ham's mimicry of him that she burst into a peal of
laughter in his very face, and rushed stifling from the
room. Thus ignominiously was sounded the death-knell of
Arlington's hopes!"

George Hamilton, one of the most handsome and fascinating men in
England, fared better, but retired from the pursuit of so seductive and
tantalising a maid. Still Hamilton was the most congenial playfellow of
them all. He was a madcap like herself, always ripe for fun and frolic;
and for a time she revelled in his comradeship. He first won her heart
in the following fashion. One day old Lord Carlingford was delighting
and convulsing her by placing a lighted candle in his mouth, and
hobbling to and fro thus illuminated. "I can do better than that,"
exclaimed the irrepressible Hamilton. "Give me two candles." The candles
were produced. Hamilton lit them, and thrust the pair into his capacious
mouth, and minced three times round the room before they were
extinguished, while _La belle Stuart_ paraded after him, clapping her
hands and laughing in her glee.

Such a feat was an efficient passport to her favour. Rollicking George
was at once installed as playmate-in-chief to the spoiled child, and was
privileged with a greater intimacy than any of her other favourites had
ever enjoyed.

"Since the Court has been in the country," he confessed,
"I have had a hundred opportunities of seeing her. You
know that the _deshabille_ of the bath is a great
convenience for those ladies who, strictly adhering to
their rules of decorum, are yet desirous to display all
their charms and attractions. Miss Stuart is so fully
acquainted with the advantages she possesses over all
other women, that it is hardly possible to praise any
lady at Court for a well-turned arm and a fine leg, but
she is ever ready to dispute the point by demonstration.
After all, a man must be very insensible to remain
unconcerned and unmoved on such happy occasions."

It is conceivable that Hamilton, stimulated by such, no doubt, artless
encouragement as he seems to have enjoyed, might have made a conquest
where so many had failed, had not his future brother-in-law, Gramont,
taken him seriously to task and warned him of the grave danger of
flirting with the lady on whom the King had set eyes of love, and
persuaded him at the eleventh hour to beat a dignified retreat.

Pepys draws a pretty picture of Miss Stuart