[figure description] Page 196.[end figure description]

Major Willoughby's feet were scarcely on the library
floor, when he was clasped in his mother's arms. From
these he soon passed into Beulah's; nor did his father hesitate
about giving him an embrace nearly as warm. As for
Maud, she stood by, weeping in sympathy and in silence.

“And you, too, old man,” said Robert Willoughby, dashing
the tears from his eyes, and turning to the elder black,
holding out a hand—“this is not the first time, by many,
old Pliny, that you have had me between heaven and earth.
Your son was my old play-fellow, and we must shake hands
also. As for O'Hearn, steel is not truer, and we are friends
for life.”

The negroes were delighted to see their young master;
for, in that day, the slaves exulted in the honour, appearance,
importance and dignity of their owners, far more than
their liberated descendants do now in their own. The major
had been their friend when a boy; and he was, at present,
their pride and glory. In their view of the matter, the English
army did not contain his equal in looks, courage, military
skill, or experience; and it was treason per se to fight
against a cause that he upheld. The captain had laughingly
related to his wife a conversation to this effect he had not
long before overheard between the two Plinys.

“Well, Miss Beuly do a pretty well”—observed the elder;
“but, den he all 'e better, if he no get 'Merican 'mission.
What you call raal colonel, eh? Have 'e paper from 'e king

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like Masser Bob, and wear a rigimental like a head of a
turkey cock, so! Dat bein' an up and down officer.”

“P'rhaps Miss Beuly bring a colonel round, and take off
a blue coat, and put on a scarlet,” answered the younger.

“Nebber!—nebber see dat, Plin, in a rebbleushun. Dis
got to be a rebbleushun; and when dat begin in 'arnest, gib
up all idee of 'mendment. Rebbleushuns look all one way—
nebber see two side, any more dan coloured man see two
side in a red-skin.”

As we have not been able to trace the thought to antiquity,
this expression may have been the original of the celebrated
axiom of Napoleon, which tells us that “revolutions never
go backwards.” At all events, such was the notion of
Pliny Willoughby, Sen., as the namesake of the great Roman
styled himself; and it was greatly admired by Pliny
Willoughby, Jun., to say nothing of the opinions of Big
Smash and Little Smash, both of whom were listeners to
the discourse.

“Well, I wish a colonel Beekman”—To this name the
fellow gave the true Doric sound of Bakeman—“I wish a
colonel Beekman only corprul in king's troops, for Miss
Beuly's sake. Better be sarjun dere, dan briggerdeer-ginral
in 'Merikan company; dat I know.”

“What a briggerdeer mean, Plin?” inquired Little Smash,
with interest. “Who he keep company wid, and what he
do? Tell a body, do—so many officer in 'e army, one nebber
know all he name.”

“'Mericans can't hab 'em. Too poor for dat. Briggerdeer
great gentleum, and wear a red coat. Ole time, see
'em in hundreds, come to visit Masser, and Missus, and play
wid Masser Bob. Oh! no rebbleushun in dem days; but
ebbery body know he own business, and do it, too.”

This will serve to show the political sentiments of the
Plinys, and may also indicate the bias that the Smashes
were likely to imbibe in such company. As a matter of
course, the major was gladly welcomed by these devoted
admirers; and when Maud again whispered to them the necessity
of secresy, each shut his mouth, no trifling operation
in itself, as if it were to be henceforth hermetically sealed.

The assistants were now dismissed, and the major was
left alone with his family. Again and again Mrs. Willoughby

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embraced her son; nor had her new ties at all lessened
Beulah's interest in her brother. Even the captain kissed
his boy anew, while Mr. Woods shook hands once more
with his old pupil, and blessed him. Maud alone was passive
in this scene of feeling and joy.

“Now, Bob, let us to business,” said the captain, as soon
as tranquillity was a little restored. “You have not made
this difficult and perilous journey without an object; and,
as we are somewhat critically situated ourselves, the sooner
we know what it is, the less will be the danger of its not
producing its proper effect.”

“Heaven send, dear sir, that it fail not in its effect, indeed,”
answered the son. “But is not this movement in
the valley pressing, and have I not come opportunely to
take a part in the defence of the house?”

“That will be seen a few hours later, perhaps. Everything
is quiet now, and will probably so remain until near
morning; or Indian tactics have undergone a change. The
fellows have lighted camp-fires on their rocks, and seem
disposed to rest for the present, at least. Nor do I know
that they are bent on war at all. We have no Indians near
us, who would be likely to dig up the hatchet; and these
fellows profess peace, by a messenger they have sent me.”

