Some account of John Duke of Argyll and his family

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drooping more and more, until repeated paralytic attacks
carried him off, a twelvemonth after the marriage of
Lady Dalkeith.
It has been abundantly shown that the Duchess's
nature was not susceptible of very violent emotions.
She could grieve (as she loved) only as much as she
could. Yet on this event she uttered an expression
that was touching, because it implied a meek sense of
her own inferiority of character. "Well" (said she,
fetching a deep sigh), a I have been the favourite of a
great man ! " She continued to inhabit Sudbrook and
the town-house in Bruton-street, both of which he
bequeathed her for her life ; and this outlasted his such
a number of years that I myself have a faint recollection
of being put into mourning on her decease.
I once heard Lady Betty relate a circumstance that
greatly contributed to depress her father's spirits in the
last sad year of his life. Lord (I have totally
forgotten the name), a very old acquaintance, whom he
had not seen since they were both young men, came
unexpectedly to Adderbury. The Duke gave him the
most cordial reception, showed him his grounds, insisted
he should stay dinner, and seemed so cheered by his
company that the day passed over uncommonly well.
But at parting, when he attended his guest to his
carriage, " that creature," quoth Lady Betty, suddenly
turned round on the step to whisper, " I had orders to
give you this," slipped a paper into his hand, leaped in,
and drove away. It was a letter from the Pretender,
full of high-flown compliments on his Grace's public