H 
 
 1 1 
 
 " 

 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 MRS COGHLAN, 
 
 DAUGHTER OF THE LATE MAJOR MONCRIEFFE : 
 
 WRITTEN BY HERSELF. 
 
 INTRODUCTION AND NOTES. 
 
 PRIVATELY REPRINTED. 
 NEW-YORK : 
 
 T. H. MORRELL. 
 
 1864-.
 
 Edition 100 copies 8vo. 
 20 " 410. 
 
 J. M. BRADSTREET & SON, PRINTERS.
 
 Stack 
 Annex
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 '"PHE following Memoirs were publifhed in 
 London in 1794. In February, 1795, Meflrs. 
 T. & J. Swords, of this city, republifhed them, 
 adding a Preface, and fome remarks from a publi- 
 cation entitled " The Female Jockey Club." 
 
 The New- York edition is now very rare, <and 
 moft of the copies known to us are without the 
 preface and remarks. 
 
 The following edition has been printed from 
 the author's copy, and, for the convenience of 
 thofe perfons pofTeffing the New-York edition 
 above mentioned, the preface and remarks have 
 been reprinted. 
 
 NEW-YORK, November 10, 1864.
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 BY THE EDITOR OF THE NEW-YORK EDITION. 
 
 "pVERY heart of fenfibility muft not only be 
 interefted in the welfare of the author of the 
 following Memoirs, but muft be confiderably 
 affected on a perufal of them, as they pourtray a 
 mind naturally focial, amiable and virtuous, 
 ftruggling againft misfortunes originating from 
 the abfurd practice of obliging children to fac- 
 rifice affection, and confequently happinefs, to 
 fordid pelf, or, what is of infinite lefs value, a 
 titled name. The author's fentiments on this 
 fubject, which have been powerfully imprefled- by 
 woeful experience ; her reflections on the inhu- 
 man fufferings of unfortunate debtors in prifon, 
 
 which
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 which may perhaps, in many inftances, be too 
 applicable to her native country ; her expofition 
 of the iniquitous practice of law in England, 
 the jurifprudence of which country America fer- 
 vilely copies, convince the editor of the utility 
 of a republication of the work in this country. 
 It is to be hoped that the circumftance of her 
 unfortunate marriage will have its due weight, 
 and that thofe who exercife criticifm will not be 
 too fevere upon her conduct, but will generouily 
 be to her faults a little blind. Her friends will 
 undoubtedly defpife the weak prejudices of vul- 
 gar minds, fo far as refpects their connection or 
 alliance with the author. The public advantage 
 has fuperfeded every other confederation with the 
 editor, and he mall exceedingly regret incurring 
 the difpleafure of any by republiming thefe 
 Memoirs. 
 
 NEW-YORK, February, 1795.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The following encomiums on the author of thefe 
 Memoirs have appeared in the " Female Jockey 
 Club," which the publifher of this American 
 edition inferts as a tribute of praife juftly due 
 to that noblenefs of foul fo confpicuous in the 
 writer : 
 
 MRS. COGHLAN. 
 
 We have not the leaft acquaintance with this 
 lady, therefore are ignorant how far her rank 
 entitles her to be admitted into that fociety of 
 grandees who compofe the " Female Jockey 
 Club ;" but as literary merit, in the opinion of 
 Lady Lucan, our fupreme arbiter of etiquette, 
 forms an exception to the general rule, and 
 yields a right of admiffion into the grandeft 
 circles, we have not hefitated to introduce her ; 
 and we will venture boldly to pronounce, if her 
 foul really breathe the fentiments contained in 
 the Memoirs fhe has publifhed, that me poflefles 
 
 titles
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 titles far fuperior to any which all the kings in 
 the world have it in their power to beftow; 
 although, at the fame time, we are ready to con- 
 fefs, that it is not by promulgating fimilar doc- 
 trines me is to expect that his Majefty will ever 
 make a LADY of her; nor do we believe that 
 they will procure her a pafTport to the favour 
 and protection (he appears fo very much to 
 want. We therefore recommend patience under 
 prefent adverfity, and fincerely wifh a fpeedy 
 period to all her afflictions.
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 MRS. COGHLAN, 
 
 (Daughter of the late Major Moncrieffe,) 
 
 WRITTEN BT HERSELF, 
 AND 
 
 Dedicated to the Britifh Nation ; 
 
 BEING INTERSPERSED WITH 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 OF THE LATE 
 
 AMERICAN AND PRESENT FRENCH WAR, 
 
 WITH REMARKS MORAL AND POLITICAL. 
 
 " And what is friendihip but a name, 
 
 " A charm that lulls to deep 
 " A lhade that follows wealth and fame, 
 
 " But leaves the wretch to weep ?" GOLDSM. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed for the AUTHOR, 
 And SOLD by C. and G. KEARSLEY, Fleet-street. 
 
 MD.CC.XCTV.
 
 NAMES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS 
 
 IN THESE 
 
 MEMOIRS. 
 
 Majefty, 
 Louis the XVIth, 
 Due d'Orleans, 
 Comte d'Artois, 
 Monfieur, 
 
 Due de Montmorenci, 
 Due de Pienne, 
 Marquis de Sillery, 
 Marquis de Genlis, 
 Monfieur de Lomprey, 
 Due de Fitzjames, 
 Monfieur Parquet, premier Prefident of the Par- 
 
 liament of Paris, 
 Monfieur de Crofne, 
 Madame Grey, Superior of the Dominican Con- 
 
 vent at Calais, 
 
 Madame
 
 Madame Smith, 
 Madame Lafar, 
 
 His Royal Highnefs the Duke of , 
 
 His Grace the Duke of Leinfter, 
 
 Lord Charlemont, 
 
 Mr. Grattan, 
 
 The Honourable Mr. Fox, 
 
 Lord Lauderdale, 
 
 Lord Cornwallis, 
 
 General Monckton, 
 
 General Cornwallis, 
 
 General Montgomery, 
 
 General Waihington, 
 
 General Putnam, 
 
 General Mifflin, 
 
 General Knox, 
 
 Sir William Howe, 
 
 Lord Howe, 
 
 Lord Amherft, 
 
 General Gage, 
 
 Lord Gage, 
 
 Lord Lincoln, 
 
 The late Duke of Bolton, 
 
 Lord Delawar, 
 
 Colonel Etherington, 
 
 Major Montrefor, 
 
 Colonel Small, 
 
 Honourable Colonel Grey, 
 
 Colonel Banker, 
 
 Judge Livingfton, 
 
 Mr.
 
 Mr. William Livingfton, 
 Colonel Webb, 
 
 Duke of Q y, 
 
 Mr. Frederick Jay, 
 
 Major MoncriefFe, 
 
 Edward Cornwallis MoncrifFe, 
 
 Alderman MoncriefFe, 
 
 Colonel MoncriefFe, 
 
 Governor Heron, 
 
 Mr. Vining, 
 
 Mr. Fazakerley, 
 
 Mr. Giffard, of Chillington, 
 
 Mr. Coghlan, 
 
 Mr. Walker, late Marmal of the King s Bench, 
 
 Mr. Jones, the prefent Marmal, 
 
 Mr. Robert Knight, 
 
 Mr. Beckett, 
 
 Colonel Freemantle, 
 
 General Sheriff, 
 
 Colonel Kemble, 
 
 Prince Louis d'Aremberg, 
 
 Lord Hervey, 
 
 Mr. B******, 
 
 Sir Charles Gould, 
 
 Mr. Chambers, Furnival's Inn, 
 
 Mr. , Ely Place, 
 
 Duke of Northumberland, 
 Honourable Mrs. Gage, 
 Mrs. Montrefor, 
 Mrs. Putnam, 
 
 Mrs.
 
 Mrs. Wafhington, 
 Sir William Scott, 
 Lady Blake, 
 Mr. M g y, 
 Mr. Erfkine, 
 Lord E - , 
 General 
 
 Sir Robert Harland, Bart., 
 Marquis de Bouille.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 JL\. MIDST the tempeft that now rages in the 
 political world, the cabals of" faction and the ter- 
 rors of revolution, the private forrows of an in- 
 dividual pafs unregarded. The moft fplendid 
 contributions are raifed for fupport of foreign 
 refugees ; loans and benevolences, to an amazing 
 extent, are pioufly, if not constitutionally, fur- 
 nifhed, to fupply the wants of our fuffering 
 troops ; and all the paflions inherent in the hu- 
 man breaft are awakened and fet in motion, to 
 give a pompous difplay to the humility and 
 meaknefs of tender-hearted Charity. 
 
 We read of titled individuals beftowing hun- 
 dreds
 
 dreds in behalf of emigrant Popifh Priefts, while 
 ONE SOLITARY GUINEA is prefixed to the fame 
 names in fupport of their own countrymen, poor, 
 induftrious, famifhed manufacturers ! * 
 
 Our ftreets fwarm with beggars: our looms are 
 deferted ; Poverty every where raifes her hag- 
 gard mien amongft us ; at the fame time that na- 
 tional treafures are indifcriminately lavifhed with 
 profufion upon foreigners, and expended in the 
 further profecution of a moft difaftrous war; 
 whereby the fund of wretchednefs is daily aug- 
 mented ; and the fpeclacles of mifery that torture 
 the fight in all our ftreets proclaim the fatal con- 
 fequences it has already produced, and the abfo- 
 lute neceflity of putting a period to the evil. 
 
 The baneful effects attending this calamity fall 
 principally on the poor and induftrious clafTes of 
 fociety ; they extend themfelves even unto my- 
 
 felf: 
 
 * A fubfcription now on foot for the benefit of the Spitalfields weavers.
 
 felf : the luxuries of the great will eafily admit of 
 curtailment, but the wants of the poor call aloud 
 for redrefs. Yet, as the former find themfelves 
 in fome meafure called on to reduce the number 
 of their fuperfluities from the many claims which 
 the exigency of public affairs has upon them, fo 
 are they lefs difposed to follow the dictates of 
 Charity in relieving the pangs of domeftic woe. 
 
 There exifts another defcription of the great, 
 who thrive on the misfortunes which the prefent 
 fystem creates, without directing a thought to 
 their alleviation : I allude to the vaft additional 
 number of contractors, commifTaries, penfioners 
 and human locufts of every kind, preying on the 
 decayed vitals of their country. Thefe men drain 
 immenfe fortunes from the increafe of public bur- 
 thens, and in every new tax, originates a new 
 place, whereby the fcale of influence is alarmingly 
 increafed. 
 
 Hence princes and their miniflers are apt to 
 
 delight
 
 delight in war : it furnifhes them with a pretext 
 for adding to their military eftablimments : the 
 fplendor of the throne mines brighter, and they 
 conceive that they enjoy a more perfect ftate of 
 fecurity, from the immenfe armies they retain in 
 their pay. 
 
 Wretched, however, is the prince who refts his 
 hope on fuch foundation : the NORTHERN DES- 
 POTS of Europe can have no other bails than 
 military force, on which to depend for the prefer- 
 vation of their tyranny ; but the KING of a FREE 
 country mould look to other principles : he 
 mould depend for the prefervation of HIS power 
 on the peace, happirtefs, choice, and affections of 
 an united people. 
 
 While the bulk of a nation is diftrefled, a vir- 
 tuous prince can never enjoy a moment's content ; 
 he cannot depart from his thremold, that he does, 
 not meet fome object of calamity, to ftrew thorns 
 in his way. He muft reflect on the enormous 
 
 falary
 
 falary that he himfelf receives, the magnificence 
 and wafle by which he is fur rounded, while fo 
 many forlorn wretches are periming through want 
 of the fmalleft part of thofe fuperfluities daily 
 confumed within his own palace. 
 
 The writer of the following meets, nurfed in 
 the lap of tendereft Indulgence, fprung from a 
 father whofe attachment to A KING even fuper- 
 feded the duties he owed to HIS COUNTRY : me 
 who once bafked in the funfhine of Fortune has 
 lately herfelf ftruggled with all the miferies me 
 has endeavoured to defcribe. 
 
 Affliction cuts the deeper from a recollection of 
 former enjoyments : the memory of paft joys 
 fharpens the fenfe of her prefent fufferings : (he 
 once little dreamed of thofe fcenes of horror 
 through which me has pafled ; me little antici- 
 pated, that whenever me mould have occafion for 
 the WORLD'S affiftance, the world would with-hold 
 it from her. She had fondly imagined, that 
 
 2 every
 
 ( xii ) 
 
 everyone was her FRIEND; nor was the veil of 
 deception withdrawn, till, alas ! me had occafion 
 for its friendfhip : Then the very perfons who 
 had been moft anxious to court her fmiles, who 
 had beguiled her with their delufive flatteries, 
 who had encouraged her errors and foothed her 
 vices, were the firft to keep aloof and fhun the 
 wretchednefs they had helped to accomplim. 
 They who had been the bofom friends of her 
 father, refufed even to hear the haplefs tale of his 
 ill-fated child : nor did his unfhaken zeal in the 
 caufe of HIS SOVEREIGN ever produce to his 
 daughter the recompence of a milling from the 
 Englim government. 
 
 Thefe are the reflections of one undifturbed 
 by the frenzy of party conflicts, and only zealous 
 in the general caufe of humanity They are the 
 reflections of a woman, chaftened in Affliction's 
 fchool, reftored to reafon by the wholefome leflbns 
 
 me
 
 fhe has received from that moft inftructive of all 
 monitors, Adverfity ! 
 
 Want, worldly want, that hungry meagre fiend, 
 Is at her heels, and chafes her in view.* 
 
 To drive off this fiend, alas ! me has no other 
 hope, than from the advantage me may derive 
 from this faint production of her pen. The per- 
 fpective which the world now prefents to her view 
 is gloomy indeed : neverthelefs, it would be great- 
 ly brightened, if fhe conceived that her example 
 might ferve as a beacon to others of her fex. 
 
 Oh ! may the generous character of the Britifh 
 nation, which has fo often fhone refplendent in 
 acts of amiable benevolence, long preferve its 
 luftre ! may it wipe off thofe tears, calculated to 
 fade the cheek of Beauty ! may no political dif- 
 cord, no party rage ever obfcure it ! and while 
 
 GALLIA'S 
 
 * Venice Preferved.
 
 GALLIA'S refraclory fons are revelling on the 
 fruits of Britifh benevolence, let it not be faid 
 that Britannia's own legitimate children ever figh- 
 ed or wept in vain. 
 
 MARGARET COGHLAN. 
 
 December 7, 1793.
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 MRS. COGHLAN. 
 
 CAPTAIN Patrick Heron, my grandfather, 
 
 was quartered with his regiment at Portfmouth, 
 where he made a conqueft of Mifs E. Vining, 
 daughter of Mr. John Vining,* who was at that 
 period mayor of the town. The lady in queftion 
 was born to a very considerable fortune. 
 
 My grandfather being a young man and a fol- 
 dier, it was a match quite contrary to the inclina- 
 tion of the old gentleman, Mr. Vining, who ufed 
 all poflible means to prevent its taking place; 
 
 but 
 
 * A beautiful monument is eredled in St. Thomas church, Portfmouth, to 
 the memory of this gentleman, dating him to have been fix times mayor of 
 that town.
 
 16 
 
 but love, almighty love fets every obftacle at de- 
 fiance, and is always fure to furnifh means ade- 
 quate to its ends. An elopement to Scotland was 
 the refult of Mr. Vining's obftinacy ; from Cap- 
 tain Heron's paternal feat in that country, Mifs 
 V. acquainted her father with this act of her dif- 
 obedience, and implored his forgivenefs. The 
 late Duke of Bolton and the late Lord Delawar 
 became mediators with him, and their mediation 
 induced Mr. Vining to relax from his feverity. 
 
 The firft ftep towards reconciliation, was to 
 write a letter to my grandfather, exprefling his 
 reafons for difapproving the marriage, but at the 
 fame time intreating him to quit Scotland, and 
 bring home his bride. In this letter he propofed 
 to fettle a handfome fortune on her as her mar- 
 riage portion, together with Vicars-Hill, a de- 
 lightful feat in the new foreft near Lymington. 
 Here my grandfather lived in the greateft fplen- 
 dor for feveral years : his houfe was the univerfal 
 receptacle of happinefs, where the rich were en- 
 tertained with magnificent profufion, and where 
 the wretched always found comfort and protec- 
 
 tion.
 
 ( I? ) 
 
 tion. In the courfe of years, Mrs. Heron was 
 the mother of nine children ; from one of whom 
 Captain Mark Robinfon (fon of Admiral Robin- 
 fon) is a defcendant : Captain Miller, of the ma- 
 rines, married one of his fitters, and there are 
 feveral other fons now living. The liberal mind 
 of my grandfather frequently involved him in 
 difagreeable embarrarTments ; one of which oblig- 
 ed him to abandon his country and friends : he 
 was one evening in a coffee-houfe at Lymington, 
 perufing the newfpapers, when a perfon by the 
 name of Boyes applied to him, faying, " Captain 
 " Heron, I am a ruined man, mould you refufe 
 " the favour I am about to requeft; having a 
 "quantity of cyder juft landed, I really have no 
 " place wherein to depofit it for the night ; will 
 " you give me permiffion to lodge it in your cel- 
 " lar ?" Upon which my grandfather confented, 
 and fent to his butler for the key of the cellar, 
 where the Juppofed cyder was no fooner placed 
 than an excifeman arrived, who had either fol- 
 lowed it himfelf, or had received information 
 where it lay : he told my grandfather, "that there 
 " had been fecreted in his cellar one hundred and 
 
 " fifty
 
 ( 18 ) 
 
 " fifty tierces of brandy, and that he muft fearch 
 "for them:" whereon Captain Heron replied, 
 " that he mould not enter bis premifes." The 
 excifeman perfifted, and notwithstanding a fevere 
 beating which he received from the fervants, he 
 forced the door of the cellar, where he difcover- 
 ed the brandy. EmbarrafTed by this difcovery, 
 my grandfather flew to his father-in-law, the 
 mayor of Portfmouth, and acquainting him with 
 what had happened, afked his advice ; when the 
 mayor was of opinion, that he ought to conceal 
 himfelf until he wrote to the minifter to folicit 
 fome indulgence. He purfued this advice, and 
 received for anfwer, that a capias had been iflued 
 againft him, at the fuit of the excife office, for the 
 enormous Jum of twenty thoufand pounds; that he 
 could give no other counfel, than for him inftant- 
 ly to join the fortieth regiment, in which he had 
 a company, and which then was Rationed at An- 
 napolis-Royal. Thither he went, leaving his 
 wife at Vicars-Hill, with her children, where me 
 died broken hearted fix months after his depart- 
 ure. Such are the cruelties that for ever flow 
 from excife laws ! He had not been long at An- 
 napolis,
 
 ( '9 ) 
 
 napolis, when he was appointed governor of that 
 place, which fituation he held at the time of his 
 deceafe. 
 
 Here he married Mifs Margaret Jephfon, 
 daughter of Captain Jephfon, belonging to the 
 fortieth regiment, by whom he had Margaret my 
 mother. On the death of my grandfather, his 
 widow went from Annapolis to Halifax, in order 
 to take a paffage for Cork, where me intended to 
 fettle amongft her own friends. Major Mon- 
 crieffe, my father, who was then aid-de-camp to 
 General Monckton, married her eldeft daughter. 
 Her mother and the other children remained 
 with them one month ; after which they failed for 
 Ireland, and almoft within fight of the harbour 
 of Cork the veflel foundered, and every foul per- 
 ifhed. Owing to this fad event, my brother, Ed- 
 ward Cornwallis MoncriefFe, and myfelf, are the 
 only furvivors of that marriage ; and by the will 
 of my grandfather, proved in the prerogative court 
 of Canterbury, we are the lawful heirs to all his 
 property. The eftate in Scotland is computed 
 to be worth ^u<? thoujand pounds per annum; and 
 
 3 that
 
 that at Lymington is of confiderable value, but 
 at prefent it is in the pofleffion of my mother's 
 half brothers and their children, whofe names I 
 have already mentioned. 
 
 My mother was efteemed a beautiful woman ; me 
 was a wife at the age of fourteen, and in her grave 
 before me was twenty, leaving my brother and 
 myfelf unprotected infants. -My father was lilce- 
 wife a very young man, and at that time only 
 a lieutenant in the army, although aid-de-camp 
 to the commander in chief, Sir Jeffery, now Lord 
 Amherft. General Gage, who had a fincere friend- 
 fhip for him, propofed that his children mould 
 take up their abode at his houfe, where we were 
 nurfed under the general's immediate infpection, 
 maring the fame attention with his own children; 
 and, the prefent Lord Gage was the companion 
 of my infant years. My father, however, refolv- 
 ed to fend my brother and myfelf for education 
 to Dublin. At the age of three years, I was fent 
 acrofs the Atlantic Ocean ; my brother being 
 then only five years old. On our arrival in Dub- 
 lin, I was fent to Mifs Beard's boarding-fchool, 
 
 and
 
 ( 41 ) 
 
 and my brother to the Hibernian Academy : here 
 I remained without feeing my father until I was 
 eight years old, when he returned from America, 
 and was quartered in Dublin with his regiment, 
 the 55th, in which he had then a company. He 
 brought with him the daughter of Judge Living- 
 fton, of New-York, to whom he had been fome 
 time married : the perfon of this lady was uncom- 
 monly forbidding, but her purje was irreiiftible. 
 Young as I was, I did not like my new mother ; 
 me had, as I above remarked, the moft difagree- 
 able countenance ; and what is worfe, me was a 
 ftranger to every focial virtue, and a rigid Prefby- 
 terian. My father having exchanged with the 
 Honourable Colonel Grey, from the 55th to the 
 59th regiment, was foon afterwards ordered upon 
 the American ftation, and appointed Major of 
 Brigade upon the ftaff : the importunities of my 
 mother-in-law were exerted to induce my father 
 to take me back with them to New-York, but he 
 had previoufly refolved to educate me in Dublin, 
 and perfifted in the intention : however, in the 
 year 1772, both my brother and myfelf were or- 
 dered, by letters from my father, to return to 
 
 New- York,
 
 New-York, where we landed the fame year : my 
 brother was fent to the college in that city, and 
 I remained under the care of a governefs. In 
 the year 1774, my mother-in-law died, leaving to 
 my father her fortune, for in her marriage articles 
 me had referved to herfelf the power of difpofing 
 of it. Six months after her death, my father took to 
 himfelf another wife, one of the loveliefl of her fex. 
 In her bofom, virtue, honour and conjugal affec- 
 tion were blended ; but alas ! her fate deftined her 
 for an early grave. Ten months after her mar- 
 riage, me died in childbirth of her infant fon, my 
 youngeft brother, leaving him and myfelf under 
 the care of her brother, Mr. Frederick Jay, who 
 was then member of congrefs for the province of 
 New-York : at this time my father was with Gen- 
 / eral Gage, at Bofton. Thus I found myfelf in 
 the midft of republicans in war againft the crown 
 of Great-Britain, perfecuted on every fide, be- 
 caufe my father was fighting for the caufe of a 
 king! At the age of thirteen, I was fent to board 
 at Elizabeth-Town, New-Jerfey, with the family 
 of an American Colonel, where I was forced to 
 hear my neareft and deareft relations continually 
 
 traduced.
 
 traduced. I had remained in the houfe of this 
 gentleman feveral months, when the appearance 
 of General Howe at Staten-Ifland obliged the in- 
 habitants of Elizabeth-Town to feek refuge in the 
 
 o 
 
 interior part of the country. I was then con- 
 dueled, with Colonel Banker's wife, to a village 
 about ten miles diftant ; but grieved with the 
 gloomy fcene before me, I availed myfelf of the 
 abfence of the family one Sunday, while they were 
 at church, to make my efcape : I rode back to 
 Elizabeth-Town, and placed myfelf immediately 
 under the care of a lady* (Mrs. de Hart) whofe 
 family loved me from my tendered infancy. How- 
 ever, I was not allowed to remain long in this 
 retreat ; the congrefs, particularly that part of it 
 which were related to my father by his fecond and 
 third WIVES, fixed their attention upon me : 
 They had repeatedly, at the commencement of 
 the war, offered my father a command in the north- 
 ern army, a fituation which was afterwards given to 
 
 General 
 
 * The hufband of this lady was member of the continental congrefs, 
 and immediately refigned his fituation on the independence of America 
 being declared.
 
 General Montgomery, 1 his nephew. Bigotted to 
 the caufe of a king, my father rejected their offers, 
 and thus we loft the glorious opportunity of add- 
 ing the laurel of patriotifm to a name high in the 
 ranks of military valour, and perhaps unequalled 
 in military fcience. No man ever ferved the 
 Britifh monarch with more fidelity, or fought for 
 him with greater bravery : but I was very near 
 falling a victim to this ftubborn attachment. 
 Walking one fultry day in the garden of my pro- 
 tectrefs, I was befet by a party of riflemen, juft 
 arrived from Pennfylvania, who, prefenting their 
 bayonets to my breaft, would certainly have kill- 
 ed me, had not one of the men took companion 
 on my youth, difcovering in my features fome- 
 thing which conquered his favage purpofe. 
 Thanks' be to God ! my countrymen did not com- 
 mit an act which certainly would have ftained the 
 bright immortal caufe of liberty a caufe that, 
 I glory to fay, firft ftruck root in my dear native 
 country, and which is now expanding its branches 
 through the whole continent of Europe. 
 
