erviews. This daughter the young nobleman proposed to put out to
nurse; but, in reality, to put beyond the reach of being ever recognised
as his. A confidential person was obtained, herself a Scotchwoman, to
carry the child into Fife, and there to expose it, under the
circumstances and with the provision already mentioned. This person
chanced to be a parishioner of mine, and the consequences were as
already described. Having executed her task, she married a soldier, with
whom she soon after sailed for our West India settlements. Phebe's
second birth proved to be a male; and the boy was about to be removed in
a similar manner from the mother, when she absconded from her now
tyrannical husband, and her concealed home, refusing to be again
separated from her own offspring. Her parents, who had regarded her as
dead, were sufficiently surprised, but by no means gratified, when Phebe
appeared again with the child in her arms. In the meantime, Lord
L----died, and the Honourable youth became Baron L---- of Houston-hope.
Poor Phebe's averment respecting her previous marriage was regarded,
even by her parents, as somewhat suspicious; and not being able to
command the testimony of the person who married them, she was compelled
to remain silent. The effort, however, soon cost her her life; and the
boy, by his acknowledged father's interest, was placed in the army, and
sent out to the West Indies. There he accidentally met with the woman
his mother had often mentioned to him, who had carried off his sister.
She confessed the whole truth to him; and, after a year or two, they
both returned in the same ship to England. By this time, the noble
husband being free to dispose of his hand in matrimony, proposed, not
for his cousin, as his father had contemplated, but for the daughter of
an exceedingly wealthy Liverpool merchant. This person happened to be
the near relative of him who had called what was deemed only a pretended
priest to perform the marriage ceremony; and, seeing the danger which
his relative would run, should he give away his daughter, in hopes of
her offspring heiring the title and property, when a legitimate heir
probably existed, he divulged the secret to his relations. This
naturally led to a denouement; and Lord L---- being thus frustrated in
his object, and being at the same time a person governed more by passion
than reason, shot the person who had deceived him through the arm; and
then, thinking that he had committed