w, St. James's, on
the 25th of January, 1791, still a Member of Parliament, in the
place where his life had been passed and among his innumerable
friends.

In one sense his life had been solitary, for he was never married;
but an unusual love for the young which was a charming and
remarkable characteristic, singularly opposed to many of his habits,
had been centred on the child whom he called Mie Mie,* the daughter
of an Italian lady, the Marchesa Fagniani, who was for some time in
England with her husband. The origin of Selwyn's interest in the
child is obscure, but the story of his affection is striking and
unusual.

From a letter written by the Marchesa Fagniani to Selwyn in 1772 it
is evident that Mie Mie, then about a year old, had been with him
for some months, and in 1774 Lord Carlisle congratulates him upon
the certainty of the child's remaining with him. The first mention
of her in these letters occurs under date of July 23, 1774, where we
have a picture of Selwyn, drawn by himself. He is sitting on his
steps, the pretty, foreign-looking child in his arms, pleased at the
attention she attracts. When she was four she was taken to pay
visits with him; but it is difficult at this time to know if he or
the Earl of March had charge of her.

* Maria Fagniani (1771-1856). She was married in 1792, the year
after Selwyn's death, to the Earl of Yarmouth, afterwards third
Marquis of Hertford. She led a life of pleasure (1802-7), travelling
on the continent with the Marshal Androche. She had three children,
and died at Rue Tailbout, Paris.

Such interest in a young child naturally occasioned remark in London
society, and the question of her paternity has never been clearly
settled; in the gossip of the time both the Duke of Queensberry and
Selwyn were said to be her father. The characters of the two men,
however, and various points in their correspondence, seem to fix
this relation upon the Duke of Queensberry. Selwyn's interest was
that of a man who though without children had a strong and unusual
affection for the young. He looked forward to the pleasure her
development and education would be to him, and to the solace of her
companionship in old age. She enlisted his sympathy and devotion.
From the first time he saw her he wished to adopt her, and until the
end of his life she was first in his thought, and all his circle
approved of his little friend.

He soon made provision for her in his will, writing to Lord C