execution according to the true intent and meaning thereof." The will is witnessed by John Blakeney, his house-keeper, Abigail Griggs, and his man-servant (?) Bryan Kenney. Whether an engagement existed between Mary and the gallant Lieutenant during his long and toilsome absence, which may account for her being so pathetically placed under the guardianship of his uncle, or the intercouse was so encouraged as speedily to ripen into an attachment on his return, it is certain that they were married at the parish church of Dean on the 29th January, 1744-5, the very day on which he attained his 28th year. But a few months of union were allowed the happy pair; for the Pretender disembarked on the coast of Scotland on the 22nd July, and there was seen throughout the land the "mustering in hot haste" for the great Jacobite and Hanoverian duel. We learn that on the 4th November, 1745, George Augustus Blakeney, Lieutenant in Major-General Blakeney's Regiment of Foot, "now encamped on the Town Moor without the walls, but within the liberties, of Newcastle-on-Tyne," makes his will, wherein he leaves all his estate and effects "unto his loveing wife," Mary Blakeney, appointing her sole executrix. His regiment formed part of the army of sixteen thousand men mustered at Newcastle to watch the Border and prevent the Scotch from entering England; but a rapid and skilful movement on the part of Charles deceived the English Commander, and before Wade could throw himself in the way, Charles had seized Carlisle, and was in full march for London. On his countermarch to the Highlands the Prince was deeply annoyed at the stubborn and successful resistance offered by Stirling Castle, held by Major-General Blakeney. It is pleasanter to believe, and indeed it is more probable, that our Lieutenant was with his relative, rather than under the command of General Hawley, who had superseded Wade, and who was so disgracefully beaten by the Pretender at Falkirk on the 13th January, 1745-6. No trace exists of young Blakeney in the march northwards, nor at the battle of Culloden, where General Blakeney's brigade formed part of the rearguard, and of which not a single man was wounded. It is most likely that he was with his regiment under the

command of his aforesaid relative, who was rewarded with an Irish Barony for his gallant defence of Minorca, unsuccessful though it was, the surrender of which was compulsory on the 27th June, 1756, in consequence of the unfortunate Byng having failed to relieve the garrison. On the 1st February, 1757, Captain Blakeney received orders to hasten to Cork, there to embark with the 27th, or Enniskillen Regiment of Foot, for foreign service; and on the 9th he signs a power of attorney, dated at Whitehaven, authorizing his wife to deal with his affairs entirely according to her own judgment during his absence. Troops were at this time being sent out to North America for the conquest of the French possessions there; but the Earl of Loudon was a feeble commander, and little was done until Wolfe was selected by Pitt to control the military operations. Wolfe, who had, with all the ardour of his nature, for several years unsuccessfully wooed Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir Wilfred Lawson of Isell, was now engaged to Miss Catherine Lowther, sister of Sir James, the first Earl, with whose family the Blakeneys had always had social intercourse. Bearing these facts in mind, it is therefore highly probable that the relationship of the two would be more intimate than the simple connection between commander and officer. The capture of Quebec was probably the last, as it was certainly the most striking, event in his military career; and beyond that, indistinctly seen it is true, no more can be discerned. A portrait of the Duke of Cumberland was hung up beside those we have already named, and a later hand suspended on the wall a painting of the "Death of Wolfe." He died February 25th, 1779, and his beloved wife survived him until the 17th of September, 1800. Both were buried in the same tomb as Captain John Blakeney.

A numerous family was born to this attached pair, of whom Robert was the principal. His birth took place in 1758, and he was appointed to an Ensigncy in the Durham Militia, August 16th, 1779, by the Lord Lieutenant of that county, Henry, second Earl of Darlington, who had married Margaret, the sister of Wolfe's inamorata, and of James, first Earl of Lonsdale. His marriage license with Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Burrows, Esquire,

Collector of Customs at Whitehaven, bears date 10th March, 1780, when both bride and bridegroom were of the mature age of 21 years. Their wedded life was not prolonged to old age, for his second marriage with Margaret, daughter of the Rev. Samuel D'Elbœuf Edwards, of Pentre Hall, Montgomeryshire, took place several years before his death. By neither marriage had he any children. He was appointed a Deputy-Lieutenant for the county of Cumberland by William, first Earl of Lonsdale of the second creation, on the 6th August, 1811. His will bears date 3rd June, 1818, to which a codicil was attached 22nd October, 1822. He died at his house on the east side of Cross Street, at the corner of Irish Street, Whitehaven, on November 6th, 1822, and was buried at Distington in the family vault. His wife Margaretta survived till February 14th, 1828. His furniture, paintings, books, etc., were sold in the following month; and judging from the two latter, he seems to have been a man of considerable literary taste and aquirements. At the time of his decease he held the office of Collectorship of Customs, previously filled by his father-in-law. He had long survived his two brothers -John, whose will bears date 16th April, 1784; and Theophilus, who was bound apprentice as a seaman to Daniel Brocklebank for two years, November 5th, 1785.

Thus died out in this branch the name of Blakeney. These three brothers had three sisters-Catharine who was never married, and who died circa 1827; Sarah, married to the Rev. - Henderson, whose descendants now live in an obscure position; and Margaret, married to the Rev. William Atkinson, whose only son, Thomas, deserted from his ship at Quebec in 1821, and was heard of no

more.

And now,

"When their age had all gone down

To mingle with its native dust,
And time their deeds had overgrown,"

it is sad to find that their memorial stones, which bear no fulsome epitaphs, should be disturbed.

It is hoped that this record of who these Blakeneys were, and what they did, may prevent further desecration. It is now useless

to quote, in appeal, the first line of the inscription on Shakespeare's tomb,

"Blest be the man that spares these stones."

It will be unnecessary surely to use the anathema in the second,

"Cursed be he that moves my bones."

33

V.

The Diary of a Westmorland Lady.

Read before the Whitehaven Scientific Association, April 22nd, 1873; and reprinted from the "Carlisle Patriot," April 25th and May 2nd, 1873.

HAVE to apologise to the members of our Society for at least a further postponement of the lecture which I undertook to deliver on "The Heraldry of Cumberland and Westmorland," and I have to assure you that the postponement has not arisen from neglect of the subject on my part, but rather, the more closely I have studied it, the more I have felt that still further investigation of the history of the two counties, and the genealogy and alliances of their leading families, was essential to its satisfactory treatment. I have discovered within the last few days that my friend Mr. R. S. Ferguson, the author of that unique and excellent work on "The M.P.'s and Lord Lieutenants of Cumberland and Westmorland," is engaged in the same field of research, and it may be that I may abandon to one so much more competent than I can pretend to be, the deciphering of the bright colours, and, to unpractised eyes, the mysterious hieroglyphics emblazoned on many of our ancient shields.

Through the kindness of my friend Mr. Carrick, of Carlisle, I have been entrusted with a copy of certain manuscripts connected with the ancient family of Clifford, which have never been printed, though the Surtees Society has long promised them to its subscribers, and I propose to make extracts from one portion of them, with some comments on the same, which I hope may at