 My beautiful and unfortunate countrywoman, 
 
 Mifs
 
 Mifs M'Rea,' experienced a far different fate: me, 
 alas ! found no mercy ; her charms ferved only to 
 ftimulate the furious paffions of her brutal ra- 
 vifhers : arrayed in her bridal robes, awaiting the 
 arrival of him, the lover, who was to crown her 
 joys, in the fight of a Briti/h Joldiery , under the 
 command of Britijh officers, me was three times 
 violated by Canadian favages in Britijh pay, and 
 afterwards, (oh horrible to relate!) in cold blood, 
 Jcalped and murdered ! 
 
 Delivered from the only favages I ever met 
 amongft my own countrymen, I applied for protec- 
 tion to Mr. William Livingfton, 3 my firft ftep- 
 mother's brother, who was the governor of New- 
 Jerfey. He behaved to me with harfhnefs, and 
 even added infult to his reproaches. Thus def- 
 titute of friends, I wrote to General Putnam, 
 who inftantly anfwered my letter by a very kind 
 invitation to his houfe, alluring me, that he re- 
 fpected my father, and was only his enemy in the 
 field of battle ; but that in private life, he him- 
 felf, or any part of his family, might always com- 
 mand his fervices. On the next day, he fent 
 
 Colonel
 
 Colonel Webb, one of his aid-de-camps, to conduct 
 me to New- York. When I arrived in Broadway 
 (a ftreet fo called) where General Putnam refided, 
 I was received with the greateft tendernefs both 
 by Mrs. Putnam and her daughters, and on the 
 following day I was introduced by them to Gen- 
 eral and Mrs. Wafhington, who likewife made 
 it their ftudy to mew me every mark of regard ; 
 but I feldom was allowed to be alone, although 
 fometimes indeed I found an opportunity to ef- 
 cape to the gallery on the top of the houfe,* 
 where my chief delight was to view with a tele- 
 fcope our fleet and army at Staten-Ifland. My 
 amufements were few ; the good Mrs. Putnam 
 employed me and her daughters conftantly to 
 fpin flax for fliirts for the American foldiery ; 
 indolence in America being totally difcouraged ; 
 and I likewife worked fome for General Putnam, 
 who, though not an accomplimed Mufcadin y like 
 our Dilletantis of St. James's-ftreet, was certain- 
 ly one of the beft characters in the world, his 
 
 heart 
 
 Almoft every gentleman's houfe in New- York has a gallery, with a 
 fummer-houfe, on the top.
 
 ( 27 ) 
 
 heart being compofed of thofe noble materials 
 which equally command refpect and admiration. 
 One day after dinner, the congrefs was the toaft; 
 General Waihington viewed me very attentively, 
 and farcaftically faid, " Mifs Moncrieffe, you 
 " don't drink your wine." Embarraffed by this 
 reproof, I knew not how to act ; at laft, as if by 
 a fecret impulfe, I addreffed myfelf to the Ameri- 
 can commander, and taking the wine, I faid, 
 " General Howe is the toaft." Vexed at my 
 temerity, the whole company, efpecially General 
 Washington, cenfured me; when my good friend, 
 General Putnam, as ufual, apologifed, and aflured 
 them I did not mean to offend; " Betides," replied 
 he, "every thing faid or done by fuch a child 
 "ought rather to amufe than affront you." General 
 Wafhington, piqued at this obfervation, then 
 faid, "Well, Mifs, I will overlook your indif- 
 " cretion, on condition that you drink my 
 " health, or General Putnam's, the firft time 
 " you dine at Sir William Howe's table, on the 
 " other fide of the water." 
 
 Thefe words conveyed to me a flattering hope 
 4 that
 
 that I mould once more fee my father, and I 
 promifed General Wafhington to do any thing 
 which he required, provided he would permit me 
 to return to him. 
 
 Not long after this circumftance, a flag of 
 truce arrived from Staten-Ifland, with letters 
 from Major MoncriefTe, demanding me, for he 
 now confidered me as a prifoner. General Wafh- 
 ington would not acquiefce in this demand, fay- 
 ing, " that I fhould remain a hoftage for my 
 " father's good behaviour." I muft here ob- 
 ferve, that when General Wafhington refufed to 
 deliver me up, the noble-minded Putnam, 4 as if 
 it were by inftincl, laid his hand on his fword, 
 and with a violent oath fwore, " that my father's 
 " requeft fhould be granted." The commander 
 in chief, whofe influence governed the congrefs, 
 foon prevailed on them to confider me as a per- 
 fon whofe fituation required their ftridl atten- 
 tion ;* and, that I might not efcape, they ordered 
 
 me 
 
 * My father's knowledge of the country induced General Wafhington to 
 ufe every expedient in order to feduce him from the Royal caufe, and he
 
 I 2 9 ) 
 
 me to King's- Bridge, where, in juftice, I muft 
 fay, that I was treated with the utmoft tender- 
 nefs : General Mifflin 5 there commanded ; his 
 lady was a moft accomplifhed, beautiful woman, 
 a quaker ; and here my heart received its firft 
 impreffion, an impremon, that amidft the fub- 
 fequent mocks which it has received, has never 
 been effaced, and which rendered me very unfit 
 to admit the embraces of an unfeeling, brutim 
 hufband. 
 
 Oh ! may thefe pages one day meet the eye of 
 him who fubdued my virgin heart, whom the im- 
 mutable, unerring laws of nature had pointed 
 out for my hufband, but whofe facred decree the 
 barbarous cuftoms of fociety fatally violated. To 
 him I plighted my virgin vow, and I mail never 
 ceafe to lament, that obedience to a father left it 
 incomplete. Wh'en I reflect on my -paft fuffer- 
 ings, now that, alas ! my prefent forrows prefs 
 heavily upon me, I cannot refrain from expatiat- 
 ing a little on the inevitable horrors which ever 
 
 attend 
 
 knew there was none more likely to fucceed than that of attacking his pa- 
 rental feelings.
 
 ( 30 ) 
 
 attend the frustration of natural affections : I 
 myfelf, who, unpitied by the world, have endured 
 every calamity that human nature knows, am a 
 melancholy example of this truth ; for if I know 
 my own heart, it is far better calculated for the 
 purer joys of domeftic life, than for that hurri- 
 cane of extravagance and diflipation on which I 
 have been wrecked. 
 
 Why is the will of nature fo often perverted ? 
 Why is focial happinefs for ever facrificed at the 
 altar of prejudice ? Avarice has ufurped the 
 throne of reafon, and the affections of the heart 
 are not confulted. We cannot command our 
 defires, and when the object of our being is un- 
 attained, mifery muft be neceflarily our doom. 
 Let this truth, therefore, be for ever remem- 
 bered : when once an affection has rooted itfelf 
 in a tender, conftant heart, no time, no circum- 
 ftance can eradicate it. Unfortunate, then, are 
 they who are joined, if their hearts are not 
 matched ! 
 
 With this conquerer of my foul, how happy 
 mould I now have been ! What ftorms and 
 
 tempefts
 
 ( 3' ) 
 
 tempefts fhould I have avoided, (at leaft I am 
 pleafed to think fo) if I had been allowed to fol- 
 low the bent of my inclinations ! and happier, 
 oh ! ten thoufand times happier mould I have 
 been with him, in the wildeft defert of our native 
 country , the woods affording us our only fhelter, and 
 their fruits our only repaft, than under the canopy 
 of coftly ftate, with all the refinements and em- 
 bellifhments of courts, with the royal warrior who 
 would fain have proved himfelf the conqueror of 
 France ! 
 
 My conqueror was engaged in another caufe, he 
 was ambitious to obtain other laurels : he fought 
 
 o 
 
 to liberate, not to enflave nations He was a 
 Colonel in the American army, and high in the 
 eftimation of his country : his victories were never 
 accompanied with one gloomy, relenting thought; 
 they ihone as bright as the caufe which atchieved 
 them ! I had communicated, by letter to General 
 Putnam, the propofals of this gentleman, with 
 my determination to accept them, and I was 
 embarrafled by the anfwer which the General 
 returned ; he intreated me to remember, that the 
 
 perfon
 
 ( 3' ) 
 
 perfon in queftion, from his political principles, 
 was extremely obnoxious to my father, and 
 concluded by obferving, " That I furely would 
 " not unite myfelf with a man who, in his zeal 
 " for the caufe of his country, would not hefitate 
 " to drench his fword in the blood of my neareft 
 " relation, mould he be oppofed to him in 
 " battle." Saying this, he lamented the neceflity 
 of giving advice contrary to his own fentiments, 
 fince, in every other refpect, he confidered the 
 match as unexceptionable. Neverthelefs, Gene- 
 ral Putnam, after this difcovery, appeared, in all 
 his vifits to King's- Bridge, extremely referved ; 
 his eyes were conftantly fixed on me ; nor did he 
 ever ceafe to make me the object of his concern 
 to congrefs ; and, after various applications, he 
 fucceeded in obtaining leave for my departure, 
 when, in order that I mould go to Staten-Ifland 
 with the refpect due to my fex and family, the 
 barge belonging to the'continental congrefs was 
 ordered with twelve oars, and a general officer, 
 together with his fuite, was difpatchcd to fee me 
 fafe acrofs the bay of New-York. The day was 
 fo very tempeftuous, that I was half drowned with 
 
 the
 
 ( 33 ) 
 
 the waves dafhing againft me. When we came 
 within hail of the Eagle man of war, which was 
 Lord Howe's fhip, a flag of truce was fent to 
 meet us : the officer difpatched on this occafion 
 was Lieutenant Brown. General Knox" told him 
 that he had received orders to fee me fafe to head- 
 quarters. Lieutenant Brown replied, "It was 
 " imporTible, as no perfon from the enemy could 
 "approach nearer the Englifh fleet;" but added, 
 " that if I would place myfelf under his protec- 
 " tion, he certainly would attend me thither." I 
 then entered the barge, and bidding an eternal 
 farewell to my dear American friends, turned MY 
 
 BACK ON LIBERTY ! 
 
 We firft rowed alongfide the Eagle, and 
 Mr. Brown afterwards conveyed me to head- 
 quarters. When my name was announced, the 
 Britifh commander in chief lent Colonel Sheriff, 
 (lately made a General, and who, during my 
 father's life-time, was one of his mofl -particular 
 friends, although, alas ! the endearing fentiment 
 of friendfhip now feems extinct in his breaft, as 
 far as the unhappy daughter is concerned) with 
 
 an
 
 ( 34 ) , 
 
 an invitation from Sir William Howe 7 to dinner, 
 which was neceffarily accepted. When intro- 
 duced, I cannot defcribe the emotion I felt ; fo 
 fudden the tranfition in a few hours, that I was 
 ready to fink into the earth ! Judge the diftrefs 
 of a girl not fourteen, obliged to encounter the 
 curious, inquifitive eyes of at leaft forty or fifty 
 people, who were at dinner with the General. 
 Fatigued with their faftidious compliments, I 
 could only hear the buz amongft them, faying, 
 "She is a fweet girl, me is divinely handfome;" 
 although it was fome relief to be placed at table 
 next the wife of Major Montrefor, 8 who had 
 known me from my infancy. Owing to this cir- 
 cumftance, I recovered a degree of confidence ; 
 but being unfortunately afked, agreeably to mili- 
 tary etiquette, for a toafl^ I gave General Putnam : 
 Colonel Sheriff faid, in a low voice, "You muft 
 not give him here:" when Sir William Howe 
 complaifantly replied, " O ! by all means ; if he 
 "be the lady's fweetheart^ I can have no objection 
 " to drink his health." This involved me in a 
 new dilemma ; I wifhed myfelf a thoufand miles 
 diftant ; and to divert the attention of the com- 
 pany,
 
 ( 35 ) 
 
 pany, I gave to the General a letter, that I had 
 been commiffioned to deliver from General Put- 
 nam, of which the following is a copy (And 
 here I confider myfelf bound to apologize for the 
 bad fpelling of my moft excellent republican 
 friend. The bad orthography was amply com- 
 penfated by the magnanimity of the man who 
 wrote it.) " Ginrole* Putnam's compliments to 
 " Major Moncrieffe, has made him a prefent of a 
 "fine daughter, if he dont lick\ her he muft fend 
 " her back again, and he will provide her with a 
 " fine good twig hufband." The fubftitution of 
 twig for whig hufband, ferved as a fund of enter- 
 tainment to the company. 
 
 Immediately the General informed me that my 
 father was with Lord Percy,{ and obligingly faid, 
 " that a carriage mould be provided to convey me 
 "to him," gallantly adding, " amongft fo many 
 "gentlemen a beautiful young lady certainly could 
 " not want a cecifbeo to conduct her." Knowing 
 
 Colonel 
 
 * For General. f For like. 
 
 Now Duke of Northumberland.
 
 ( 36 ) 
 
 Colonel Small from my earlier! youth, I afked him 
 to render me that fervice, to which he confented. 
 Lord Percy* then lived nine miles diftant from 
 head-quarters, and when we arrived at his houfe, 
 my father was walking on the lawn with his Lord- 
 fhip. Colonel Small, 9 * apprehenfive of the confe- 
 quences which might enfue from a too abrupt 
 introduction, delicately hinted to him that I was 
 at Sir William Howe's. Lord Percy, equally 
 impatient to fee me, replied, " Heaven be praifed ! 
 " Major, let us inftantly go and conduct her 
 " hither." Such trouble was however unnecef- 
 fary : In a few minutes, I was introduced, when, 
 overcome by the emotions of filial tendernefs, I 
 fainted in my father's arms, where I remained in 
 a ftate of infenfibility during half an hour; at 
 length I recovered, and mutual congratulations 
 pafled on all fides, when it became neceflary to 
 confider in what manner I was to be difpofed of, 
 iince all his Lordfhip's Juite flept in marquees : 
 but the hofpitality of this nobleman rofe above 
 ceremony, and that the daughter mould not fo 
 foon again be feparated from her father, he ordered 
 one of his own apartments to be prepared for me. 
 
 Here
 
 ( 37 ) 
 
 Here I lived happy, till the Royal Army quitted 
 Staten-Ifland. A fortnight previous thereto, my 
 father had been appointed Major of Brigade to 
 the divifion commanded by Lord Cornwallis ; an 
 event that afforded us infinite fatisfaction. With 
 the uncle of this Lord he had begun his military 
 career, having received his firft commiffion from 
 that General in Flanders; and I am rejoiced in 
 having now the opportunity of publifhing to the 
 world, that his merit alone raifed him to the con- 
 fidence of his patron, and to the rank he after- 
 wards held in his profeffion. 
 
 General Cornwallis, 10 as a proof of his efteem 
 for my father, intreated that he might adopt his 
 eldeft fon, now a Lieutenant in the 6oth regi- 
 ment of foot, and who bears the name of Edward 
 Cornwallis, in addition to that of Moncrieffe. 
 Soon after our departure from Lord Percy's, the 
 Royal Army, having left Staten-Ifland, made 
 good their landing on Long-Ifland, where my 
 father was taken prifoner at the battle of Brook- 
 lyn" and ftripped of his regimentals, was forced 
 to put on the Red Ribbon, (a mark which the 
 
 Americans
 
 Americans wore, in order to diftinguifh their 
 own ftaff officers ;) and while he was endeavour- 
 ing to perfuade the men to furrender themfelves 
 to the Royal Army, they were furrounded by a 
 party of Heflians, 1 " who miftaking my father, 
 conceived him, from the badge he had on, to be 
 a Colonel of the enemy : In vain he remon- 
 ftrated ; they made him aflift to draw the heavy 
 cannon, in which laborious exercife he was recog- 
 nifed by a Colonel in the Britifh Army : the 
 Heflian officer, confufed on difcovering his error, 
 confequently made every due apology. This 
 event frequently caufed us much entertainment. 
 The fuccefs of rhe Royalifts foon reftored to us 
 the poffeffion of our property at New- York, 
 where we were no fooner fettled, than my father 
 fent an invitation to the widow of a gentleman 
 (who had been formerly a Paymafter-general of 
 the Britifh forces) requefting her to accept his 
 houfe as an afylum : his object in fo doing was 
 on my account, his public fituation obliging him 
 to be ever abfent from home. I had now ac- 
 quired a number of admirers ; but having pofi- 
 tively renounced all thoughts of marriage, I ob- 
 tained
 
 ( 39 ) 
 
 tained cqnfent to depart for England with 
 Colonel and Mrs. Horsfall, who were to embark 
 in the month of March, 1777. It was then 
 refolved that, on my arrival in England, I mould 
 be placed at Queen's Square boarding-fchool. 
 How vain is it for mortals to anticipate plans 
 which Providence in an inftant can entirely de- 
 ftroy! 
 
 Mr. Coghlan, 13 my prefent hufband, faw me at 
 an affembly, when, without either confulting my 
 hearty or deigning to afk my permiflion, he in- 
 ftantly demanded me in marriage, and won my 
 father to his purpofe. In a favage mind, which 
 only confidered fenfual enjoyments, affection was 
 not an object, for I told him at the time he had 
 not any affection, and conjured him in the moft 
 perfuafive terms, to act as a man of honour and 
 humanity : his reply was congenial with his cha- 
 racter ; he valued not any refufal on my part, fo 
 long as he had the Major's confent ; and, with a 
 dreadful oath, he fwore, " that my obftinacy 
 mould not avail me." Indeed, my refufal figni- 
 fied nothing ; he infinuated himfelf fo far in my 
 
 father's
 
 ( 40 ) 
 
 father's confidence, as to draw upon me the anger 
 of a parent, to whofe difpleafure I had never 
 been accuftomed, and whofe rebukes I had not 
 refolution to refift : Confined to my own apart- 
 ment, I was forbid his prefence, unlefs prepared 
 to receive the hufband he had provided for me. 
 Wretched in mind, fmarting under the fad re- 
 verfe, I who had only known the heart-cheering 
 fmiles of parental fondnefs, to become the object 
 of parental anger ! the idea overcame me, and 
 befieged, at the fame time, by the pathetic in- 
 treaties of a much-loved brother, I unhappily 
 yielded, and here fate daflied me on a rock which 
 has deftroyed my peace of mind in this world, 
 and may, perhaps, have paved my way to eternal 
 torments in another. 
 
 Unable, as I have faid, to refufe the earneft 
 felicitations of a brother, my earlieft and deareft 
 friend, I took to my bed a viper, who has flung 
 me even unto death, who has hurled me from the 
 rank to which I was born, and for ever banimed 
 me from all thofe amiable enjoyments of fociety, 
 without which life is a vacuum not to be endured. 
 
 In
 
 ( 41 ) 
 
 In confequence of thefe fatal intreaties, I was 
 married to Mr. John Coghlan, on the 28th of 
 February, 1777, at New-York, by fpecial licence, 
 granted by Sir William Tryon, 14 who was then 
 Civil Governor of that province. At this period, 
 I was only fourteen years^m.d^Jgw.jnan-ths old ; 
 
 fo eai4y^di3^I fall a melancholy victim to the 
 hafty decifion of well-meaning, but alas ! moft 
 miftaken relations. My union with Mr. Cogh- 
 lan I never considered in any other light^ than 
 an honourable proftitution, as I really hated the 
 man whom they had compelled me to marry. 
 
 As the prelude was inaufpicious, fo did a dif- 
 mal omen fucceed our wedding. The worthy 
 Doctor Auchmuty, 15 who was then Rector of 
 New-York, and had married us that evening, 
 complained on the fame evening, while at fupper, 
 of indifpofition, and three days afterwards he 
 finimed his mortal race. We were the laft couple 
 married by this truly amiable man, this exem- 
 plary pattern of true chriftian piety But when 
 
 he joined our hands, (I cannot fay our hearts,) he 
 wedded me, as I before obferved, to a feries of 
 
 wretchednefs,
 
 ( 42 ) 
 
 wretchednefs, from which Heaven alone holds 
 forth a profpect of relief. 
 
 Educated in the fchool of virtue, and, I truft, 
 naturally averfe to thofe fcenes of vice in which 
 my unhappy ftars have fince involved me ; let my 
 example ferve as a falutary caution to other 
 brothers to other fathers how they attempt to 
 influence the choice, or to force the inclinations 
 of inexperienced female youth, on a point where 
 every thing moft facred is concerned. 
 
 Let the compulfion practifed on me apologife 
 
 
 
 with the liberal mind for the tranfgreffions of 
 youth, doomed to the chains of a detefted mar- 
 riage. Had it been my lot to have been united 
 in wedlock with the man of my affeffions, my foul 
 and body might now have been all purity, and 
 the world would not then have loft a being, natu- 
 rally focial, generous, and humane. 
 
 x 
 
 A few months after our nuptials, Mr. Coghlan 
 was ordered, with his regiment, to Philadelphia, 
 whither he repaired, leaving me at Long-Ifland 
 
 with
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 with my father For feveral months, I never 
 received any letter from him, a circumftance which 
 caufed great difpleafure to all my relations ; but to 
 me, it was of little confequence, as my greateft 
 happinefs was to remain peaceably at home with 
 my family. However, this fatisfaction was not 
 long enjoyed. One evening, as I was fitting with 
 my father, the arrival of my hufband was an- 
 nounced ; the matter of the houfe received him 
 with open arms, but I met him with an air of 
 difguft^ having never learned the fecret to difguife 
 my genuine feelings. In the courfe of converfa- 
 tion, we difcovered that he had fold out of the 
 army in defiance of his father's pofitive com- 
 mands ; and that it was his intention inftantly to 
 embark for England, where he propofed that I 
 mould accompany him. Thus I was forced from 
 the paternal roof of my only friend, my natural 
 proteftor. 
 
 Mr. Coghlan took lodgings at New-York, 
 where he introduced mejx^jibertrrres; and to 
 women of dout5Hid~liafacT:er. In this city we 
 remained about a month, when a convoy being 
 
 6 ready
 
 ( 44 ) 
 
 ready to fail for Cork, we embarked on the 8th 
 of February, 1778, and had not been many days 
 at fea before my hufband, freed from all restraint, 
 from the protection that I had enjoyed under my 
 father's roof, threw off the mafk of deception, 
 and appeared in his true native character, the 
 / brutifh unfeeling tyrant ! never omitting an oppor- 
 tunity to perfecute and torment me. Innumer- 
 able cruelties did I endure from this man while 
 on our paffage ; and fo unrelenting was he in his 
 barbarous treatment, that it at length became 
 public in the mip, and obliged Captain Kidd, 
 the commander, to take notice of it, threatening 
 to confine him as a madman, if he perfevered in 
 his inhuman career.* In three weeks after our 
 departure from New-York, the fleet difcovered 
 land ; but beat off by ftrong eafterly winds, we 
 could not make Cape Clear, fo that the Captain 
 was obliged to take all the mips he had under 
 convoy into Crook Haven, a fmall port in the 
 weft of Ireland. The veflels no fooner came to 
 anchor, than my tyrant fent his horfe afhore, which 
 
 he 
 
 * Vide the libel exhibited by me againft my hufband, which remains on 
 record in the Ecclesiastical Court.
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
 he had brought from America; leaving me, youns 
 and unprotected, in the midft of fix or feven \ 
 hundred men, for the fpace of fourteen days, 
 without a fingle individual of my own fex in the 
 whole fleet. Thus I was expofed to various in- 
 fults, for when my hufband openly abandoned 
 me, it was natural to conclude that others would 
 not be remifs in practifing their arts of feduction 
 againft me. 
 
 When the wind became favourable, we again 
 failed, and landed at the Cove of Cork. On my 
 arrival in the latter city, I was received by the 
 Mayor, a near relation of my hufband's, who foon 
 introduced me to him ; I was pleafed to find that 
 he made fome apologies for having left me fo 
 abruptly, remarking, that it was in confequence 
 of fome liberties he conceived Captain Kidd had 
 taken with him. 
 
 During my ftay at Cork, which lafted ten days, 
 I was treated with all poffible civility and refpect. 
 From hence we went to Dublin, where, on our 
 arrival, myv-uncle, Alderman MoncriefFe, (who is 
 
 now
 
 now one of the chief magiftrates and Lord Mayor 
 elect of that city) expreffed great difpleafure on 
 hearing that I had remained fo long at Crook 
 Haven, under the circumftances I have defcribed. 
 In a few days Mr. Coghlan, leaving me with 
 my uncle, went over to England, where he re- 
 mained one month. While he had been abfent, 
 and in London, his mind had been poifoned by a 
 variety of calumnies that some good-natured 
 friends had infinuated againfl me. On his re- 
 turn, he roundly told me, that he had taken an 
 old manfion in Wales, for the exprefs purpofe of 
 fecluding me from the world; that his defign was 
 to break myjpirit; and if that would not do, to 
 break my heart. In vain I practifed every art in 
 my power to fruftrate this inhuman project; but 
 finding all my intreaties and exertions ineffectual, 
 I pofitively told both him and my uncle I was 
 determined not to remain in Wales ; and boldly 
 declared, that I would leave him and fly to my 
 father's friends in England. He, however, pe- 
 remptorily perfifted in his refolution, and I be- 
 lieve has fince lamented his folly. When we had 
 reached the inn at Conway (on our way to the 
 
 Old
 
 ( 47 ) 
 
 Old Man/ion) all my thoughts were bent on an 
 efcape, and the very firft moment he left me alone, 
 I fled from my tormentor, and fought my way 
 acrofs the mountains, destitute of money, and 
 without a hut to afford me fhelter from the in- 
 clemency of the weather ; but fupported by the 
 native innocence>~mT~o'wh he"artj~JL efcaped from 
 the great regardlefs of all lefTer evils. I encoun- 
 tered many difficulties on the road : youth, how- 
 ever, and perfeverance, enabled me to furmount 
 them all. Lovers prefTed around me at every 
 inn : Hibernia's gallant fons, fome of whom had 
 feen me in Dublin, made the moft liberal offers, 
 and uttered the warmeft vows ; they would have 
 efcorted me to London, or to any other part of 
 the world ; but I turned a deaf ear to their pro- 
 teftations, and continued my pedeftrian journey, 
 an innocent, folitary fugitive ! From my juvenile 
 appearance, I naturally became an object of fuf- 
 picion to the different inn-keepers, who confider- 
 ed me as an amorous adventurer, run away from 
 my parents ; but on a candid recital of my art- 
 lefs tale, and on my repofing implicit confidence 
 in them, they confented to affift and facilitate my 
 
 flight.
 
 flight. When I arrived at Namptwich, I wrote 
 to Lord Thomas Clinton, (now Lord Lincoln) 
 who had been on very intimate terms with my 
 friends in America. 
 
