 
 
 which for some time, seemed to be to make Ge- 
 neral Scroop Howe, who had fallen asleep — his 
 wig having completely parted company with his 
 bald head — open one eye. But not having the 
 power to keep the heavy lids apart, they closed 
 again, and he continued his snoring with re- 
 doubled energy. 
 
 " Gentlemen ! gentlemen \" (Hiccup !) ex- 
 claimed the unsteady host for the twentieth time, 
 looking with an air of ridiculous gravity towards 
 his noisy guests — " the Marquis — (hiccup) — the 
 Marquis gentlemen — (hiccup) — the Marquises 
 song — (hiccup) — We must have my Lord Mar- 
 quis's song/' 
 
 "Silence!" shouted the Duke of Ormond, as 
 he took up a lemon squeezer that had been in 
 requisition for making punch, and struck the 
 table with such force that the heavy sleeper jumped 
 up with staring eyes, still dreaming he was at- 
 tacking a battery at the head of his regiment. 
 
 " Fix bayonets ! Charge !" he shouted with 
 all the force of his lungs, and fell back to his 
 former position. This raised a general laugh, and 
 in the confusion the Bishop of Rochester slipped 
 out of the room. The Marquis of Dorchester 
 found that he might count on a tolerably attentive
 
 240 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 audience, with the exception of one of the officers 
 who had fallen on the floor. 
 
 THE MARQUIS OF DORCHESTER'S SONG. 
 
 Come, jolly shepherd, now fold up your ewes, 
 
 The sun has gone down to his bed in the west ; 
 Come pull at the pitcher, and list to the news, 
 
 We've a right to be merry as well as the best. 
 The lads are all seeking their fiddles and tabors, 
 
 Let them jig with the lasses as long as they may ; 
 Let us quaff this brown ale like a pair of good neighbours, 
 
 And merrily, jollily, drink Care away. 
 
 " Chorus \" called out the singer ! and at the 
 word all the company who could make use 
 of their voices, bawled in the most emphatic 
 manner : — 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 Come, jolly shepherd, now fold up your ewes, 
 The sun has gone down to his bed in the west ; 
 
 Come pull at the pitcher, and list to the news, 
 We've a right to be merry as well as the best. 
 
 The Marquis resumed his solo. 
 
 ii. 
 
 We care not a penny for war or for peace, 
 And of kings think as little, as they think of us ; 
 
 Let them lay on fresh taxes, or let each tax cease, 
 We need never trouble ourselves with their fuss.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 241 
 
 Let the saints, as they strive to look solemn and sober, 
 Of their threats and their judgments at once take their fill ; 
 
 While we can enjoy such a jug of October, 
 Things can't be so bad, let them say what they will. 
 
 6i Chorus !" bawled out the Marquis again. 
 "And every man standing upon his chair/' 
 
 This command was more easily made than fol- 
 lowed ; and ludicrous were the attempts to obtain 
 the required elevation. Some began to mount at 
 the back of the chair, others less ambitious strove 
 to get up from the front ; but the stumbles, the 
 slips, and the struggles of the less sober of the 
 party were extremely diverting to the rest. The 
 Brigadier, with an admirable patience had lifted 
 one foot and then another ; but at every attempt 
 to elevate it to the seat, holding fast to the arms, 
 he always swung himself round to the side, where 
 getting up was impossible. 
 
 At last he made a vigorous effort ; but in doing 
 so, contrived to lose his hold, and in a moment 
 came with a considerable concussion against Lord 
 Bellenden, who was similarly circumstanced ; they 
 then both went stumbling along the floor till 
 they recovered their perpendicular by the as- 
 sistance of the wall. They looked at each other 
 with an immense deal of gravity, and wished, 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 242 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 like well-bred men, to bow and apologize ; but 
 both knew what the effort would cost them. The 
 old beau's politeness, however, triumphed, and 
 he was beginning to hiccup his concern at the 
 accident, when he felt his feet sliding, and down 
 he went with undiminished gravity, till he found 
 himself in a sitting posture on the floor. 
 
 The other, with spontaneous civility, held out 
 his hand to assist his friend to rise, and of 
 course immediately found himself in the same 
 predicament ; and as the chorus of their more suc- 
 cessful friends had commenced from the few 
 chairs that were occupied, they, with all the so- 
 lemnity of judges, joined in it from their less 
 aspiring, but much safer positions. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 Come, jolly shepherd, now fold up your ewes, 
 The sun has gone down to his bed in the west. 
 
 Come pull at the pitcher, and list to the news, 
 We've a right to be merry as well as the rest.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 243 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS ASSIGNATION. 
 
 This little spot of earth you stand upon 
 
 Is more to me than the extended plains 
 
 Of my great father's kingdom. Here I reign 
 
 In full delights, in joys to power unknown ; 
 
 Your love my empire, and your heart my throne. 
 
 THOMAS SOUTHERNE. 
 
 When the ladies retired from the dinner-room, 
 they proceeded to a long apartment at the back 
 of the mansion, which had been prepared for 
 dancing. A small orchestra had been erected, in 
 which a harp, two fiddles, and as many flutes, 
 were already in full action. The younger mem- 
 bers of many of the neighbouring families had 
 been invited to the dance, and they began to 
 arrive as their fair young hostess made her ap- 
 pearance in the room. 
 
 Dancing speedily commenced j minuets, gavot- 
 
 m 2
 
 244 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 tes, and cotillions, succeeded each other at due 
 intervals, and the graceful Mary Lepel made an 
 impression in the dance not less favourable than 
 she had created at the dinner. Her schoolfellows 
 too, were advancing rapidly in the estimation of 
 their partners. 
 
 Mary Bellenden's French accomplishments 
 produced a prodigious erYect; Sophy Howe was 
 irresistible, with her soft languishing eyes, and 
 captivating freedoms; and even the cold and 
 distant Fanny Meadows found both admirers 
 and partners sufficient to satisfy the most co- 
 quettish of school girls. Nevertheless, neither of 
 the young beauties was perfectly satisfied; — 
 all had too lately enjoyed the attentions of 
 several of the most elegant men of the age, and 
 now the compliments of their less distinguished 
 partners sounded vapid and unmeaning. 
 
 The Duchess of Bolton amused them with 
 her drolleries; still they waited anxiously 
 for the appearance of their dinner associates 
 in the dancing-room. It was not, however, till 
 a late hour that any of them came. These 
 consisted only of the Duke of Ormond, the 
 Marquis of Dorchester, Mr. Secretary Craggs, 
 and Mr. Wortley Montagu. They joined in
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 245 
 
 one country dance, and then departed; as did 
 also the two Duchesses, and Lady Mary. 
 
 Supper was announced. The company par- 
 took of a slight repast, then resumed their danc- 
 ing with renewed vigour. The fair pupils of 
 Minerva House strove to abandon themselves to 
 their present enjoyments, with their usual high 
 sense of pleasure ; but neither minuet, nor coun- 
 try dance appeared to gratify them ; and they 
 felt a great relief when the last of their young 
 associates had departed, and they could be at 
 liberty to retire to their several rooms. 
 
 The first thing that attracted the attention of 
 Mary Lepel on entering her bedroom, was a 
 small, highly scented billet, lying on the dressing- 
 table, addressed to her. She reflected but a 
 short time, whether she should open it. Her 
 little head was as full of romance as her heart 
 was of innocence. It was not exactly right, she 
 thought, to receive clandestine communications ; 
 but then no heroine, to the best of her know- 
 ledge, had ever sent back so very nice looking a 
 billet. 
 
 Then she should be obliged to open it to know 
 where to send it to ; — then again, it might come 
 from a concealed admirer, possessed of as many 
 perfections as her favourite Prince Oroondates.
 
 246 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 With a trembling hand, and a palpitating heart, 
 she broke the seal — a Cupid with his finger to 
 his lips. This was sufficiently significant. She 
 read the following sentences : — 
 
 " It is respectfully, yet earnestly requested by 
 the writer — who is a person of distinction and 
 honour — that the incomparable Mary Lepel will 
 honour one of the most devoted of her innume- 
 rable adorers, by appearing with her fair visitors, 
 and any additional escort she pleases, in Ham 
 Walk, at the hour the company usually assem- 
 ble. An affair of the utmost consequence to her 
 happiness depends on her complying with this 
 request, without the least delay, with respect to 
 which it, is equally necessary she should main- 
 tain the strictest secresy.*' 
 
 To say the Brigadier's daughter was astonished, 
 would be using an inadequate expression. She 
 was perfectly bewildered. She knew not what to 
 make of so singular an application. An assigna- 
 tion she had always heard was generally required 
 to be as private as possible ; but the writer de- 
 sired to meet her surrounded by her friends ! 
 
