Haſtings ſmiling, immediately ſaid, Take no care, for this ſhall be eaſy to your Highneſs, there is one Mrs Blague, your lace woman, has a houſe pretty near Shore’s, and is very intimate with his wife—this woman is very fond of money, to ſuch a degree that it would make her do any thing. Her will I engage in this matter, and truſt me ſhe will ſoon bring it to paſs to your ſatisfaction—The King liked this advance, and it was agreed that he ſhould ſee her at this Mrs Blague’s and have freedom to court her; but ſhe ſhould not know that he was the King, until he thought proper to have it diſcovered.
Lord Haſtings was not idle in promoting his maſter’s happineſs, and with gifts and large promiſes ſoon made the lace woman pliable, ſo that many meetings were made at her houſe, the king coming in disguise as her friend, and though Mrs Blague
