Page:Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope.djvu/320

 rious days I never heard: for a person once away from her might as well divine how the man in the moon was employed as guess how she was passing her time.

Thursday, March 8.—I saw Lady Hester about four o'clock: she was in a very irritable state: she complained bitterly, as usual, of her servants—of their neglect, ignorance, and heartlessness: she said she would rather be surrounded by robbers; for there is some principle amongst thieves. "Oh!" she exclaimed, "that I could find one human being who knew his Creator!"

She went on:—"I have had a very bad night, and whether I shall live or die, I don't know: but this I tell you beforehand, that, if I do die, I wish to be buried, like a dog, in a bit of earth just big enough to hold this miserable skin, or else to be burnt, or thrown into the sea. And, as I am no longer an English subject, no consuls, nor any English of any sort, shall approach me in my last moments; for, if they do, I will have them shot. Therefore, the day before I die, if I know it, I shall order you away, and not only you, but everything English; and if you don't go, I warn you beforehand, you must take the consequences. Let me be scorched by the burning sun —frozen by the