sembly at her house at Montelimart, and
that she had invited him thither. I asked immediately if she knew his
name. He assured me no, and that he passed for a Dutch officer by the
name of Durand. I advised him not go thither, since it would raise a
curiosity concerning him, and I was very unwilling it should be known
that I had conversed with him, on many accounts. He gave me the most
solemn assurances that no mortal should know it; and agreed with me in
the reasons I gave him for keeping it an entire secret; yet rid straight
to Montelimart, where he told at the assembly that he came into this
country purely on my orders, and that I had stayed with him two days at
Orange; talking much of my kindness to him, and insinuating that he had
another name, much more considerable than that he appeared with. I knew
nothing of this, till several months after, that a lady of that country
came hither, and meeting her in company, she asked me if I was
acquainted with Monsieur Durand. I had really forgot he had ever taken
that name, and made answer no; and that if such a person mentioned me,
it was probably some _chevalier d'industrie_ who sought to introduce
himself into company by a supposed acquaintance with me. She made
answer, the whole town believed so, by the improbable tales he told
them; and informed me what he had said; by which I knew what I have
related to you.

"I expect your orders in relation to his letters."

Edward was still anxious to join the army, and his parents were not
averse to the scheme. Lady Mary, however, thought that certain
precautions should be taken in the event of his securing a commission.
"It is my opinion," she wrote to Montagu in January, 1744, "he should
have no distinction, in equipage, from any other cornet; everything of
that sort will only serve to blow his vanity and consequently heighten
his folly. Your indulgence has always been greater to him than any other
parent's would have been in the same circumstances. I have always said
so, and thought so. If anything can alter him, it will be thinking
firmly that he has no dependence but on his own conduct for a future
maintenance."

Edward obtained a commission, and was present at Fontenoy.

On his return to England, in 1747, he was elected to Parliament for the
family borough of Huntingdon. This he held until 1754, when he was
returned for the borough of Bossiney, in Cornwall, which he represented
for the next eight years.

Of his subse