But George the Third, with all his firmness, was doomed to frequent
discomfiture. His lot was cast in troubled waters, and he had often to
deal with individuals as inflexible as himself. Benjamin Franklin was
not more calmly contumacious than the individual whom his treason had
made an English peer. In that age of violence, change and panic, power,
directed by a clear brain and an obdurate spirit, could not fail of its
aim; and so it turned out, that, in the very teeth of the royal will,
the simple country gentleman, whose very name was forgotten, became,
at the commencement of this century, Duke of Bellamont, Marquis of
Montacute, Earl of Bellamont, Dacre, and Villeroy, with all the baronies
of the Plantagenets in addition. The only revenge of the king was, that
he never would give the Duke of Bellamont the garter. It was as well
perhaps that there should be something for his son to desire.
The Duke and Duchess of Bellamont were the handsomest couple in England,
and devoted to each other, but they had only one child. Fortunately,
that child was a son. Precious life! The Marquis of Montacute was
married before he was of age. Not a moment was to be lost to find heirs
for all these honours. Perhaps, had his parents been less precipitate,
their object might have been more securely obtained.
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