will, no doubt, join with me in rejoicing on this happy occasion. I hope your ladyship enjoys perfect good health. 1. I am, &c.,

"L. KINNAIRD."

Upon the 18th of December, 1747, the Commissaries gave a favourable answer to Mr. Kinnaird, deciding that he was entitled to be allowed to prove the truth of his libel. He thereupon insisted that Lord and Lady Kinnaird should severally answer certain interrogatories, which the Commissaries appointed them to do. Upon the 28th of December Lord and Lady Kinnaird appeared in court, but refused to answer the questions put to them, alleging that to do so was inconsistent with their honour. The Commissaries decreed that Lord and Lady Kinnaird should be served with a copy of the interrogatories, and should be summoned personally in court within forty-eight hours, in order to answer these interrogatories under the penalty of £600, to be paid to Mr. Kinnaird. As they failed to appear, they were adjudged to pay the fine. The affair was soon after terminated, by Lord Kinnaird declaring that both the children had died! This immediately put a stop to all further proceedings.

Lord Kinnaird died eleven years after, at his house of Drimmie, on the 16th of July, 1758; and as he never had any more twins or other children, he

was succeeded in his honours and estates by Mr. Charles Kinnaird, who became sixth Lord. This nobleman lived nine years, and died at Drimmie in August, 1767. He married the daughter of Sir James Johnstone, Baronet, of Wester Hall, M.P., by his wife, the Honourable Barbara Murray, daughter of Lord Elibank. Lady Kinnaird was one of a very numerous family, some of whom made a distinguished figure in the world. Of her brothers, one was Sir William Johnstone Pulteney, Bart., M.P., who acquired by marriage the immense estates of the Earl of Bath, and whose daughter, Henrietta Laura Johnstone Pulteney, was created Countess of Bath. Another brother was John Johnstone, who acquired a very large fortune in India, and bought extensive estates in Scotland; the principal of which, the beautiful seat of Alva, near Stirling, he purchased from the ancestor of the Earl of Rosslyn. His grandson is the present Mr. Johnstone, of Alva, M.P. Lady Kinnaird's sister was the famous Lady Ogilvie, the heroine of 1745, whose daring conduct at Culloden, and romantic escape from Edinburgh Castle, are wellknown.

Charles, sixth Lord Kinnaird, was grandfather to the late Lord, and to the Hon. Douglas Kinnaird; his great-grandson is the present and ninth peer of this ancient family.

MARIE DELORME AND HER HUSBAND, A MARRIAGE OF LITIGATION.

"Of all mad matches, never was the like."-Shakespeare. THE Demoiselle Delorme, the heroine of the following extraordinary proceedings, born the 15th of October, 1709, was a young lady of much personal attraction, bright intellect, and agreeable manners; possessing, in fact, every qualification but that of wealth. While this demoiselle, Marie Delorme, was yet a child, her father died; and in a few years afterwards her widowed mother wedded, in 1716, a Monsieur Dupin, who adopted the two children of the former marriage, who were Marie and a brother, older than herself. The step-father maintained and educated them, as if they had been his own offspring.

Marie having grown up, M. Dupin became anxious to see her well married. Many suitors presented themselves, but none that met his approbation, till a certain rich man, a Monsieur

Rapally, appeared as a candidate for the maiden's hand. Rapally was Treasurer of France for the Generalité of Paris. He had an annual revenue of 45,000 livres; was in his thirty-eighth year, of pleasing manners, and presentable person and address. He proposed to settle a separate income of 86,000 livres a year on his wife during their joint lives, and to make a deed, assigning her all his property, should she survive him.

The offer was too tempting for any hesitation; Monsieur and Madame Dupin at once accepted M. Rapally for a son-in-law, and the union was all arranged and settled between these, before the party most concerned-the intended bride-knew anything of the matter. This would seem to show that the parents must have had misgivings as to Marie's tractability, or else that Rapally had some reasons to entertain such doubts. The latter is more likely; for he proposed that he should first be introduced to Mademoiselle Delorme under another name, and in the midst of company not at her own house. Accordingly, he was presented to her, at a friend's residence, as Dr. La Grange, a married man, with a family. This answered its object, and led to an acquaintance; the deception was carried on for some months, with what motive does not appear. Not till the August following did Madame Dupin

pseni I. La Grange. She bore wed mes & castal name; but when she heard de wws 2 be her instand, is byà offen da im mense weath his good beds went fr myding She declared her Abhorrence of the Treasurer Bapally. In vain did Madame Papin represent to her that she was penniless-that she depended entirely upon the good-will of her step fatherthat if she irritated him by opposition, there would be no answering for the consequences == that she was an unfriended girl and her suitor as rich as Creesus, with every other qualification besides. Marie remained inflexible. She would not wed the object of her detestation. The steps father was informed of her refusal, but scorned to notice it; he would listen to no objections, and went to Paris to hasten matters, lest Rapally should change his mind. So earnest was Dupin, that over and above the splendid liberality of Rapally, he, on his side, bound himself to give his step-daughter a dowry of 200,000 livres,

The story of how Marie acceded to the hated nuptials, even as explained by herself and by her advocate in court, is hardly credible, Her assent.