Gumbo in attendance,
made his appearance at Castlewood a few days before the ceremony. I may
mention that it had been found expedient to send my faithful Sady home
on board a Virginia ship. A great inflammation attacking the throat and
lungs, and proving fatal in very many cases, in that year of Wolfe's
expedition, had seized and well-nigh killed my poor lad, for whom
his native air was pronounced to be the best cure. We parted with an
abundance of tears, and Gumbo shed as many when his master went to
Quebec: but he had attractions in this country and none for the military
life, so he remained attached to my service. We found Castlewood House
full of friends, relations, and visitors. Lady Fanny was there upon
compulsion, a sulky bridesmaid. Some of the virgins of the neighbourhood
also attended the young Countess. A bishop's widow herself, the Baroness
Beatrix brought a holy brother-in-law of the bench from London to tie
the holy knot of matrimony between Eugene Earl of Castlewood and Lydia
Van den Bosch, spinster; and for some time before and after the nuptials
the old house in Hampshire wore an appearance of gaiety to which it had
long been unaccustomed. The country families came gladly to pay their
compliments to the newly married couple. The lady's wealth was the
subject of everybody's talk, and no doubt did not decrease in the
telling. Those naughty stories which were rife in town, and spread by
her disappointed suitors there, took some little time to travel into
Hampshire; and when they reached the country found it disposed to treat
Lord Castlewood's wife with civility, and not inclined to be too curious
about her behaviour in town. Suppose she had jilted this man, and
laughed at the other? It was her money they were anxious about, and she
was no more mercenary than they. The Hampshire folks were determined
that it was a great benefit to the country to have Castlewood House once
more open, with beer in the cellars, horses in the stables, and spits
turning before the kitchen fires. The new lady took her place with great
dignity, and 'twas certain she had uncommon accomplishments and wit.
Was it not written, in the marriage advertisements, that her ladyship
brought her noble husband seventy thousand pounds? On a beaucoup
d'esprit with seventy thousand pounds. The Hampshire people said this
was only a small portion of her wealth. When the grandfather should
fall, ever so many plums would be found on that old tree.