thy heiress as
their sister.

Finding herself lonely in her great house in Dublin, the Countess of
Lyndon invited her friend Miss Amelia to pass the season with her at
Dublin; and, in a fit of maternal fondness, also sent for her son the
little Bullingdon, and my old acquaintance his governor, to come to
the capital and bear her company. A family coach brought the boy, the
heiress, and the tutor from Castle Lyndon; and I determined to take the
first opportunity of putting my plan in execution.

For this chance I had not very long to wait. I have said, in a former
chapter of my biography, that the kingdom of Ireland was at this
period ravaged by various parties of banditti; who, under the name
of Whiteboys, Oakboys, Steelboys, with captains at their head, killed
proctors, fired stacks, houghed and maimed cattle, and took the law into
their own hands. One of these bands, or several of them for what I know,
was commanded by a mysterious personage called Captain Thunder; whose
business seemed to be that of marrying people with or without their own
consent, or that of their parents. The Dublin Gazettes and Mercuries
of that period (the year 1772) teem with proclamations from the Lord
Lieutenant, offering rewards for the apprehension of this dreadful
Captain Thunder and his gang, and describing at length various exploits
of the savage aide-de-camp of Hymen. I determined to make use, if not
of the services, at any rate of the name of Captain Thunder, and put my
cousin Ulick in possession of his lady and her ten thousand pounds. She
was no great beauty, and, I presume, it was the money he loved rather
than the owner of it.

On account of her widowhood, Lady Lyndon could not as yet frequent the
balls and routs which the hospitable nobility of Dublin were in the
custom of giving; but her friend Miss Kiljoy had no such cause for
retirement, and was glad to attend any parties to which she might be
invited. I made Ulick Brady a present of a couple of handsome suits of
velvet, and by my influence procured him an invitation to many of the
most elegant of these assemblies. But he had not had my advantages or
experience of the manners of Court; was as shy with ladies as a young
colt, and could no more dance a minuet than a donkey. He made very
little way in the polite world or in his mistress's heart: in fact, I
could see that she preferred several other young gentlemen to him, who
were more at home in the ball-room than poor Ulick;