gun to move. It was plain, if only from his change of habitude, my
lord had something on his mind of a grave nature; but what it was,
whence it sprang, or why he should now keep the house and garden, I
could make no guess at. It was clear, even to probation, the pamphlets
had some share in this revolution; I read all I could find, and they
were all extremely insignificant, and of the usual kind of party
scurrility; even to a high politician, I could spy out no particular
matter of offence, and my lord was a man rather indifferent on public
questions. The truth is, the pamphlet which was the spring of this
affair lay all the time on my lord's bosom. There it was that I found
it at last, after he was dead, in the midst of the north wilderness: in
such a place, in such dismal circumstances, I was to read for the first
time these idle, lying words of a Whig pamphleteer declaiming against
indulgency to Jacobites:--"Another notorious Rebel, the _M----r_ of
_B----e_, is to have his Title restored," the passage ran. "This
Business has been long in hand, since he rendered some very disgraceful
Services in Scotland and France. His Brother, _L----d_ _D----r_, is
known to be no better than himself in Inclination; and the supposed
Heir, who is now to be set aside, was bred up in the most detestable
Principles. In the old Phrase, it is _six of the one and half a dozen of
the other_; but the Favour of such a Reposition is too extreme to be
passed over." A man in his right wits could not have cared two straws
for a tale so manifestly false; that Government should ever entertain
the notion was inconceivable to any reasoning creature, unless possibly
the fool that penned it; and my lord, though never brilliant, was ever
remarkable for sense. That he should credit such a rodomontade, and
carry the pamphlet on his bosom and the words in his heart, is the clear
proof of the man's lunacy. Doubtless the mere mention of Mr. Alexander,
and the threat directly held out against the child's succession,
precipitated that which had so long impended. Or else my master had been
truly mad for a long time, and we were too dull or too much used to him,
and did not perceive the extent of his infirmity.

About a week after the day of the pamphlets I was late upon the
harbour-side, and took a turn towards the Master's, as I often did. The
door opened, a flood of light came forth upon the road, and I beheld a
man taking his departure with friendly salutations