Page:Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope.djvu/85

 and, in a short time, the whole regiment turned out with new clothes. The Duke of York was very generous, and not at all stingy in useful things.

"I recollect once at Ramsgate, five of the Blues, half drunk, not knowing who I was, walked after me, and pursued me to my door. They had the impertinence to follow me up-stairs, and one of them took hold of my gown. The maid came out, frightened out of her senses; but, just at the moment, with my arm I gave the foremost of them such a push, that I sent him rolling over the others down stairs, with their swords rattling against the balusters. Next day, he appeared with a black patch as big as a saucer over his face; and, when I went out, there were the glasses looking at me, and the footmen pointing me out—quite a sensation!"

During these conversations respecting Mr. Pitt's times, Sir Nathaniel's Memoirs were generally in my hand, and when there was a pause I resumed my reading. In giving Sir Walter Farquhar's private conversation respecting Mr. Pitt's death, the author says—"Mr. Pitt mounted the staircase with alacrity." Here Lady Hester stopped me, with the exclamation of—"What a falsehood, doctor! Just hear how it was. You know, when the carriage came to the door, he was announced, and I went up to the top of the