“Are they not in their war-paint, sir? I remember to
have seen warriors, when a boy, and my glass has given
these men the appearance of being on what they call `a
war-path.”'

“Some of them are certainly in that guise, though he
who came to the Knoll was not. He pretended that they
were a party travelling towards the Hudson in order to learn
the true causes of the difficulties between their Great English
and their Great American Fathers. He asked for meal and
meat to feed his young men with. This was the whole purport
of his errand.”

“And your answer, sir; is it peace, or war, between
you?”

“Peace in professions, but I much fear war in reality.
Still one cannot know. An old frontier garrison-man, like
myself, is not apt to put much reliance on Indian faith. We
are now, God be praised! all within the stockade; and
having plenty of arms and ammunition, are not likely to be

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easily stormed. A siege is out of the question; we are too
well provisioned to dread that.”

“But you leave the mills, the growing grain, the barns,
even the cabins of your workmen, altogether at the mercy
of these wretches.”

“That cannot well be avoided, unless we go out and
drive them off, in open battle. For the last, they are too
strong, to say nothing of the odds of risking fathers of families
against mere vagabonds, as I suspect these savages to
be. I have told them to help themselves to meal, or grain,
of which they will find plenty in the mill. Pork can be got
in the houses, and they have made way with a deer already,
that I had expected the pleasure of dissecting myself. The
cattle roam the woods at this season, and are tolerably safe;
but they can burn the barns and other buildings, should
they see fit. In this respect, we are at their mercy. If
they ask for rum, or cider, that may bring matters to a
head; for, refusing may exasperate them, and granting
either, in any quantity, will certainly cause them all to get
intoxicated.”

“Why would not that be good policy, Willoughby?” exclaimed
the chaplain. “If fairly disguised once, our people
might steal out upon them, and take away all their arms.
Drunken men sleep very profoundly.”

“It would be a canonical mode of warfare, perhaps,
Woods,” returned the chaplain, smiling, “but not exactly
a military. I think it safer that they should continue sober;
for, as yet, they manifest no great intentions of hostility.
But of this we can speak hereafter. Why are you here,
my son, and in this guise?”

“The motive may as well be told now, as at another
time,” answered the major, giving his mother and sisters
chairs, while the others imitated their example in being
seated. “Sir William Howe has permitted me to come out
to see you—I might almost say ordered me out; for matters
have now reached a pass when we think every loyal gentleman
in America must feel disposed to take sides with the
crown.”

A general movement among his auditors told the major
the extent of the interest they felt in what was expected to
follow. He paused an instant to survey the dark-looking

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group that was clustering around him; for no lights were in
the room on account of the open windows, and he spoke in
a low voice from motives of prudence; then he proceeded:

“I should infer from the little that passed between Maud
and myself,” he said, “that you are ignorant of the two
most important events that have yet occurred in this unhappy
conflict?”

“We learn little here,” answered the father. “I have
heard that my Lord Howe and his brother Sir William have
been named commissioners by His Majesty to heal all the
differences. I knew them both, when young men, and their
elder brother before them. Black Dick, as we used to call
the admiral, is a discreet, well-meaning man; though I fear
both of them owe their appointments more to their affinity
to the sovereign than to the qualities that might best fit them
to deal with the Americans.”

“Little is known of the affinity of which you speak,[1] and
less said in the army,” returned the major, “but I fear there
is no hope of the object of the commission's being effected.
The American congress has declared the colonies altogether
independent of England; and so far as this country is concerned,
the war is carried on as between nation and nation.
All allegiance, even in name, is openly cast aside.”

“You astonish me, Bob! I did not think it could ever
come to this!”

“I thought your native attachments would hardly endure
as strong a measure as this has got to be,” answered the
major, not a little satisfied with the strength of feeling manifested
by his father. “Yet has this been done, sir, and done

[figure description] Page 201.[end figure description]

in a way that it will not be easy to recall. Those who now
resist us, resist for the sake of throwing off all connection
with England.”

“Has France any agency in this, Bob?—I own it startles
me, and has a French look.”