 It was most strange. Who could it be ? 
 Surely some one among her guests of this bril- 
 liant day. But she could not decide who. W T hat
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 247 
 
 could he want ? Nothing very dangerous, or he 
 would have desired a private meeting. Should 
 she accede to the request ? It was an adventure 
 of the most mysterious description; in all her 
 reading she had never met with any heroine to 
 whom such an application had been made. It 
 might lead to something, as the writer said, of 
 consequence to her happiness. In so public a 
 place, and protected by her companions, it was 
 impossible harm could come to her. She would 
 
 g° 
 
 Mary Lepel said her prayers and went to bed, 
 
 and dreamt a good ten volumes of romantic ad- 
 ventures. 
 
 Exactly at the same moment each of her 
 schoolfellows in the privacy of her own chamber 
 discovered a similar billet directed to her, and on 
 reading it made out exactly the same seal and the 
 same words, (with the alteration of the name of 
 the party addressed,) that had so mystified and 
 astonished the Brigadiers daughter. Mary Bel- 
 lenden and Sophy Howe decided at once upon 
 going ; Fanny Meadows was half inclined not to 
 venture, as the unknown writer might build some 
 improper hope upon such an accordance with his
 
 248 MAID3 OF HONOUR. 
 
 wishes. Finally her curiosity got the better of 
 her prudery, and she also determined to go. 
 
 It has been declared that these very attached 
 friends were bound together by the strong tie of 
 mutual confidence. It might, therefore, very 
 reasonably be imagined, that their first act on 
 meeting in the morning would be to acquaint 
 each other with the strange communication that 
 had been made to them. They did nothing of 
 the kind. These confidential friends most care- 
 fully kept their secret from each other. They 
 chattered away during the morning, with great 
 fluency on the events of the preceding day, with- 
 out giving the slightest intimation of the most 
 interesting of all. 
 
 The Brigadier came down to breakfast, looking 
 extremely lugubrious. He tried to behave be- 
 comingly towards his beautiful visitors. But he 
 was so dull that his portraits, one and all, must 
 have been ashamed of him. He apologised for 
 not being in his usual good spirits, and laid the 
 blame on flying symptoms of gout ; he would have 
 been more correct had he stated flying symptoms 
 of claret. But his fair daughter and her fair 
 friends most charmingly excused his deficien-
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 249 
 
 cies ; in fact, they were too much taken up with 
 thinking upon their approaching assignation to 
 heed him. 
 
 This event, notwithstanding the air of pleasant 
 thoughtlessness each of the sworn friends as- 
 sumed, was exerting a powerful influence over 
 their minds. Each was speculating upon the 
 station in life, the appearance, and the disposi- 
 tion of her unknown admirer, and building as 
 many castles in the air as would have required a 
 very large surface for their foundations. 
 
 It must here be remarked that the general 
 bias of Mary Leper's nature was towards an 
 unreserved confidence ; and nothing but the strict- 
 ness with which, in the mysterious communica- 
 tion she had received, secresy had been insisted on, 
 prevented her from acquainting her beloved friends 
 with the whole affair. Her beloved friends were, 
 however, a little older ; — and in worldly know- 
 ledge some of them a great deal wiser. The con- 
 fidence reposed in them by the writer they would 
 not have regarded, had they not been assured the 
 adventure could not be properly carried out by 
 preserving it. But they most decidedly were 
 against admitting either of their affectionate and 
 trusty schoolfellows into their secret. 
 
 m 3
 
 250 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 It was extraordinary when the Brigadier's 
 daughter, at the close of the morning meal inti- 
 mated a wish that her visitors should enjoy a 
 pleasant promenade in Ham Walk, how unani- 
 mous her devoted friends were in seconding it. 
 Each had heard of the fashion this spot possessed, 
 and all were aware that many distinguished peo- 
 ple were always to be seen there at a certain 
 hour every day. 
 
 Sophy Howe had caught up the paper on the 
 breakfast- table, which the gallant old Brigadier, in 
 the presence of the ladies, had carefully abstained 
 from looking at, and in a very merry manner 
 read an advertisement from it, in which the 
 poet Pope denied a report, that some malicious 
 enemy had circulated, to the effect that he had 
 been cudgelled in this favourite place of public 
 resort. The Brigadier joined in the conversation, 
 and was readily persuaded to escort the young 
 beauties to a place so celebrated. 
 
 Everything seemed to favour the secret projects 
 of the youthful adventuresses ; and neither enter- 
 tained the slightest suspicion that the mysterious 
 assignation included either of her schoolfellows, 
 or was in any way known to one of them. The 
 time drew near, and they retired for the purpose 
 of getting themselves ready for their walk.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 251 
 
 The care they had taken with their yesterday's 
 toilet bore no comparison to the attention with 
 which they now put on their most becoming 
 walking costume. Even Mary Bellenclen, who 
 according to her own statements had been so 
 familiar with adventures, looked upon the antici- 
 pated meeting as deserving all her knowledge of 
 personal decoration in preparing herself for it. 
 
 The Brigadier, whose toilet was always care- 
 fully made, considered that his publicly appear- 
 ing with four such charming young creatures as 
 he was about to escort, demanded more than or- 
 dinary attention in his dress, and he occupied an 
 additional half hour in his preparations. At last 
 the old beau appeared before his impatient com- 
 panions, in a new wig— a fawn-coloured velvet coat 
 descending to his knees, laced with gold, with 
 splendid ruffles at the end of its immense cuffs ; 
 it was buttoned only a little way up the breast so 
 as to disclose the fineness of the cambric frill that 
 covered his shirt. His breeches were also of 
 velvet ; and he wore the usual high shoes, with tine 
 stockings beautifully worked up the leg. In one 
 hand he carried a clouded cane ; he held a three 
 cornered cocked hat under his arm, and the 
 handle of his sword projected from the side of his
 
 252 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 coat, the end of the scabbard appearing a little 
 below the left knee. 
 
 The ladies were already prepared. His daughter 
 wore a scarlet cardinal, in the hood of which, her 
 beautiful and very youthful face looked inex- 
 pressibly interesting. Below the cardinal she 
 had put on a moderately hooped petticoat, of a 
 recent fashion, called an allejah petticoat, striped 
 with green, gold and white. 
 
 Mary Bellenden came forth in a head of fine 
 looped lace, fresh from Paris, with a scarlet and 
 gold atlas petticoat edged with silver, having an 
 extensive hoop. Her stomacher was laced in 
 front. She wore a small apron, trimmed with 
 lace. Two or three patches in the last Parisian 
 fashion appeared upon her face ; and a line 
 cambric handkerchief was held in her white 
 hand. 
 
 Sophy Howe wore a Flanders laced hood with 
 a blue and silver silk gown and petticoat ; and 
 Fanny Meadows a white beaver hat, faced with 
 pink silk and trimmed with gold, with a flowered 
 silk gown and petticoat. They all wore the ordi- 
 nary walking shoes and stockings ; but not one 
 thought it necessary to take a mask — very ju- 
 diciously imagining that if she wished to be recog-
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 253 
 
 nised, she must appear without such a customary 
 addition to a lady's walking dress. 
 
 In this manner they left Petersham Manor, and 
 taking the road to Ham, were in a few minutes 
 proceeding down a narrow lane, leading to a large 
 mansion, a short distance to which, an avenue of 
 lofty trees shaded a delightful verdant promenade, 
 known to all the fashionable world at this period. 
 The Brigadier walked between Sophy Howe and 
 Fanny Meadows. Both young ladies were re- 
 markable for their beauty, though there existed a 
 marked contrast in the two. The fair Sophy 
 looking as impassioned as the other looked un- 
 susceptible. 
 
 They were followed by Mary Lepel and Mary 
 Bellenden. Both possessed a striking style of 
 beauty— of a higher and more intellectual order 
 than that of their young schoolfellows. Lord 
 Bellenden's daughter was much the more mature 
 beauty, her figure being more developed ; but 
 the freshness of the look of her companion, the 
 transparency of her skin, the natural elegance of 
 her movements would, amongst the best judges 
 of female loveliness, have carried off the palm 
 from her very accomplished rival. 
 
 Before they had entered upon the walk, they
 
 254 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 had passed several groups of ladies and gentlemen 
 going and returning. As they approached their 
 destination these parties increased, some being 
 attended by sedan-chairs, many of which were 
 in requisition for the use of such as preferred 
 being carried. 
 
 At last they came upon a crowd of well-dressed 
 persons of both sexes, slowly parading up and 
 down the walk; some stopping to exchange 
 courtesies with their friends, and get rid of their 
 budget of gossip, scandal, politics, or whatever 
 they chose to converse about. A few ladies 
 wore masks ; many wore patches ; others carried 
 their masks in their hands, and all were gazing, 
 and criticising, and coquetting with extraordinary 
 industry. Some wore hats, some hoods, some 
 " heads f* and their dresses were made of the most 
 costly materials, and from the variety of colour 
 and richness of material gave to the scene a re- 
 markably picturesque effect. 
 
