Earls of Middleton, Lords of Clermont and of Fettercairn

283 The Earls of Middleton.
Sir John Gifford, Knt. ; but Hamilton, in a letter
to the Duke of Berwick, in Flanders, 1 June 18th,
1706, speaks of the approaching marriage of a
Madame Catherine with the Chevalier Gifford.
(Madame is a title frequently used by him for the
ladies of the higher ranks.) At the same time he
tells of the engagement of my Lord Talbot with a
Madame Charlotte, and, in fun, of two more weddings
— one George to Mademoiselle Arthur, and my Lord
Caryl to the princess herself. " It is true this last
announcement had not been cried," he said, " as was
the custom at St. Germains, but to judge from the
manner in which they had played at bowls together it
would not be long first." (The George he spoke of was
a laquais, so Berwick might suppose that the demoi-
selle Arthur was not the marchioness of that name.)
" Lord Middleton commissions me to acquaint you
with the news," he continues, " that a wife of one of
the queen's footmen ran away one morning, carrying
away with her all she could find in the house, even
the clothes of her poor little children. It is said that
all the husbands have been on the alert since this
incident; but it is a bad report, and I do not believe
it. ' Riva ' " (some member of the queen's household,
mentioned in a former letter, who, growing tired of
acting the invalid without pity, pretended to hang
1 Berwick had a command in the French army.