reward, handed her ten guineas to pay off all her debts.

The particulars which I have related will, I think, give my readers a pretty fair specimen of the way in which we spent our time year after year, when in London. It is true, with regard to my individual circumstances, I possessed many advantages, and had many little adventures which I do not think would be worth inserting among those more important concerns relating to the public characters of the day. Besides my being brought into contact with the upper circles of society through my immediate attendance on the Duchess of Gordon, there were other ways no less interesting to myself, as, for instance, by the messages I was sometimes employed to convey from her Grace to personages of the highest quality. Not unfrequently, also, when her Grace has been indisposed, or in any other way hindered from attending the opera, the privilege has been given to me in her stead; and I was thus, as it were, enabled to move among them almost above the character of a mere servant.

Considering my early propensity to singing and dancing, and taking into account the part which I played on my first coming to Gordon Castle, my readers will not be surprised to be told that the opportunities which I now possessed were not lost upon me. In fact, I believe, in the end, I acquired a very respectable degree of accomplishment in both these sciences. As a proof of it, when we had any thing extraordinary, either at our house in

London, but more especially at Gordon Castle, was requested by the Duke or the Duchess to perform before the company.

The life which we lived when in the country, also, was far from the character of monotonous dullness. I remember at one time, when we were at Gordon Castle, the Duke and Duchess were expecting a visit from the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dundas. Her Grace, with her retinue, among whom on this occasion I was one, rode ten or twenty miles to meet him. The meeting took place at a certain inn; and, with rather singular coincidence ; just as her Grace and Mr. Dundas were saluting each other, in came a King's messenger with dispatches, summoning Mr. Dundas to repair to London with all speed. The Duchess was sadly chagrined at the untoward circumstance; but pleasantly pretending to suspect duplicity, demanded to see the dispatches herself. A deal of good humoured raillery passed between the parties, which ended in the Duchess being shewn the dispatch, which had been sent by Mr. Pitt. I heard the purport of it from the Duchess's own lips directly after, which was to the effect, "that the treaty of commerce was about being finally settled between England and France, and that Mr. Dundas must of course repair to London." Mr. Pitt, in the dispatch, expressed his regret at being thus obliged to prevent, for a time, the enjoyment the parties were mutually expecting at Gordon Castle; but he promised Mr. D. that he would work with him night and day to enable him to accelerate his return to the north. I

wondered, I recollect, what the newspapers would say of the affair, not doubting, but, as usual, they would know all about it. On ascertaining, I found, as I had found many times. before, in these cases, that they were as far from the truth as the east from the west.

CHAP. XIV.

My own Courtship.-Obstacles in Love.-Final Triumph.

"Unerring Cupid aim'd a dart;

The fatal arrow pierced my heart."-LOVER'S LEAP.

I

I HAD been in the service of the Duchess of Gordon not less than five years, and had been very happy in my situation, and had moreover the satisfaction of knowing that her Grace, as well as the Duke, were pleased with my services. It was about this time that I began to think in earnest about matrimony: and, true to my sentiments, delivered in my advice to my old Master M‘Ldid not, as many do, look out for a partner in the ranks above me; but rather cast my eye downward. In fact, a female servant, in a somewhat low situation in our establishment, and whose name was Alice, had, according to my ideas, all the qualifications for forming such a partner for life as I had ever wished to possess. With this young woman I formed an acquaintance in the following manner : -Having considered the point well, and fully made up my own mind on the subject, I spoke to her one day when we were in a room by ourselves,

-asking her if she would favour me with her company in an evening walk at a certain hour, and at a place which I named. Her reply was, "No, Sir, I won't, I am a poor girl and have no wish to be made a fool of."

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This answer, so natural to be given by a virtuous female, in these circumstances, to one so much above her as I then was, pleased me well. I hastened however to remove her suspicions. I wish," I said, "to have a little conversation with you, and I protest my designs are honourable; and you will oblige me much by acceding to my request." When she thus saw me in earnest, she acquiesced.

I added, "You know the time when about I serve the Duchess with coffee, and as that is a time when you, yourself, can be at liberty, I will play upon my flute as a signal, and we will then walk out from Hyde Park corner towards the serpentine river, we will meet by the Hop-poles."

As I issued forth in the evening my recollections of Shakspeare were appropriate :

"The sun begins to gild the western sky:
And now it is about the very hour

That Silvia, at Patrick's cell, should meet me.
She will not fail; for lovers break not hours,
Unless it be to come before their time;
So much they spur their expectations."

We met accordingly, and I opened my mind without reserve. Although she was at first shy and afraid, her apprehensions gave way before my frankness, and I soon entertained hopes that what