master his physic,
I met Elizabeth Binfield with the water gruel in a basin which he had
left. I said to the charwoman, Ann Emmet, "Dame, you used to be fond
of water gruel; here is a very fine mess my master left last night,
and I believe it will do you good." The woman soon sat down on a bench
in the kitchen and ate some of it, I cannot say all.

[Illustration: Miss Mary Blandy
(_From an Engraving by B. Cole, after a Drawing for which she sat in
Oxford Castle_.)]

How was she afterwards?--She said the house smelt of physic, and
everything tasted of physic; she went out, I believe into the
wash-house, to reach, before she could finish it.

Did you follow her?--No, I did not; but about twenty minutes or half
an hour after that I went to the necessary house and found her there
vomiting and reaching, and, as she said, purging.

How long did she abide there?--She was there an hour and a half,
during which time I went divers times to her. At first I carried her
some surfeit water; she then desired to have some fair water. The next
time I went to see how she did she said she was no better. I desired
her to come indoors, hoping she would be better by the fire. She said
she was not able to come in. I said I would lead her in. I did, and
set her down in a chair by the fire. She was vomiting and reaching
continually. She sat there about half an hour, or something more,
during which time she grew much worse, and I thought her to be in a
fit or seized with death.

Did you acquaint Miss Blandy with the illness and symptoms of this
poor woman?--I told Miss Blandy when I went into the room to dress
her, about nine o'clock, that Dame (the name we used to call her by)
had been very ill that morning; that she had complained that the smell
of her master's physic had made her sick; and that she had eaten
nothing but a little of her master's water gruel which he had left
last night, which could not hurt her.

What did she say to that?--She said she was very glad she was not
below stairs, for she would have been shocked to have seen her poor
Dame so ill.

As you have lived servant in the house, how did you observe Miss
Blandy behave towards her father, and in what manner did she use to
talk of him, three or four months before his death?--Sometimes she
would talk very affectionately, and sometimes but middling.

What do you mean by "middling"?--Sometimes she would say he was an old
villain for using an only child in such a manner.