rd Nithsdale, for her sake more than his own, was anxious that a
petition should be presented to the king in his behalf; trusting, by
this means, to excite for her his sympathy and indulgence. It was well
known that the king was especially incensed against Lord Nithsdale, so
that he is said to have forbidden that any petition should be presented
for him, or personal address made to him; but the countess, in obedience
to her lord's wish, resolved to make the attempt, and accordingly
repaired to court. In the narrative she wrote to her sister of her
husband's escape, she has given the following account of the
interview--very little creditable to the feelings of George I., either
as a king or a gentleman:--

"So the first day that I heard the king was to go to the drawing-room, I
dressed myself in black, as if I had been in mourning, and sent for Mrs.
Morgan (the same who accompanied me to the Tower); because, as I did
not know his Majesty personally, I might have mistaken some other person
for him. She stayed by me, and told me when he was coming. I had another
lady with me (Lady Nairn), and we remained in a room between the king's
apartments and the drawing-room, so that he was obliged to go through
it; and as there were three windows in it, we sat in the middle one,
that I might have time enough to meet him before he could pass. I threw
myself at his feet, and told him, in French, that I was the unfortunate
Countess of Nithsdale, that he might not pretend to be ignorant of my
person. But, perceiving that he wanted to go off without receiving my
petition, I caught hold of the skirt of his coat, that he might stop and
hear me. He endeavoured to escape out of my hands; but I kept such
strong hold, that he dragged me on my knees from the middle of the room
to the very door of the drawing-room. At last one of the blue ribbons
who attended his Majesty took me round the waist, while another wrested
the coat out of my hands. The petition, which I had endeavoured to
thrust into his pocket, fell down in the scuffle, and I almost fainted
away through grief and disappointment. One of the gentlemen in waiting
picked up the petition; and as I knew that it ought to have been given
to the lord of the bedchamber, who was then in waiting, I wrote to him,
and entreated him to do me the favour to read the petition which I had
had the honour to present to his Majesty. Fortunately for me it happened
to be my Lord Dorset, with whom Mrs. Morgan