ase to cherish his memory with the most tender remembrance.

"During the last period of my living with my lord, I had agreed to the
expediency of obtaining an act of parliament, which would enable him to
pay his debts; on which occasion there was a necessity of cancelling a
deed that subsisted between us, relating to a separate maintenance, to
which, on certain provisions, I was entitled; and this was to be set
aside, so far as it interfered with the above-mentioned scheme, while
the rest of it should remain in force. When this affair was about to
be transacted, my lord very generously insisted upon my concurrence in
annulling the whole settlement; and, when I refused to comply with this
demand, because this was the sole resource I had against his ill-usage,
he would not proceed in the execution of his plan, though, by dropping
it, he hurt nobody but himself; and he accused me of having receded from
my word, after I had drawn him into considerable expense.

"This imputation of breaking my word, which I defy the whole world to
prove I ever did, incensed me the more, as I myself had proposed the
scheme for his service, although I knew the accomplishment of it would
endanger the validity of my own settlement; and my indignation was still
more augmented by the behaviour of Mr. G--, who had always professed
a regard for my interest, and upon my last accommodation with my lord,
undertaken to effect a reconciliation between my father and me; but,
when he was questioned about the particulars of this difference, and
desired to declare whether his lordship or I was to blame, he declined
the office of arbitrator, refused to be explicit upon the subject, and
by certain shrewd hums and ha's, signified his disapprobation of my
conduct. Yet this very man, when I imparted to him, in confidence, my
intention of making another retreat, and frankly asked his opinion of
my design, seemed to acquiesce in the justice of it in these remarkable
words: 'Madam, if I thought or had hopes of my lord growing better, I
would down on my knees to desire you to stay; but, as I have not, I say
nothing.'

"If he connived at my conduct in this particular, why should he
disapprove of it when all I asked was but common justice? But he was
a dependant; and therefore I excuse his phlegmatic, not to call it
unfriendly, behaviour. Indeed, he could not be too cautious of giving
offence to his lordship, who sometimes made him feel the effects of that
wrath whic