“It has driven many of the most respectable of our enemies
into our arms, sir. We have never considered you a
direct enemy, though unhappily inclining too much against
us; `but this will determine Sir Hugh,' said the commander-in-chief
in our closing interview—I suppose you know, my
dear father, that all your old friends, knowing what has
happened, insist on calling you Sir Hugh. I assure you, I
never open my lips on the subject; and yet Lord Howe
drank to the health of Sir Hugh Willoughby, openly at his
own table, the last time I had the honour to dine with
him.”

“Then the next time he favours you with an invitation,
Bob, be kind enough to thank him. I want no empty baronetcy,
nor do I ever think of returning to England to live.
Were all I had on earth drummed together, it would barely
make out a respectable competency for a private gentleman
in that extravagant state of society; and what is a mere
name to one in such circumstances? I wish it were transferable,
my dear boy, in the old Scotch mode, and you should
be Sir Bob before you slept.”

“But, Willoughby, it may be useful to Robert, and why
should he not have the title, since neither you nor I care for
it?” asked the considerate mother.

“So he may, my dear; though he must wait for an event
that I fancy you are not very impatient to witness — my
death. When I am gone, let him be Sir Robert, in welcome.
But, Bob—for plain, honest Bob must you remain till then,
unless indeed you earn your spurs in this unhappy war —
have you any military tidings for us? We have heard nothing
since the arrival of the fleet on the coast.”

“We are in New York, after routing Washington on
Long Island. The rebels” — the major spoke a little more
confidently than had been his wont — “The rebels have
retreated into the high country, near the borders of Connecticut,
where they have inveterate nests of the disaffected in
their rear.”

[figure description] Page 202.[end figure description]

“And has all this been done without bloodshed? Washington
had stuff in him, in the old French business.”

“His stuff is not doubted, sir; but his men make miserable
work of it. Really I am sometimes ashamed of having
been born in the country. These Yankees fight like wrangling
women, rather than soldiers.”

“How 's this!—You spoke honestly of the affair at Lexington,
and wrote us a frank account of the murderous work
at Bunker Hill. Have their natures changed with the change
of season?”

“To own the truth, sir, they did wonders on the Hill, and
not badly in the other affair; but all their spirit seems gone.
I am quite ashamed of them. Perhaps this declaration of
independence, as it is called, has damped their ardour.”

“No, my son — the change, if change there is, depends
on a general and natural law. Nothing but discipline and
long training can carry men with credit through a campaign,
in the open field. Fathers, and husbands, and brothers and
lovers, make formidable enemies, in sight of their own
chimney-tops; but the most flogging regiments, we used to
say, were the best fighting regiments for a long pull. But,
have a care, Bob; you are now of a rank that may well get
you a separate command, and do not despise your enemy.
I know these Yankees well—you are one, yourself, though
only half-blooded; but I know them well, and have often
seen them tried. They are very apt to be badly commanded,
heaven cursing them for their sins, in this form more than
any other—but get them fairly at work, and the guards will
have as much as they can wish, to get along with. Woods
will swear to that.”

“Objecting to the mode of corroboration, my dear sir, I
can support its substance. Inclined as I am to uphold Cæsar,
and to do honour to the Lord's anointed, I will not deny my
countrymen's courage; though I think, Willoughby, now I
recall old times, it was rather the fashion of our officers to
treat it somewhat disrespectfully.”

“It was, indeed,” answered the captain, thoughtfully —
“and a silly thing it was. They mistook the nature of a
mild and pacific people, totally without the glitter and habits
of military life, for a timid people; and I have often heard
the new hands in the colonies speak of their inhabitants

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with contempt on this very head. Braddock had that failing
to a great degree; and yet this very major Washington
saved his army from annihilation, when it came to truly
desperate work. Mark the words of a much older soldier
than yourself, Bob; you may have more of the bravery of
apparel, and present a more military aspect; may even gain
advantages over them by means of higher discipline, better
arms, and more accurate combinations; but, when you meet
them fairly, depend on it you will meet dangerous foes, and
men capable of being sooner drilled into good soldiers than
any nation I have met with. Their great curse is, and
probably will be, in selecting too many of their officers from
classes not embued with proper military pride, and altogether
without the collaterals of a good military education.”

