a lady in
the highest favour at Court, with whom Beatrix Esmond had
communication, and two noblemen of the greatest rank, and a Member
of the House of Commons, who was implicated in more transactions
than one in behalf of the Stuart family.

17 There can be very little doubt that the doctor, mentioned by my dear
father, was the famous Dr. Arbuthnot.--R. E. W.

18 My dear father saith quite truly, that his manner towards our sex
was uniformly courteous. From my infancy upwards, he treated me with
an extreme gentleness, as though I was a little lady. I can scarce
remember (though I tried him often) ever hearing a rough word from
him, nor was he less grave and kind in his manner to the humblest
negresses on his estate. He was familiar with no one except my
mother, and it was delightful to witness up to the very last days
the confidence between them. He was obeyed eagerly by all under him;
and my mother and all her household lived in a constant emulation to
please him, and quite a terror lest in any way they should offend
him. He was the humblest man, with all this; the least exacting, the
most easily contented; and Mr. Benson, our minister at Castlewood,
who attended him at the last, ever said--"I know not what Colonel
Esmond's doctrine was, but his life and death were those of a devout
Christian."--R. E. W.

19 This remark shows how unjustly and contemptuously even the best of
men will sometimes judge of our sex. Lady Esmond had no intention of
triumphing over her daughter; but from a sense of duty alone pointed
out her deplorable wrong.--R. E.

20 In London we addressed the prince as royal highness invariably;
though the women persisted in giving him the title of king.

21 The anecdote is frequently told of our performer, Rich.

22 He was from a younger branch of the Swifts of Yorkshire. His
grandfather, the Rev. Thomas Swift, Vicar of Goodrich, in
Herefordshire, suffered for his loyalty in Charles I's time. That
gentleman married Elizabeth Dryden, a member of the family of the
poet. Sir Walter Scott gives, with his characteristic minuteness in
such points, the exact relationship between these famous men. Swift
was "the son of Dryden's second cousin". Swift, too, was the enemy
of Dryden's reputation. Witness the _Battle o