 The gentlemen wore three cornered hats, several 
 handsomely edged. They seemed as often carried 
 under the arm as on the head. The wigs were of 
 various sizes, from the flowing peruke of many 
 curls, to the bob and cue perukes of more modest 
 pretensions. The coat formed the principal feature
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 255 
 
 in their apparel, and it was usually very rich, of 
 velvet or dark cloth laced with gold. Many 
 carried handsome canes ; some affecting eccen- 
 tricity, bore a tremendous staff nearly as tall as 
 themselves, with a grotesque head carved at the 
 top, such as the Earl of Peterborough brought 
 with him into the chamber of the Princess of 
 Wales. 
 
 The appearance of the Brigadier with his beau- 
 tiful charge attracted general attention as soon as 
 they entered on the walk. The ladies stared with 
 astonishment, the gentlemen with admiration. In 
 the general company there were several females 
 possessed of considerable personal attractions, but 
 being ladies of fashion, accustomed to dissipation 
 and racket, their beauty wore a faded look, which 
 contrasted very unsatisfactorily with the blooming 
 fascinations of the more youthful beauties who 
 now appeared upon the scene. 
 
 The enchanting faces and graceful figures of 
 Fanny Meadows and Sophy Howe excited much 
 attention ; but the gaze of the observers falling 
 immediately afterwards upon the still more lovely 
 Mary Bellenden, and her exquisite and beautiful 
 companion, the impression they made was more 
 transitory than it would otherwise have been.
 
 256 MAIDS OP HONOUR. 
 
 However great may have been the personal ad- 
 vantages of her fair schoolfellows, it was evident 
 before long that the innocence and purity that 
 appeared to breathe in the admirable countenance 
 of Mary Lepel, caused her to be the favourite of 
 all persons possessed of genuine taste who were 
 to be found amongst the numerous gay prome- 
 naders of Ham Walk. 
 
 Brigadier General Lepel was quite as much 
 in his element in the midst of this gay crowd, 
 having about him four of the most beautiful 
 women it contained, as he could have been in his 
 more martial days leading his troops against the 
 enemy. His heaviness and dullness, the result 
 of the previous day's debauch, seemed totally to 
 have left him, and his eye brightened and his 
 back became more erect as he addressed himself 
 to the youthful beauties on each side of him, or 
 gracefully returned the courtesies of some of his 
 friends who thought proper to confer on the old 
 beau the honour of a recognition. 
 
 The behaviour of his very attractive charge 
 was not much more varied than their thoughts. 
 Each fair damsel was in anxious expectation of 
 receiving some secret sign from her unknown 
 adorer, and strove to disguise her anxiety by
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 257 
 
 keeping up a continued conversation respecting 
 the more remarkable persons she passed.* The 
 persons of some were known to Lord Bellenden's 
 daughter, and she also pretended to be familiar 
 with their characters and histories, on which she 
 managed to say a great deal more than deserves 
 repetition. 
 
 " Voila, ma mignonne !" she exclaimed with a 
 gesture so French that there could be no dis- 
 puting its nationality, " do you see that very 
 rakish looking man by the trees yonder ?" And 
 she pointed to a gaily dressed old nobleman stand- 
 ing under some trees at a little distance, talking 
 with an elderly lady, very much patched, and very 
 much painted. "That, child, is John Sheffield, 
 Duke of Buckingham. A dear horrid wretch of 
 a man — a great foe to female innocence. Prenez 
 garde, ma chere — the man is absolutely a mon- 
 ster. He has betrayed scores of poor trusting 
 women to ruin, and commits the most abomi- 
 nable actions when engaged in his nefarious 
 schemes. Mafoi, I am astonished they do not 
 chain up such wretches." 
 
 Mary Lepel looked at the pallid libertine, and 
 felt shocked at the existence of such depravity. 
 
 " The lady to whom he is talking," continued
 
 258 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 the speaker, "is worthy of his companionship. 
 You see the remains of a royal mistress ; sans 
 doute one of the beauties of the Court of Charles 
 II. You behold all that time has left of the 
 Duchess of Cleveland. Ah, child, it is lamentable 
 to behold that painted mass of wrinkles striving 
 to maintain a bad influence over a generation that 
 were in their cradles when that bad influence was 
 first called into action. O bon Dieu ! I am 
 amazed at her impudence." 
 
 The ruin of the once powerful and profligate 
 beauty, that reared its trembling head among so 
 many fresh and admirable forms, was certainly 
 not entitled to create respect. The garish an- 
 tiquity seemed revolting to the unsophisticated 
 nature of the pure-minded Mary Lepel. 
 
 " But do you see that dignified personage 
 corning along the walk in the midst of a small 
 crowd of what are evidently his particular 
 friends Y' inquired Lord Bellenden's daughter, 
 directing the attention of her friend to an ap- 
 proaching group who seemed to be all engaged in 
 an animated discussion. " Oh mon Dieu ! how 
 are the mighty fallen ! A few short months he 
 was one of the most powerful men at Court, as 
 he was the ablest. Now, if what I have heard be
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 259 
 
 true, he has not sufficient influence to save him- 
 self from impending rain. That is the celebrated 
 St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke. You may ob- 
 serve that, with the exception of his companions, 
 who are certain authors and poets whose com- 
 pany he assumes to delight in, scarcely any one 
 notices him. It is well known he is a doomed 
 man. 
 
 " Some of his companions I think you have 
 seen before. That crooked little fellow talking 
 with so rapt an air is, you know, Mr. Pope, our 
 Twickenham acquaintance ; and the equally un- 
 dignified parson-like personage, whose laugh 
 seems so caustic, is the new Dean of St. Patrick's, 
 Jonathan Swift. The more serious and thought- 
 ful friend beside him is another great scholar, 
 Dr. Warburton. Then there is Addison, who 
 looks more like a gentleman than any of his as- 
 sociates. Mafoi! he may have gained his gen- 
 tility from the wife he has lately married, who is 
 a lady of quality, or he may have acquired it at 
 Court, for he has had some employment there. 
 There is a vastly pleasant creature in the same 
 group, — his name is Gay. You will like him mon- 
 strously when you come to know him. 
 
 " Oh, ma mignonne — observe that bold, dash-
 
 260 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 ing-looking young man, in the velvet coat 
 trimmed with silver. His countenance wearing 
 that decided devil-may-care expression which can 
 only belong to such restless, riotous spirits. He is 
 making up to Lord Bolingbroke, determined to 
 notice him in the most public manner, because 
 he sees every body else afraid to go too near him. 
 That is the notorious Philip, Duke of Wharton ; a 
 man of many follies, some crimes, and perhaps a 
 few, a very few good qualities. But he is wild as 
 an unbroken colt — a dear, tormenting devil, who is 
 ever being engaged in the maddest extravagances 
 that ever distinguished an inmate of Bedlam." 
 
 As the young Duke looked handsome, and was 
 not ill made, the Brigadier's daughter thought it 
 a thousand pities he should possess so bad a 
 character. But a great deal of this she had 
 known before, as his outrages against public order 
 and public decency had established for him an 
 unenviable reputation. 
 
 " Parbleu ! this is strange \" exclaimed the 
 young beauty loud enough to be heard by such 
 of the company as were passing; " I scarcely ex- 
 pected to meet his Grace here. You see that 
 pompous man, child, who looks so solemn as he 
 walks along, scarcely deigning to acknowledge the
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 26 L 
 
 salutation of an inferior. That is the Duke of 
 Newcastle. Here too comes the old Duke of 
 Somerset — the little well shaped man with a black 
 complexion. He is even a prouder man than his 
 Grace of Newcastle. They salute each other — see 
 how the pompous Newcastle cringes to his stern 
 superior, and how haughtily the old peer returns 
 his greeting. C'est un homme rigide ; he looks as 
 if he could scarcely be brought to bow to his 
 sovereign — as though he thought the Somersets 
 had no equals on earth ." 
 
 The meeting of the two Dukes was certainly a 
 singular one, and attracted other observers be- 
 sides Mary Bellenden. 
 
 " Ma foi, here come some of our pleasant asso- 
 ciates of yesterday. There is the intellectual and 
 well bred Duke of Ormond, with Mr. Wortley 
 Montagu and Lady Mary. Bon Dieu, how she is 
 flirting with the Duke ! Odious woman ! her con- 
 duct is really getting too bad. She monopolizes 
 all the handsomest and best bred men she meets 
 with ; and she dresses so vastly well ! Elle s>est 
 donnee de belles robes." 
 
 The two parties met, and accosted each other 
 with well bred civility ; Lady Wortley Montagu 
 seeming particularly delighted at the meeting.
 
 262 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 The Duke of Ormond did not seem, but was de- 
 lighted. He had seen the beauties in full dress, 
 but in morning dress he thought them still more 
 bewitching. He paid his compliments with the 
 refinement of a scholar and the ease of a gentle- 
 man. 
 