To all this the major had nothing very material to object,
and remembering that the silent but thoughtful Beulah had
a husband in what he called the rebel ranks, he changed the
subject. Arrangements were now made for the comfort and
privacy of the unlooked-for guest. Adjoining the library, a
room with no direct communication with the court by means
of either door or window, was a small and retired apartment
containing a cot-bed, to which the captain was accustomed
to retire in the cases of indisposition, when Mrs. Willoughby
wished to have either of her daughters with herself, on their
account, or on her own. This room was now given to the
major, and in it he would be perfectly free from every sort
of intrusion. He might eat in the library, if necessary;
though, all the windows of that wing of the house opening
outward, there was little danger of being seen by any but
the regular domestics of the family, all of whom were to be
let into the secret of his presence, and all of whom were
rightly judged to be perfectly trustworthy.

As the evening promised to be dark, it was determined
among the gentlemen that the major should disguise himself
still more than he was already, and venture outside of
the building, in company with his father, and the chaplain,
as soon as the people, who were now crowded into the
vacant rooms in the empty part of the house, had taken
possession of their respective quarters for the night. In the
meantime a hearty supper was provided for the traveller in
the library, the bullet-proof window-shutters of which room,

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and indeed of all the others on that side of the building,
having first been closed, in order that lights might be used,
without drawing a shot from the adjoining forest.

“We are very safe, here,” observed the captain, as his
son appeased his hunger, with the keen relish of a traveller.
“Even Woods might stand a siege in a house built and
stockaded like this. Every window has solid bullet-proof
shutters, with fastenings not easily broken; and the logs of
the buildings might almost defy round-shot. The gates are
all up, one leaf excepted, and that leaf stands nearly in its
place, well propped and supported. In the morning it shall
be hung like the others. Then the stockade is complete,
and has not a speck of decay about it yet. We shall keep
a guard of twelve men up the whole night, with three sentinels
outside of the buildings; and all of us will sleep in our
clothes, and on our arms. My plan, should an assault be
made, is to draw in the sentinels, as soon as they have discharged
their pieces, to close the gate, and man the loops.
The last are all open, and spare arms are distributed at
them. I had a walk made within the ridge of the roofs this
spring, by which men can run round the whole Hut, in the
event of an attempt to set fire to the shingles, or fire over
the ridge at an enemy at the stockades. It is a great improvement,
Bob; and, as it is well railed, will make a capital
station in a warm conflict, before the enemy make their way
within the stockade.”

“We must endeavour not to let them get there, sir,” answered
the major—“but, as soon as your people are housed,
I shall have an opportunity to reconnoitre. Open work is
most to the taste of us regulars.”

“Not against an Indian enemy. You will be glad of such
a fortress as this, boy, before the question of independence,
or no independence, shall be finally settled. Did not Washington
entrench in the town?”

“Not much on that side of the water, sir; though he was
reasonably well in the ground on Long Island. There he
had many thousands of men, and works of some extent.”

“And how did he get off the island?” demanded the captain,
turning round to look his son in the face. “The arm
of the sea is quite half-a-mile in width, at that point—how

[figure description] Page 205.[end figure description]

did he cross it in the face of a victorious army?—or did he
only save himself, while you captured his troops?”

The major coloured a little, and then he looked at Beulah
and smiled good-naturedly.

“I am so surrounded by rebels here,” he said, “that it is
not easy to answer all your questions, sir. Beat him we did,
beyond a question, and that with a heavy loss to his army—
and out of New York we have driven him, beyond a question—
but — I will not increase Beulah's conceit by stating
any more!”

“If you can tell me anything kind of Evert, Bob, you
will act like a brother in so doing,” said the gentle wife.

“Ay, Beekman did well too, they said. I heard some
of our officers extolling a charge he made; and to own the
truth, I was not sorry to be able to say he was my sister's
husband, since a fierce rebel she would marry. All our
news of him is to his credit; and now I shall get a kiss for
my pains.”

The major was not mistaken. With a swelling heart, but
smiling countenance, his sister threw herself into his arms,
when she kissed and was kissed until the tears streamed
down her cheeks.

“It was of Washington I intended to speak, sir,” resumed
the major, dashing a tear or two from his own eyes, as
Beulah resumed her chair. “His retreat from the island is
spoken of as masterly, and has gained him great credit. He
conducted it in person, and did not lose a man. I heard Sir
William mention it as masterly.”

“Then by heaven, America will prevail in this contest!”
exclaimed the captain, striking his fist upon the table, with a
suddenness and force that caused all in the room to start.
“If she has a general who can effect such a movement skilfully,
the reign of England is over, here. Why, Woods,
Xenophon never did a better thing! The retreat of the ten
thousand was boy's play to getting across that water. Resides,
your victory could have been no great matter, Bob,
or it would never have been done.”

