ter
years let us go back to the tale of heroism surrounding the character of
the first Bentinck to make a name for himself in this country.
Englishmen are apt to forget the debt of gratitude owing to men of the
past; had it not been for Hans William Bentinck this favoured land might
still have been under the Stuart tyranny, and the scions of the House of
Brunswick might never have occupied the Throne of Great Britain.

James the Second had made an indifferent display of qualities as a
ruler, and the nation was tired of a superstitious monarch who was
fostering a condition of affairs which was turning England into a
hot-bed of religious and political plots and counter-plots. James's
daughter, Mary, had married William, Prince of Orange, who was invited
to come and take his father-in-law's place as King of England. That
invitation was extended in no uncertain way, and James having withdrawn
to the continent left the vacancy for his son-in-law and daughter to
fill.

When William of Orange came over at the request of many of the nobility
and influential commoners in this country there was in his train, Hans
William Bentinck, who had previously been to England on a political
mission for the Prince.

Bentinck was of noble Batavian descent and served William as a page of
honour. His family had its local habitation at Overyssel in the
Netherlands and still is known there. At Welbeck a curious old chest,
made of metal and carved, is one of his relics, for in it he brought
over from Holland all his family plate and jewels.

The Prince was delicate of constitution and his ailments made him
passionate and fretful, though to the multitude he preserved a
phlegmatic exterior.

To Bentinck he confided his feelings of joy and grief, and the faithful
courtier tended him with a devotion which deserves the conspicuous place
given to it in English history.

The Prince was in the prime of manhood when he was seized with a severe
attack of small-pox. It was a time of anxiety, not only on account of
the possible fatal termination of the disease, but in an age of plots,
of the advantage that might be taken to bring about his end by means of
poison or other foul play.

It was Bentinck alone that fed the Prince and administered his medicine;
it was Bentinck who helped him out of bed and laid him down again.

"Whether Bentinck slept or not while I was ill," said William to an
English courtier, "I know not. But this I know, that through s