 The Brigadier was equally pleased with the 
 rencontre. To be seen talking to a Duke was far 
 from being disagreeable to him; but to be seen 
 in conversation with a nobleman ranking so high 
 in the arts of elegance and courtesy as the Duke 
 of Ormond, was an honour which he was ready 
 to appreciate at its full value ; nor was he indif- 
 ferent to the notice of so fashionable and beau- 
 tiful a woman as the lady who accompanied him. 
 
 The fair associates of the Brigadier were equally 
 well pleased at being accosted by his Grace ; 
 they were more, they were a little anxious. They 
 entertained an impression that the Duke was the 
 writer of their mysterious communication, and 
 each fully expected he would afford her some 
 sign of recognition. Under such influence they 
 were differently affected : Lord Bellenden's daugh- 
 ter displayed all the resources of her Parisian 
 education to fascinate him into some kind of 
 declaration of his sentiments towards her ; Sophy
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 263 
 
 Howe exhibited her dashing spirit in a manner 
 that seemed intended to take him by storm; 
 Fanny Meadows was more distant and reserved 
 than ever. She wore a sort of touch me not 
 look, possibly intended to excite the Duke of 
 Ormond by the difficulties of the enterprise. 
 Mary Lepel could not help feeling under some 
 apprehension. She was pale and red by turns ; 
 in truth she was not a little bewildered by her 
 own imagination. 
 
 To the astonishment of the school-fellows, the 
 Duke proceeded onwards with his friends without 
 giving any recognition, or affording either of the 
 disappointed beauties any evidence on which to 
 ground her supposition, that he was in the 
 slightest degree concerned in the matter that 
 engrossed her thoughts. 
 
 The Brigadier continued his observations, but 
 his fair friends remained silent for some few 
 minutes. By degrees they recovered the use of 
 their voices, and Mary Bellenden resumed her 
 commentaries on the company. The Duchess 
 of Bolton was next recognised ; she was ap- 
 proaching them, conversing in her usual eccen- 
 tric manner with a man of disagreeable physiog- 
 nomy, hard, severe, and stern, with a reckless
 
 264 MATDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 spirit in his restless eyes that seemed ready for 
 any evil. 
 
 " Arrah now, who'd have thought it !" cried 
 out the Duchess seemingly in some surprise. 
 " The top of the morning to you, my darlings ; 
 it's pleased T am to see you, Brigadier, in com- 
 pany with these illegant craythurs ; no game- 
 cock ever held his head so proud in the midst 
 of his hens, as you hold yourself this blessed 
 day — small blame to you. Were I a man, let 
 alone a Gin'ral, attending upon so many beautiful 
 angels, it's myself that would hardly find a place 
 big enough to hold me." 
 
 The Duchess laughed good humouredly, and 
 her friends joined in her mirth with equal hearti- 
 ness. a I was telling my Lord Berkeley here," 
 she continued turning to her companions, " that 
 Ham Walk isn't the place it used to be : indeed 
 and on my honour it's a different spot entirely. 
 May be it's the company's altered, for divil a 
 Christian soul I see of 'em but seems struggling 
 to look as ugly as Old Nick, out of compliment 
 I hear to some persons at Court, who it has been 
 said have taken out a patent for frightening the 
 crows. But when I look on your charming 
 daughter, and her charming friends, Brigadier,
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 265 
 
 I'm in hopes the people '11 try and look as con- 
 trary as they can, so I do, that the place may 
 appear dacent for quiet peaceable folks like you 
 and I." 
 
 The Duchess of Bolton laughingly passed on 
 with the Earl of Berkeley, who had amused him- 
 self during their short stoppage by staring some- 
 what rudely at the young beauties. They thought 
 by this scrutiny that his Lordship must be the 
 person of whom they were in search, and fully 
 anticipated receiving some sign that should place 
 this beyond a doubt. No sign, however, came. 
 My Lord Berkeley finished his scrutiny, made his 
 bow, and they saw no more of him. 
 
 Here was another disappointment. It certainly 
 looked rather provoking, that after our young 
 beauties had made up their minds to agree to a pro- 
 posed assignation, no one appeared to wish to have 
 any communication to make to them. Mary Bel- 
 lenden and Sophy Howe fancied they might as well 
 have stayed where they were. Fanny Meadows 
 began to consider she had been very imprudent ; 
 and Mary Lepel took some pains to satisfy herself 
 that in all such adventures as she was engaged in, 
 she knew of none in the course of her comprehen- 
 sive reading, where the gentleman having re- 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 266 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 quested a secret interview, failed to keep his 
 appointment. 
 
 Again they were stopped ; but this time it was 
 by the gossiping Duke of Devonshire, accom- 
 panied by two or three young men of family, 
 whom his Grace had been entertaining with his 
 agreeable reminiscences. He introduced his 
 companions ; they were by no means undesirable 
 persons with whom to have an assignation ; and 
 the troubled beauties were quite at a loss to 
 determine whether the Duke of Devonshire or 
 one of his friends were the writer of the myste- 
 rious billets. 
 
 They watched carefully; but no evidence of 
 the kind they looked for proceeded from his 
 Grace or from his associates ; and when the party 
 went on without sign or signal, the lovely faces of 
 the fair company the Brigadier had in charge 
 wore an expression that assuredly did not add to 
 their attractiveness, though it could take very 
 little from it. The more experienced began to 
 entertain suspicions that they had been played a 
 trick ; and when the thought entered their minds 
 that they had been brought there only to be 
 laughed at, they felt exceedingly indignant. 
 
 Mary Lepel, however, did not suppose this ;
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 267 
 
 she was too charitable, and perhaps too romantic to 
 imagine such a thing. She felt satisfied a meeting 
 had been intended, and could not but believe that 
 some one or other of those numerous accidents 
 that had so often set at nought the best intentions 
 of the greatest heroes and heroines of her ac- 
 quaintance, had prevented the writer of her mys- 
 terious communication from presenting himself 
 before her at the place he had appointed for 
 their interview. 
 
 But the hopes and fears of the little party were 
 suddenly diverted by a great stir amongst the 
 well-dressed crowd a little way in advance of 
 them. The gentlemen were seen to take off 
 their hats and bow with every outward show of 
 respect ; and with their fair companions to draw 
 back on each side of the walk as if forming a lane 
 for some party then advancing. This scene 
 created some excitement in the breasts of Mary 
 Lepel and her fair schoolfellows. They all knew 
 it must mean something ; and with a feeling 
 natural to the sex, were extremely curious to 
 know what something it meant. 
 
 At last as the company fell back before them 
 a little man was seen, as plain in person as he was 
 in dress, accompanied by two or three distinguished 
 
 N 2
 
 268 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 looking gentlemen in full court-dress, in a some- 
 what awkward manner returning the courtesies of 
 the persons by whom he was recognised. 
 
 "As I live," exclaimed the Brigadier with no 
 slight astonishment, "'tis the Prince/ 5 
 
 "The Prince !" simultaneously cried four female 
 voices with surprise equally genuine. 
 
 The Brigadier was right. The little man in the 
 snuff-coloured coat, who had caused so much com- 
 motion in Ham Walk, was the Prince of Wales,, 
 and he was not recognised by the party from Pe- 
 tersham Manor till only a very short distance in- 
 tervened between the Brigadier and his ladies, and 
 the Prince and his gentlemen. 
 
 Off went the cocked hat of Brigadier General 
 Lepel, and the old beau performed a genuflexion 
 such as he had never attempted since those glorious 
 days when he flourished so successfully at the 
 Court of King William, the first gentleman of 
 his day. Having effected this mark of respect, the 
 Brigadier was about to back to the side of the walk, 
 fully expecting that the Prince, after some slight 
 acknowledgment of his greeting, would pass on 
 his way. 
 
 But it was evident his Royal Highness had no 
 such intention. Instead of passing the old gentle- 
 man and his fair companions as he had passed all
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 269 
 
 the other groups, that had treated him with equal 
 respect, as soon as the Prince arrived close to the 
 little party, he shewed no disposition for moving. 
 
 " Ah mine goot vriend Prigadier, 5 ' he exclaimed, 
 his honest, though somewhat homely face lighting 
 up with exultation as if he was meeting the best 
 friend man ever knew. " I am petter bleased to 
 zee you, dan I can exbress. And how is all your 
 plooming vamily, mine goot vriend ? Dese young 
 ladies is your taughters, eh Prigadier ?" 
 
 "No, please your Royal Highness;' 5 com- 
 menced that courtly officer, still bowing to his 
 interrogator. 
 
 " No ! dese young ladies is not your taughters ! 
 den whose sharming taughters you call dem, mine 
 vriend ?" And the Prince gazed from one to the 
 other in unfeigned astonishment at their extraor- 
 dinary beauty. 
 