“Our victory was respectable, sir, while I acknowledge
that the retreat was great. No one among us denies it, and
Washington is always named with respect in the army.”

[figure description] Page 206.[end figure description]

In a minute more, Big Smash came in, under the pretence
of removing the dishes, but in reality to see Master Bob, and
to be noticed by him. She was a woman of sixty, the mother
of Little Smash, herself a respectable matron of forty;
and both had been born in the household of Mrs. Willoughby's
father, and had rather more attachment for any one of
her children than for all of their own, though each had been
reasonably prolific. The sobriquets had passed into general
use, and the real names of Bess and Mari' were nearly
obsolete. Still, the major thought it polite to use the latter
on the present occasion.

“Upon my word, Mrs. Bess,” he said, shaking the old
woman cordially by the hand, though he instinctively shrunk
back from the sight of a pair of lips that were quite ultra,
in the way of pouting, which used often to salute him twenty
years before—“Upon my word, Mrs. Bess, you improve
in beauty, everytime I see you. Old age and you seem to
be total strangers to each other. How do you manage to
remain so comely and so young?”

“God send 'e fus', Masser Bob, heabben be praise, and a
good conscience do 'e las'. I do wish you could make ole
Plin hear dat! He nebber t'ink any good look, now-a-day,
in a ole wench.”

“Pliny is half blind. But that is the way with most husbands,
Smash; they become blind to the charms of their
spouses, after a few years of matrimony.”

“Nebber get marry, Masser Bob, if dat be 'e way.”

Then Great Smash gave such a laugh, and such a swing
of her unwieldy body, that one might well have apprehended
her downfall. But, no such thing. She maintained the
equilibrium; for, renowned as she had been all her life at
producing havoc among plates, and cups, and bowls, she
was never known to be thrown off her own centre of gravity.
Another hearty shake of the hand followed, and the
major quitted the table. As was usual on all great and joyous
occasions in the family, when the emotions reached the
kitchen, that evening was remarkable for a “smash,” in
which half the crockery that had just been brought from the
table, fell an unresisting sacrifice. This produced a hot
discussion between “The Big” and “The Little,” as to the
offender, which resulted, as so often happens in these

[figure description] Page 207.[end figure description]

inquiries into the accidents of domestic life, in the conclusion
that “nobody” was alone to blame.

“How 'e t'ink he can come back, and not a plate crack!”
exclaimed Little Smash, in a vindicatory tone, she being the
real delinquent—“Get in 'e winder, too! Lor! dat enough
to break all 'e dish in 'e house, and in 'e mill, too! I do wish
ebbery plate we got was an Injin—den you see fun! Can
nebber like Injin; 'em so red, and so sabbage!”

“Nebber talk of Injin, now,” answered the indignant mother—
“better talk of plate. Dis make forty t'ousand dish
you break, Mari', sin' you war' a young woman. S'pose
you t'ink Masser made of plate, dat you break 'em up so!
Dat what ole Plin say—de nigger! He say all men made
of clay, and plate made of clay, too—well, bot' clay, and
bot' break. All on us wessels, and all on us break to pieces
some day, and den dey'll t'row us away, too.”

A general laugh succeeded this touch of morality, Great
Smash being a little addicted to ethical remarks of this nature;
after which the war was renewed on the subject of
the broken crockery. Nor did it soon cease; wrangling,
laughing, singing, toiling, a light-heartedness that knew no
serious cares, and affection, making up the sum of the every-day
existence of these semi-civilized beings. The presence
of the party in the valley, however, afforded the subject of
an episode; for a negro has quite as much of the de haut
en bas in his manner of viewing the aborigines, as the whites
have in their speculations on his own race. Mingled with
this contempt, notwithstanding, was a very active dread,
neither of the Plinys, nor of their amiable consorts, in the
least relishing the idea of being shorn of the wool, with
shears as penetrating as the scalping-knife. After a good
deal of discussion on this subject, the kitchen arrived at the
conclusion that the visit of the major was ordered by Providence,
since it was out of all the rules of probability and
practice to have a few half-clad savages get the better of
“Masser Bob,” who was born a soldier, and had so recently
been fighting for the king.

On the latter subject, we ought to have stated that the
captain's kitchen was ultra-loyal. The rude, but simple
beings it contained, had a reverence for rank and power
that even a “rebbelushun” could not disturb, and which

[figure description] Page 208.[end figure description]

closely associated, in their minds, royal authority with divine
power. Next to their own master, they considered George
III. as the greatest man of the age; and there was no disposition
in them to rob him of his rights or his honours.