 Here, perhaps, my conduct was imprudent, 
 although, I truft, not altogether guilty ; never- 
 thelefs, this act of indifcretion has poflibly occa- 
 fioned many of the fubfequent miferies that I 
 have fince endured. My letter to his Lordfhip 
 was immediately anfwered by Mr. Jackfon, (at- 
 torney to Lord Thomas) inclofing, by his Lord- 
 fhip's order, twenty pounds, and containing a 
 requeft from him, that I mould confider myfelf 
 under his protection, fignifying, that Mr. Cogh- 
 lan had challenged him, in confequence of fome 
 fufpicions which he entertained concerning an 
 amorous attachment between his Lordfhip and 
 myfelf. 
 
 I had forgot to mention, that my hufband 
 purfued me from Conway, but taking a different 
 rout, mifled his object. When he arrived in 
 London, he mftantly repaired to the houfe of 
 
 General
 
 ( 49 ) 
 
 General Gage, 19 who hinted to him the probability 
 of h^ fin dingon^ with Lord. Thomas, the Gene- 
 ral having heard a report to that purpofe. 
 Alarmed by this intelligence, he fent for his 
 brother-in-law, Mr. Phipps, (the late member 
 for Peterborough) who accompanied him to Sun- 
 ning-Hill, at which place Lord Thomas then 
 refided. He immediately accufed the latter of 
 having been my feducer, indited on fearching 
 the houfe, and in cafe of refufal, declared that he 
 was prepared, and would infifl on that fatisfac- 
 tion to which an injured hufband was entitled. 
 Fortunately, fome gentlemen, who were on a 
 vifit to his Lordmip, interfered, and afTured Mr. 
 Coghlan that / was not in the houfe ; when, after 
 much perfuafion, he was induced to return to 
 London, at the fame time denouncing vengeance 
 if he mould hereafter difcover that any deception 
 had been practifed upon him. I have never 
 ceafed to rejoice that this affair had no fatal 
 cataftrophe. My hufband's temper was natu- 
 rally violent ; and, born in a country where the 
 barbarous prejudice of duelling bears fuch abfo- 
 lute fway, the noble Lord might have fallen a 
 
 victim
 
 ( 50 ) 
 
 victim to this favage cuftom the illuftrious 
 houfe of Newcaftle might have been deprived of 
 their heir, and thus another hope of a puiffant 
 family have been loft. 
 
 Amongft a brave and enlightened people, 
 who have always difplayed the moft exemplary 
 valour in defending their rights, and whofe gener- 
 ous volunteers, led on, in the hour of danger, 
 by the patriots Grattan, Charlemont, Leinfter, 
 and other noble chiefs, have never hefitated to 
 make the deareft facrifice for the public fafety, it 
 cannot be too much lamented, that heroes fo 
 prodigal of life mould not have courage to 
 oppofe and annihilate a barbarifm which has for 
 many centuries fixed a ftigma on a country in 
 every other refpect amiable, and whofe bravery 
 and gallantry are univerfally renowned through 
 all the nations of the world. 
 
 I am forry to remark, to the utter difgrace of 
 Lord Clinton, that his behaviour to me, when I 
 fell withrrr~fiis power, was fuch as reflects dif- 
 honour both on his head and heart. In the former, 
 
 I
 
 I at once difcovered a vacancy ; it did not, there- 
 fore, afterwards furprife me to find a canker in the 
 latter, having always remarked a weak head and 
 an unprincipled mind to be perfectly congenial to 
 each other. This Jot difant nobleman meanly pro- 
 pofed to furrender me, young and beautiful as I 
 was then considered, (and at the fame time under 
 his immediate care) to the arms of one of his liber- 
 tine companions, only anxious to avoid the me- 
 naces of an enraged Hibernian, and to fecure him- 
 felf from an action of damages. Such an act, 
 committed by a man of inferior birth, would have 
 difgraced him among his fellows ; while the noble 
 derives from thence additional fame, and a breach 
 of every moral duty in the higher circles is re- 
 garded as mere fafhionable levity, as the elegant 
 nonchalance of polite life. In that clafs, diftinc- 
 tion keeps pace with vice, and a ftrict obfervance 
 of morality is deemed dulnefs and infipidity. 
 
 After what I have faid of nobility, let me be 
 permitted to make one honourable exception : I 
 mould be ungrateful indeed, and belie the feel- 
 ings of my foul, if I did not proclaim my dear 
 
 7 friend,
 
 friend) Lord Hervey, a nobleman porfefTing 
 honour, generofity, and affection His heart, 
 always open to the congenial feelings of humanity, 
 never refufed obedience to its facred impulfe. I 
 knew him in his prime of youth, and although now 
 lome years have parTed fince I enjoyed the happi- 
 nefs of feeing him, I am pleafed to flatter my- 
 felf that his foul has efcaped the politician's lot, 
 that it has not become hardened and corrupt. 
 
 How often have I obferved him check the 
 manly tear which had instinctively ftarted in his 
 eye on a recital of my misfortunes ! and how 
 fincerely has he appeared to lament the want of 
 power to reftore me to that fituation which I was 
 born to fill in the world ! While living- under 
 
 O 
 
 the protection of Lord Clinton, I endured many 
 unhappy hours, and my affliction did not pafs 
 unobferved by my attendants. One day I was 
 furprifed in fears, by my own woman, to whom 
 1 related my ftory, as nothing affords more relief 
 to a diftrefled mind, than giving vent to its for- 
 rows : this compaffionate creature, who was by 
 no means privy to his Lordmip's plans, advifed 
 
 me
 
 ( 53 ) 
 
 me to attempt a reconciliation with my hufband, 
 which advice I rejected ; but, having written a 
 penitent letter to my friend, (the Honourable 
 Mrs. Gage) 17 into whofe hands I defired it to be 
 delivered, General Gage himfelf, who was ever 
 
 * D ' \ 
 
 during his life a friend to my family, contrary to 
 the opinion of his lady, fetched me inftantly away 
 from my lodgings in Lower-Seymour-ftreet, and 
 informed Mr. Coghlan's father that the fair fugi- 
 tive was found ; when they held a confutation 
 refpecting my future deftination, the refult of 
 which was, that it would be prudent for me to 
 retire to a convent in France. In this opinion I 
 acquiefced, and confequently departed for Calais, 
 where I hired apartments in the Dominican con- 
 vent. I had not been long in this gloomy 
 retirement, before I was furprifed with a vifit 
 from Lord Thomas Clinton, who informed me 
 of the death of his brother, the late Lord Lin- 
 coln, and was pleafed to fay, that his object in 
 coming to Calais was to know if I was happy. 
 Youth is the feafon of credulity, and flattery 
 never yet was unwelcome to a. female ear. Being 
 myfelf naturally of a lively temper, I could but 
 
 ill
 
 ( 54 ) 
 
 ill adapt my ideas to the difmal folitude of a 
 monaftery, or to the melancholy habits of its 
 fuperftitious inhabitants, and a circumftance* had 
 lately happened, which had determined me to 
 quit my prefent companions. I knew it was in 
 vain to afk permiffion from my friends to return 
 to England, as it had been determined by them 
 that I mould continue three years in the convent, 
 and abjolute orders had been given to the fupe- 
 rior, that no ftranger mould be admitted to fee 
 me, unlefs he brought letters from them. I 
 mentioned this circumftance to Lord Lincoln, 
 but he was too well acquainted with the fecret 
 virtue of that golden key which he pofTefTed, to pay 
 attention to fuch orders. The fcrupulous deli- 
 cacy of Madame Gray, fuperior of the convent, 
 could not refift the magic of this key ; her virtue 
 yielded, and I confequently dined with his Lord- 
 fhip, nor ever more returned to my difinterested 
 
 friend 
 
 * Alluding to a ceremony annually obferved on All Saints Day, or the 
 Refurredtion of Souls, when the bones and fculls of the dead, which had 
 long before been peaceably configned to their mother Earth, together with 
 a coffin, are placed in the chapel of the convent, where all the ladies of the 
 fociety are made to attend the doleful fcene at midnight.
 
 ( 55 ) 
 
 friend, Madame Gray, but agreeable to his Lord- 
 
 fhip's advice, took my paflage to England. 
 
 The Nuns, alarmed at my flight, wrote to my 
 
 friends, excufmg themfelves from having been 
 
 privy to my efcape, and imputing the whole 
 
 blame to the woman whofe bufmefs it is to walk 
 
 out with the pensioners, as being auxiliary to my 
 
 departure. Soon after my arrival in London, 
 
 General Gage was informed of my return, and 
 
 of the place where I had taken up my residence. 
 
 He immediately difpatched Major Brown to my 
 
 lodgings, and by him I was acquainted with the 
 
 mifery which my father fuffered on my account. 
 
 Unable to endure the thought of afflicting the 
 
 tendereft of parents, whom I moft affectionately 
 
 loved, I was eafily induced to forego thofe vifion- 
 
 ary and fatal fchemes of happinefs, which my 
 
 imagination had formed. Thus reftored to my 
 
 friends, I was fixed by Mrs. Gage with a refpect- 
 
 able family near Grofvenor Square. 
 
 Sir Charles Gould, who was in habits of cor- 
 refpondence with Major Moncrieffe, 18 paid the 
 expenfes of my board, at the Major s defire. 
 
 Here
 
 ( 56 ) 
 
 Here I remained two years, at the expiration of 
 which time Mrs. Gage informed me that me had 
 received letters from my father, wherein he ex- 
 prefTed his wifhes that I would form fome plan 
 whereby to gain a future livelihood ; that as by 
 my imprudence I had rendered it impoffible for 
 him to countenance me as his daughter, he ad- 
 vifed me to endeavour to learn the mantua- 
 making bufmefs. The propofal I rejected, con- 
 fidering that I was entitled to a feparate mainte- 
 nance from my hufband, proportionate to his 
 fortune. Thus embarrafled, I waited on Lord 
 Amherft, 19 informing him of my unhappy mar- 
 riage. His Lordfhip remembered me when in 
 my nurfe's arms, which recollection fecure^ me in 
 him a zealous advocate and mediator with my 
 father ; at the fame time flattering me with hopes 
 of fuccefs. On hearing the intention of the 
 latter, his Lordfhip was equally furprifed with 
 myfelf : he inftantly exclaimed, " This furely 
 " would be a curious method to reftore you to 
 "the paths of virtue ;" adding, "that he had a 
 " bad opinion of fuch trades for young women." 
 
 My
 
 ( 57 ) 
 
 My father was a man of rigid, auftere prin- 
 ciples, whenever virtue or honour were in quef- 
 tion, however indulgent he might be himfelf on 
 other occaiions. The feverity he manifested in 
 this inftance does not derogate in the leaft from 
 his ufual character ; the actual dishonour of a 
 beloved daughter pleads a Sufficient excufe for 
 any harfhnefs which I may have experienced 
 from him. 
 
 Thusdeferted, I became almoft frantic; I left the 
 family where Mrs. Gage had placed me, and paid 
 a vifit to the man whofe counfels I ought to have 
 fhunned. At his Lordmip's houfe I was received 
 a welcome gueft : on feeing me, \\ejatiricallyfmiled, 
 and faid, " he hoped I had now fufficiently felt the 
 " rod of correction, and that it would teach me to 
 " be regardlefs of every other confideration but 
 " that of improving my own fortune." At this 
 period, Lord Lincoln was engaged in a contefted 
 election for the city of Weftminfter, with that 
 bright luminary of genius who ftill mines with 
 fuch refplendent effulgence in the political world, 
 the Right Honourable Charles Fox. 20 - -I was 
 
 now
 
 now feventeen years old, and felt a natural incli- 
 nation for the ftage : on this fubject I confulted 
 a friend of my father's, Colonel Etherington, who 
 advifed me to procure an introduction to the 
 manager of Drury-Lane Theatre. Accident, at 
 this juncture, brought me acquainted with the 
 Right Honourable Gentleman juft mentioned, 
 (Mr. Fox) whofe intereft I folicited with Mr. 
 Sheridan, 21 and he, with his ufual goodnefs, 
 recommended me to the latter gentleman, and it 
 was then my intention to have made my debut at 
 Drury-Lane Houfe, the following winter. 
 
 The frequent opportunities I at this time 
 enjoyed of feeing Mr. Fox, whofe affections were 
 'then (I believe) difengaged, were of the higheft 
 fervice to me ; dulnefs itfelf could not have failed 
 to profit from the inftructions of fo able and elo- 
 quent a friend. During my acquaintance with 
 this amiable and benevolent man, my foul was 
 confecrated to all the fweet emotions of friend- 
 fhip, and happy mould I have been had this inti- 
 macy lafted ; but, alas ! fuch happinefs was not 
 referved for me. Engagedvin the purfuit of moft 
 
 honourable
 
 ( J9 ) 
 
 honourable ambition, his heart was ever open to 
 the more endearing virtues of private life. The 
 zealous, enthufiaftic patriot was no lefs the fincere 
 affectionate friend the tender, the ardent lover ; 
 and, perhaps, in no one man were ever before 
 united fo many engaging, fo many tranfcendent 
 qualities ; infomuch, that the character given of 
 him in the Houfe of Commons, by his friend 
 Sir Charles Bunbury, feems by no means exagge- 
 rated cc That he was even a hero to his valet de 
 "chambre !" 
 
 The giddinefs of extreme youth, and remark- 
 able levity of my difpofition at that time, was 
 not calculated to fecure the attachment of this 
 illuftrious character, although in every fubfequent\ 
 trial I have found in him a moft complaifant and/ 
 liberal benefactor. 
 
 It was now my deftiny to become acquainted 
 with a man in almoft every inftance the reverfe of 
 the former, but he ftill pofTefTed that charm, which, 
 with my turn for extravagance, fupported the 
 place of every other. Mr. Fazakerley was rich^ 
 
 8 and
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 and what rendered him yet more valuable in my 
 fight, he vt&s generous ! He offered me his houfe 
 and prefented to me his purfe ; money feemed 
 no object to him, and fuch a man was adapted to 
 my purpofe. Neverthelefs, it was my nature to 
 be candid, I therefore JrajnJdy~-te4d-4mTr that I 
 was four mpjiths^axTvanced in pregnancy ; and 
 concluded by faying, that he probably might 
 deem this circumftance an obftacle to our connec- 
 / tion. He waved however the objection, made 
 the moft liberal offers, Tnfifted on my applying to 
 no other quarter for protection, and during four 
 years he fupported me and my daughter, without 
 permitting me to draw from Mr. Fox the leaft 
 fupply whatever. 
 
 Mr. Fazakerley made with me the tour of 
 Europe, and did all in his power -to cultivate my 
 underftanding, and to give me all that fuperficial 
 knowledge and acquirements which are confidered 
 to yield fuch a polifh to our travelled ladies. If 
 I had not profited by the advantages that offered 
 themfelves during my acquaintance with this 
 gentleman, I mould deferve more misfortunes 
 
 than
 
 ( 6. ) 
 
 than I have even yet endured, if it were poffible 
 they could fall to the lot of any one human being ; 
 but, I truft that my mind has not been altogether 
 unimproved ; and if my heart may have been 
 corrected by the former gentleman, my under- 
 ftahding and perfon have certainly acquired gra- 
 ces and accomplifhments from the pains beftowed 
 on me by the latter. I am therefore bound to 
 acknowledge thofe obligations to Mr. Fazakerley, 
 for the attention I received from him during four 
 years, as well as for many liberal pecuniary fa- 
 vours ; but as to the real happinefs, I never 
 enjoyed it under the aufpices of this gentleman, 
 his temper being extremely morofe and capricious ; 
 nor had he any of thofe qualities formed to con- 
 ciliate the affections of a delicate woman. 
 
 At the end of four years, this connection was 
 difTolved, and unfortunately for me, all his friend- 
 Jhip perifhed with it. 
 
 During my misfortunes, he has never liftened 
 to my complaints ; the more miferies were accu- 
 mulated on my wretched head, the more callous 
 
 did
 
 did his heart feem to what I fuffered, and he at 
 length concluded by withdrawing an annuity of 
 two hundred pounds, which he had promifed fhould 
 be continued during my life. 
 
 I had now formed an acquaintance with Lord 
 Hervey. Of this noble Lord I have fpoken in 
 the preceding pages, and even at this moment I 
 cannot reflect on the virtues and fplendid qualities 
 that diftinguifh the mind and perfon of his Lord- 
 fhip, without the moft lively fenfibility. With 
 him I enjoyed, for feveral months, all the com- 
 forts and delights of domeftic life, and with him 
 I continued until he was appointed, by his Bri- 
 tannic Majefty, Envoy at a foreign court. 
 
 Attached to my native country (America) I 
 fancy the reader will have already difcovered that 
 I am by no means a friend to arbitrary princi- 
 ples ; nor is it becaufe I admire the man, that I 
 am to be confidered a convert to his political 
 notions. 
 
 I was therefore concerned when I read the 
 manifefto which he publtmed at that court, dur- 
 ing
 
 ing his embafly. Nothing, however, can abate 
 the lively gratitude and efteem which my heart 
 feels for this valuable friend. His Lordmip had 
 left me only a few months, when I brought forth 
 a pledge of our union, a daughter, whom death 
 foon ravimed from me: previous to which lofs, a 
 new and amiable connection called me back to 
 Ireland, where I received the above fatal intelli- 
 gence, which was a terrible drawback upon the 
 happinefs I then enjoyed. Captain B******, 
 my new lover, was every way calculated to oblit- 
 erate the impreffion I might have received from 
 former admirers, and to footh the affliction 
 which I felt for the lofs of my dear and beloved 
 child. From him I have uniformly experienced 
 every kindnefs that the tendereft affection could 
 beftow. The roving habits of a military life 
 did not admit any permanent attachment of this 
 nature ; but it is fufficiently flattering to me, 
 that Mr. B****** never omitted an occafion of 
 feeking my fociety. 
 
 The fruits of our connection are two fons, 
 both now living, and both happy under the pro- 
 tection
 
 ( 64 ) 
 
 tection of their worthy parent, who is himfelf 
 lately united in marriage with a lady who, I am 
 told, poflefles every virtue and every neceflary 
 accomplishment to fecure his happinefs, and with 
 whom I ardently wifh him a continuation of all 
 the bleflings and enjoyments which he fo emi- 
 nently deferves. Let me, however, indulge the 
 hope, without wifhing to ftrew the thorns of 
 jealoufy or difcontent on her bridal pillow, that 
 he will never utterly neglect his former friend, the 
 mother of his chi'dren. Humanity, and friend- 
 fhip for others, are not uncongenial with conju- 
 gal fidelity, and if I am rightly informed of Lady 
 
 A 's character, me is not the woman to 
 
 encourage a dereliction of thofe duties. The 
 honourable connection that Mr. B****** has 
 formed is incompatible with the union that once 
 fubfifted between us, and if previous thereto 
 there had been any chafm in that union, it was 
 becaufe his fortune could not keep pace with my 
 former extravagance. 
 
 Confident am I, from all the proofs I have 
 had of his generous and affectionate heart, that 
 
 the
 
 ( 65 ) 
 
 the manifold forrows I have undergone, if he 
 had porTefled the power, I mould have been 
 fpared the fuffering. I could dwell longer on 
 this endearing theme, but prudence commands 
 me to draw the veil. 
 
 I now enter on the fubjecl of a gentleman, 
 whom honour, gratitude, and every refined fen- 
 timent which dignifies the foul of woman, and 
 imprefTes it with a fenfe of paft obligations, com- 
 pel me to mention. Generofity and fincerity 
 were his mining character! flics a friend to all 
 mankind, bimfelf excepted. The opennefs of 
 Mr. Giffard's difpofition everlaftingly expofed 
 him to the villanies and bafe projects of nefari- 
 ous gamblers and intriguers of every defcription; 
 nay, even in that elevated circle of ariftocracy in 
 which he moved, there were not wanting ennobled 
 wretches to form their fchemes of plunder and 
 robbery againft him. The lories which Mr. 
 Giffard fuftained from thefe honourable connec- 
 tions were fatal to himfelf and family. Unfuf- 
 picious of the treachery to which he had been 
 the dupe, he paid to the laft guinea, although to 
 
 accomplim 

 
 ( 66 ) 
 
 accomplim that payment, he had been obliged to 
 difcharge his eflablimment, and to difpofe of his 
 equipage. Stupid muft be the mind that would 
 not have been corrected by fatal experience like 
 this, and happy am 1 to learn, that from a regu- 
 lar fyftem of oeconomy which he has of late 
 adopted, and through the interpofition of his 
 relations, his finances are repaired, and thus a 
 moft worthy man reftored to his country. 
 
 Ungrateful mould I be if I did not rejoice in 
 every profperity which he enjoys. From him, 
 during the time I was fo happy as to partake of 
 his efteem, I received pecuniary favours that 
 almoft outran my own extravagance and it was 
 only the derangement of his affairs, that could 
 have put a period to them. 
 
 While with Mr. Giffard, my humble roof was 
 often vifited by princes of the Blood Royal, and 
 by Nobles of the higheft diftinction and here, 
 I mould do a violence to my own feelings, if I 
 did not draw a juft comparifon in favour of ple- 
 beian virtue; let me then honeftly proclaim to the 
 
 world,
 
 ( 67 ) 
 
 world, fuperior to flattery or dimmulation, that 
 in my journey through life I have found more 
 liberality of fentiment, more candour and ingen- 
 uoufnefs in this plain country gentleman, and 
 others of a fimilar defcription, than I ever expe- 
 rienced from a certain Duke of royal lineage. 
 
 But where is the wonder ? Fidelity to vows is 
 not the virtue of princes. At perjuries with wo- 
 men they only laugh. During my hard diftrefles 
 in a horrid jail, often did I apply to this Royal 
 Lothario, this perfidious Lovelace, but who, alas ! 
 had none of the accomplifhments that Lovelace 
 could boaft of; and the fruit of my application 
 was filence dead, monotonous, obftinate filence ! 
 Beware then, ye of my unhappy fex, how you are 
 beguiled by the gew-gaw of royal fplendour ! 
 Nurfed in the lap of luxury, fatiated with enjoy- 
 ments, the hearts of princes are callous to the 
 purer delights of exquifite fenfibility. Princes live 
 only for themfelves : they conceive that men and 
 women are made merely for them, to be the paflive 
 inftruments of their voluptuoufnefs, and are only 
 furprifed when the leaft recompence is required 
 
 from
 
 ( 68 ) 
 
 from them, as a poor indemnity for the dearefl 
 facrifices that have been made to footh their paf- 
 fions. All I can fay is, that if this princely Lotha- 
 rio mines not with greater advantage in the plains 
 of Mars than he excels in the groves of Venus, 
 the combined forces have little to expect from his 
 martial exertions. 
 
 In the month of May, 1788, annoyed by my 
 creditors, and Mr. Giffard's finances being at that 
 time exceedingly deranged, he could only offer cer- 
 tain terms to my creditors, giving one thoufand 
 pounds into the hands of Mr. Thomas Vaughan, 
 of Suffolk-ftreet, Middlesex Hofpital, for the 
 purpofe of fettling with them; while it was judged 
 expedient that I mould tranfport myfelf to the 
 continent, there to remain during eight or ten 
 months. I mould be loth to caft reflections on 
 any man, and I conceive it now neceflary to extri- 
 cate Mr. Vaughan from afperfions which have 
 been thrown out againft him. 
 
 My debts at this time amounted to near three 
 thoufand pounds, including attorney's bills, for 
 
 it
 
 ( 69 ) 
 
 it has been my lot always to pay full fixty fhil- 
 lings for every twenty: it was therefore propo- 
 fed, that the one thoufand pounds fo generoufly 
 granted by my munificent friend mould be applied 
 only to the payment of fuch debts as had been 
 contracted while I refided under the protection of 
 Mr. Giffard, considering himfelf in honour bound 
 to difcharge them. But firft, there was an offer 
 made to all my creditors in general, of ten mil- 
 lings in the pound, which they were foolim 
 enough to refufe ; thus I was under the neceflity 
 of protracting my refidence abroad. 
 
 On my arrival in Paris, I had taken my refi- 
 dence at the Hotel de 1'Univerfite, where it was 
 my fortune to meet once more that favourite of 
 the fair fex, that renowned warrior, equal to both, 
 and armed for either field, whofe glorious exploits 
 in the blood-ftained ranks of Long-Ifland and 
 Charleston can teftify, and whofe fuperior excel- 
 lence in thofe fofter engagements, in the Italian 
 vales, Mademoifelle la Maire and fo many other 
 Pariiian belles have equally witnefled. 
 