 " Please your Royal Highness," again com- 
 menced the Brigadier, " I have but one daughter." 
 
 u You have but von sharming taughter, eh 
 Prigadier ! Veil I am zurprize you shall have no 
 more dan von. But vich von is dat, mine vriend, 
 for dey is all so pootivul, it is imbossible to 
 shudge vich von it shall be." 
 
 " Please your Royal Highness, here is my
 
 270 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 daughter, " and the blushing modest Mary Lepel 
 stood before the Prince in all her pure and inno- 
 cent beauty. The effect seemed to be magical. 
 The Prince gazed like one entranced ; he had 
 never before beheld a face so perfect, and so ex- 
 quisite in its expression. For some seconds, he 
 said not a word. 
 
 " My God !" he at last exclaimed in German 
 with intense fervour, " this must be an angel 
 fresh from Heaven !" Then added in his custom- 
 ary English, with a degree of respect he found 
 he could not help feeling as he gazed upon her, 
 " Madam Lepel, pelieve me I am mosh beholden 
 to your goot fader for such agribble acquaintance. 
 But such agribble acquaintance is only pegin ; ve 
 must be goot vriends. I am shure ve shall be 
 vere goot vriends. Der Prigadier shall take you 
 to Court to pe introduce to mine vife, and der 
 Princess shall pe every ting to you dat is agribble 
 and brober." 
 
 Mary Lepel curtseyed, and in a few gentle 
 words expressed her gratitude for his Royal 
 Highnesses condescension. 
 
 " Not at all, Madam Lepel, not at all I" replied 
 the Prince hurriedly, " mine vife shall be telighted 
 to make you as bleased as bossible ; every pody
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 271 
 
 shall be telighted. I mosh beg you mine goot 
 vriend," he added turning from the daughter to the 
 father, "to pring Madam Lepel to Court at vonce. 
 Dere mosh be no telay ; dere mosh pe no exkuzes; 
 mine vife is not to pe disabbointed. Vhat you say, 
 eh Prigadier V" 
 
 The old beau in courtly language acknowledged 
 the honour, and readily promised to attend to his 
 Royal Highness's commands. 
 
 The Prince then, though apparently reluctant 
 to take his eyes off so fair a vision, asked who were 
 the other ladies, and they were severally intro- 
 duced to him with all the graceful ceremonious- 
 ness of which the Brigadier was master. His 
 Royal Highness beheld much to admire in each of 
 them, but he could not help occasionally taking 
 off his eyes from their more developed loveliness 
 to glance again at that rare style of beauty that 
 had made so strong an impression upon him. 
 
 With something very like gallantry, though it 
 was not of the most refined description, he ex- 
 pressed his admiration to the young beauties, and 
 desired that they should make their appearance at 
 Court in company with the Brigadier's daughter. 
 Then with a few more congratulatory remarks to
 
 272 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 the old beau, and another enraptured glance at his 
 admirable daughter, he gallantly took off his hat 
 to the party, and passed on. His suite did the 
 same. 
 
 If the fair school-fellows had created an im- 
 pression on their first appearance in Ham Walk, 
 it had increased a hundred fold after the honour 
 so publicly conferred upon them by the Prince of 
 Wales; and Mary Lepel and her young compa- 
 nions were so delighted with their invitations and 
 the interest they had excited, they quite forgot 
 the mysterious communication that had brought 
 them there. 
 
 A happy man was Brigadier General Lepel 
 that day. As he promenaded through the line of 
 curious fashionables, he felt he would not change 
 places with the most distinguished personage 
 amongst them. 
 
 " Mein Got !" exclaimed the Prince, when he 
 had got out of hearing of his new acquaintances, 
 " Every von is a veenix and noting else but a 
 veenix ; but as for der Prigadier's taughter, ven 
 I look at her she make me veel as innocent as 
 von littel shild. Ha/' he added with a chuckle of 
 infinite satisfaction, aside to his nearest com-
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 273 
 
 panion, who was the gay and handsome Philip 
 Dormer, i( I am imbatient for her to abbear at 
 Court, for dose dam antederluvian grockodiles vill 
 be ready to hang demselves as soon as dey shall 
 catch zight of her." 
 
 N 3
 
 274 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A BISHOP "EN PRISE." 
 
 Evident proofs will appear of a meeting having been held 
 by some considerable persons, one of whom is not far off, 
 wherein it was proposed to proclaim the Pretender at the 
 Royal Exchange. 
 
 SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. 
 
 From one or two hints that have been dropped 
 during the course of this narrative, the reader 
 must have entertained a suspicion that the new 
 King of England was anything but popular with 
 his new subjects ; but this is but a faint idea of 
 the state of public feeling in England. The 
 shameless system of plunder pursued by his Ger- 
 man dependants of both sexes, together with the 
 repulsive behaviour of the sovereign, had disgust-
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 2/3 
 
 4 
 
 ed all ranks, and this feeling had been taken such 
 advantage of by the agents of the son of James II. 
 the Pretender as he was called, that the country 
 was believed to be on the brink of rebellion, and 
 a wide spread conspiracy, in which many persons 
 of distinction were suspected of being concerned, 
 there were several reasons for believing existed. 
 
 Society at this period was in a state of extraor- 
 dinary ferment. The numerous friends of the 
 Pretender were daily becoming bolder, and the 
 feeling against the King hourly increasing in ani- 
 mosity. The ministers of George I. were well 
 aware of the critical state of affairs, and were 
 employing every engine to avert the threatened 
 danger. To learn how to distinguish friends from 
 enemies, and to obtain information of the in- 
 trigues that were going on, they employed spies 
 to watch the movements of all persons supposed 
 to be averse to the Hanoverian rule; but this 
 only made the conspirators more prudent. They 
 employed spies to deceive the spies, and disguise 
 and deception were becoming general, to an 
 extent it is scarcely possible to imagine. 
 
 In the metropolis disturbances took place, and 
 the recognition of any of the foreigners, male or 
 female who were known to possess the King's
 
 276 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 favour, was the signal for insult, abuse, and riot. 
 Caricatures, epigrams, satires, and every kind of 
 squib, directed against the obnoxious Hanover- 
 ians, were frequently published and eagerly bought. 
 The tone of popular opinion was both loud and 
 sharp, and many shrewd persons anticipated it 
 would soon burst forth into a chorus that would 
 frighten the unpopular monarch back to his 
 beloved electorate. 
 
 At this period rather late in the afternoon, an 
 old lady was proceeding in a private sedan chair 
 from Whitehall along King Street. Her two 
 stalwart Irish chairmen were clothed in ser- 
 viceable great coats, that allowed scarcely any 
 part of the wearer to be seen but a pair of calves, 
 of dimensions only to be met with in people of 
 their calling. Of the person they carried it was 
 impossible to distinguish anything beyond the 
 fact that she was in the dress of an elderly lady; 
 and it might be imagined from the direction in 
 which she was being carried, that she was some 
 pious old soul proceeding to hear afternoon ser- 
 vice at Westminster Abbey. 
 
 Though there wanted but a few minutes to the 
 time when service commenced, and the chairmen 
 were evidently the most skilful of their class, it
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 277 
 
 seemed as though the good lady would not be 
 allowed to reach the abbey as soon as she desired. 
 In advance could distinctly be heard a confused 
 shout of groans and cries, and other signs of a 
 popular hubbub ; and at no great distance a 
 riotous mob was approaching, exhibiting every 
 sign of being in a most mob-like humour. 
 
 u Arrah, Dan !" exclaimed the leading chair- 
 man, stopping and turning to his fellow labourer. 
 " By the powers of Moll Kelly, here's as fine a 
 shindy going on forenenst us, as ever you set 
 eyes on." 
 
 " More power to your elbow \" replied the 
 other, in a half joyful, half sorrowful tone. "And 
 isn't it ourselves now, that's two misfortunit 
 craters, to be afther coming this way this blessed 
 minute, of all the days of the week, jist when 
 there's sich a beautiful skrimmage as is coming 
 down upon us, as will get the old lady, and the 
 chair, and all of us smashed into smithereens, 
 before we can say Jack Robinson/' 
 
 Here the old lady whom they were bearing, 
 and on whom their conversation had not been 
 lost, put her head outside the window above 
 the door. Her face was covered with a mask.
 
 278 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 so that it was impossible to say how old she 
 was, or what she was like. 
 " Chairman !" she cried. 
 
 u Och, the blazes ?" exclaimed the first speaker, 
 with much emphasis, as he quietly put down his 
 burthen, and began to watch with no slight 
 interest the doings of the approaching crowd. 
 " It's a beautiful row, sure enough, honey ! and 
 it's meself that would like to be in the thick of it, 
 with a nate bit of a stick, for the sake of a little 
 divarsion." 
 
 " Chairman ! — chairman I" cried the old lady, 
 with more energy, as she stretched her head out 
 of the window as far as she could. 
 
 "That's thrue for you, Paddy, my boy, and 
 niver a bit of a lie," added his companion ; " and 
 if it wasn't for the old lady that's inside, shouldn't 
 I be glad to try my luck with you at that same, 
 for the honour of ould Ireland." 
 
