of some of the letters written from Matson.

Selwyn's was a life devoid of stirring incidents, and from the date
at which his correspondence with Lord Carlisle begins the course of
his days is indicated in his letters. It is sufficient, therefore,
to state that he died at his house in Cleveland Row, St. James's, on
the 25th of January, 1791, still a Member of Parliament, in the
place where his life had been passed and among his innumerable
friends.

In one sense his life had been solitary, for he was never married;
but an unusual love for the young which was a charming and
remarkable characteristic, singularly opposed to many of his habits,
had been centred on the child whom he called Mie Mie,* the daughter
of an Italian lady, the Marchesa Fagniani, who was for some time in
England with her husband. The origin of Selwyn's interest in the
child is obscure, but the story of his affection is striking and
unusual.

From a letter written by the Marchesa Fagniani to Selwyn in 1772 it
is evident that Mie Mie, then about a year old, had been with him
for some months, and in 1774 Lord Carlisle congratulates him upon
the certainty of the child's remaining with him. The first mention
of her in these letters occurs under date of July 23, 1774, where we
have a picture of Selwyn, drawn by himself. He is sitting on his
steps, the pretty, foreign-looking child in his arms, pleased at the
attention she attracts. When she was four she was taken to pay
visits with him; but it is difficult at this time to know if he or
the Earl of March had charge of her.