o
conceal.

On the third day of the trial Walpole says:

"The plot thickens, or rather opens. Yesterday the judges
were called on for their opinions, and _una voce_
dismantled the Ecclesiastical Court. The
Attorney-General, Thurlow, then detailed the 'Life and
Adventures of Elizabeth Chudleigh, _alias_ Hervey,
_alias_ the most high and _puissante_ Princess, the
Duchess of Kingston.' Her Grace bore the narration with a
front worthy of her exalted rank. Then was produced the
first capital witness, the ancient damsel who was present
at her first marriage. To this witness her Grace was
benign, but had a transitory swoon at the mention of her
dear Duke's name; and at intervals has been blooded
enough to have supplied her execution if necessary. Two
babes were likewise proved to have blessed her first
nuptials, one of whom, for aught that appears, may exist
and become Earl of Bristol."

Three days later Horace Walpole concludes his narrative of the trial,
which we are afraid his antipathy to the adventurous Duchess has
coloured a little too vividly:

"The wisdom of the land," he writes, "has been exerted
for five days in turning a Duchess into a Countess, and
yet does not think it a punishable crime for a Countess
to convert herself into a Duchess. After a pretty
defence, and a speech of fifty pages (which she herself
had written and pronounced very well), the sages, in
spite of the Attorney-General (who brandished a hot iron)
dismissed her with the single injunction of paying the
fees, all voting her guilty; but the Duke of Newcastle,
her neighbour in the country, softening his vote by
adding 'erroneously, not intentionally.' So ends the
solemn farce. The Earl of Bristol, they say, does not
intend to leave her that title.... I am glad to have done
with her."

A few days later, in spite of a writ, _ne exeat regno_, which had been
issued against her, she was back in France, travelling in state as
"Madame la Duchesse de Kingston." From Calais she made her magnificent
progress to Rome, where Pope and Cardinals vied in doing honour to so
exalted and charming a lady, and entertained her as regally as if she
had been a Queen. Returning to Calais she installed herself in a
palatial house where she dispensed a lavish hospitality, and flung her
gold about with prodigal hands.