 " Chairman ! — chairman !" shouted their some- 
 what frightened burthen, having many reasons 
 for desiring to be as far from a popular tumult as 
 possible, and beginning to entertain some fears 
 that she should not only get into the midst of 
 the approaching mob, but would be abandoned
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 2p) 
 
 by her bearers, from their inability to refrain from 
 joining in any row that might be going on in 
 their neighbourhood. The dreadful thought of 
 the danger in which she was placed seemed to 
 give the old lady additional strength to arrest the 
 attention of the two Irishmen, — now so absorbed 
 in the stirring scene before them, as to have 
 become as completely forgetful of their burthen, 
 as though they had never seen her. 
 
 " Faix, there at it in right airnest !" exclaimed 
 Pat, with evident delight. " Pll go bail, I'll see 
 the fun, any how/' 
 
 " Chairman !" screamed the poor old lady, 
 stretching out her neck so as almost to protrude 
 her body out of the sedan-chair. 
 
 " Och ! blood and ouns, Dan, here's the queer 
 ould soul calling!'' cried Paddy, in an undertone. 
 " What is it, my Lady ?" he added, briskly, put- 
 ting his hand to a straggling lock of hair that 
 hung over his forehead. 
 
 " Take me away ! — Take me away, this mi- 
 nute ! I must be carried out of the way of that 
 mob. Bear me out of this riotous street without 
 a moment's delay." 
 
 "Oh yes, my Lady; — in a brace o' shakes, my
 
 280 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 Lady," readily replied the chairman, without, 
 however, making the slightest effort to do what 
 he had been desired. Then he began to scratch 
 his head, as he answered, a Please your honour- 
 able Ladyship, they've got so close upon us it's 
 clane impossible to get out of the way on 'em 
 before they've passed us. Wouldn't it be better, 
 my Lady, to stand on this iligant doorstep, till 
 the skrimmage has gone by, and left the coast 
 clear." 
 
 (e No 5 I insist upon being immediately carried 
 out of the way of this horrid mob !" said the 
 inmate of the sedan, in a commanding voice. 
 
 But the chairmen either did not care to fulfill 
 her commands, or were determined to see the 
 stirring scene that was approaching, for they 
 went so slowly to work in raising their burthen, 
 that the crowd had approached alarmingly near. 
 
 " Chairman !" again called out the old lady, in 
 accents of alarm, seeing that if the men attempted 
 to do her bidding, they were likely to be swept 
 away in the rush of the approaching crowd. 
 " Set the chair on that doorstep — and do you 
 hear, chairman?" 
 
 " Oh, iligantly, my Lady."
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 2S1 
 
 " I'll give you a crown a piece if you'll prevent 
 any rude fellow poking his head into the sedan. 
 And do you hear, chairman ?" 
 
 " Every word, my Lady/' 
 
 66 I'll give you a guinea a-piece, if you'll stand 
 before the door, and prevent the mob pressing 
 upon me ; — and don't leave the spot till the way 
 is clear to proceed." 
 
 " Long life to your Ladyship ! Dan and I'll 
 stand like two statutes, my Lady; and if any 
 rapscallion shews so much as his ugly nose too 
 near your Ladyship, by this and by that, we'll ate 
 him without salt." 
 
 In a very brief space of time the chair was 
 snugly placed on the doorstep, above the pave- 
 ment ; its inmate sat back as much out of sight 
 as possible, and the two stout Irishmen took up 
 their positions before the door, effectually screen- 
 ing her from observation, whilst their Herculean 
 proportions made them an excellent defence, 
 should an attack be attempted. 
 
 These arrangements had just been completed, 
 when the mob rushed forward, yelling, and shout- 
 ing, and groaning, in a most horrible chorus. It 
 was observed that a considerable part of this 
 riotous assemblage wore the habit of citizens, or
 
 282 MAIDS OF HONOUR, 
 
 respectable artizans, yet were equally active and 
 vociferous with the ragged and vagabond por- 
 tion. 
 
 What was the cause of all this uproar, could 
 not be ascertained ; but in the thickest part of 
 the mob a chariot was seen — one of those curious 
 vehicles with the body placed far back. The 
 coachman, wearing a very handsome livery, was 
 whipping his horses in a vain attempt to escape 
 from the tumult, while three tall footmen, equally 
 well apparelled, hung like powdered and dressed 
 up monkeys, behind. 
 
 The yells became deafening; the groans most 
 horrible ; and many insulting expressions were 
 shouted by the mob. When the chariot came 
 opposite to the doorstep, where the old lady and 
 her champions had placed themselves, it was 
 seen that a woman rode in the chariot. She sat 
 back; but she was perfectly visible to all who 
 could look into the carriage from an elevation ; 
 and a more disagreeable, repulsive looking object, 
 it was scarcely possible to have imagined. 
 
 She had long passed her youth ; — and it was 
 equally plain she had long passed her beauty. 
 Her features were large; her skin coarse and 
 dark ; her figure vulgar, and extremely corpulent.
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 283 
 
 In brief, a more bloated, ill-looking, clumsy- 
 shaped woman, all London could not have pro- 
 duced : nevertheless, this was Madame Kielman- 
 segge, the King's mistress. 
 
 "Down with the Hanoverian rats !" exclaimed 
 one voice. 
 
 " Go back to your own beggarly country, you 
 cursed old ugly mug !" shouted a second. 
 
 " Arn't you ashamed, you unwholesome look- 
 ing varmint, to be a King's conkyoubine, with 
 such a precious ugly phiz as you've got !" cried a 
 third. 
 
 " You abominable old sinner, you ! The devil 
 would have fetched you long afore this, if you 
 hadn't made him so plaguy sick when he first 
 cotched sight of you, he hasn't been able to 
 recover himself!'' screamed a fourth. 
 
 It may be gathered from these complimentary 
 speeches, that the opinions of George I. and of 
 his subjects differed very considerably in their 
 estimates of female beauty. Madame Kielman- 
 segge, although she knew very little English, was 
 perfectly satisfied that the addresses she had 
 heard were not of the most flattering description. 
 She felt a slight sense of alarm ; but she pos-
 
 284 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 sessed a degree of impudence worthy of her call- 
 ing, and fancied she could easily persuade the 
 shouting and groaning mob, that she was a much 
 more amiable being than they supposed her 
 to be. 
 
 She called her courage to her aid, and presented 
 her face right before the open window of her 
 chariot. Whether the full sight of such peculiar 
 attractions in a King^s mistress, or her apparent 
 intention to address them, affected the multitude, 
 cannot be satisfactorily ascertained ; but certain 
 it is the general row subsided, and the rioters 
 became silent. Now was the golden minute, she 
 thought ; and she hastened to seize it. 
 
 " Goot beobles," she cried, in the most friendly 
 manner that can be conceived. "Mine goot 
 beobles, pelieve me, I come only for your 
 goots !" 
 
 " Ay, and be d — d to you for a plundering 
 old hussey !" cried a ready wit close to her car- 
 riage window. " We know you have come for 
 our goods, and our chattels, too !" 
 
 This was the signal to renew the uproar, which 
 recommenced with a shout of laughter ; and then 
 came an endless number of epithets, execrations,
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 285 
 
 and admonitions, that would have made a pretty 
 long lesson for her, had she attempted to get 
 them by heart. 
 
 Madame Kielmansegge had sense enough to see 
 that the King's subjects were not so easily gulled 
 as the King. She cried to the coachman to 
 drive as fast as he could, and threw herself back 
 against the carriage. The coachman whipped his 
 horses ; the footmen clung like wild-cats to their 
 places ; shouts, groans, yells, dead cats, mud and 
 rotten eggs, were hurled against the chariot in 
 every direction ; and so many missiles might, at 
 least have been more than enough for those who 
 were outside, had not the skilful Jehu succeeded 
 in making an opening in the mob, and dashed at 
 full speed out of King Street into the wider 
 thoroughfare of Whitehall. 
 
 He then soon left the noisy mob too far 
 behind, to have the slightest anxiety for the safety 
 of his mistress ; though it was evident, in the 
 bespattered liveries of the servants, and mud- 
 covered panels of the chariot, that they did not 
 come out of the conflict unscathed. 
 
 All the while this hubbub was going on before 
 her, the alarmed old lady in the sedan sat in a 
 most uncomfortable state of anxiety. She was
 
 286 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 fearful that the unruly mob would become trou- 
 blesome to her ; and notwithstanding her hand- 
 some offers, she was not without considerable 
 apprehension her Irish chairmen would allow 
 their national inclinations to join in a row going 
 on before them, to overpower their desire to 
 possess what had been promised them on the 
 condition of their keeping themselves quiet. The 
 liberality of this reward, proved that the person 
 who offered it, was either in a great fright, or had 
 powerful reasons for desiring to remain undis- 
 turbed and unknown. 
 