 This
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 This heroic chief, this fecond Agamemnon, 
 uniting all accomplilhments the fierceft foldier 
 in war, the gentleft fwain in love did me the 
 honour to take me under his protection. 
 
 He was my cecifbeo, who made me acquainted 
 with all the beauties of that fuperb and magnifi- 
 cent city ; he introduced me into all the gay and 
 brilliant circles, of which he himfelf fhone the 
 fplendid ornament. The intelligent reader, on 
 perufing the above, will not be at a lofs to dif- 
 cover, that I allude to General D ********. 
 With this military and amorous Quixote there 
 was a young man, nearly related, and to whom, 
 fuch is the ftrange organization of the female 
 mind! I am fair to confefs, that I gave the pre- 
 ference over his formidable and illuftrious rival. 
 Jealoufy is the characteriftic of love I had made 
 an impreflion on the heart of the veteran beau ; 
 he Jufpefled (and his fujpicions were not wrong) 
 that there was a fecret underftanding between 
 myfelf and his younger companion : yielding 
 thereto, he kept a fteady watch over all our 
 actions, and when the filent hour approached that 
 
 lovers
 
 lovers dedicate to the deity of their adoration, 
 my antique admirer, eager to convince himfelf of 
 the truth of what he fufpected, pofted himfelf in 
 an obfcure corner, where, by favour of the moon, 
 
 he traced Sir R * to my apartments, and, 
 
 as foon as he knew that his conjectures were well 
 founded, he withdrew all friendfhip, and, I fear, 
 
 has never fince forgiven me. "At lover's 
 
 "quarrels," they fay, "Jove laughs ;" although 
 this quarrel turned out ferious, fince no corref- 
 pondence has fubfifted between us fince the above 
 fatal period. But if Agamemnon withdrew him- 
 felf he ftill left a Paris behind to confole me. 
 
 Sir Robert Harland, the next day informed 
 me, that my late admirer was fo exceedingly 
 offended, that it would render my longer con- 
 tinuance, in the fame hotel, very difagreeable ; 
 
 1 therefore departed, taking lodgings at the 
 
 Hotel de la Reine, Rue des Bons Enfans. I 
 was no fooner fettled in my new apartment, 
 than one of my fervants told me that my huf- 
 
 band 
 
 * Sir R***** H******.
 
 band lodged in the fame houfe, and as he was the 
 loft man in the world whom I wifhed to fee, I 
 inftantly took leave of the landlord, and went to 
 Madame Lafar's Hotel, Rue Caumartin ; a lady 
 who happily pofleffes the convenient accommodating 
 talents of obliging all her guefts, both male and 
 female, never afking impertinent queftions, and 
 being perfectly indifferent as to the mode of 
 arrangement amongft them. In this hotel I 
 found the famous Colonel Me. Carthy, who was 
 pleafed to honour me with his particular attention. 
 By this gentleman I was introduced to the Mar- 
 quis de Genlis, whofe fuperb hotel was the con- 
 ftant receptacle of all the elegants of that once 
 luxurious city. 'This nobleman^ in his youth, had 
 been the moft accomplimed -petit maitre of the 
 day, and in the decline of life, when I knew him, 
 he reminded me very much, both in his drefs and 
 
 addrefs, of our old Duke of Q -. The French 
 
 Marquis, however, was rather more celebrated 
 for hofpitality than the Scotch Duke. When 
 I retrace in my imagination the nocturnal orgies, 
 and every refinement of luxury, that was vifible 
 in this temple of voluptuoufnefs, contrafting it 
 
 with
 
 ( 73 ) 
 
 with the prefent gloomy fcene, which my mind 
 pidtures to itfelf, I, in fome meafure, forget my 
 own forrows : The Graces, I am told, have en- 
 tirely abandoned that city, where they had fo 
 long refided, Stern, inexorable republican vir- 
 tue has ufurped the empire which they once held, 
 and politics now fupply the place of gallantry 
 and love. The ill-fated brother of M. de Genlis, 
 the Marquis de Sillery, hufband to the accom- 
 plifhed writer of that name, tainted by education 
 with the prejudices of artftocracy, and vitiated by 
 the long habits of Parifian debauchery, has lately 
 fuffered under the fatal axe of the guillotine ; 
 and this example, confirmed by fo many others, 
 ought to ferve as a wholefome and moft ufeful 
 leffon, how, at this juncture, perfons embark on 
 the dangerous ocean of politics, unlefs they are 
 really and honeftly attached to the principles 
 which they profefs. 
 
 The Jacobin Club is undoubtedly (whatever 
 it may be in other refpects) the moft vigilant and 
 enlightened corps of diplomacy in Europe. In- 
 numerable inftances have proved the impoffibility 
 
 of
 
 ( 74 ) 
 
 of efcaping their keen, penetrating refearches, 
 and the leaft deviation from the path of the 
 Conftitution, (that is, from the unity and irrdi- 
 vifibility of the Republic) is fure to meet detec- 
 tion, and to be followed by an ignominious 
 death. Let us then implore the grace of Divine 
 Providence to put an end to thefe horrors ! 
 
 To refume the thread of my narrative About 
 the latter end of July, 1788, a Mr. Beckett, with 
 whom I become acquainted, and for which ac- 
 quaintance I am indebted to my old friend, Colo- 
 nel Freemantle, came to Paris. He lived in the 
 fame hotel with myfelf, in the greateft fplendour ; 
 his table was continually crouded by perfons of 
 the higheft rank, amongft whom were the late 
 unfortunate Due d'Orleans, the Dues de Mont- 
 morenci, Pienne, Prince Louis d'Aremberg, 
 Marquis de Bouille, &c. &c. &c. Amidft my 
 manifold misfortunes, I confider it fome confola- 
 tion that the perfons with whom I have been 
 acquainted were the moft part diftinguifhed for 
 genius and talents, and this young man was 
 remarkably fo : Mr. Beckett flattered me by his 
 
 addrefses,
 
 ( 75 ) 
 
 addreffes, at a time when all the Parifian beauties 
 were emulous with each other for his affections : 
 whether it were vanity, affection, preference, or any 
 fentiment bordering on felf-love, I will not fay ; 
 but, living in the fame hotel with him, he continu- 
 ally made choice of me as the Sultana to prefide 
 at his table, and I had the direction of all his 
 entertainments. At the end of four months, 
 after various oblique and fruitlefs hints, Madame 
 Lafar became clamorous for payment of her bill, 
 which amounted to thefmal/Jum of five hundred 
 pounds. He drew bills upon his father for fif- 
 teen hundred pounds, which were the amount of 
 his whole debts. A fpecial courier was difpatched 
 to England, and as the father would not, or could 
 not, pay the extravagant demands of his fon, the 
 bills returned to Paris protefted. In this fituation 
 I advifed him to confult his own countrymen, 
 then in Paris : He was at that time intimately 
 acquainted- with Lord Gillford, fon of Lord 
 Clanwilliam. This young nobleman affured him 
 that he had only a few hours to determine on his 
 efcape, as he had private information that Ma- 
 dame Lafar meant to arreft him. I muft do Mr. 
 
 10 Beckett
 
 Beckett the juftice to fay, that it was with the 
 utmoft reluctance that he purfued the advice of 
 his friends, as he exprefled ftrong apprehenfions 
 for my fafety ; however, touched with his gene- 
 rofity, I became entirely regardlefs of myfelf, and 
 positively infifted on his flight, and he yielded 
 obedience. He had not departed many hours 
 before all his creditors were in an uproar ; the 
 hue and cry was raifed, that an Englimman had 
 run away for his debts : the police officers were 
 fent after him, but returned with forrowful coun- 
 tenances, their miflion unaccomplifhed. 
 
 Madame Lafar, who, poor dear woman ! was 
 the principal fufferer, now turned all her ven- 
 geance againft me, knowing that I had a travel- 
 ling poft-chaife and a chariot, together with feveral 
 valuable effects ; on thefe articles me fixed her 
 attention, determined to plunder me. 
 
 Two days after Mr. Beckett left Paris I was, 
 while on a vifit at Madame Smith's, informed by 
 Mr. Robert Knight, (another of the few good 
 men I have found in the world) that his carriage 
 
 had
 
 ( 77 ) 
 
 had juft been furrounded by a party of armed 
 ruffians, inquiring for me, and he had fcarcely 
 uttered the words when the houfe of Madame 
 Smith was befet by at leaft an hundred men, pre- 
 ceded by Mr. de Lomprey, exempt de police. 
 My friends , alarmed for my fituation, (for I was 
 feven months advanced in pregnancy) intreated 
 the exempt to difmifs his followers Mr. Knight 
 kindly pledging himfelf to be refponfible for any 
 complaint which they had to make againft me. 
 Mr. de Lomprey replied, " that he had a lettre 
 " de cachet from the King, ordering me to close 
 " confinement in the Hotel de la Force" My 
 valuable friend, who was a young man of very 
 independent fortune, would not fuffer this arbi- 
 trary aft of power to be exercifed againft an help- 
 lefs woman, without firft demanding that fatis- 
 faftion to which he thought me entitled. He, 
 therefore, at that late hour, went to the Duke of 
 Dorfet, the Engli/h Ambaflador: his Grace was 
 from home : thus I was obliged to go, at two 
 o'clock in the morning, to the manfion of flavery, 
 the Hotel de la Force. I had with me my infant 
 fon, then only two years old. The innocence of 
 
 this
 
 ( 78 ) 
 
 this tender lamb, who feemed fenfible that fome 
 misfortune had happened, overcame what refolu- 
 tion I pofTefled ; he held up his little bands and 
 cried out, " Oh ! you mail not hurt my Mother /" 
 Mr. Knight, however, comforted me by every 
 aflurance of protecting the child, and carried him 
 away in his carriage, having firfl attended me him- 
 felf to the wretched apartment deftined for me. 
 A miferable bed of ftraw, with one wretched 
 blanket, was all the furniture in the room, and 
 the floor was completely covered with vermin. 
 'Till this moment I was a ftranger to prifons ; 
 therefore my mind was more fenfible to theftiock: 
 but even now that I have been habituated to the 
 horrors of confinement, I cannot conceive fuch a 
 dreadful epitome of wretchednefs as this vile 
 dungeon, on mature reflection, frill appears to be; 
 and, for the fake of humanity, I fervently pray, 
 that if it be not already done, the new government 
 of France may utterly deftroy fimilar abominations. 
 
 My woman, the faithful partner of all my 
 misfortunes, accompanied me, nor could even 
 this fpectacle of horror induce her to forfake her 
 
 miftrefs.
 
 ( 79 ) 
 
 miftrefs. We parted the few remaining hours 
 converting on the fudden tranfition of fortune 
 I wifhed to convince her of the mutability of 
 human happinefs In three days 1 was reduced 
 from fcenes of pleafure and tranquility to my 
 prefent wretched condition ! As foon as day 
 approached, we examined our fad habitation : the 
 firft object that ftruck my eye was a huge tremen- 
 dous padlock, projecting from the cieling, and to 
 which was fattened an immenfe iron collar. We 
 could not at firft imagine the ufe of this frightful 
 instrument ; but my poor, faithful attendant foon 
 guefTed it, and exclaimed, " O, Madam ! it is to 
 " fatten us up at night!" She had fcarce uttered 
 thefe words when the jailer appeared, (for, in 
 France, it is a duty exacted from the keeper of 
 fuch a place to pay perfonal attendance to the 
 unfortunate in his power :} he had a great bunch 
 of keys in his hand : he walked up to me, and 
 immediately cried out, " Oh, del! quel dommage !" 
 adding, that he had received orders from the gov- 
 ernment to treat me with the greateft refpect. 
 This civil Frenchman ended his harangue by 
 requefting me to give him permiflion to order my 
 
 breakfaft.
 
 ( 80 ) 
 
 breakfaft. I thanked him for his politenefs, but 
 declined receiving any refrefhment until my friends 
 came to me. At a very early hour (before noon) 
 Mr. Knight, accompanied by Mr. Weftern, the 
 prefent member for Maiden, paid me a vifit. 
 Thefe gentlemen, in concert with Capt. Winder, 
 of the guards, were for ever employed to obtain 
 my liberty, availing themfelves of a moft necef- 
 fary and humane law that exifts in France, pro- 
 hibiting the imprifonment of pregnant women for 
 debt. If fuch laws were in full force under the 
 moft defpotic government of Europe, how much 
 more confiftent were it in force under that which 
 calls itfelf the moft free ? Aged perfons were alfo 
 exempt from this penalty ; but here our ears are 
 for ever ftunned with the found of liberty and 
 humanity ! women in the pangs of childbed 
 men in the agonies of death, (fuch inftances have 
 occurred) in virtue of a meriff's writ, may be 
 dragged to the moft loathfome jail. Were it not 
 then devoutly to be wifhed, that our legiflators, in- 
 ftead of empty panegyric, would afford us a little 
 of the fubftance ? In my own opinion, who have 
 done fome experience in thefe cafes, the reafon why 
 
 fuch
 
 fuch horrible laws are fuffered to exift, is under 
 the fuppofition of their being feldom or ever 
 executed ; the fact, however, is notorioufly other- 
 wife ; at all events, policy, as well as mercy, 
 requires, the national character demands, that the 
 life of freemen mould not be expofed to the dif- 
 cretion, or depend on the pity, of a fheriff 's officer. 
 
 Madame Lafar, alarmed, leaft I mould efcape 
 out of the fnare me had laid, endeavoured to 
 perfuade my friends I was not in the predica- 
 ment defcribed ; but all her projects failed, as 
 they infifted on a confultation of the faculty, 
 who afcertained my pregnancy ; at the fame time 
 expreffing apprehenfions of immediate labour 
 from the fudden revolution I had undergone. 
 In this fituation, a female of my acquaintance 
 (although by no means a lady of rigid virtue, not 
 therefore lefs fufceptible of generofity and com- 
 pamon) immediately repaired to Monfieur Pac- 
 quet, then firft Prefident of the Parliament of 
 Paris, relating the circumftance, and at the fame 
 time giving a miniature picture of me. This 
 gentleman went the following day to Verfailles, and 
 
 informing
 
 informing Monfieur and the Comte d'Artois, the 
 late Kings brothers, of my misfortune, they, with a 
 generous fympathy rarely to be found in princes, 
 and which caufes me to lament moft bitterly their 
 fad reverfe of fortune, took pity on my fituation 
 and became my advocates ; and in a few hours I 
 received his Majefty's order for my releafe. The 
 Comte d'Artois, in particular, entered into the 
 hardfhips of my cafe, and on delivering the King's 
 fignature, cancelling the letter de cachet, advifed 
 that I mould put myfelf under protection of his 
 palace,* fignifying that Mr. Beckett's creditors 
 might then proceed againft me in a court of law. 
 The inftant I returned from prifon, I went accord- 
 ingly to the Place du Temple, where I had not 
 remained many hours before I received a vi fit from 
 
 the Due de F , another nobleman who alfo 
 
 boafts of royal blood in his veins, but whofe actions 
 unfortunately were not calculated to efface thofe 
 unfavourable prepofTerTions with which I had been 
 infpired by a fimilar conduct in a truly royal Duke, 
 
 who 
 
 * The Temple at Paris, where Louis XVI. and the royal family were 
 confined, was formerly a palace occupied by the Comte d'Artois, and its 
 environs afforded protection to unhappy inlblvent debtors.
 
 who now makes fuch a capital figure on the theatre 
 of European politics. The familiar epithet applied 
 
 to the ci-devant Due de F in Paris, (that loyal 
 
 and renowned emigrant) was an efcroc (in Englifh 
 fignifying fharper or Greek). All I can fay is, 
 that I have no reafon to difpute the propriety of 
 the application. 
 
 In my new abode I had foon the mortification 
 to learn from my fervants, that my two car- 
 riages, together with all my clothes and jewels, 
 were feized by Mr. Beckett's creditors, fo that I 
 was, in an inftant, ftripped of every neceflary, in 
 a country where I had no connections but fuch 
 as had been formed on the principles of intereft. 
 Thus circumftanced, a young I rim nobleman, in 
 whofe favour I had made an exception, and from 
 my general opinion of his friendship I had con- 
 fidence, I frankly communicated what had be- 
 fallen me, and received from his Lordfhip every 
 affurance of protection ; but his fortune not being 
 adequate to his generofity, he immediately pro- 
 pofed a fubfcription amongft my friends then in 
 Paris, and in the courfe of twenty-four hours I 
 
 ii found
 
 found myfelf, through their exertions, in poflef- 
 fion of two hundred and fifty louis d'or's. 
 
 I have before obferved, that adverfity is the 
 true criterion of friendfhip, and I am bound in 
 gratitude to render juftice to that virtue in the 
 French nation. 
 
 In France I ever met with the greateft human- 
 ity, tempered with delicacy and politenefs ; and 
 if my misfortunes, during the latter part of my 
 refidence in that country, called for the aid of 
 others, I alfo received it ; at the fame time it 
 was always conveyed in a manner which reflected 
 honour on the generous donors, ever unaccom- 
 panied with thofe difgufting marks of oftentation 
 which too frequently attend acts of pecuniary 
 relief. 
 
 I remained fix months in the Temple, and 
 returned to England ten days before that glorious 
 epoch, the I4th of July, 1789, when Frenchmen 
 threw off for ever THE YOKE OF SLAVERY. Oh ! 
 may that day yield an awful and impreflive leflbn ! 
 It forms an aera replete with events ftill in the 
 
 womb
 
 womb of time to produce. It threatens deftruc- 
 tion to long eftablifhed fyftems to long eftab- 
 limed orders. It prefages revolution, and ftrikes 
 at thofe antique governments, in defence of which 
 fo many of my anceftors have bled. 
 
 Should they have bled in vain, and if a new 
 order of things be deftined to fucceed, may 
 humanity ftill profit by the change ! may a more 
 equal diftribution of fublunary enjoyments ban- 
 ifh from the face of the earth thofe fcenes of 
 horror that have fo long tortured the fight and 
 difgraced the policy of focial inftitutions ! Per- 
 haps the Millennium, fo long and fo anxioufiy 
 anticipated, is at hand, when nations will be 
 linked in one fraternal bond when civil difcord 
 and foreign wars mall ceafe to defolate the world. 
 Whichever party may prevail in this tremendous 
 crifis, my only prayer is, that it may terminate 
 to the advantage and improvement of the human 
 race ! The reader will pardon thefe frequent 
 digreflions ; they arife naturally from the fub- 
 ject, and are the fpontaneous emanations of a 
 foul fraught with fenfibility, and glowing with 
 
 zeal
 
 ( 86 ) 
 
 zeal for the general happinefs and improvement 
 of mankind. I have formerly experienced from 
 Frenchmen compaflion and generofity ; and I 
 have fometimes found thofe virtues in the Eng- 
 lifh. Born in America, and refident many years 
 in England, I feel no local partialities, no pre- 
 porTeflions or difgufts my country is the world ! 
 and whatever the political fentiments of others 
 may be, I confider it the duty of citizens to 
 yield implicit fubmiffion to the laws of that 
 government under which they live. 
 
 Pafling eighteen months in France, under her 
 ancient monarchy, I had the opportunity of 
 manifefting my refpect to the laws which then 
 exifted ; and if I were at prefent in that nation, 
 now that it has judged proper to adopt the re- 
 publican form of government, I mould hold 
 myfelf equally bound, faithfully to obey the 
 laws of that Republic. 
 
 Such are my opinions, which I believe are 
 founded in truth and juftice, and I mould be 
 ever emulous to preferve the character of a 
 
 peaceful.
 
 ( 8? ) 
 
 peaceful^ and, I hope, in future, to add, of a 
 virtuous citizen. 
 
 It is the fafhion amongft us, vehemently and 
 outrageoufly to condemn the French for the ex- 
 cefles and cruelties they have committed ; but 
 we muft in candour allow, that in the progrefs of 
 this war they have been at leaft equalled in acls 
 of cruelty by the Pruffians and Auftrians, and 
 far furpafled therein by their own emigrants. 
 Very lately an account was tranfmitted to the 
 convention, by one of its commiflioners at Lifle, 
 of an Auftrian foldier taken prifoner, on fearch- 
 ing whom it was difcovered that his cartridges 
 were poifoned, which at once explained the caufe 
 of that amazing mortality which had prevailed 
 amongft the French wounded foldiers. 
 
 Monfieur Beaulieu, an Auftrian general, on a 
 late occafion, previous to an engagement, like- 
 wife fignified to his troops that prifoners were 
 only an incumbrance, in confequence of which the 
 foldiers took the hint and gave no quarter. 
 
 What tender heart then but recoils from thofe 
 
 dreadful
 
 ( 88 ) 
 
 dreadful profcriptions and executions which now 
 daily take place in that diftracted country ! but as 
 in morals, it would be held madnefs to harbour in 
 our bofom a ferpent to fting us to death ; fo in 
 politics, the maxim holds equally good. France 
 cannot be denied to have contained innumerable 
 enemies within her bofom, and from the exter- 
 minating principles of this deftructive war, which 
 operate equally on both fides, it is evident if me 
 wimed to confolidate her government, that if me 
 do not drive to deftroy thofe enemies they will 
 finally fucceed to deftroy the republic. Let us 
 then be juft amidft the violence of revolutionary 
 paroxyfms. We are not to expect that temper 
 and moderation which ought to be the bafis of 
 fettled, tranquil governments, but which (we 
 fatally experience) is too feldom the charaderiftics 
 of fuch governments. 
 
 To return to my fubject : When I arrived in 
 London, I fent to my houfe in New Cavendifh- 
 ftreet, defiring a female fervant, whom I had left 
 in charge of it, to come to the hotel. She gave 
 me to underftand, that although feveral of my 
 
 creditors
 
 creditors were much dirTatisfied with the manner 
 in which Mr. Vaughan had difpofed of the money 
 deftined to fettle their demands, ftill they were by 
 no means inclined to harrafs me. Thefe afTuran- 
 ces encouraged me to return to my own houfe, 
 and in a few days ]. called a meeting of all my 
 unfatisfied creditors (acting in this inftance as my 
 own attorney:) from them I obtained a letter of 
 licence ; I however was fo foolifh as to afk for 
 only fix months indulgence, when they would 
 readily have granted it for as many years ; there 
 were, neverthelefs, two obdurate, ungrateful cre- 
 ditors, linen drapers of Oxford-ftreet, who, regard- 
 lefs of the many obligations which they owed to 
 me and my friends, thought proper to arreft me, 
 contrary to the opinion of all the reft who had any 
 claims against me. With thefe men I had dealt for 
 years, in which time they had both received from 
 me feveral hundred pounds, and now they thought 
 proper to have me confined for the moderate fum 
 of three hundred and fifty pounds : my own 
 attorney civilly leaving me in a fpunging-houfe, 
 to get out as I could. In this hour of diftrefs, 
 when friendfhip makes the deepeft imprefTion, a 
 
 gentleman
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 gentleman* of Furnival's Inn came fortunately 
 to the houfe, and hearing of my confinement, 
 generoufly became my bail. And here let me 
 again pour forth the tribute of a grateful heart ! 
 but words are inadequate to exprefs the fenfe that 
 I have of bis liberality and kindnefs. Unac- 
 quainted with the chicanery, villainy, and hard- 
 heartednefs of other lawyers, from which I have 
 fo cruelly fufFered, from certain experience, he 
 rofe, in my opinion, above every man in his pro- 
 feffion. He found mebefet by plunderers, Jews, 
 and fwindlers, combined to rob me of what pro- 
 perty I poflefled. The fuflerings I had hitherto 
 endured had not operated the neceflary conviction, 
 or hindrance, in choice of acquaintance : I have 
 ever been the dupe of the worthlefs part of both 
 fexes ; and, at this time, I was ftupidly infatuated 
 with the fociety of a certain Jewefs. 
 
 This woman poflefTed feveral natural good 
 qualities, qualities which far over-balanced her 
 faults ; and as it is impoflible for any human 
 production to be perfect, I overlooked her im- 
 perfections, 
 
 * Mr. Chambers.
 
 ( 9' ) 
 
 perfections, and adopted her as my bofom friend. 
 Mrs. G had a mother who was ever in league 
 
 o 
 
 with bailiffs and low attornies, and often have 
 both her daughter and myfelf fuffered from her 
 unnatural intrigues. 
 
