Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/164

154 your ſole tenant: Nay don’t ſmile, for I am in earneſt, I love a little freedom more than I can enjoy at home, and I may come ſometimes and eat a bit of mutton, with four or five honeſt fellows, whoſe company I delight in.’ The bargain was bound, and proved matter of fact, though on a deeper ſcheme than drinking a bottle: And his lordſhip was to paſs in the houſe for Mr. Freeman of Hertfordſhire.

In a few days he ordered a dinner for his beloved friends. Jack and Tom, Will and Ned, good honeſt country-fellows, as his grace called them. They came at the time appointed; but how ſurprized was the widow, when ſhe ſaw the duke of Devonſhire, the lords Buckingham, and Dorſet, and a certain viſcount, with Sir William Dutton Colt, under theſe feign’d names. After ſeveral times meeting at this lady’s houſe, the noble perſons, who had a high opinion of her integrity, entruſted her with the grand ſecret, which was nothing leſs than the project for the Revolution.

Tho’ theſe meetings were held as private as poſſible, yet ſuſpicions aroſe, and Mrs. Thomas’s houſe was narrowly watched; but the meſſengers, who were no enemies to the cauſe, betrayed their truſt, and ſuffered the noblemen to meet unmoleſted, or at leaſt without any dread of apprehenſion.

The Revolution being effected, and the ſtate came more ſettled, that place of rendezvous was quitted: The noblemen took leave of the lady, with promiſes of obtaining a penſion, or ſome place in the houſhold for her, as her zeal in that cauſe highly merited; beſides ſhe had a very good claim to ſome appointment, having been ruined by ſhutting up the Exchequer. But alas! court promiſes proved an aerial foundation, and theſe noble peers never thought of her more. The duke of