 To do them justice Dan and Paddy kept their 
 posts as quietly as the most trust- worthy sentinels 
 could have done; but, in the first place it should 
 be known that the mob were too intent upon 
 paying due honours to Madame Kielmansegge to 
 heed the sedan or its inmate, and the next as 
 soon as the Irishmen discovered there was no 
 fighting going on, and all the rumpus was caused 
 by a lot of people abusing one of the King's mis- 
 tresses, they determined on doing their duty to 
 " the queer ould soul" inside, with a fidelity worthy 
 of the reward. 
 
 u Be the Piper that played before Moses, did 
 vou ever see the like of that, Dan ?" exclaimed
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 287 
 
 Paddy to his comrade. " To hear the rumpus 
 one would have thought all the sbelaleghs in 
 Connaught were playing the divil's march to pur- 
 gatory. But they haven't the sinse, honey ! to get 
 up a dacent fight, or they wouldn't be howling at 
 that ill-looking baste in the carritch." 
 
 " Oh, it's a poor lot they are, Paddy," said the 
 other in great disdain. " Shouldn't we be dis- 
 graced entirely, and desarve it too, had we ven- 
 tured among such wake-spirited spalpeens. Bear 
 a hand, jewel, now they've passed us, we'll 'am the 
 goulden guineas asily. I wouldn't give a pinch of 
 salt for these English; I'd bate 'em by handfulls, 
 I would." 
 
 The mob had gone by, and the way appeared 
 clear ; so the bearers took up the chair again much 
 to the satisfaction of the old lady within, and re- 
 ceiving a brief direction from her, hastened from 
 the door-step with the quick springy step peculiar 
 to this class of people, and did not stop till they 
 got close to Westminster Abbey. Here they 
 put down the chair, and the lady got out, and 
 bidding them take the chair away, and be back by 
 a certain time, she walked towards the great door. 
 No one was near enough to observe her, and she 
 entered the sacred building. She could see a few
 
 238 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 persons passing on before ; but instead of follow- 
 ing them to where the service was going on, she 
 turned sharply to the right, where there was a door 
 in an archway, which being in shadow, might rea- 
 dily be passed unregarded by those who knew not 
 its existence. She pushed the door, which was 
 slightly open, and entering, closed it quietly and 
 carefully. 
 
 After passing along a dim passage she came to 
 a chamber, that had much the appearance of a 
 buttery, or place connected with a kitchen. Here 
 she went up two or three steps, and by another 
 door found her way into a longer passage, in 
 which were several doors. Of these she took no 
 notice ; but as if she knew the place thoroughly, 
 went on till she came to a handsome flight of 
 stairs, that led to a green baized door. She opened 
 it and went in —opened another door close to it, 
 found herself in a handsome apartment covered 
 with books, in which the Bishop of Rochester was 
 seated at a table, his gouty leg supported on a 
 stool, reading a large folio volume. She took off 
 her mask as she entered, and disclosed the features 
 of the Duchess of Marlborough. 
 
 The Bishop evidently expected her, for he ex- 
 hibited no surprise at her appearance. He looked
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 289 
 
 a little more serious than usual, and appeared as 
 though he had but lately left his bed-room, for he 
 was in his dressing-gown and night-cap ; a kind 
 of dress that made him look a much less reverend 
 personage, than when he wore his wig and clerical 
 suit. 
 
 Her Grace entered, flushed either with excite- 
 ment or exertion, and at once made for a chair 
 close to the Bishop. She glanced at his uncanon- 
 ical appearance, which seemed to shock her sense 
 of propriety very much ; and in her usual stiff and 
 stately manner strode to a seat. 
 
 His Lordship put on a cheerful air on beholding 
 her, and welcomed her in a manner half jocose, 
 half gallant ; but the solemn old lady was in no 
 humour either for pleasantry or gallantry; and 
 gravely acquainted him with her meeting the 
 mob who were assailing " one of the foreign 
 women ; y and her fear of being discovered by 
 some of the numerous spies she knew to be 
 always watching her wherever she went. She 
 drew a vivid picture of her alarm whilst the dis- 
 turbance was going on before her, yet did not 
 conceal the gratification she felt at the treatment 
 " the good-for-nothing wretch" was receiving at 
 the hands of an indignant people. 
 
 VOL. I. O
 
 290 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 The Bishop expressed his concern for her 
 Grace's sufferings : but at the description of the 
 abuse lavished on the King's mistress by the 
 mob, he burst out into expressions of the highest 
 satisfaction, mingled with undisguised mirth. 
 
 " A good sign — an excellent beginning. No- 
 thing could be more encouraging to our cause !" 
 he exclaimed. 
 
 "What do you call our cause, my Lord?" 
 inquired the Duchess, with a look full of reserve. 
 ie Why what cause could be ours, but the cause 
 of truth and legitimacy ?" replied the Bishop. 
 " The cause of religion and honour, of virtue and 
 worth — the cause of our amiable Prince driven 
 from the throne of his ancestors, who is eager to 
 maintain his rights, that he may be able to sup- 
 port the good and reward the deserving ; in oppo- 
 sition to the cause of an alien, who, through the 
 influence of an unprincipled faction, has usurped 
 a crown he has disgraced; who supports only a 
 pack of the most worthless of both sexes, who 
 have left their own country to plunder this ; and 
 rewards only those who appear to be lost to all 
 sense of honesty and self-respect." 
 The Duchess of Marlborough took snuff. 
 " I have had many opportunities of hearing
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 291 
 
 the virtues that so gloriously adorn a person 
 over the water," resumed the prelate. " I have 
 heard of his generosity, his respect for re- 
 ligion, and his integrity of character. I have 
 had quite as many opportunities of hearing the 
 vices of his rival, of seeing the insulting neglect 
 with which he treats the most distinguished per- 
 sonages in the kingdom ; and the shameless 
 manner in which he outrages common decency in 
 his habitual disregard of all the respectable usages 
 of society." 
 
 " You will please to remember, Bishop Atter- 
 bury," said the Duchess in her gravest tone of 
 voice, and fixing her keen eyes upon his, " that his 
 Grace the Duke of Marlborough is a subject of 
 George I. King of England, and that I am his 
 wife, and a subject of the same monarch. 5 ' 
 
 The Bishop opened his eyes a little more than 
 usual, as though wondering what was meant by 
 such a speech, after the confidential communica- 
 tions that had passed between them, and the un- 
 derstanding he knew existed between " the person 
 *)ver the water" and the Duke of Marlborough. 
 
 "It is quite true, my Lord," she resumed, 
 " that his Grace has the misfortune of seeing 
 himself obliged to retire into the privacy of 
 
 o 2
 
 292 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 country life, from not being so highly esteemed 
 by his sovereign as his country, grateful for his 
 eminent services, consider he deserves to be. 
 But the Duke of Marlborough can afford to rest 
 satisfied with the voice of all Europe. It can be 
 of little importance to him who are greatest at 
 Court, or by how many fools and knaves its 
 rewards are monopolised. " 
 
 " Yes," said the prelate, a little mystified by 
 these remarks. " The Duke of Marlborough is 
 unquestionably the greatest hero of ancient and 
 modern times ; — the most skilful, the bravest, and 
 the most successful ; and the man above all others 
 who has a claim upon the favours of the throne, 
 of which he has long been so able a champion ; 
 and, were it filled by a monarch possessed of an 
 hereditary right to dispense its honours and re- 
 wards, and capable of duly estimating the Duke's 
 unparalleled public services, I have every reason 
 to believe — nay, I can take upon myself to say, 
 that instead of his Grace being obliged to shut him- 
 self up at Woodstock, where he is like to remain 
 unthought of and uncared for, he would stand at 
 the right hand of his sovereign, the first in counsel 
 as the first in war; and every distinction, every 
 gift his Majesty would have the power to bestow,
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 293 
 
 would be lavished upon him with a prodigality that 
 must exceed his most sanguine anticipations. 5 ' 
 
 The Duchess of Marlborough again took snuif. 
 
 " It is not only in England/' continued the 
 prelate, " that the shameful manner in which the 
 great Duke has been treated has excited indigna- 
 tion. The nations who witnessed his glorious 
 career, can scarcely believe that so great a man as 
 the conqueror of Blenheim, could submit to the 
 humiliations that have been forced upon him." 
 
 " No, my Lord Bishop," said her Grace haugh- 
 tily ; "it is quite impossible that so illustrious a 
 character as the Duke of Marlborough could be 
 humiliated. Attempts may be made to put 
 affronts upon him ; but he knows his own high 
 position too well to heed them." 
 
 " Just so," observed the Bishop ; u but such 
 affronts are not the less disgraceful for the mag- 
 nanimity of the person against whom they are 
 directed. At least, such I am aware is the feel- 
 ing in the most renowned Court in Europe ; and 
 to such an extent does it influence a person over 
 the water, that I can say with some confidence, 
 that there is nothing the Duke could ask when 
 that person is in a position to grant what his
 
 294 MAIDS OP HONOUR. 
 
 friends may require of him, that there would be 
 the slightest hesitation in his bestowing." 
 