“You seem thoughtful, Woods,” said the captain, while
his son had retired to his own room, in order to assume a
disguise less likely to attract attention in the garrison than
a hunting-shirt. “Is it this unexpected visit of Bob's that
furnishes food for reflection?”

“Not so much his visit, my dear Willoughby, as the
news he brings us. God knows what will befall the church,
should this rebellion make serious head. The country is in
a dreadful way, already, on the subject of religion; but it
will be far worse if these `canters' get the upper hand of
the government.”

The captain was silent and thoughtful for a moment; then
he laughingly replied—

“Fear nothing for the church, chaplain. It is of God,
and will outlast a hundred political revolutions.”

“I don't know that, Willoughby—I don't know that”—The
chaplain did not exactly mean what he said—“'Twouldn't
surprise me if we had `taking up collections,' `sitting under
preaching,' `providentially happening,' `exercised in
mind,' and `our Zion,' finding their way into dictionaries.”

“Quite likely, Woods”—returned the captain, smiling—
“Liberty is known to produce great changes in things;
why not in language?”

“Liberty, indeed! Yes; `liberty in prayer' is another of
their phrases. Well, captain Willoughby, if this rebellion
should succeed, we may give up all hopes for the church.
What sort of government shall we have, do you imagine,
sir?”

“Republican, of course,” answered the captain, again
becoming thoughtful, as his mind reverted to the important
results that were really dependent on the present state of
things. “Republican—it can be no other. These colonies
have always had a strong bias in that direction, and they
want the elements necessary to a monarchy. New York
has a landed gentry, it is true; and so has Maryland, and
Virginia, and the Carolinas; but they are not strong enough
to set up a political aristocracy, or to prop a throne; and

[figure description] Page 209.[end figure description]

then this gentry will probably be much weakened by the
struggle. Half the principal families are known to be with
the crown, as it is; and new men will force them out of
place, in a revolution. No, Woods, if this revolution prosper,
the monarchy is done in America, for at least a century.”

“And the prayers for the king and royal family—what
will become of them?”

“I should think they must cease, also. I question if a
people will continue long to pray for authorities that they
refuse to obey.”

“I shall stick to the rubrics as long as I have a tongue
in my head. I trust, Willoughby, you will not stop these
prayers, in your settlement?”

“It is the last mode in which I should choose to show
hostility. Still, you must allow it is a little too much to ask
a congregation to pray that the king shall overcome his
enemies, when they are among those very enemies? The
question presents a dilemma.”

“And, yet, I have never failed to read that prayer, as
well as all the rest. You have not objected, hitherto.”

“I have not, for I have considered the war as being waged
with parliament and the ministers, whereas it is now clearly
with the king. This paper is certainly a plain and forcible
document.”

“And what is that paper? Not the Westminster Confession
of Faith, or the Saybrook Platform, I hope; one of
which will certainly supersede the Thirty-nine Articles in
all our churches, if this rebellion prosper.”

“It is the manifesto issued by congress, to justify their
declaration of independence. Bob has brought it with him,
as a proof how far matters have been carried; but, really,
it seems to be a creditable document, and is eloquently reasoned.”

“I see how it is, Willoughby—I see how it is. We shall
find you a rebel general yet; and I expect to live to hear
you talk about `our Zion' and `providential accidents.”'

“Neither, Woods. For the first, I am too old; and, for
the last, I have too much taste, I trust. Whether I shall
always pray for the king is another matter. But, here is
the major, ready for his sortie. Upon my word, his masquerade
is so complete, I hardly know him myself.”

eaf073v1.n1

[1] The mother of the three Lords Howe, so well known in American
history, viz: George, killed before Ticonderoga, in the war of '56;
Richard, the celebrated admiral, and the hero of the 1st June; and
Sir William, for several years commander-in-chief in this country,
and the 5th and last viscount; was a Mademoiselle Kilmansegge,
who was supposed to be a natural daughter of George I. This would
make these three officers and George II. first-cousins; and George III.
their great-nephew à la mode de Bretagne. Walpole, and various other
English writers, speak openly, not only of the connection, but of the
family resemblance. Indeed, most of the gossiping writers of that
age seem to allow that Lord Howe was a grandson of the first English
sovereign of the House of Brunswick.

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