h other people had kindled; particularly in consequence of a
small adventure which happened about this very period of time.

"A very agreeable, sprightly, good-natured young man, a near relation of
my lord, happening to be at our house one evening, when there was a fire
in the neighbourhood, we agreed to go and sup at the tavern en famille;
and, having spent the evening with great mirth and good-humour, this
young gentleman, who was naturally facetious, in taking his leave,
saluted us all round. My lord, who had before entertained some jealousy
of his kinsman, was very much provoked by this trifling incident, but
very prudently suppressed his displeasure till he returned to his own
house, where his rage co-operating with the champagne he had drunk,
inflamed him to such a degree of resolution, that he sprang upon the
innocent G--, and collared him with great fury, though he was altogether
unconcerned in the cause of his indignation.

"This extravagant and frantic behaviour, added to other grievances under
which I laboured, hastened my resolution of leaving him; and he, to this
day, blames his relation as the immediate cause of my escape, whereas
he ought to place it to the account of his own madness and indiscretion.
When I retired to Park-street, he cautioned all my tradesmen, not even
excepting my baker, against giving me credit, assuring them that he
would not pay any debts I should contract; and the difficulties to which
I was reduced, in consequence of this charitable declaration, together
with the reflection of what I had suffered, and might undergo, from the
caprice and barbarity of his disposition, affected my health so much,
that I was again taken ill, and my life thought in danger.

"My constitution, however, got the better of my distemper, and I was
ordered into the country by my physicians, for the benefit of the air;
so that I found myself under the necessity of keeping two houses, when
I was little able to support one, and set up my chariot, because I could
not defray the expense of a hackney-coach; for I had as much credit
given me as I asked for, notwithstanding my lord's orders to the
contrary.

"Having recruited my spirits in the country, I returned to town, and
was visited by my friends, who never forsook me in adversity, and in the
summer removed to a house in Essex, where I lived a few months in great
tranquility, unmolested by my tyrant, who sometimes gave me a whole
year's respite. Here I used t