 The Duchess of Marlborough was perfectly 
 aware of what every word uttered by the Bishop 
 meant, and had ventured at considerable risk to 
 fulfil the appointment she had entered into for 
 the express purpose of hearing the overtures that 
 were to be made to her husband to join an exten- 
 sive conspiracy, that had been organizing since 
 the accession of George L, to assist the Pre- 
 tender to invade the country and drive the 
 Hanoverians out of it ; but she was also aware that 
 the Duke had received a great deal ; and though 
 he had no possible objection to receive a great deal 
 more, she was not going to allow him to risk what 
 he had got, unless it was quite clear that it would 
 be extremely to his advantage in the end ; and 
 this she had the means of knowing was not to be 
 looked for in the present conspiracy. 
 
 Her natural shrewdness, aided by her vast ex- 
 perience of Courts, had made her too skilful a dip- 
 lomatist to commit herself or her husband in any 
 way with the adherents of the Pretender. Not- 
 withstanding the genuine disgust with which she 
 regarded the disgraceful doings at St. James's, and
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 295 
 
 the equally genuine animosity she felt for every 
 one connected with the Court who had been in- 
 strumental in depriving the Duke of the numerous 
 valuable appointments he had held before her 
 quarrel with Queen Anne on finding herself sup- 
 planted by Mrs. Masham ; the Duchess feigned 
 as perfect an indifference to the fair promises con- 
 tained in the speeches of her companion, as if she 
 did not understand a word of what had been said. 
 Her object was to learn whether anything new 
 had transpired respecting the projected rebellion, 
 that she might possess as accurate a knowledge 
 as possible of the intentions of the son of King 
 James, and the resources of himself and his friends, 
 to allow her to form a correct judgment of their 
 prospect of success. And this object she presently 
 attempted to gain by some skilful manoeuvres that 
 brought the unsuspicious prelate gradually to un- 
 fold the whole conspiracy before her, with all its 
 means, agents, plans, and proceedings. 
 
 To gain so powerful an adherent as the Duke of 
 Marlborough^ was worth, the Bishop thought, a 
 good deal of risk; and as the Duchess appeared 
 more interested the more she learned of his im- 
 portant secrets, he proceeded with increased con-
 
 296 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 ridence to place before her his correspondence, 
 to explain the cypher, and to give her the fullest 
 information respecting every person who had 
 joined the conspirators, or were about to join 
 them. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the care with which the 
 Duchess endeavoured to make herself mistress of 
 such a business in all its details ; she gave an ear- 
 nestness to her attention that much gratified her 
 companion, and he did not scruple to answer her 
 questions when he found her so deeply interested 
 in the intelligence he laid before her. 
 
 The Duchess at last got from him all she wanted 
 to know. There were no more questions to ask, 
 there were no more answers to give. Her great 
 penetration enabled her to see the exact charac- 
 ter, and form an estimate of the true value of all 
 the plans and promises, and expectations, her 
 companion had detailed to her ; and her line of 
 conduct was very soon decided on. 
 
 The Duchess of Marlborough took snuff once 
 more ; and opened her box, extracted the powder 
 and applied it to her nostrils with more than ordi- 
 nary deliberation. There was a pause. The 
 Bishop expected his visitor to speak, but his visi-
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 297 
 
 tor seemed in no hurry to do so. She sat with 
 her sharp eyes fixed upon his with an expression 
 he could not quite understand, and he did not at 
 all like. 
 
 " Well what does your Grace think of our 
 affairs ?" at last inquired the prelate. 
 
 " Very badly. Bishop Atterbury/' replied the 
 lady, as coolly as possible. 
 
 "Why, God bless my soul, Madam, you astonish 
 me !" cried the Bishop, expressing a surprise he 
 was not without feeling. " The cause wears the 
 most favourable aspect ; its supporters are nume- 
 rous and powerful ; a decisive movement is about 
 to take place which cannot fail of success." 
 
 "Indeed !" observed the Duchess in a tone of 
 incredulity that grated terribly on the right reve- 
 rend gentleman's ears. 
 
 " Surely, under such circumstances," added he, 
 and not without an anxiety he could not conceal, 
 " surely we may count on such important addi- 
 tions to our ranks as the Duke and yourself ?" 
 
 " The Duke of Marlborough would be a great 
 fool were he to think of joining you/' replied the 
 lady very quietly ; and added in a more impressive 
 manner, " and I should be a greater fool were I 
 to let him."
 
 29S MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 " Why d it madam, I havn't been betraying 
 
 the Princess secrets to a spy }" exclaimed the 
 Bishop, starting up in a rage, and looking very 
 red in the face ; for unhappily the worthy Bishop 
 not only could throw himself into a passion, could 
 look very red in the face, but could at such mo- 
 ments rap out an oath, which was still more un- 
 canonical. 
 
 " No, Bishop Atterbury, you havn't been doing 
 anything of the kind," answered the Duchess 
 without moving a muscle of her countenance, " I 
 came here for a very different purpose than to play 
 the part of a spy ; though I must say, my Lord, 
 that you make a bad conspirator, as I much fear 
 you will yourself discover some of these days." 
 
 " Pray what the devil did you come for r" in- 
 quired the prelate in what was decidedly a fierce 
 tone and expression. 
 
 " I came, Bishop Atterbury, 5 ' drily answered the 
 old lady, leaning forward over the table and gazing 
 on him steadily, " to warn you that Sir Robert 
 Walpole is in possession of all the most important 
 features of the conspiracy in which you are 
 engaged." 
 
 The poor Bishop at this intelligence fell back on 
 his chair as if he had been shot, and his counte-
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 299 
 
 nance suddenly became as pale as it had formerly- 
 been rubicund. 
 
 The Duchess continued her gaze, but without 
 betraying a particle of sympathy. 
 
 At this moment both were startled by a loud 
 knocking at the door. In the excited state of 
 mind in which the Bishop then was, the disturb- 
 ance could seem nothing but a summons to sur- 
 render himself into the custody of the Lieutenant 
 of the Tower ; and he made a desperate grasp at 
 the papers on the table which were such indispu- 
 table evidence against him. The Duchess was 
 not without apprehension, but her anxiety was far 
 less violent than that of her companion. 
 
 The knocking was repeated more loudly, accom- 
 panied by some one calling on the Bishop. On 
 recognizing the voice, the good prelate took a long 
 breath, and hurriedly saying there was nothing to 
 fear, and that he must leave her for a few minutes, 
 he shuffled towards a door opposite to that by 
 which the Duchess had entered, opened it, and 
 disappeared, closing the door after him. 
 
 The Duchess of Marlborough was somewhat 
 surprised at this mysterious movement ; and not 
 being able to explain it to her satisfaction, was 
 debating in her mind whether it would not
 
 300 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 
 
 be most prudent for her to take advantage of the 
 opportunity and make her escape ; but before she 
 could bring herself to act upon such a suggestion, 
 the door again opened, and Bishop Atterbury 
 made his appearance, looking more excited than 
 ever. 
 
 " The most extraordinary thing has happened," 
 said he as he approached the table " but I wonder 
 very much how it was, I never before heard of such 
 an intention. A plan has been on foot some time 
 to assassinate the Elector of Hanover, and the per- 
 son who has taken this perilous task upon himself, 
 every day takes the sacrament from a non-juring 
 priest, the better to strengthen his resolution, as he 
 considers it, to destroy a tyrant who is a disgrace 
 to the land he misgoverns. This is a wonderful 
 proof of the public animosity. A sovereign excit- 
 ing so powerful a feeling must not expect to stand 
 against it." 
 
 "Very true, my Lord/' replied her Grace, having 
 recourse to her snuff, in her usual methodical man- 
 ner. " But you do not appear to be aware, Bishop 
 Atterbury, that the intended assassin has this 
 morning been taken into custody, and will be 
 hanged as assuredly as he has a head on his shoul- 
 ders."
 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR. 301 
 
 " That is quite unknown to me !" exclaimed the 
 Bishop, apparently astounded by the extent of his 
 companion's information. 
 
 " I cannot, with safety to myself, prolong this 
 interview," said the stately old lady rising from her 
 seat. " I came to warn you. The Government 
 are in considerable peril, but are well aware of it. 
 Most of the conspirators are known. I recom- 
 mend you strongly to be prudent ; for be assured 
 that you are in no slight danger. What you have 
 told me is quite safe with me ; but you cannot be 
 too cautious in making such confidences. Good 
 day? my Lord Bishop." 
 
 And without another word, the Duchess glided 
 out of the apartment, leaving the worthy prelate 
 as completely bewildered by the startling news she 
 had announced to him, as any Bishop ever was in 
 his life. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 L O ND OX: 
 
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