 In the month of November, 1789, it was 
 neceffary that I fliould either furrender to Mr. 
 Chambers, or fettle the debts for which he was 
 anfwerable. I therefore confulted this female 
 ferpent, whom I had nurfed in my bofom to 
 fting me ; me gave it as her advice, that it would 
 be prudent for me to call upon the plaintiff's 
 attorney, who, me was pleafed to remark, would 
 be happy to become one of my humble Jlaves. 
 Eager to exonerate my good friend Mr. Cham- 
 bers, from any danger, on my account, I applied 
 to an attorney of Ely-place, and propofed to 
 give fecurity for the debt in which he was- con- 
 cerned. This accomplijhed limb of the /aw, feeing 
 me in a fplendid equipage, agreed to accept my 
 own terms, and infinuated himfelf fo far into my 
 good opinion, that he afterwards completely 
 ruined me, plundering me of the loft guinea. I 
 
 1 2 have
 
 ( 9* ) 
 
 have fince learned that Mr. P , in order to 
 
 enhance his own cofts, made it his bufinefs to 
 difcover the credulous part of my creditors, whofe 
 debts being fmall, were prevailed on to fue me ; 
 and in one of thefe inftances, I can atteft that I 
 was taken in execution for five pounds, and paid 
 twenty for it. Fourteen days after I had agreed 
 
 to employ Mr. P , he delivered to me his 
 
 bill of cofts, modeftly making me his debtor two 
 hundred and twenty-two pounds. I had, at this 
 time, three hundred and fifty pounds to receive 
 from Mr. Giffard, and as it was not immediately 
 convenient for the latter gentleman to advance 
 the money, I requefted this virtuous practioner, 
 this ornament of attorneyjhip, to wait a few weeks 
 for payment ; but he had far other views ; he 
 had a fcheme in agitation, which entirely pre- 
 cluded all impertinent clamours of confcience. 
 He, as I have before obferved, was inftructed 
 with my circumftances, and while I was loaded 
 with various debts, fome of which were enormous, 
 he took a lawyer-like and conscientious advantage 
 of my female weaknefs, feducing me to make over 
 all the furniture of my houfe to him a delufion 
 
 that
 
 ( 93 ) 
 
 that finally led to my deftruftion. I could wifh to 
 fpeak with moderation concerning this man, but 
 my wrongs are fuch, that, waving irony, I muft 
 intreat permiffion to fpeak with freedom. The 
 very moment I had executed the bond which 
 made him mafter of my effects, he fent one 
 Rofs, a meriff 's officer, to take porTeffion of them, 
 although he had given me his Jacred word OF 
 HONOUR, that he would never proceed, unlefs to 
 protect me from other executions. Not fatisfied 
 with this bafe and perfidious act, he was alfo the 
 perfon who advifed another creditor to fue me for 
 fixty pounds. On hearing of this writ, I was 
 obliged to take refuge in the verge of the court, 
 and on the next day, when I fent one of my fer- 
 vants to my houfe for a change of clothes, they 
 were refufed; the man in pofleffion fignifying, 
 that he had pofitive orders not to fuffer any 
 property to be taken out of the houfe. In this 
 dilemma, I once more applied to my much val- 
 ued and never-failing friend^ Mr. G ******, and 
 received from him two hundred pounds, which I 
 paid to this IMMACULATE attorney, requefting he 
 would withdraw the execution. He anfwered, 
 
 that
 
 ( 94 ) 
 
 that the fum was not fufficient, (although he was 
 pleafed to take it) as his demand was now in- 
 creafed to fifty pounds more ; therefore, he per- 
 fifted in felling the effects, and I have never, to this 
 hour, received any account from him, although 
 it is pretty well known, that the produce of that 
 fale brought him a very confiderable fum of 
 money, befides the two hundred pounds I had 
 before advanced him. 
 
 His next object was my coach, but that he 
 might get it in his pofleffion with as much decency 
 as poffible, he affetted to fecure to himfelf, by an 
 alignment to a friend. Fool as I was, after my 
 experience, I confented to his propofal, and had 
 he defired me to fign my own death-warrant 
 (fuch was the ajcendancy he had then over me,) I 
 verily believe that I mould have obeyed the pro- 
 ceedings of this VIRTUOUS practitioner. 
 
 I had not long executed the alignment, before 
 my coach was feized in behalf of his brother-in- 
 law, a linen-draper, and fold (or rather given away) 
 for one hundred and twenty pounds, although I 
 
 had
 
 ( 95 ) 
 
 had paid Mr. Godfal four hundred pounds for it, 
 and never ufed it more than eight months. 
 
 The next ftep of this truly honeft attorney 
 was to get my perfon feized, and it is a fad: well 
 known, that the monfter, under pretence of taking 
 me before the late Lord Chancellor, on bufinefs, 
 fold me to bailiffs. Thus I was arrefted, and 
 dragged to a fpunging-houfe, where I was locked 
 up feven weeks ; during which time, I employed 
 myfelf in endeavouring to arrange my affairs. 
 It was repeatedly propofed to me, to make an 
 application to my friends ; but unaccuftomed to 
 folicit favours, I declined the propofal, and recon- 
 ciled myfelf to the idea of ending my days in a 
 prifon. 
 
 In this fpunging-houfe I remained until 
 Eafter term, 1790, when I was compelled to take 
 up my abode in the King's Bench : and now I 
 confider it a tribute of juftice due from me not 
 to confound the liberal creditor with the defign- 
 ing, wicked Shylocks who condemned me to 
 prifon, having met with the greateft indulgence 
 and liberality from all my principal creditors. 
 
 They
 
 They who opprefled me were the perfons who 
 had the leaft right to do fo ; and, forry am I to 
 fay, to the utter difgrace of my ownjex, that the 
 two creditors whofe cruelty and inflexible obfti- 
 nacy obliged me to continue two years in the 
 King's Bench, were women, milliners ; one of 
 whom had been in the habit of cheating me for a 
 number of years. When I balanced accounts 
 with her, I had receipts for fourteen hundred 
 pounds, and yet the confcience of this honeft 
 woman (for me is married) did not fcruple to 
 declare, that me would never releafe me, until I 
 either paid three hundred pounds, or gave fecurity 
 for the like fum. 
 
 A young man of fafhion, who was at that 
 time unable to extricate me out of my difficulties, 
 wimed to awaken the feelings of this married lady^ 
 this paragon of her fex ! and intreated her to 
 remember, that my fituation claimed fome com- 
 pajfion, for I was then pregnant with my youngeft 
 fon, whom I mentioned in the beginning of thefe 
 Memoirs. She replied, that it was quite imma- 
 terial whether I was brought to bed in a prifon or 
 
 elfewhere.
 
 < 97 ) 
 elfewhere. Soaring; above the feelings of human- 
 
 o o 
 
 ity, this dealer in flimfy, fmuggled commodi- 
 ties, perfifted in purfuit of her dearly loved pelf, 
 and forced me to endure all the miferies of a loath- 
 fome jail. Torn from the bofom of my native 
 country, I bore my forrows in filence, unknown, 
 unpitied ! having met with few friends difinter- 
 efted enough to prove their regard while I was 
 incapable of making them any return. Such is 
 the inftability of mankind ! While we can admin- 
 ifter to their pleafures, or gratify their vanity, 
 they are our abject (laves ; the fcene once changed, 
 then adieu to friendfhip ! Thus fituated, deftitute 
 of all fupport, except fuch as the precarious bene- 
 volence of a few friends allowed me, I was advifed 
 to fue my hufband for a feparate maintenance, 
 who, regardlefs of the ties of honour and duty, 
 was publicly living with a woman of notorious 
 character , whom he ftill fuffers to ajjume my name, 
 and I am told he has even the indecency to intro- 
 duce her into feveral refpedable families, calling 
 her his wife. * But to clear up the deception, I 
 
 beg 
 
 * Mr. John Coghlan refides in Chefter Place, London, and the Ifle of 
 Thanet, County of Kent.
 
 ( 98 ) 
 
 beg leave to fay, although it be a title I never 
 fought, it is my misfortune^?/// to drag thofe hor- 
 rid chains of matrimony and SLAVERY which never 
 can be diflblved but by his death or mine. 
 
 The action which I exhibited againft him, 
 proving, from the moft refpectable witnefTes, his 
 cruelties, gained me the fupport that my necefli- 
 ties then called for, but not before I had endured 
 every mifery that hunger, cold and confinement 
 could inflict. 
 
 Sir William Scott, the Judge of the Confiftory 
 Court of London, fentenced my hufband to allow 
 me one hundred and feventy pounds a year, 
 during the time that our caufe was depending. 
 He refufing to comply with the decree, was pub- 
 licly excommunicated in his ewn parifh church, 
 St. George's, Hanover-fquare. Under thefe de- 
 plorable circumftances, the time now approached 
 when I was to fuffer ten thoufand additional 
 horrors : My friends, more anxious to preferve 
 my life than I was, had provided a gentleman of 
 the faculty to attend me during my lying-in : 
 
 when
 
 ( 99 ) 
 
 when I was taken ill he was fent for, who being 
 from home could not reach the King's Bench 
 
 o 
 
 before ten o'clock. At that hour it is the con- 
 ftant and often fatal practice to fhut the gates, 
 whereby many an innocent and valuable life has 
 been loft. Any attempt to break through this 
 barbarous cuflom would have been vain. The 
 life of a woman is not confidered as worth pre- 
 fervation at the expence of breaking through 
 the eftablifhed rules of a jail. Neverthelefs, 
 humanity bleeds in reflecting on thefe abufes, 
 fan&ioned by law, which are ftill allowed to exift 
 without an effort from thofe in whom the power 
 is vefted to remove them. 
 
 In this critical and lamentable ftate I remained 
 feveral hours, ftruggling with death. The only 
 profemonal man in the place was a very young 
 furgeon, who at firft offered his amftance, but 
 afterwards declined it, considering my fituation 
 too dangerous for him to be of any fervice ; 
 however, his delicacy was afterwards over-ruled, 
 and, owing to his kind interference, I was 
 fnatched from death, to be referved for a feries 
 
 13 of
 
 of new calamities. Delivered from the agonies 
 of child-bed, my infant was fuffered to remain 
 naked for two days ; for, alas ! the unfortunate 
 mother had not clothes even for herfelf! In 
 this deplorable ftate we both continued, till an 
 unknown friend, touched with companion, re- 
 mitted me a few guineas. 
 
 I mould commit an injury againft my own 
 feelings, if I did not here declare, that I have 
 every reafon to believe myfelf indebted for this 
 humane act to Mr. Walker, the late Marfhal 
 of the King's Bench, as I afterwards experienced 
 from him every kind attention poffible for one 
 fellow-creature to mew another. May 1, on this 
 occafion, be permitted to hold forth myfelf as an 
 example to the giddy, diffipated fair ones of 
 my fex, now, perhaps, in full enjoyment of the 
 fmiles and adulation of men ? Beware, then, ye 
 lovely victims of their crocodile carefles ! while 
 the funfhine of fortune beams around you 
 while the bloom of beauty lafts and the charms 
 of novelty hold their fway, wafte not your pre- 
 cious hours in unprofitable idlenefs and wild 
 
 extravagance ;
 
 extravagance : make the falfe diflemblers, while 
 they pay homage to your beauty, provide alfo 
 for your intereft : lay up ftores againft a rainy 
 day. I, like you, when I thought myfelf be- 
 loved, now too late difcover that all was flattery: 
 the tempeft came unexpectedly on none of my 
 gay friends approached at my bidding I was 
 left to bide the pelting of this pitilefs ftorm in a 
 horrid jail, naked and pennilefs, with a new-born 
 infant at my breaft, crying for the fuftenance that 
 famifhed nature refufed ! and when my former 
 gay companions, on whom I vainly thought I 
 could depend, kept all aloof, I was relieved, at 
 laft, by the fortuitous generofity of an utter 
 ftranger. Let me hope, therefore, my fate will 
 ferve as a lefTon to others, that they may not 
 founder on the rock on which I am wrecked. 
 
 Five weeks after 'my lying-in, a meflage came 
 from Mr. Walker, fignifying that he wifhed to 
 fee me : I was fhewn to his houfe, where, after 
 lamenting, in the kindeft terms, the hardfhips I 
 had fuflfered, he declared how much he was con- 
 cerned to fee in a prifon a woman, who, he was 
 
 pleafed
 
 pleafed to fay, deferred a better fate ; and, at the 
 fame time, with a delicacy peculiar to liberal 
 minds, and incompatible, one mould have 
 thought, with his fituation, intreated me to 
 accept a trifle as a pledge of his friendship, 
 giving into my hand a piece of paper, which, on 
 my return to my apartment, I found to contain 
 three guineas, with thefe lines : " Never, while 
 " you remain here, neglect applying to me in 
 " your moments of pecuniary want." My ad- 
 verfe ftars foon deprived me of this new friend, 
 who was, fhortly afterwards, feized with a fever, 
 which carried him off in a few days, leaving be- 
 hind an amiable character, well worthy of his 
 fucceflbr's imitation. May he, like Mr. Walker, 
 remember, that he is placed in a fituation where 
 he has all the moft important duties of humanity 
 to perform, and in which a neglect of them would 
 be ftill more criminal than the juft and liberal 
 performance of them would be amiable and 
 meritorious. Neverthelefs, I muft ingenioufly 
 confefs, fpeaking of the King's Bench prifon, 
 (and I am told other prifons are ftill more 
 wretched) that the evil exifts in itfelf; and al- 
 though
 
 I0 3 
 
 though a jailor may certainly correct the horrors 
 of the fyftem, yet it is impoflible for him effec- 
 tually to remove it. The corruptions of a jail, 
 according to the prefent eftablifhment, call aloud 
 for legiflative interference ; and while fuch cor- 
 ruptions are acknowledged on all fides, there can 
 be only one reafon why no attempt is made to 
 deftroy them, and that is the immenfe emolu- 
 ments derived therefrom by the principal and 
 fubaltern practitioners of the law. It is not the 
 partial delufive fcheme of oppreffion againft a 
 few wretched attornies that can produce any 
 material benefit ; it may ferve as a temporary 
 manoeuvre to reconcile us to the barbarous prac- 
 tice a little while longer. But the whole augean 
 ftable muft be cleanfed. It is not thepefty rogue 
 that conftitutes the great nuifance : we muft go 
 through all the different gradations of the infamy 
 before we can hope to render any effectual fer- 
 vice : experience enables me to fpeak with deci- 
 fion on this fubject, and all I can fay is, that if 
 every other department of government is in the 
 fame corrupt ftate, as that of which I am now 
 
 fpeaking,
 
 fpeaking, we are in a deplorable condition in- 
 deed. 
 
 Having imbibed my political principles at an 
 early age, amongft citizens ftruggling for freedom, 
 and where now every individual is equally privi- 
 leged, and equally protected by the law, I cannot 
 but inveigh againft partial immunities, and the 
 propenfity which the Englim people betray to 
 deprive their fellow-creatures of that liberty of 
 which they fo inconfiftently boaft. Not but a 
 rational difcrimination ought necerTarily to be 
 kept up between fraud and imprudence, villany 
 and misfortune ; nothing can more fully demon- 
 ftrate the negligence and infenfibility of govern- 
 ment than that they mould be confounded indif- 
 criminately together, that no diftinction mould 
 be made between them : yet fuch moft unfortu- 
 nately is the cafe, and what aggravates, beyond 
 meafure, this grievance, is, that the man who 
 enters a prifon, honeft and virtuous, feldom fails, 
 during his abode therein, to contract the vileft 
 habits, and to be ever after unfit for fociety. 
 
 Thus it is the height of impolicy and cruelty 
 
 to
 
 to make no diftinction between the unfortunate 
 debtor and the defigning fraudulent fwindler ; 
 for, although the juftice of the legiilature mould 
 provide a punifhment for the one, a certain and 
 more lenient degree of protection than has hither- 
 to been adopted, ought furely to be held out to 
 the other. But the intereft of lawyers does not 
 require fuch difcriminations to be made, and 
 therefore it is judged right, that things mould 
 remain as they are. They forever tell us, they 
 cannot be better. 
 
 How long will this infatuation laft ! Oh En- 
 glimmen ! let it no more be faid, that, with paf- 
 five, ignoble tamenefs, ye fuffered a fervile race 
 of mercenary, corrupt, vindictive lawyers, to forge 
 the chains of hard captivity for your free-born 
 limbs ! ye have a constitution, whofe leading 
 principle, ye are told, is liberty, facred, im- 
 mortal liberty ! ye have a king, who is faid 
 ardently to defire the profperity of all his people. 
 Cherifh, then, this facred principle of your con- 
 ftitution ; accomplim the defires of your virtuous 
 king; rouze from your torpor; the lion flum- 
 
 bereth,
 
 bereth, he is not dead ; but, oh ! whenever he 
 fhall awake, whenever his wrath fhall be kindled, 
 let him know to diftinguifh in his rage ; let none 
 but the guilty bleed ! 
 
 The news of Mr. Walker's fudden death caufed 
 me many poignant reflections ; as the horrors of 
 confinement were, in fome meafure, lefTened, while 
 I confidered myfelf under the cuftody of that 
 gentleman, and not under the controul of a mer- 
 cenary jailor ; for this lucrative finecure (fuch in 
 fact it is) too generally falls to the lot (I say it with- 
 out meaning to offend any individual) of the 
 moft worthlefs or infignificant characters : men, 
 not felected from any particular merit that would 
 render them fit for the office ; not diftinguifhed 
 for their difintereftednefs, charity, or diligent 
 attention to the wants and morals of the prifoners ; 
 but appointed merely as relations, or dependants, 
 on my Lord Chief Juftice of the day, who, for 
 the moft part, (if not always) takes care to faddle 
 them with a VERY HEAVY RIDER. 
 
 Soon after Mr. Walker's death, the arrival in 
 England of my amiable friend, the father of my 
 
 children,
 
 children, revived my hopes, nor were they dif- 
 appointed. He at once administered to my 
 wants, and cheered my forrows. The excellence 
 of Mr. B******'s heart, was my fecurity with 
 him againft thofe frivolous and ungenerous ex- 
 cufes, which, in the hour of adverfity, it has been 
 my lot to receive from fo many others, whom 
 alfo I had once thought my friends : he embraced 
 the earlieft opportunity of vifiting me in my 
 confinement, and inftantly took the children un- 
 der his protection ; the youngeft of whom was, 
 at that time, only three months old. It is a very 
 harm trait in the human creature, (neverthelefs, 
 I fear it is too faithful a one,) that calumny is, 
 generally, the moft bufy againft thofe who moft 
 want comfort and protection. 
 
 While I was fuffering all the complicated mif- 
 eries of a loathfome jail, infinuations to my dif- 
 advantage were moft malignantly and induftrioufly 
 propagated, with the cruel defign of ruining me in 
 the opinion and affection of this my beft friend ; 
 but, fuperior to all illiberal prejudice, and making 
 every allowance for my folitary and unhappy fitua- 
 
 14 tion,
 
 tion, he would not confent to abandon me, fo that 
 thefe cruel efforts of my enemies, moft of whom I 
 have difcovered to exift in the circle of my own 
 acquaintance, ended in difappointment and abor- 
 tion; and I ingenioufly confefs, that my vanity 
 exulted in the triumph which I achieved on this 
 occafion, and my heart was preferved from the 
 mock it would have fuftained, had the father of 
 my children, to complete the fum of my misfor- 
 tunes, withdrawn his countenance and affection 
 from them ; but, I truft in Providence that I am 
 not referved for this additional calamity ! Mr. 
 B******'s finances could by no means keep pace 
 with the liberality of his mind, and in my dif- 
 treffed circumftances it was abfolutely neceffary to 
 find out fome other fource of relief: I therefore, 
 in the month of March, 1791, (Mr. Coghlan 
 being then involved in a law-fuit with his niece, 
 Lady Blake) by the advice of my proctor, (Mr. 
 Walker, of Doctors Commons) petitioned the 
 Court of Delegates, before whom the faid caufe 
 was to be heard. A petition from his wife, dated 
 from a prifon, to which his brutality had con- 
 demned her, alarmed his tender feelings ; and 
 
 thus,
 
 I0 9 ) 
 
 thus, as I have already obferved, I obtained a 
 prefent fupply, and a promife of an adequate 
 fettlement, on condition that I would withdraw 
 the petition. To this I confented, and the re- 
 fult of my compliance was, a mutual agreement 
 to execute articles of feparation, which are, more- 
 over and nevertbelefs, as the gentlemen of the robe 
 are pleafed to term it, only during our mutual 
 pleafure ; the laft claufe of my deed of fettle- 
 ment compelling me to return home to this kind y 
 affectionate hujband whenever his caprice mould 
 induce him to require it. 
 
 Thus feparated from him, on the 26th of De- 
 cember, 1791, I received fecurity for an annuity 
 of an hundred pounds for my life, fubject to the 
 condition above mentioned. But, alas ! I had no 
 fooner obtained it, than the accomplifhed, vir- 
 tuous milliner who had fo eflentially contributed 
 to my diftreffes, by encouraging me in that ftupid 
 fyftem of extravagance on which her prefent for- 
 tune was raifed, and which exalted her to the 
 enviable rank of an honeft married lady, like a 
 tygrefs darting upon the wretched victim of her 
 
 favage
 
 favage appetite, feized on me, infifting that I 
 mould give immediate fecurity for her debt a 
 debt contracted for gew-gaw frippery and tinjelled, 
 flimfy trumpery. I had already, in the courfe of a 
 very fhort time, paid this harpy fourteen hundred 
 pounds, for articles of this like defcription. The 
 humane reader will revolt with abhorrence on find- 
 ing that this woman, after fuch emoluments 
 derived from my folly, mould proceed againft me 
 for another debt of three hundred pounds, which, I 
 am morally convinced, I did not owe ; but for 
 which me abfolutely compelled me to afTign over 
 fifty pounds a year of my annuity to her, for the 
 four enfuing years, which now helps to fupport 
 her and a banker's clerk, whom me has lately 
 taken to her virtuous bed, in the eafe and luxury 
 which they feem to enjoy. When it is remem- 
 bered how many unfortunate, unexperienced 
 women this extortioner has plundered, not only 
 with impunity but fuccefs how many wretched 
 female captives fhe has held (and I believe ftill 
 holds) in jail the fortune fhe has acquired by 
 conftant impofitions on youthful folly and credu- 
 lity, it muft excite regret that there are no laws 
 
 in
 
 ( III ) 
 
 in force to ftop the depredations of fimilar mif- 
 creants, almoft as great nuifances in fociety as 
 thofe low pettyfogging attornies with whom, for 
 the moft part, they are connected, and between 
 whom fuch an attractive fympathy exifts. For 
 my own part, I am fo well acquainted with their 
 enormous charges, and the fatal confequences of 
 them, that I would rather truft for mercy to the 
 tendernefs of a wolf, than to a civilized barbarian 
 like the lady of whom I am now fpeaking ; and 
 I am convinced, from woeful experience, that the 
 generaHty of perfons in trade, with whom unpro- 
 tected females have any pecuniary dealings, would 
 be over-paid in receiving one third of their over- 
 charged, extravagant demands. The reader may 
 believe this picture exaggerated, but I can afTure 
 him // is not ; hundreds of thoughtlefs women, 
 befides myfelf, having fallen within her fnares, 
 and from her may date their ruin. To her alone 
 I am indebted for two years clofe confinement in 
 a jail, where wretchednefs and vice of every de- 
 fcription rule triumphant where no remedy is 
 applied to the relief of one, or the fuppreflion 
 of the other where every comfort, every virtue, 
 
 is
 
 is left to depend on the guinea in our pockets, 
 and where they who have it not have only the 
 cafual charity of prifoners themfelves to depend 
 on. 
 
 There, even in that gloomy manfion ! I have 
 often beheld vice and infenfibility triumphant ; 
 virtue and tendernefs of heart dejected and in 
 tears. The unfortunate friend, whofe amiable 
 confidence has involved him in debts he was 
 unable to pay, I have here beheld languishing, in 
 want of thofe neceflaries which in happier days he 
 himfelf had fo freely adminiftered to others. The 
 veteran foldier, all covered with wounds which he 
 had received in battle in the fervice of his king, 
 I have there beheld dying with hunger, naked 
 and forfaken, caft on the common fide, a prey to 
 filth and vermin, too proud and confcious of his 
 own merit to expofe his emaciated forlorn figure 
 to the curious refearches of his fellow prifoners, 
 chufing rather to die than truft to precarious 
 bounty, fenfible of his juft claims on thofe with 
 whom pity, alas ! is fo feldom refident. During 
 my refidence in the King's Bench, the gallant 
 
 Captain
 
 ( "3 ) 
 
 Captain Abbot, of the royal artillery, than whom 
 no man in the army had ever ferved with more 
 diftinguifhed merit, died, literally in that prifon, 
 through want, in the foliation which I have de- 
 fcribed. This brave man had a wife and three 
 children, who were all drowned on their voyage 
 from America. But all his fujferings, all his fer- 
 vices, were of no avail ! he was thus left to die 
 without a (ingle enquiry from the part of govern- 
 ment concerning him ; and to the immortal 
 
 honour of a noble Duke, (M r G 1 of 
 
 the ordnance) taken advantage of his imprifon- 
 ment, he fufpended him from his fituation, as 
 captain in the royal artillery. Oh ! that I could 
 for ever efface the dreadful fcene from my memory ! 
 as it was my misfortune to have known the gen- 
 tleman of whom I now fpeak in America, but 
 the impreflion is too deep on my heart. 
 
 Shortly after the death of this my lamented 
 friend, I obtained my releafe from the King's 
 Bench, but not from the liberality of thofe who 
 confined me ; on the contrary, I was under the 
 neceflity of pleading my coverture in the Court 
 
 of
 
 ( "4 ) 
 
 of King's Bench, where I obtained a rule of 
 court to fet afide a deed which I had formerly 
 figned, and which my fituation as a married 
 woman made illegal. Thus I was for a time 
 liberated from confinement, and in the month of 
 January following I had occafion to fummon up 
 all my fortitude. Although fuperftition be a 
 failing to which I am by no means addicted, ftill 
 the following circumftance may, in the opinion 
 of fome, expofe me to the fufpicion of being 
 under the influence of that frailty : In all my 
 days of diflipated pleafure and heart-rending 
 afflictions, never did an hour pafs that my father 
 did not prefent himfelf to my imagination. At 
 this time I dreamed I beheld his funeral, with 
 my youngeft brother as his chief mourner, and 
 on the coffin of the deceafed lay a bleeding heart. 
 This dream made fuch an effect upon my fenfes, 
 that no perfon could induce me to believe my 
 father was not actually dead ; and fuch was the 
 afcendency of my fears, that I abfolutely put on 
 deep mourning on the occaiion. In my fable 
 robes I one day met Colonel Small, (an old 
 friend of my father's) who exprefled much fur- 
 
 prife
 
 ( "5 ) 
 
 prife on feeing me arrayed in thefe melancholy 
 emblems of grief, and inquired into the caufe. 
 I replied, it were not from thefe outward figns 
 of forrow he was to judge, as what I fuffered for 
 the lofs of a much loved father furpafled all 
 mew. The Colonel anfwered, " Your father is 
 <c in perfect health, as I am informed by Colonel 
 " Kemble, who received letters from him early 
 " in December." 
 
