Page:Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope.djvu/33

 foresaw that my sisters would be reduced to poverty if I did not assist them; and, though people said to me, 'Let their husbands get on by themselves; they are capable of making their own way,' I saw they could not, and I set about providing for them. As for my father, he thought that, in joining those democrats, he always kept aloof from treason. But he did not know how many desperate characters there were, who, like C, for example, only waited for a revolution, and were always plotting mischief. I thought, therefore, it was better to be where I should have Mr. Pitt by my side to help me, should he get into great difficulty. Why, they almost took Joyce out of bed in my father's house; and when my father went to town, there were those who watched him; and the mob attacked his house, so that he was obliged to make his escape by the leads, and slip out the back way. Joyce was getting up in the morning, and was just blowing his nose, as people do the moment before they come down to breakfast, when a single knock came to the door, and in bolted two officers with a warrant, and took him off without even my father's knowledge. Then, were not Lord Thanet, Ferguson, and some more of them thrown into gaol? and I said, 'If my father has not a prop somewhere, he will share the same fate;' and this was one of the reasons why I went to live with Mr. Pitt. Mr. Pitt used to say