The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 125: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

| ' ‘ i : 106 THE MYSTERIES. means to surrender up his half of the paper, since he re- | hinted—he and you are so useful to each other and so fuses to do so by fair means. T. M. has procured a copy mixed up in several matters, he will forgive you in the _ of the half which is tn the possession of the individual | long run for temporarily turning against him. | who employs Aim in the business: and thus it rans :— may concern, and know ye, all the undersigned, George Prince of cknowledge that I do now take voee waetenn of an all-sesing Miss Hannah re and devotedly love with ul, and who fully as sinoerely, me in return, with all her true w likewise, all persons whom nly and sacredly bind and pledge ght of an all-secing heaven, that shall so dispose the heart of my as to grant his royal and paternal ssion to the proper celebration signed Miss Hannah Lightfoot,— at refusal which so very sorely sion to the royal throne of se (which God long prevent !) lay, make her my wife and Queen : dy consider ourselves to be tly and severally set our hands sence of a competent witness, ousand seven hundred and fifty-seven. Grorcs P. Hasnan LiegHrFoor. Such is the copy of the fragment in the possession of the person who employs T. M. in the matter: but who that person is, you must not expect to learn. Indeed, it can have nothing to do with the share which you are required to take in the matter. You saw the other day that Light- foot was obetinate: it is therefore useless for T. M. and me to negotiate with bim any more. But you told me when I saw you last night that you had many and cogent reasons for not coming to a rupture with the old man. Surely the thousand guineas T. M. offers you through me—and with the chanoe of two thousand— will amply remunerate you for any loss you may sustain in conse- quence of a quarrel with Lightfoot. Besides, if—as you “ Witness, “ Wittiam STAMFORD, Bart. “Well,” remarked Page, as soon as he had read the King is sometimes crazy. A pretty load of per- man, were this document made public. But that is of the thing: all we want is to make money.” eee, cee “The preceding isa faithful copy of the fragment in the of T. M's. principal. You, who have.seen the half in Lightfoot’s hands, can now judge of the value of the document as a whole. This we must leave to you: because, inasmuch as the obstinate old fellow would not even allow me and T. M. a sight of his moiety, we are utterly unable to form an opinion of the tenour of the paper when read and viewed in its complete state. But now observe :—if the document, when read as a whola, confesses marriage—then it is of first-rate importance, and the reward given to you for what we require of you, shall be two thousand guineas. But if the document should be found to contain only a promise of marriage, the sum shall be one thousand guineas, as originally pro. posed by T. M. Thus stands the matter. If we hear no more from you, we shall conclude that you decline pro- ceeding farther in it: if the contrary be the case, you can write to me at my own house. In this latter alterna- tive, you will do well to use the invisible ink: for although Sir J. would never dream of opening any correspondence addressed to me, it is as well to guard against impertinent curiosity on the part of menials. I told you in my note of this morning that I shall see T. M. to-morrow evening: I hope to, hear from you by that time. “L. L.” “ Now, then, all mystery is cleared up in respect to the certificate.” exclaimed Page, when he had brought the perusal of this letter to an end; “and it does not prove a marriage. On the contrary, it shows that the present King and your aunt were never united by any legal ceremony—at least up to the period when that paper was signed.” “ Let us put our original half against the copy of the other one,” said Julia, “and see how the whole reads.” “ We will,” returned Page: and, having followed his wife’s suggestion, he found that the memorandum or certificate ran in the ensuing terms :— “Taxes notice, all ye whom it may ooncern, and know ye, all men, by these presenta, that I the undersigned, George Prince of Wales, do hereby declare and acknowledge that I do now take and solemnly consider to be my wife in the sight of an all-secing heaven and before God, the Likewise undersigned Mise Hannah Lightfoot, whom I sinoerely, tenderly and devotedly love with all my heart and with all my soul, and who fully as siocerely, tenderly, and devotedly loveth me in return, with all her true heart and all her soul : and know likewise, all persons whom it may concern, thatI do solemnly and sacredly bind and pledge myself, before God and in the sight of an all-seeing heaven, that when the will of the Almighty shall so dispose the heart of my august and well-beloved father as to grant his royal and paternal assent and mest gracious permission to the proper celebration of my marriage with the undersigned Miss Hannah Lightfoot,— or, in case of perseverance in that refusal which so very sorely gtieves me,—then, on my accession to the royal throne of these realms, on my sire’s demiso (which God long prevent) I declare that 1 will, without delay, make her my wife and Queen: —end in token that we do already consider ourselves to be husband and wife, we have jointly and severally set our hands to this document, in the presence of a competent witnoss, this third day of April, One Thousand seven hundred and fifty seven. ‘Grorasr P. Hannau Lieutroor.” “And what do you propose to do? inquired aloud this singular document, “it is no wonder that | Julia. “There are two distinct lines of action open to jury he has got upon his conscience. The whole| us,” answered Page, after a few minutes’ deep country would raise its voice in execration of such a! cogitation. “One is to sell our half of the oerti. ficate to that Mr. Meagles of whom you spoke this not our game. We care nothing about the morality | morning: the other is to try and get the re \ half into our possession, and then dispose of the COONAN ateylo) OD) | Ss conn