 It was a vain attempt of his friends to per- 
 fuade me ; the dream had made fuch a deep 
 impreffion on my mind that I perfifted to exprefs 
 a certain conviction that he was dead, and gone 
 to receive the reward of his many virtues ; and, 
 alas ! the following month realized my fatal ap- 
 preheniions refpecting his death, as he had fin- 
 ifhed his mortal career on the icth of December, 
 1791, in the city of New-York, having burft an 
 artery of his heart. 
 
 To leave the world with the high reputation 
 which he enjoyed, mould ever be the bright 
 emulation of man. He was univerfally and 
 
 1 mofl
 
 ( "6 ) 
 
 moft juftly beloved by all who knew him. His 
 remains were followed to the grave by three 
 hundred people, his pall borne by eight of the 
 principal gentlemen of New- York ; and he was 
 interred in Trinity Church, in the fame tomb 
 with his friend Colonel Maitland, uncle to Lord 
 Lauderdale, who, in dying, made it the laft 
 requeft that his afhes mould be mixed with my 
 father's. How different the end of his near rela- 
 tion and friend, the late Colonel Moncrieffe," 
 lately killed, fighting in the caufe of the com- 
 bined powers, before the walls of Dunkirque ! 
 His kindnefs to me was never interrupted. He 
 was wont to fympathife with my forrows, and to 
 take companion on my follies : and it was fo 
 much the more cruel that I mould lofe him at a 
 moment when friends are fo very, very fcarce. 
 Oh ! that I could have evinced my gratitude by 
 attending the brave dying foldier in his laft 
 moments ! I would have bound his bleeding 
 wound, and, without refpect to political opinions, 
 dropping the fympathetic tear over his mangled 
 corpfe, have cheerfully braved the danger that 
 put a period to his exiftence ! 
 
 My
 
 ( "7 ) 
 
 My father's death now drew upon me once 
 more the attention of my creditors, who always 
 coniidered me entitled to a fortune when that 
 event mould take place. But fuch was the hap- 
 lefs fate of the furviving children of this gallant 
 hero, that they difcovered the reward of their 
 parent's loyalty to be a total deprivation of all 
 his property in America ! I had been only four 
 months releafed from a long and dreadful con- 
 finement, inflicted on me by the laws of a free 
 country, when I was again arrefted, and commit- 
 ted, for the fecond time, a prifoner to the King's 
 Bench ; and, however repugnant to my own 
 feelings, I found myfelf under the neceffity of 
 defending the unjuft actions for which I was 
 confined. In one of thefe caufes I had occafion 
 for more courage than I naturally poflefTed ; but, 
 fupported by an honeft, upright heart, I un- 
 dauntedly repaired to the Court of King's Bench 
 to meet my opponents, relying upon the candour 
 of that honourable tribunal to afford me that 
 juftice which I claimed. Had my purfuit, like 
 that of Diogenes, been feekingfor an honeft man, 
 I mould not, perhaps, have explored a court of 
 
 law,
 
 ( "8 ) 
 
 law, wherein to find fo rare an object: however, 
 in the midft of my embarrafTment and confufion, 
 excited by the caufe which brought me there, and 
 by the indecent, impertinent queftions put to 
 
 me by the plaintiff's counfel, Mr. M , I felt 
 
 myfelf much relieved by the able defence made 
 in my favour by that ornament of his profeflion, 
 Mr. Erfkine." 
 
 It is much to be lamented, that barrifters, in 
 the courfe of their profeffional purfuits, mould 
 confider themfelves warranted in tormenting wit- 
 nefles, (however refpectable or entitled to their 
 compaffion) by the moft cruel and irrevalent 
 queftions : I am forry to obferve, that the habit- 
 ual practices of Mr. M expofe him, perhaps, 
 
 more than any other of his profeffion, to this 
 cenfure. In faying this, I am aware that I fay a 
 great deal, but the little indulgence mewn to me 
 by this advocate, under the moft trying circum- 
 ftances, warrants more than I have faid; and it 
 will be a fatisfaction to me if this mould ever 
 reach him, and he mould profit by the rebuke. 
 
 My
 
 ( "9 ) 
 
 My brother, Edward Cornwallis Moncrieffe, 
 of the fixtieth regiment, now on half pay, could 
 not be an idle fpectator of my misfortunes. 
 With him I continued in correfpondence ; he 
 pitied my diftrefs, and generoufly offered to di- 
 vide his fortune with me, provided my creditors 
 would confent to fign in my favour a letter of 
 licence for a few years. At the fame time he 
 advanced a fum of money to raife my drooping 
 head, and to footh the miferies of the King's 
 Bench prifon. That heart which has ever made 
 me an unfufpecting, unhappy victim to the over- 
 reaching tricks of lawyers, again expofed me to 
 fuffer from them. The vileft of this profeffion 
 are thofe who promife the f air eft ; and hence I 
 again employed one of thefe hopeful plunderers 
 of fociety, thofe pettyfoggers who live upon the 
 diftreffes of the unfortunate, to defend the remain- 
 ing actions for which I was confined, and to effect 
 my liberation gave him fixty pounds of the money 
 that had been given me by my brother ; but, 
 : nftead of purfuing my intereft in the friendly 
 manner I had a right to expect, the money was 
 devoted to pay a debt wherein I fuppofe his own 
 
 intereft
 
 ( 120 ) 
 
 intereft was concerned. On this my brother 
 again wrote to me, defiring me to take a copy of 
 my grandfather's will out of Doctors Commons : 
 with his defire I complied, and for this fervice I 
 was indebted to my much efteemed friend, Mr. 
 Walker, the proctor; and as the teftator, my 
 grandfather, left a large property in Hampmire, 
 I found it neceflary to vifit that place. I there- 
 fore perfifted in making every effort to emanci- 
 pate myfelf from the King's Bench, and in con- 
 fequence obtained what I defired. Therefore, 
 laft July I left town to pay avifit to my mother's 
 relations, who refide at Portfmouth and in its 
 neighbourhood. Soon after my arrival there I 
 made it my bufinefs to make every enquiry after 
 my grandfather's property, and confidered it 
 neceflary to prefent my claim. 
 
 The gentleman who has fo honourably poflefled 
 himfelf of the faid eftates is my coufin ; but when 
 I inform the reader that he is a lawyer^ it will be 
 a fufficient apology for his too fcrupulous delicacy 
 of confcience. This new-found relation affected 
 to receive me with extreme tendernefs, invited 
 
 me
 
 me to fee the pictures of all my anceftors, and 
 gave me every encouragement to fue for my 
 grandfather's -paternal eftate in Scotland, which he 
 informed me had been feized by a diftant relation, 
 under the fuppofition that all our grandfather's 
 deeds, &c. were loft with his widow, at the 
 time me was drowned ; but, on my obferving 
 that I had a copy of his will, proved in the pre- 
 rogative court, which abfolutely entitles myfelf 
 and my brother to all his property, wherever we 
 could find it, the honeft lawyer feemed alarmed, 
 particularly as I aflured him my brother was 
 determined to inftitute a fuit in chancery for the 
 purpofe.of eftabliming his claim. 
 
 My female coufms were the firft to take alarm 
 on my account, and they even went fo far as to 
 declare me an impoftor. Thus I was under the 
 neceffity of applying to Colonel Mulcafter, com- 
 mandant engineer at Portfmouth, who was, dur- 
 ing my father's life-time, one of his friends, and 
 who knew me from my childhood. From him I 
 obtained a certificate that I was the real daughter 
 of Major Moncrieffe, and wife to Mr. John 
 
 Coghlan.
 
 Coghlan. Thus having it in my power to con- 
 fute the calumnies of my good cou/ins, I waited on 
 a very near relation, a Captain in the royal navy, 
 a gentleman diftinguimed for his maritime {kill, 
 and not lefs fo for his private virtues. To him 
 I confided my unhappy ftory, and received from 
 him the advice to which adveriity is entitled, but 
 which it rarely receives. Platonic friendfhip 
 men are apt to hold in mockery ; and thence I 
 was very foon accufed of having kindled tenderer 
 fenfations in the bofom of my coufin, merely be- 
 caufe he was a young widower, and had given me 
 an invitation to his houfe, in which he offered me 
 a fecure retreat an afylum from every future 
 ftorm : and with this honeft feaman I hoped to 
 pafs the remainder of my days, blefled with the 
 affectionate fmiles of virtuous friendfhip. But, 
 alas ! how tranfitory, how vain have my purfuits 
 after tranquility and happinefs been ! I ever 
 have grafped at a fhadow the fubftance I could 
 never attain. The paths of life are ftrewed with 
 thorns, and when we even gather the rofe, we are 
 unconfcious for the moment of the briars that 
 grow beneath it, and which, in one moment, de- 
 
 ftroy
 
 ftroy the fugitive phantom that our imagination 
 had raifed. This friend, who commanded a firft 
 rate man of war, was ordered to the Weft-Indies. 
 
 I now received an invitation from two aunts, 
 who lived nine miles from Portfmouth. On my 
 introduction to thefe good women, I, who ever 
 deteft falfehood, candidly acquainted them with 
 every circumftance of my life ; and my mournful 
 tale had fuch an effect, that I was bedewed with 
 the affectionate tears of two relations, my mother's 
 fifters : They accufed my hufband as the author 
 of all my forrows, and were kind enough to ob- 
 ferve, that a woman poffeffmg fuch fenfibility 
 never could, from choice^ purfue the dangerous 
 paths of vice. Alas ! had it been my good fortune 
 to have difcovered thefe amiable women when firft 
 I fatally left my unkind hufband's roof, what mifery 
 mould I have avoided ! With them the beauty I 
 poffeffed would have ferved to make me an object 
 of tendernefs and companion, at the fame time 
 that it would have fet them on their guard againft 
 the fnares placed againft me. With them I might 
 have refided free from guilt, and my heart, from 
 
 1 6 their
 
 ( 1*4 ) 
 
 their inftructions and example, would have learned 
 to pity and to pardon even the faults of bint to 
 whom the cuftoms of religion, although now fo 
 fafhionably neglected, had united me. 
 
 When I returned to Portfmouth, the abfence 
 of my dear relation made me refolve to leave 
 that place. I went therefore to Southampton, 
 intending to make that town and Winchefter my 
 route to London. In the courfe of my journey 
 I met with the Reverend Mr. Radcliffe, brother 
 to Mr. Fazakerley : the former gentleman ever 
 mared my efteem, and I only with Fortune had 
 been more fparing of her favours to one brother, 
 and more liberal to him who moft deferved them. 
 When I arrived at Southampton, it was impoffi- 
 ble to obtain lodgings, the place was fo crouded. 
 The arrival of a certain wealthy Lord, of Jewifh 
 extraction, had thrown the town into a ftate of 
 confufion ; not from any extraordinary merit 
 his Lordfhip pofTerTed, not from any extraor- 
 dinary ftrength of mind or body, like his name- 
 fake Sampfon, the Jew of antiquity ; but from 
 that refpedl which riches always attract, even when 
 
 virtue
 
 virtue and wifdom fail. Of this accomplijhed^ 
 new-made peer, it was my intention to have given 
 the reader a finifhed portrait ; but his Lordfhip, 
 confcious of his own excellencies, through a fingu- 
 lar and meritorious delicacy, has entreated me to 
 be filent on this fubject. As generofity has ever 
 been the leading feature in my character, I will 
 fpare his exquifite fenfibility the recital of thofe 
 fcenes in which he occafionally plays fuch a dif- 
 tinguifhed part, and in which he is reported fo 
 capitally to excel. At Winchefter my eyes were 
 attracted by the number of poor French emigrants 
 who refide in that city, fix hundred and thirty of 
 whom are daily fed by public fubfcription, and 
 lodged in a palace of the moft liberal and charita- 
 ble prince that ever graced the throne of Great- 
 Britain. In London, the firft fcene that pre- 
 fented itfelf was a prifon, to which place my old 
 acquaintances, the meriff's officers, without cere- 
 mony, conducted me. From thence I was almoft 
 inftantly releafed, by the well-timed bounty of a 
 perfect ftranger : on thanking this ftranger for 
 his goodnefs, and requefting to know his name, 
 he declined telling me to whom I was obliged, 
 
 remarking,
 
 remarking, that he felt a fufficient reward to ref- 
 cue a pretty woman from the confines of a prifon. 
 This generous benefactor paid above forty pounds 
 for my liberty, and I have never ceafed to lament 
 that I ftill am ignorant of his place of refidence; 
 that by a difcovery of the latter, I might offer 
 him the juft tribute of a fincerely grateful heart. 
 The object of his goodnefs, however, was not 
 accomplifhed, for fuch generofity only provokes 
 frefh attacks from the watchful creditor and his 
 nefarious attorney. Arreft after arreft purfues 
 me, from a hope that friends will not permit me 
 to remain long in confinement. My whole debts 
 it is impoflible for me to pay, as they almoft all 
 arife from folly and extravagance, and far exceed 
 my means ; but on calculating all my real debts^ 
 I am certain four hundred pounds would dif- 
 charge them. But to raife that fum, where is 
 my hope ? Alas ! I have no other than in the 
 gallantry and liberality of the Britifh nation a 
 nation that ftands eminently confpicuous on the 
 rolls of fame for acts of charity and munificence ! 
 But let not oftentatious deeds, rehearfed with all 
 the pomp of declamation and public acclaim, im- 
 pede
 
 ( "7 ) 
 
 pede the milder but not lefs meritorious perform- 
 ance of private benevolence : I was nurfed in 
 the lap of luxury my mind foftened, and per- 
 haps in fome degree debauched by early enjoy- 
 ments. In thofe hours I never wanted friends; 
 it is only now that they keep far off! But let 
 me hope this faint effort of a very imperfect pen, 
 of one unufed to literary efTays, may ftill produce 
 the means of foothing thofe forrows by which her 
 life has of late been embittered. She fubmits 
 her fimple narrative to the public, and particu- 
 larly to that circle of fociety in which me herfelf 
 was wont to figure with fome degree of eclat. 
 Let it not be faid, that me who never fued in 
 vain in the foft hours of luxurious dalliance, 
 mould now apply in vain, when me is fain to be- 
 lieve that me exhibits fome teftimony of her claim 
 to their protection. 
 
 Other female candidates for their favour have 
 formerly appealed to their generous indulgence ; 
 moft of them alfo were, like her, unfortunate. 
 It would ill become the author to fay, if their 
 pretentions were worfe or better founded ; as far 
 
 as
 
 as her own opinion goes, the wretched are, equally 
 entitled to the patronage of the rich ; the only 
 diftinction which ought to be made confifts in this 
 undeniable truth the more wretched the indi- 
 vidual, the more forcible that individual's claims. 
 On this ground her pretenfions are indifputable : 
 but me has others, and me fubmits them, not 
 only to the nation at large, but to the confidera- 
 tion of that great perfonage, within whofe reach 
 me fincerely hopes that her poor Memoirs may 
 fall. Let him reflect, that me is of a family dif- 
 tinguifhed for their loyalty to his p erf on and gov- 
 ernment feveral of whom have bled, and fome 
 have died in his fervice. Ah ! let not the fources 
 of royal munificence be dried up ! let the daugh- 
 ter of a man, known in perfon by his merit, not 
 folicit in vain from the fountain of all mercy, or 
 at leaft from that fountain where mercy ought to 
 flow ! Amidft the fevere examples of punifh- 
 ment (perhaps of necejfary punifhment) that we 
 now behold, let them not be unaccompanied with 
 fome few partial acts of Heaven-born Charily. 
 The fubject of thefe Memoirs is in deep diftrefs 
 diftrefs unknown to palaces, and may it never 
 
 approach
 
 ( 1*9 ) 
 
 approach them ! But, if the higheft ranks keep 
 aloof from poverty, where, alas ! is it to feek a 
 fhelter ? Let us look to the fad reverfes inci- 
 dental to the human lot : not long fince, when 
 the lofty turrets of Verfailles feemed, as it were, 
 to touch the ikies when the gay, thoughtlefs 
 inhabitants thereof, perhaps too neglectful of 
 thofe dreadful fcenes that furrounded their gor- 
 geous palaces, little dreamt of what was to befal 
 them ! had they difplayed more zeal, had they 
 fhewn more attention to private or public woe, 
 it is not unlikely that all which has happened, 
 and all which is likely to happen, might have 
 been avoided. 
 
 In this country, renowned for its free and equal 
 laws, where we are told there are no diftinctions, 
 let not Poverty be fuffered to rear her ghaftly 
 mien ; let not the free-born fpirit fink under the 
 depreffion of indigence ! It is fuch dreadful 
 abufes that damp the ardour of patriotic loyalty, 
 and infpire difguft where all elfe would be zeal 
 and gratitude. 
 
 It has been too often and barbaroufly alledged, 
 
 that
 
 ( 130 
 
 that perfons bring their misfortunes on them- 
 felves, and therefore are entitled to no indulgence. 
 Let fuch cruel, unjuft objections be fcouted : they 
 are the fpurious, miferable objections of proud 
 Profperity : Humanity rejects them. Are no 
 allowances to be made for the frailties of inexpe- 
 rienced, unprotected youth ? Are the perfons who 
 raife the objection exempt from thofe very frail- 
 ties they impute to others ? Oh, no ! but riches 
 and power yield a fhelter againft every enormity. 
 
 " Clothe fin with robes, 
 
 " And the ftrong lance of juftice hurtlefs breaks : 
 
 " Clothe it in rags, 
 
 " A pigmies ftraw does break it ; 
 
 " Robes and fur gowns hide all." * 
 
 Such are the pitiful pretexts of Avarice, invented 
 by Opulence, againft the claims of Poverty ! 
 
 If the throne would fet an illuftrious example, 
 and attempt to deftroy that inequality of condi- 
 tion which now prevails, revolutions would be no 
 longer heard of, mifery be banifhed from the 
 earth, the temptations to vice would be done 
 away, and the frivolous definitions of monarchies 
 
 and 
 
 * Shakefpear.
 
 and republics would excite no difcuflion ; men 
 would rejoice under thofe governmtnes where 
 they found liberty beft protected. In England, 
 the fovereign has undoubtedly many virtues ; no 
 perfon, perhaps, has fewer vices : but kings mould 
 never neglect the opportunity of doing good. 
 Negative praife is rarely beneficial ; but active 
 virtue is what the world, according to its prefent 
 conftitution, requires. 
 
 Princes are confidered as Gods ; they mould at 
 leaft act like men. What is the firft duty of man ? 
 To relieve the wants of his fellow creatures, to 
 prevent thofe horrible fcenes of diftrefs which 
 hourly prefent themfelves. 
 
 In England we all look up to the throne as 
 the focus where every virtue is or ought to be 
 concentered ; there we admire private oeconomy, 
 connubial fidelity, domeftic accomplishments, 
 and honourable punctuality ! It were to be 
 lamented, that an inattention to the calamities of 
 the public, or even of private individuals, fallen 
 within its knowledge, mould obfcure the luftre of 
 
 thofe virtues. 
 
 17 Example
 
 Example and experience are two instructive 
 monitors : the people are led by one, and princes 
 mould profit by the other. 
 
 The vices or virtues of the community depend 
 on the governments under which they live. 
 "When the righteous are in authority, the people 
 "rejoice ; but when the wicked are in power, the 
 " people mourn." 
 
 How incumbent, therefore, is it in princes to 
 profit from experience, to inculcate good ex- 
 amples : in that cafe we mould be no longer- 
 melancholy witnefles to the horrors that have 
 been defcribed ; no longer that difcord and dif- 
 fention would prevail in fociety which threaten 
 the very exiftence of the actual eftablimments ! 
 we mould be all leagued in one bond of confra- 
 ternity ; and the author of thefe meets, without 
 having been condemned to weep over fo many of 
 her family, fallen in the wars of Britain, would 
 have efcaped thofe terrible ftripes of mifery which 
 me, in her own perfon, has fuffered. 
 
 May the reprefentation of God on earth, in 
 
 thefe
 
 ( 133 ) 
 
 thefe realms, yield to the voice of univerfal 
 mercy ; and may he, amidft the general impulfe, 
 extend its rays to her, than whom none can have 
 more forcible claims on the fcore of want, or on 
 the merits of her worthy and loyal family ! 
 
 'December 7, 1793. 
 
 FINIS
 
 NOTES. 
 
 (i.) RICHARD MONTGOMERY was born at Convoy Houfe, the feat of his 
 father, Thomas Montgomery, near Raphoe, County Donegal, on the 22d of 
 December, 1736. Before he was eighteen years old he obtained a commif- 
 fion in the Britifli Army, and in 1757 commenced his career of adtive fervice 
 in America, and at the fiege of Louilburg, in 1758, and elfe where, gave 
 evidence of high military capacity. Several years after his return to Ireland 
 he endeavored to fecure his promotion to a majority ; failing in this purfuit, 
 he fold his commiffion, and in 1772 emigrated to America, renewed his for- 
 mer acquaintance with the family of Robert R. Livingfton, and in Auguft, 
 1773, married his eldeft daughter Janet, the fifter of Chancellor Livingfton. 
 He never intended to draw his fword again, and wifhed for retirement 5 but 
 when the Revolutionary War broke out, he immediately engaged in it, and 
 was appointed one of the Eighth Brigadier-Generals to ferve in the newly- 
 organized army of the United Colonies. 
 
 He was immediately attached to the larger of the two divifions fent to 
 Canada in the fummer of 1775, and early in September found himfelf in 
 front of the fortrefs of St. Johns. Schuyler becoming ill, and having returned 
 to Albany, Montgomery alTumed the command of the divifion, and by a 
 feries of well-directed movements, fuccefli vely acquired pofTefiion of Chambly, 
 St. Johns and Montreal, and in November became the mafter of a great 
 part of Canada. On the third of December, at Point Aux Trombles, he 
 made a jundlion with Arnold, and about noon on the fifth Montgomery 
 appeared before Quebec, to take the ftrongeft fortified city in America, de- 
 fended by more than 200 cannons and a garrifon of twice the number of 
 befiegers. Upon their arrival before the town, Montgomery wrote a letter 
 to the Governor, magnifying his own ftrength, ftating the weaknefs of the 
 garrifon, and demanding an immediate furrender to avoid the dreadful con- 
 fequences of a ftorm 5 but Cafleton refufed to hold any communication with
 
 136 
 
 him, and every effort at correfpondence with the citizens failed. He there- 
 fore commenced a bombardment with five fmall mortars, which continued 
 feveral days, but did no effential injury to the garrifon. In a few days Mont- 
 gomery opened a fix-gun battery, at about feven hundred yards diftance from 
 the walls, but his metal was too light to produce any confiderable effect. 
 
 In the meantime the fnow lay deep upon the ground, and the feverity of 
 the climate was fuch that human nature feemed incapable of withftanding 
 its force in the field. The hardships and fatigues which the American 
 fbldiers underwent, both from the feafon and the fmallnefs of their 
 numbers, feemed incredible, and could only be endured from their enthu- 
 fiaftic adherence to their caufe, and through the affection or efteem which 
 they bore to their General. This conftancy muft however fail, if the evils 
 were increafed, or too long continued. The time for which many of the 
 foldiers had engaged was expiring, and Montgomery felt that fomething dect- 
 five must be immediately done, or that the benefit of his paft fuccefies would, 
 in a great degree, be loft to the caufe in which _ he was engaged, and his own 
 renown, which now fhone in great luftre, be dimmed, if not obfcured. He 
 knew the Americans would confider Quebec as taken from the inftant that 
 they heard of his arrival before it, and therefore determined upon a defperate 
 attempt to take the place by efcalade. 
 
 As the time for the afiault drew near, three captains in Arnold's battalion 
 created difTenfion, and fliowed a mutinous difaffedlion to the fervice. Mont- 
 gomery addreffed the officers, and his words recalled them to their duty, but 
 hurried him into a refolution to attempt capturing Quebec before the firft of 
 January, when his legal authority over the moft of his men would ceafe. 
 
 A council of war was held on Chriftmas, and agreed to a night attack on 
 the lower town. While he was making the neceflary preparations for this 
 purpofe, it is faid that the garrifon received intelligence of it from fome de- 
 ferters, fb that every preparation was made againft a furprife. Early in the 
 morning of the laft day of the year, and under cover of a violent fnow ftorm, 
 he proceeded to this arduous attempt, and that the troops might recognize one 
 another, each foldier wore in his cap a piece of white paper, on which fome 
 of them wrote " Liberty or death." 
 
