reconciled to his wife, and she accordingly went over to Dublin in October 1713; and through the good offices of a friend a reconciliation was effected, and the re-united couple, after a temporary residence in Dublin, went to live at Lord Altham’s country seat of Dunmain, in the county of Wexford.  Here, in April or May 1715, Lady Altham bore a son, which was given to a peasant woman, named Joan Landy, to nurse.  At first the young heir was suckled by this woman at the mansion, and afterwards at the cabin of her father, less than a mile from Dunmain.  In order to make this residence a little more suitable for the child it was considerably improved externally and internally, and a coach road was constructed between it and Dunmain House, so that Lady Altham might be able frequently to visit her son.

Soon after the birth of the child Lord Altham’s dissipation and his debts increased, and he proposed to the Duke of Buckingham that he should settle a jointure on Lady Altham, and for this purpose the pair visited Dublin.  The effort was unsuccessful, as the estate was found to be covered by prior securities; and Lord Altham, in a fury, ordered his wife back to Dunmain, while he remained behind in the Irish capital.  On his return his spite against her seemed to have revived, and not only did he insult her in his drunken debauches, but contrived an abominable plot to damage her reputation.  Some time in February 1717, a loutish fellow named Palliser, who was intimate at the house, was called up to Lady Altham’s apartment, on the pretence that she wished to speak to him.  Lord Altham and his servants immediately followed; my lord stormed and swore, and dragged the supposed seducer into the dining-room, where he cut off part of one of his ears, and immediately afterwards kicked him out of the house.  A separation ensued, and on the same day Lady Altham went to live at New Ross.

Before leaving her own home she had begged hard to be allowed to take her child with her, but was sternly refused, and at the same time the servants were instructed not to carry him near her.  The boy therefore remained at Dunmain under the care of a dry nurse, but, notwithstanding his father’s injunctions, was frequently taken to his mother by some of the domestics, who pitied her forlorn condition.  When he came to an age to go to school, he was sent to several well-known seminaries, and was attended by a servant both on his way to them and from them; “was clothed in scarlet, with a laced hat and feather;” and was universally recognised as the legitimate son and heir of Lord Altham.

Towards the end of 1722, Lord Altham—­who had by this time picked up a mistress named Miss Gregory—­removed to Dublin, and sent for his son to join him.  He seemed very fond of the boy, and the woman Gregory for a time pretended to share in this affection, until she conceived the idea of supplanting him.  She easily persuaded her weak-minded lover to go through the form of marriage with her, under the pretence that