 He had difpofed of his little army in four divifions, of which two carried
 
 ( 137 ) 
 
 on falfe attacks againft the upper town, whilft himfelf and Arnold conducted 
 two real againft oppofite parts of the lower. By this means the alarm was 
 general, and might have difconcerted the moft experienced troops. The 
 General, who referved for his own party lefs than three hundred Yorkers, led 
 them, in Indian file, from head-quarters at Holland House to Wolfe's Cave, 
 and then about two miles further along the ihore. The path was fo rough 
 in feveral places that they were obliged to fcramble up flant rocks covered 
 with fnow, and then, with a precipice to their right, to defcend by Hiding 
 down fifteen or twenty feet. 
 
 The fignal for engaging had been given more than half an hour too foon ; 
 the General, however, preffed on, feized and parted the firft barrier, and ac- 
 companied by a few of his braveft officers and men, marched boldly at the 
 head of their detachment to attack the lecond. 
 
 This barrier was ftronger than the firft, and defended by a battery of three- 
 pounders loaded with grape. Montgomery preffed forward at double quick 
 to carry the battery. As he appeared on a little rifing in the ground, at a 
 diftance of fifty yards or lefs from the mouths of the cannon, Barnsfare dif- 
 charged them with deadly aim. 
 
 Montgomery, his aid Macpherfon, Cheefman, and ten others, inftantly fell 
 dead Montgomery from three wounds. With him the foul of the expedi- 
 tion fled. The command devolved upon Donald Campbell, who immediately 
 retired without any further effort, and without lofs. 
 
 Thus fell Richard Montgomery. The excellency of his qualities and dif- 
 pofition had procured him an uncommon (hare of private affection, as his 
 abilities had of public efteem ; and there was probably no man engaged on 
 the fame fide, and few on either, whofe lofs would have been fo much re- 
 gretted in America and England. 
 
 At the news of his death, every perfon feemed to have loft his neareft re- 
 lative or friend. Congrefs proclaimed for him " their grateful remembrance, 
 profound refpedt, and high veneration ; and defiring to tranfmit to future ages 
 a truly worthy example of patriotic conduct, boldnefs of enterprife, infuper- 
 able perfeverance, and contempt of danger and death," they reared a marble 
 monument "to the glory of Richard Montgomery." The moft powerful 
 fpeakers in the Britilh Parliament difplayed their eloquence in praifing his
 
 ( '38 ) 
 
 virtues and lamenting his fate. A great orator and veteran fellow foldief 
 of his in the late war, flied abundance of tears, whilft he expatiated on their 
 faft friendship and participation of fervice in that feafon of enterprife and 
 glory. 
 
 In 1818 his remains were difinterred and conveyed to New York, and dc- 
 pofited in St. Paul's Church, near the monument eredted to his memory. 
 His widow furvived him more than half a century. 
 
 (a.) JANE McCREA was murdered on the 2yth June, 1777, by a party of 
 Indians attached to Gen. Burgoyne's army. She was fiezed in the houfe of 
 a Mrs. McNiel, about 80 rods north of Fort Edward. The Indians placed 
 her upon a horle, which feems to have been provided for the occafion, and 
 afcended the hill near the Fort. All their motions were intently watched 
 from the Fort, and at this point the discharge of fome rifles was heard, and 
 Jane was feen to fall from her horfe. The operation of the tomahawk and 
 fcalping knife was quickly performed, and the body foon dragged forward out 
 of fight of the Fort. This fcene was enafted about mid-day, and the next 
 morning the body of Jane was recovered and buried in a rude and hafty 
 grave. 
 
 At the time of her death (he was about twenty-three years of age, of mid- 
 dling ftature, finely formed, dark hair, and uncommonly beautiful. 
 
 (3-) WILLIAM LIVINGSTON, fifth child of Philip and Catharine Livingfton, 
 was born in Albany, in the province of New York, in November, 1723, and 
 was entered a Freihman in Yale College in 1737. In 1741 he graduated 
 at the head of his clais, immediately after which he left New Haven for New 
 York to commence the ftudy of the law. 
 
 On the 1 4th October, 1748, he received a licenfe to practice figned by 
 Governor George Clinton. 
 
 In 1752, with Wm. Smith, Jr., he published the firft digeft of the Colony 
 Laws. In 1754, with his brother Philip and his brother-in-law William 
 Alexander, afterwards Lord Stirling, he laid the foundation of a City Library, 
 the fame that now bears the name of the Society Library of New York. In 
 1759 he was elected to the Aflembly of New York, and in 1772 removed to
 
 ( 139 ) 
 
 Elizabethtown, in New Jerfey. He was elefted to Congrefs in 1774, and again 
 in 1775, was recalled in June, 1776, and early in June of that year took 
 command of the Militia, at Elizabethtown, as Brigadier-General. 
 
 After the depofition of William Franklin (fon of Benjamin Franklin), he 
 was eleded Governor of New Jerfey, and remained in office until the clofe 
 of his life. 
 
 He died in Elizabethtown, July 25, 1790, and was interred there, and in 
 courfe of the following winter his remains, together with thofe of his wife, 
 were removed to the vault of his fon Brockholft, in New York. 
 
 (4.) ISRAEL PUTNAM was born in Salem, Mafs., on the 7th of January, 
 1718, and grew to manhood with a frame inured to hard/hip and toil, but 
 with a mind uncultivated, though vigorous. At the age of twenty-one he 
 commenced farming, at Pomfret, Conn., where he " purfued the even tenor 
 of his way," undiftinguifhed by any noticeable event (except the encounter 
 with the " (he wolf," which, in the courfe of years, has been fo grofsly ex- 
 aggerated by his biographers, as to place it almoft among the fabulous events 
 of hiftory), until 1755, when he engaged in the French and Indian War, 
 as captain of a company in Col. Lyman's Regiment of Provincials. During 
 the campaign under Gen. Johnfon at Lake George and vicinity, he performed 
 various fcouting fervice, with little fuccefs or credit to himfelf. It was dur- 
 ing this campaign that feveral of the ftirring adventures occurred upon which 
 his wonderful reputation for bravery has been mainly erected fuch as that 
 of his blanket having been perforated by fourteen bullets, while he was giving 
 "leg bail" to a party of Indians who had furprifed him, etc. But the one 
 adventure, which is beft authenticated, is the fact of his having been captured 
 (through his own carelefTnefs and imprudence) by the Indians, who would 
 have fucceeded in roafting him at the ftake, had it not been for the interfer- 
 ence of a French officer ; and being finally taken to Montreal, he was ex- 
 changed through the kind intereft of Col. Peter Schuyler, who was his fellow 
 prifoner. After the clofe of this war, Putnam returned to Pomfret, where 
 he exercifed the double vocation of farmer and tavern-keeper. When, how- 
 ever, "the news from Lexington" reached Pomfret, Lieut.-Colonel Putnam 
 (he had received a militia commifiion in October, 1774) was ploughing; it 
 
 18
 
 is said, that he immediately left his oxen in the furrow, mounted his horfe, 
 and rode off to Cambridge, and with equal promptnefs many other New Eng- 
 land farmers sprang to arms upon that eventful day. He was foon made 
 Colonel of the Third Regiment of Connecticut foldiers, with the rank of 
 Second Brigadier of the Provincial Troops. In the affair of Noddle's Ifland, 
 (May ay, 1775,) Putnam feems to have gained more credit than the fadts of 
 hiftory warrant, and through the influence thus acquired, received the appoint- 
 ment (in June, 1775) of Major-General in the Continental Army, much to 
 the chagrin of Washington, and other prominent MaSTachuletts and Con- 
 necticut officers. At the battle of Bunker Hill he was prefent ; but, although 
 his biographers have made this the culminating point of their glorification of 
 him, the calm, impaflioned fearchings of hiftory fail to award him the credit 
 of doing anything more, on that eventful day, than keeping well out of the 
 way of harm. He afterwards took the command of New York, until 
 fuperfeded by Washington's perfonal prefence in that city, which placed 
 him virtually without command. Unfortunately, however, the illnels of 
 Gen. Greene induced Washington to allow Putnam to take his command 
 in the fuperintendence of the defences which were then in courfe of eredtion 
 upon Long Ifland. But Putnam had neither the Subordination to obey the 
 orders with whofe execution he was intruded, the Skill to carry out the pro- 
 pofed plans of defence, or the ordinary common Senfe which he might reafon- 
 ably have been expected to difplay in the face of an approaching enemy, for 
 he neglected his instructions, undid, in part, what his able predeceSTor had 
 done, and fo careleSsly defended the moft important avenue of approach, that 
 he was eafily flanked, the whole army Soundly whipped, and New York loft 
 to the patriot caufe. After the retreat into Weftchefter, he was ordered to 
 Philadelphia, where, and at Princeton, he remained until the fpring of 1777. 
 Then he was ordered to the command of the Hudfon Highlands, where his 
 ignorance or habitual careleSfnefs led him again in direct violation of WaSh- 
 ington's orders to repeat the very blunders which he had committed on Long 
 Ifland, and which enabled Sir Henry Clinton, by the capture of Forts Mont- 
 gomery and Clinton, to Sieze the key-pofition of the Highlands. In Novem- 
 ber, 1777, Col. Hamilton was lent by Washington with fpecial orders to 
 Gen. Putnam, to fend Several brigades in his command to the army then in
 
 ( 141 ) 
 
 Pennfylvania. Gen. Putnam, however, was juft then too intent on a plan of 
 his own for capturing New York, to obey the orders of his chief, and only 
 complied on the receipt of a fcathing and determined letter from Waihington 
 himfelf. His delay in complying with orders caufed the fall of Fort Mifflin, 
 the lofs of Red Bank, and the defences on the Delaware, and the continued 
 occupation during the enfuing winter of Philadelphia by the Britifh. The 
 official inveftigation by Congrefs, of the caufes of the fall of the forts in the 
 Highlands, refulted in the fuperfedure of Putnam by Gen. McDougal, and 
 he was afterwards fent to Connecticut to fuperintend the forwarding of new 
 levies. During this term of fervice occurred another of the General's feries 
 of remarkable efcapes, in which, being purfued by Britifti troopers, the " well- 
 trained and fagacious " horfe which he rode, flid down the hill at Horfe Neck, 
 (now Greenwich,) bearing his mafter fafely out of reach of the foe an ex- 
 ploit, for which the horfe has always got lefs, and the General more praife 
 than they feverally deferved : and which has furniflied a favorite theme for 
 fchool hiftories and artiftical abortions. The command at Weft Point was 
 the laft which Putnam held. In 1779, an attack of paralyfis rendered him 
 incapable of any acYive fervice, and the remainder of his days were fpent in 
 quiet retirement, in Brooklyn, Conn., where he died May 29, 1790, at the 
 age of 72 years. Putnam was a well-meaning man, of no great mental 
 abilities, yet with a great deal of obftinacy and felf-fufficiency in his compofi- 
 tion. He was rough, hearty and pleafant in his intercourfe with his foldiers 
 and others, but was not a good difciplinarian. He was, in fadl, a man whom 
 adventitious circumftances, and a bogus reputation, had placed into a pofition 
 which he lacked the education or the ability to maintain with honor to him- 
 felf or benefit to the caufe. That this was the opinion of Wafhington is 
 fufficiently evident from the correspondence of that period, as well as from 
 the fact that, after the battle of Bunker Hill, he was kept, as far as pofiible, 
 in fuch fubordinate commands as feemed beft fuited to his very ordinary 
 abilities. Even there, however, his blunders refulted in ferious difafters to 
 the American arms ; and happy it would have been for him if his fellow 
 citizens of Connecticut, and his biographers, had not fo laviflily extolled his 
 ordinary and homely qualities which he poflfefTed, and fo magnificently em- 
 bellifhed the adventures of his earlier life.
 
 ( 14* ) 
 
 (5.) THOMAS MIFFLIN was born about the year 1744; his parents were 
 Quakers, and his education was entrufted to the care of Dr. Smith, with 
 whom he was connected in habits of cordial intimacy and friend/hip for more 
 than forty years. 
 
 He engaged early in oppofition to the meafures of the Britifh Parliament, 
 and was a member of the firft Congrefs in 1774. 
 
 He took up arms, and was among the firft officers commiflioned in the 
 organization of the Continental Army, being appointed Quartermafter-Gen- 
 eral in Auguft 1775. In 1777 he was very ufeful in animating the militia; 
 but he was alfo fufpedled in this year of being unfriendly to Wafhington, and 
 of wifliing to have fome other perfon in his place. In 1787 he was a mem- 
 ber of the Convention which framed the Conftitution of the United States. 
 In 1778 he fucceeded Benjamin Franklin as Prefident of the Supreme 
 Council of Pennfylvania, and held that ftation till October, 1790. In Sep- 
 tember a conftitution for this State was formed by a convention, in which he 
 was prefident, and he was chofen the firft Governor. 
 
 In 1794 he was fucceeded by Mr. McKean, and at the clofe of 1799 
 died in Lancafter, Pennfylvania. 
 
 (6.) GENERAL HENRY KNOX was born in Bofton on the 25th of July, 
 1750. Before the American Revolution broke out he difcovered an un- 
 common zeal in the caufe of liberty. Being placed at the head of an in- 
 dependent company in Bofton he exhibited in this ftation a /kill in difcipline 
 which prefaged his future eminence. At the unanimous requeft of all the 
 officers of artillery he was entrufted with the command in that department. 
 In 1776 it was determined to increafe the corps of artillery to three regi- 
 ments, the command of which was given to Knox, who was promoted to 
 the rank of Brigadier-General. He was actively engaged during the whole 
 conteft, and after the capture of Cornwallis in 1781 he received the com- 
 milTion of Major-General, having diftinguilhed himfelf in the fiege at the 
 head of the artillery. In 1785 he became Secretary-at-War, and continued 
 to fill the department till the clofe of 1794, when he refigned it, the 
 natural and powerful claims of a numerous family no longer permitting him 
 to negledt their efTential interefts. During the laft years of his life he
 
 ( 143 ) 
 
 redded in Thomafton, in the State of Maine. He failed in 1798, and it 
 is faid for a very large amount, and that General Lincoln and Colonel 
 Jackfon were fufferers by his failure. His death, which took place Ot. 
 25, 1806, was occafioned by his fwallowing the bone of a chicken. He was 
 diftinguifhed for his military talents, and poffeffed, in an uncommon degree, 
 the efteem and confidence of Wafhington. 
 
 (7.) SIR WILLIAM HOWE, brother of Richard, Earl Howe, was born 
 Auguft 10, 1729; he commanded the light infantry, under Wolfe, in the 
 battle on the Heights of Abraham in 1759. He landed in Bofton in May, 
 1775, as fucceflbr to General Gage, and continued there until March, 1776, 
 having affured the Miniftry that he was not under the leaft apprehenfion of 
 any attack from the Rebels. The King expedled that after wintering in 
 Bofton he would, in May, or an the firft week in June, fail for New York. 
 
 General Washington, however, on the night of March 4, 1776, took 
 poffeffion of, and fortified Dorchefter Heights, and on the morning of the 
 5th, the Britifh beheld, with aftonifhment and difmay, the forts which had 
 fprung up in a night, and Howe found himfelf furpafTed in military fkill by 
 officers whom he pretended to defpife. A council of war was called, and it 
 was determined to attack the Americans ; 2,400 men were detailed and 
 placed under command of Lord Percy to make the attack. A violent ftorm 
 came up from the South, two or three veffels were driven afhore ; the rain 
 fell in torrents on the 6th. The movement againft the Americans was 
 further delayed till it became evident that the attempt muft end in the ruin 
 of the Britifh army. Howe called a fecond council of war, and the inftant 
 evacuation of the town was advifed. 
 
 On the 1 5th General Washington gained poffeffion of Nook Hill, and 
 with it the power of opening the highway from Roxbury to Bofton. 
 
 The Britifh retreated precipitately, and the army, about 8,000 in number, 
 and more than 1,100 refugees, began their embarkation at four in the morn- 
 ing, and in lefs than fix hours they were all aboard 120 tranfports. 
 
 Howe was among the laft to leave the town, and took pafFage with the 
 Admiral in the Chatham ; before ten they were under way. 
 
 Howe retired to Halifax ; left there in June, then took poffefiion of
 
 Staten Ifland, where he was joined by Lord Howe. On the ayth Auguft, 
 1776, he defeated the Americans on Long Ifland, and on the i 3th of Sep- 
 tember, 1776, took poflerfion of the City of New York and was one of the 
 commiffioners to offer peace. In July, 1777, he failed for the Chefapeake, 
 entered Philadelphia on the 27th of September, and on the 4th of Ofto- 
 ber, in the fame year, defeated the Americans at Germantown. In May, 
 1778, he was fucceeded by Sir Henry Clinton, and foon afterwards returned 
 to England. He died July 12, 1814. 
 
 (8.) MAJOR MONTRESSOR was General Gage's chief engineer in Bofton, 
 and alfo ferved at the Siege of Charlefton. 
 
 (9.) HUGH, EARL PERCY (fon of Hugh Smithfon, Earl of Percy and Duke 
 of Northumberland), was born in the parifli of St. George, Hanover Square, 
 Auguft 14, 1742, and came to America as Colonel of the Fifth Regiment of 
 Foot, arriving at Bofton on the 4th of July, 1774. He ferved under Sir 
 William Howe during the Siege of Bofton ; bore a confpicuous part in the 
 battle of Long Ifland, Auguft 27, 1776, and in the attack on Fort Washington 
 in November of the fame year. 
 
 On the 5th May, 1777, he failed for England, and on the 2Oth Novem- 
 ber, fame year, took his feat in the Houfe of Lords being at the time 
 a lieutenant-general in the army. He died in London on the loth of July, 
 1817, aged 94 years. 
 
 (9.*) COLONEL SMALL was a diftinguiflied British officer, and his conduct 
 in America was always equally diftinguifhed by acts of humanity and kind- 
 nefs to his enemies, as by bravery and fidelity to the caufe he ferved. He was 
 prefent at the battle of Bunker Hill ; had been intimately acquainted with 
 General Warren; faw him fall, and flew to fave him. In Colonel Trumbull's 
 celebrated picture of the Battle of Bunker Hill, Small is reprefented feizing the 
 mufket of the grenadier to prevent the fatal blow, and fpeaking to his friend. 
 
 Garden, in his " Anecdotes of the Revolutionary War," fays : " Paying a 
 vifit to our ambatfador, Major Thomas Pinckney, ihortly after his eftablifh- 
 ment in London, it was my good fortune to meet with Colonel Small, who,
 
 ( 145 ) 
 
 in courfe of converfation, said, ' I have been fitting this morning to Colonel 
 Trumbull for my portrait, he having done me the honor to place me in 
 a very confpicuous fituation in his admirable reprefentation of the Battle of 
 Bunker's Hill. But his politenefs far exceeds my claim to merit. He has 
 exhibited me as turning afide the bayonet aimed by a grenadier at the bread 
 of General Warren. I would certainly have laved his life had it been in my 
 power to do fo, but when I reached the fpot on which his body lay the fpark 
 pf life was already extingui/hed. It would have been a tribute due to his 
 virtues and to his gallantry, and to me a facred duty, fince I am well 
 apprized that, when at a particular period of the action I was left alone, and 
 expofed to the fire of the whole American line, my old friend Putnam faved 
 my life by calling aloud, ' Kill as many as you can, but fpare Small ;' and 
 that he actually turned afide muflcets that were aimed for my deftrudlion.' " 
 
 (10.) CHARLES, EARL CORNWALLIS. The family of Cornwallys or Corn- 
 waleys, (for the name appears to have been fpelt either way,) was of lome 
 importance in Ireland in early times, and in 1561 Irifti deeds of the family 
 were in exiftence in the county of Surlolk, dated in the reign of Edward III. 
 A younger fon, Thomas, was Iheriffof the City of London in 1378. 
 
 Charles, fifth Lord, was Chief Juftice in Eyre, fouth of Trent, and after- 
 wards Conftable of the Tower. He married in 1722 Elizabeth, daughter of 
 Charles, fecond Vifcount Townlhend, brother-in-law of Sir Robert Walpole. 
 He was made Earl Cornwallis and Vifcount Brome, June 30, 1753; and died 
 June 23, 1762, having had four fons and five daughters, of whom three fons 
 and three daughters furvived him. 
 
 His fixth child, but eldeft fon, Vifcount Brome (afterwards Lord Cornwal- 
 lis), and the fubjedl of this note, was born in Grofvenor Square, December 31, 
 1738. Lord Brome went at an early age to Eton. The exact year has not 
 been afcertained, but in an old Eton fchool lift, of Augufl 26, 1754, his name 
 ftands fourth among the fixth form Oppidans. 
 
 During his Eton career, he received, while playing at hockey, a blow on 
 the eye, which produced a flight, but permanent, obliquity of vifion. The 
 boy who accidentally caufed this injury was Shute Barrington, afterwards the 
 highly efteemed Biihop of Durham.
 
 Before he attained the age of eighteen years, Lord Brome had chofen the 
 army as his profeflion in 1758 he became aid-de-camp to Lord Granby, in 
 1759 captain in 85th foot, and in 1775 major-general. 
 
 He was oppo/ed to the fcheme of taxing the American Colonies, and uni- 
 formly voted againft it, notwithftanding the offices he held. He was alfo 
 prefent on almoft every other queftion connected with America, luch as the 
 MafTachufetts bill, the Bofton Port bill, &c. ; againft thefe he probably divided, 
 but as no lifts have been preferved, individual votes cannot be pofitively afcer- 
 tained. 
 
 When the war with America broke out, Lord Cornwallis was ordered to 
 America, to take command of one divifion of the Britifti Army, and notwith- 
 ftanding his opinion of the injuftice of that war, he confidered that as a mili- 
 tary man, he could not decline any employment offered to him. He embarked 
 Feb. 10, 1776, for America, with the local rank of major-general. 
 
 His wife, who is faid to have been a beautiful woman, was ftrongly adverfe 
 to his going on active fervice, and obtained leave from the king for him to 
 relinquifh his appointment he peremptorily refufed to avail himfelf of the 
 permifllon. He returned to England in January, 1778, but failed again from 
 St. Helens, in the Trident, on the lift of April following. Lady Cornwallis 
 became very dangeroufly fick, and Lord Cornwallis threw up his command and 
 again returned to England. Lady Cornwallis died Feb. 14, 1779, and Lord 
 Cornwallis again offered his lervices, which being accepted, he returned to 
 America. Lord Cornwallis ferved actively and with diftinction under Generals 
 Howe and Clinton, in the campaign of 1776-9, in New York and the 
 Southern States, and in 1780 was left in command of South Carolina. In 
 the Spring of 1781 he invaded Virginia, where he obtained no decided fuc- 
 cefs. Having received orders from Sir Henry Clinton to embark part of his 
 force for New York, he moved to Portfmouth, but there received frefh inftruc- 
 tions, under which he was ordered to Williamiburgh, and directed to make 
 Point Comfort his place of arms. Finding Point Comfort ill-fuited for his 
 purpofe, he removed to Yorktown, and there intrenched himfelf. He was 
 there befieged by the French and American forces, aflifted by the French fleet 
 under De GrafTe, and finally, after an obftinate defence, was, on the I9th of 
 October, 1781, forced to furrender himfelf and his troops as prifoners of war.
 
 H7 
 
 His capture was a death-blow to the Britifh caufe. Cornwallis efcaped cen- 
 fure, owing perhaps to his favor with the King. 
 
 In 1786, he was made Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Bengal, 
 returned to England in 1793, was received with diftinguiflied honors, and 
 in 1798 was made Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, which poft he held until 1801. 
 
 Towards the clofe of that year he was fent as ambaflador to France, where 
 he negotiated the Peace of Amiens. 
 
 In 1805 he was again appointed Governor-General of India, and though 
 advancing age and impaired health might well have excufed him, he would 
 not refufe the appointment, but embarked early in the year. Very Ihortly 
 after his arrival in India, he fet out for the Upper Provinces, where his pref- 
 ence was greatly needed, but he was unable to proceed further than Ghazipoor, 
 where he died Oct. 5, 1805, in the 67th year of his age. During many 
 years of active fervice in the field, he was ftruck but once, and he would not 
 then allow his name to appear in the lift of wounded. His character as a 
 foldier and ftatefman was highly refpectable, but he was more diftinguifhed 
 by diligence, humanity and integrity than by the higher mental powers. 
 
 (n.) The Battle of Brooklyn, fought on the 27th of Auguft, 1776, 
 forms an important landmark in the hiftory of our Revolutionary ftrug- 
 gle. After the evacuation of Bofton by the Britifh, in March 1776, Gen. 
 Washington took immediate meafures to anticipate what he fhrewdly fuf- 
 pected would be their next attempt, viz., the occupation of the City of 
 New York. Gen. Lee was therefore fent to that city with a large number of 
 Connecticut troops fortifications were fpeedily in progrefs, the paflages to the 
 city by North and Eaft Rivers were properly defended by entrenchments, chains, 
 funken veffels, &c., while acrofs the weftern end of Long Ifland was thrown 
 a ftrong line of entrenched works, extending from the Wallabout to Gowanus 
 Creek. In addition to thefe defences, Gen. Greene, who, with the affiftance 
 of Gen. Sullivan had fuperintended the erection of thefe works, had faith- 
 fully guarded the paffes which led to Brooklyn through the furrounding hills, 
 while near the Bedford, Flatbuih and Yellow Hook defiles, breaftworks had 
 been thrown up, and mounted patrols eftablifhed upon the roads. Unfortu- 
 nately, at the critical moment Gen. Greene was taken fick, and Gen. Putnam 
 
 J 9
 
 was fent over to take command, and one of his firft adts in violation of the 
 exprefs orders of Wafhington was to withdraw the mounted patrols. On 
 the 22d of Auguft, the Britirti'army crofled over from Staten Ifland, and land- 
 ing in Gravefend Bay, fpread its line along the eaftern bafe of the hills to 
 Flatbufli, in which fituation it remained for feveral days, content with fimply 
 occupying the attention of the Americans, and indulging in occafional deful- 
 tory (kirmiihes with their patrols. But, on the 26th, one column, under 
 Lieut.-Gen. De Heifter, moved to Flatbuih, and the fame evening Gen. Corn- 
 wallis advanced his divifion to Flatlands, while at a ftill later hour Sir Henry 
 Clinton, with the right of the army, in conjunction with Cornwallis' divifion, 
 moved towards the Bedford pals, to turn the left of the American lines on the 
 heights between Bedford and Flatbufh. While this flank movement was 
 being executed, Gen. Grant, in command of the Britifh left wing, moved up 
 the weftern road from the Narrows to Brooklyn; and about midnight, falling 
 in with the American pickets, was foon (by Putnam's order) confronted by 
 Lord Stirling with 1,500 men, whom he continued to prefs flowly back 
 merely, however, as a feint to diftradl attention from Clinton's movement on 
 the American left. About 2 A. M. of the 2yth, Clinton having approached 
 the Bedford pafs, and finding, to his furprife, that it was unoccupied, promptly 
 feized it and having thus gained the pofition of the impending conteft without 
 a ftruggle, coolly fat down to reft and feed his troops. De Heifter, who had 
 been left at Flatbufh, commenced about day-break to blind the American 
 commander by a brifk cannonade until hearing the concerted fignal-guns of 
 Clinton, announcing that the Bedford pafs was fecured he immediately 
 prefled his divifion forward upon Sullivan's lines, and after a defperate and 
 fanguinary ftruggle, captured him and routed his command. Clinton mean- 
 while, after breakfaft, moved forward to Bedford, and then detaching Corn- 
 wallis to co-operate with Grant in his movements on the Bay road, himfelf 
 puihed on towards the Flatbufli road where Sullivan and De Heifter were 
 contending. Meanwhile Stirling ftubbornly refifting the advance of Grant 
 found himfelf fuddenly attacked in rear by Cornwallis, and at the fame 
 moment vigoroufly puihed by Grant in front. He made good fight, how- 
 ever, and fo well that Cornwallis was about to retire, when De Heifter, frefli 
 from Sullivan's defeat, came to the refcue, and to him Stirling was obliged to
 
 ( H9 ) 
 
 furrender. This battle, or rather this feries of flcirmiflies, was thus concluded 
 in favor of the Britifli arms ; and the victorious army encamped in front of 
 the American works in the evening, preparatory to attacking them by 
 regular approaches, and with the aid of the fleet. The American army 
 engaged in this battle numbered about 5,000, while that of the Britifh was 
 at leaft three times larger. The Britifli lofs was comparatively trifling, and 
 that of the Americans, in killed, wounded and prifoners, is eftimated at 
 from 1,100 to i, zoo; moftly, however, in prifoners. The refult is attrib- 
 utable mainly to the great extent of the American lines, to the garrifoning 
 of which the force of the American army was manifeftly infufficient ; but 
 moft of all to the fatal ftupidity and want of ordinary military /kill evinced by 
 Gen. Putnam in the guarding and protection of the feveral pafles of approach 
 to Brooklyn. 
 
 (12.) The Hefllans were German foldiers, hired by Great Britain in the 
 early part of the year 1776, of their mafters, the petty German princes, at fo 
 much per man. The Landgrave of Hefle-CafTel furniflied 12,104; the Duke 
 of Brunfwick, 4,084 ; the Prince of Hefle, 668 ; and the Prince of Waldeck, 
 670; being a total of 17,526 men, including officers. These princes received 
 thirty-fix dollars apiece for their men, to which was added a confiderable fub- 
 fidy coding Great Britain in all the handfome fum of $775,000. The 
 greater portion of thefe mercenaries, as will be feen, were furnifhed from 
 Hefle, from which was derived the name of Heffian, applied indifcriminately 
 to all the German auxiliaries employed by Great Britain during the Revolu- 
 tionary War. They arrived in America juft before the Battle of Long Ifland, 
 and were received with open arms by the Britifli troops, men and officers vie- 
 ing with each other in their attentions to their new allies. In the Battle of 
 Long Ifland they took a moft important part, and after that ftruggle, during 
 the feven years' Britifli occupation of Long Ifland, the permanent garrifons at 
 Brooklyn and other Kings County towns were compofed of thefe Hefllans. 
 Many of them were captured at Trenton, in 1776, and their officers paroled. 
 A large body of the Hefllans was captured with Gen. Burgoyne's army at 
 Saratoga, marched as prifoners of war to Cambridge, where they were treated 
 with kindnefs by the inhabitants, and were finally quartered in the quiet town
 
 150 
 
 of Eafl now South Windfor, fix miles above Hartford, on the Connecticut 
 River, at which place they remained for a long time. Some of the Hefiians 
 were alfo engaged at the battles of Bennington, and the attacks on Forts 
 Mercer and Mifflin in 1777, and the affair at Guilford in 1781. 
 
 The Heffian uniform, as defcribed by Dunlap, was as follows : "A tower- 
 ing brass-fronted cap ; mouftaches colored with the fame material that colored 
 his ihoes, his hair plaftered with tallow and flour, and tightly drawn into a 
 long appendage reaching from the back of the head to his waift ; his blue 
 uniform almoft covered by the broad belts fuftaining his cartouch box, his 
 brafs-hilted fword, and bayonet ; a yellow waiftcoat with flaps, and yellow 
 breeches were met at the knee by black gaiters ; and thus heavily equipped, 
 he flood an automaton, and received the command or cane of the officer who 
 infpe&ed him." 
 
 Thefe men came here to fight againft our fathers under the influence of 
 that kind of unquestioning loyalty to their chiefs which led them to make 
 their prince's foreign quarrel their own domeftic concern, and his flirewd policy 
 their own plain intereft. It is true that our anceftors and their defcendants, 
 have, with an excufable warmth of feeling, attributed the meaneft mercenary 
 motives and the moft favage cruelty to thefe foreign auxiliaries of their Britilh 
 foe. Yet the "blinde Hefs," even now not famed for infight, as this his 
 (landing title fhows, muft then have thought it the height of fentimental ab- 
 furdity that his fidelity to the fovereign who, in profound king-craft, had by 
 folemn treaty fold him to Great Britain, fhould be imputed to him as the 
 bafenefs of a hireling. With no innate perceptions of the advantages of felf- 
 government and democratic principles, it cannot be a matter of furprife to us 
 that he felt no fympathy with a people who were already enjoying more free- 
 dom than he had ever feen enjoyed by any people or nation in Europe, and 
 who were Struggling for (till greater privileges, of which he could not under- 
 ftand the neceflity. Much of the harflmefs of his conduct muft be viewed 
 from this ftandpoint of previous training and circumfbances, and from the dif- 
 ference of language, education, &c., naturally existing between a European 
 and an American foldier. 
 
 (13.) JOHN COGHLAN was the fon of a London merchant of great wealth,
 
 and in youth his profpefts were without a fingle cloud. He entered the Navy 
 and failed round the world with the celebrated Captain Cook. Difliking the 
 Tea, his thoughts turned fucceflively to the Bar and Church, but finally he 
 procured a commiflion in the Army. He ferved feveral campaigns in Amer- 
 ica, and on the 28th of February, 1777, was married to Mifs Margaret Mon- 
 crieffe by the Rev. Samuel Auchmuty, Redor of Trinity Church. This 
 connexion, as he averred, proved as miferable to him as it did to her. After 
 the peace of 1783, he ferved in the Ruffian Army, but domeftic difappoint- 
 ment preyed upon his mind, and he became difiipated. 
 
 He returned to England, and his extravagance involved him in ruin. 
 
 Finally, utterly wretched and an outcaft, he became an inmate of St. Bar- 
 tholomew's Hofpital, where he died in 1807, in his fifty-fourth year, and in 
 the moft abjedl and pitiable condition. 
 
 His relatives in England and Wales were very refpetfable, and his body- 
 was retained in the dead-house eight days, in the hope that he would be claimed 
 and decently interred. The charity of a ftranger furnifhed a covering for his 
 remains, and they were depofited in the burial-ground of the hofpital. 
 
 It is faid that Captain Coghlan was among the handfomeft men of his time, 
 that he was focial and convivial, and in his charities, when in pofleflion of 
 money, liberal to a fault. 
 
 (14.) SIR WILLIAM TRYON was appointed Governor of the Colony of New 
 York in 1771. The Province Houfe which he occupied was burned by the 
 careleflhefs of fervants, and his wife and daughter narrowly efcaped death. 
 The Colony voted him five thoufand pounds, and the Britiih Government 
 added a liberal fum for his lofTes. The fpirit of the man while at the head 
 of affairs in New York, may be fully illuftrated by a fingle circumstance : " I 
 mould," faid he in 1777, "were I in authority, burn down every Committee- 
 man's houfe within my reach, as I deem thofe agents the wicked inftruments 
 of the continued calamities of this country 5 and in order fooner to purge the 
 country of them I am willing to give twenty-five dollars for every adting Com- 
 mittee-man who mail be delivered up to the King's troops." His property, 
 both in North Carolina and New York, was confifcated. In 1780, he was 
 fucceeded by General Robertfon, a general in the Army, who was the laft
 
 ( is* ) 
 
 Royal Governor of New York. Tryon died in London in 1788, with the 
 rank of Lieutenant-General. 
 
 (15.) SAMUEL AUCHMUTY, D. D., was the fon of Robert Auchmuty, an 
 eminent lawyer and Judge of Admiralty in MafTachufetts. He graduated at 
 Harvard Univerfity in 1742, and received his Doftorate of Divinity from Ox- 
 ford. In 1754 he was employed by the Society for the Propagation of the 
 Gofpel in Foreign Parts as catechift to the negroes in New York. On the 
 28th of Auguft, 1764, he fucceeded the Rev. Dr. Henry Barclay as Reftor 
 of Trinity Church. Upon the departure of General Howe from Bofton to 
 Halifax, and the taking pofleflion of New York by the Revolutionary Army, 
 moft of the inhabitants removed into the country. Dr. Auchmuty being much 
 indifpofed through the fpring and fummer, retired with his family to Bruns- 
 wick in New Jersey. During his abfence, Trinity Church and the Redlor's 
 houfe, with nearly one thoufand other buildings, were deftroyed by fire, and 
 Dr. Auchmuty 's lofs amounted to over 2,500 fterling. He died in 1777, 
 having been in the miniftry over thirty years. His fermons before the break- 
 ing out of the war were ftrongly denunciatory of the Sons of Liberty, as the 
 aflbciated patriots were called, the moft prominent of whom in New York 
 was Ifaac Sears (commonly known as King Sears), who was a member of his 
 Church, and at the clofe of the war a veftryman. 
 
 In April, 1775, Doctor Auchmuty wrote from New York to Captain Mon- 
 treflbr : "We have lately been plagued with a rafcally Whig mob here, but 
 they have effected nothing, only Sears the King was refcued at the jail door. 
 Our magiftrates have not the fpirit of a loufe." 
 
 (16.) THOMAS GAGE was the firft military and the laft Royal Governor of 
 MafTachufetts. In 1770 he was a Lieutenant-General, and refided in New 
 York, in a large houfe furrounded with elegant gardens on the fite now occu- 
 pied by the ftores fixty-feven and fixty-nine Broad street. In 1774 he re- 
 moved to Bofton, and arrived there on the I jth of May, not many days after 
 the intelligence was received of the a& fhutting up its harbor, and whilft the 
 inhabitants airembled at a town meeting were yet deliberating on the melan- 
 choly profpedl before them. Notwithstanding the deep and folemn gloom of
 
 the moment, he was received with the external marks of decent refpeft which 
 had been ufual and which were fuppofed to belong to his ftation. Soon after 
 Gage's arrival, two regiments of foot, with a fmall detachment of artillery and 
 fome cannon, were landed at Bofton, and encamped on the Common; and 
 they had been gradually reinforced by feveral regiments from Ireland, New 
 York, Halifax and Quebec. The arrival and ftation of thefe troops excited 
 the jealoufy of the inhabitants of Bofton and of the circumjacent counties. 
 Their jealoufy was increafed by the ftationing of a Britifh guard on Bofton 
 Neck, and perfeverance in repairing and manning the fortifications at the en- 
 trance of the town. On the first of September, Gage fent two companies 
 and took poffeflion of the powder in the arfenal at Charleftown. What was 
 lodged in the magazine in Bofton was alfo withholden from the legal proprie- 
 tors. Detachments were alfo fent out to take pofleflion of the ftures in Salem 
 and Concord ; and the battle of Lexington became the fignal of war. In 
 May 1775, the Provincial Congrefs declared "that Gen. Gage has, by the 
 late tranfadlions and many other means, utterly difqualified himfelf from ferv- 
 ing this Colony as a Governor, or in any other capacity, and that therefore no 
 obedience is in future due to him ; but that, on the contrary, he ought to be 
 confidered and guarded againft as an unnatural and inveterate enemy to the 
 country." From this time the exercife of his functions was confined to Bofton. 
 In June he iffued a proclamation offering pardon to all the rebels excepting 
 Samuel Adams and John Hancock, and ordered the ufe of the martial law. 
 But the battle of Bunker Hill a few days afterwards proved to him that he 
 had miftaken the character of the Americans. 
 
 In Odlober he embarked for England, was fucceeded in the command by 
 Sir William Howe, and died in April 1787. 
 
 (17.) MRS. GAGE, the wife of Thomas Gage above mentioned, was the 
 daughter of Peter Kemble, Prefident of the Council of New Jerfey. She died 
 in England in 1824, in the 9ift year of her age. 
 
 (18.) MAJOR MONCRIEFFE, the father of Mrs. Coghlan, was the uncle of 
 General Richard Montgomery, and the brother-in-law of Mr. Jay and Gover- 
 nor Livingfton, and when the American Revolution broke out, it was fuppofed 
 that he would efpoufe the caufe of the Americans. He adhered to the Crown.
 
 ( 154 ) 
 
 In 1778 he refided at Flatbufli on Long Ifland, and was captured by Wil- 
 liam Marriner, of Brunfwick, and carried to New Jerfey and delivered up to 
 General Wafhington. He was afterwards exchanged, and in the war at the 
 South performed moft valuable fervices to the Royal caufe. In the faving of 
 Savannah the Britifli forces owed much to his /kill and ability, and we're unan- 
 imous in their acknowledgments of his fervices, while the French officers 
 declared that his works and batteries fprung up ever) 1 night like champignons. 
 General Prevoft, in an official difpatch, thus wrote : " I would mention Cap- 
 tain Moncrieffe, commanding engineer, but fincerely fenfible that all I can 
 exprefs will fall greatly ihort of what that gentleman deferves, not only on 
 this but on all other occasions, I (hall only, in the moft earned manner, re- 
 queft your Lordihip taking him into your protection and patronage, to recom- 
 mend him to his Majefty as an officer of long fervice and moft fingular merit, 
 affuring you, my Lord, from my own politive knowledge, that there is not one 
 officer or foldier in this little army, capable of reflecting or judging, who will 
 not regard as perfonal to himfelf any mark of Royal favour gracioufly conferred 
 through your Lordihip upon Captain Moncrieffe." 
 
 Moncrieffe planned the works at Charlefton in the fiege of 1780, and 
 no language can exprefs more forcibly than that of the Commander-in- 
 Chief (Sir Henry Clinton) the fenfe which he entertained of his very ex- 
 traordinary merit. Thefe are his words : " But to Major Moncrieffe the 
 commanding engineer, who planned, and with the affiftance of fuch capable 
 officers under him, conducted the liege with fo much judgment, intrepidity 
 and laborious attention, I wifli to render a tribute of the very higheft applaufe 
 and moft permanent gratitude ; perfuaded that far more flattering commenda- 
 tions than I can beftow will not fail to crown fuch rare merit." Major Mon- 
 crieffe was not more happy in the pofleflion of fuperior talents than fortunate 
 in occafions to difplay them. The fucceffive fieges of Savannah and Charles- 
 ton furniflied him with opportunities of exemplifying his {kill in the two prin- 
 cipal branches of his profeffion the art of defence and that of attack. In 
 both, his mafterly defigns were crowned with fuccefs ; nor is it eafy to deter- 
 mine in which of thefe, his great attainments in his profeffion, (hone with 
 brighteft luftre. 
 
 But at the evacuation of Charlefton he feems to have been guilty of an al
 
 ( 155 ) 
 
 which greatly tarnifhed his military reputation. According to Ramfay, up- 
 wards of eight hundred flaves, who had been employed by Moncrieffe, as engi- 
 neer, were fhipped off to the Weft Indies, as was faid and believed, by his 
 direction, and for his perfonal benefit. The unqualified teftimonials which he 
 received from General Prevoft and Sir Henry Clinton were not without refults, 
 fince he received a very generous donation from his Royal Mafter, and on the 
 27th of September, 1780, was commiffioned Lieutenant-Colonel. 
 
 Mrs. Coghlan fays that her father died in the city of New York, on the 
 tenth of December, 1791, but in the "New York Journal and Patriotic 
 Regifter," No. 2,619, f Wednefday, Dec. II, 1791, we find the following 
 notice of his death and funeral : 
 
 "Thomas Moncrieffe, late Major in the Britifh fervice, died on Friday, 
 December 6, 1791, fuddenly, by the burfting of a blood veffel, and on Sunday 
 evening following his remains were interred in Trinity Church Yard, attended 
 by a great number of refpedtable citizens." 
 
 As Mrs. Coghlan was in England at the time of her father's deceafe, it is 
 moft likely that the account of his death and funeral in the paper above men- 
 tioned is the moft reliable. 
 
 (19.) LORD JEFFEREY AMHERST, fon of Jefferey Amherft of Riverhead, in 
 Kent, was born January 2.9, 1717 received his enfign's commifiion in 1731. 
 
 In 1758, was fent to America as Major-General of the troops deftined for 
 the fiege of Louisburg. He contributed materially to the reduction of Canada, 
 received the thanks of the Houfe of Commons, and was made Knight of 
 Bath, and foon after was appointed Commander-in-Chief in America. 
 
 He returned to England after the peace in 1763, where he received the 
 Governorfhip of Virginia. A mifunderftanding with the King (George III.) 
 was the caufe of his fudden difmiffal from the Army, but in a few months he 
 was reinftated. 
 
 In 1776, he was created Baron Amherft of Holmefdale in the County of 
 Kent. In 1787 he received a fecond patent of nobility, with the title of 
 Baron Amherft of Montreal in Canada. 
 
 On the 22d January, 1793, he was again appointed to the command of the 
 Army, and held it until fucceeded by the Duke of York, Feb. 10, 1795. 
 
 10
 
 ( '56 ) 
 
 Lord Amherft died at his feat at Montreal, near Seven Oaks, Kent, on the 
 3d Aug., 1797, in the Sift year of his age. 
 
 (20.) CHARLES JAMES Fox, the third fon of Right Hon. Henry Fox, was 
 born January 24, 1749. 
 
 In 1774, he oppofed Lord North's Bofton Port Bill, the object of which 
 was to deprive that harbour of its privileges, in confequence of the oppofition 
 by the inhabitants of Bofton to the tea duty. 
 
 This was his firft oppofition to North, but he was afterwards unremitting 
 in his oppofition, and contended that the American Colonies ought not to be 
 taxed without being reprefented. 
 
 On the 1 9th March, 1782, the Miniftry refigned Fox was appointed Sec- 
 retary of State for Foreign Affairs, and immediately fet about negotiating for 
 peace with America. 
 
 He died Sept. 1 3th, 1806, in his 58th year. Sir James Mackintosh has 
 faid of him as an orator, " that he poflefied above all moderns that unifon of 
 reafon, fimplicity and vehemence which formed the prince of orators. He 
 was " the moft Demofthenean fpeaker fince the days of Demofthenes." His 
 fpeeches always difplay in a pre-eminent degree a (enfe of the importance of 
 principles. 
 
 Fox's fpeeches were collected and publiflied in fix volumes, with a (hort 
 biographical introduction by Lord Erfkine, in 1825. 
 
 (ai.) RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN was born in Dublin, in 1751. He was 
 placed in a fchool in Dublin when feven years old, and was regarded by his 
 preceptor, Samuel Whyte, "as a moft impenetrable dunce." -Jn 1762 he 
 was fent to Harrow, where he remained until his 1 8th year, and during the 
 time which he remained there was confidered a fhrewd, artful and fupercilious 
 boy, without any ftiining accomplifhments or fuperior learning. Thence he 
 went to Bath, became acquainted with Mils Linley, a young and beautiful 
 finger, and to fave her from the perfecutions of a libertine named Mathews, 
 he fled with her early in 1772 to France, and a marriage at a village in the 
 neighborhood of Calais was the confequence. The refult was two duels with 
 Mathews, growing out of the ftudied infults of the latter, in the laft of which 
 .Sheridan was wounded.
 
 ( '57 ) 
 
 In 1773 he entered the Middle Temple as a ftudent of law, but was not 
 called to the Bar. 
 
 On the 1 7th January, 1775, "The Rivals" was brought out "in Covent 
 Garden, and though it failed the firft night, fpeedily became the univerfal 
 favorite it has ever fince remained. It was followed the fame year by the 
 farce of " St. Patrick's Day," and the comic opera of " The Duenna." In 
 1776 he became one of the proprietors of Drury Lane. In the following year 
 he brought out " The School for Scandal," which placed him at the head of 
 comic dramatifts. In 1799 he wrote a monody on the death of Garrick, and 
 the farce of "The Critic." In 1780 he was eledted a member of Parlia- 
 ment from Stafford. For thirty-two years he purfued a fplendid parliamentary 
 career. One of his greateft efforts was his fpeech as manager, upon the im- 
 peachment of Warren Haftings. He was thrice in office, for fhort periods, 
 under the Rockingham Coalition and Whig adminiftrations. His profufe 
 habits involved him deeply in debt ; the deftrudlion of Drury Lane Theatre 
 by fire contributed to his ruin ; his failure to obtain a feat in parliament de- 
 prived him of protection from arreft; his perfon was more than once feized 
 by the harpies of the law ; and amidft difficulties fears and forrows, this highly- 
 gifted man funk to the grave on Sunday, the 7th of July, 1816. On the 
 following Saturday the funeral took place, his remains having been removed 
 to the houfe of his friend, Peter Moore, in Great George Street, Weftminfter. 
 From thence, at one o'clock, the proceffion moved on foot to the Abbey, 
 where, in the only fpot in Poet's Corner that remained unoccupied, the body 
 was interred, and the following fimple infcription marks its refting place: 
 
 RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN, 
 
 BORN, 1751, 
 DIED, 7TH JULY, l8l6. 
 
 This Marble is the Tribute of an Attached Friend, 
 PETER MOORE. 
 
 (22.) COLONEL MONCRIEFFE was killed in the fortie which the French 
 Republicans made when hemmed up in Dunkirk by the Duke of York's 
 army in 1793. The moft authentic accounts of the time ftate the manner of 
 his exit to be as follows : The uniform of the Britifti Engineers was fo like
 
 158 
 
 that of the French Republican Army in 1793, that the officers to enable their 
 own men to diftinguilh them wore a white handkerchief tied round their arm. 
 Colonel Moncrieffe, who had neglecled this precaution, though frequently re- 
 minded of it, was taken for a French Democrat by the Auftrians, in whofe 
 hands he was found by Colonel St. Leger and feveral officers of the guards, 
 wounded and ftript. It is generally believed that his death was occafioned by 
 this miftake, for it is not certain that he fell by the fire of the enemy. 
 
 (13.) THOMAS ERSKINE, afterwards Lord Er/kine, the youngeft fon of David 
 Earl of Buchan, was born in 1748. He entered the Navy in 1764 as mid- 
 fliipman, but not thinking his profpe&s of promotion fufficiently good he 
 accepted a commiffion in the Army. 
 
 In 1775 he commenced the ftudy of the law, and in 1778 was called to 
 the Bar. His practice and reputation increafed fo very rapidly that in 1783 
 he received a patent of precedence at the fuggeftion of Lord Mansfield who 
 then prefided in the Court of King's Bench. In the fame year he entered 
 Parliament. In the Houfe of Commons his fuccess was not great, though 
 his fpeeches would appear to have been far above mediocrity. In the fame year 
 alfo he was made Attorney-General, an appointment which, in 1794, he was 
 called upon to refign in confequence of his refufmg to abandon the defence of 
 Thomas Paine when he was profecuted for his publication " The Rights of 
 Man." In 1802 he was made Chancellor of the Duchy of Cornwall, and in 
 1 806 Lord Chancellor, and raifed to the Peerage by the title of Baron Erfkine 
 of Riftormel Caftle in Cornwall. He remained in office but a fhort time, and 
 upon the dillblution of the Miniftry in 1807 retired from public life. In his 
 later years he was harrafied by pecuniary embarraflments. His firft wife died 
 in 1805, and an ill-alTorted fecond marriage increafed his domeftic difquietudes 
 and injured his reputation. His later years were marked by eccentricities 
 which feemed to indicate mental difeafe. He died November 17, 1823.
 
 neiurn ims maienai 10 me uorary 
 
 from which it was borrowed. 
 
 SEP06 1i 
 
 OCT211988 
 
 RPR 15 189 
 
 f 
 
 MAR 6 1981