complain of his conduct, nor appeared to admire him less.'

The story of Miss Mitford's 2O,OOO pounds is unique among the
adventures of authoresses. Dr. Mitford, having spent all his wife's
fortune, and having brought his family from a comfortable home, with
flowers and a Turkey carpet, to a small lodging near Blackfriars
Bridge, determined to present his daughter with an expensive lottery
ticket on the occasion of her tenth birthday. She had a fancy for
No. 2224, of which the added numbers came to 10. This number
actually came out the first prize of 2O,OOO pounds, which money
started the family once more in comparative affluence. Dr. Mitford
immediately built a new square house, which he calls Bertram House,
on the site of a pretty old farmhouse which he causes to be pulled
down. He also orders a dessert-service painted with the Mitford
arms; Mrs. Mitford is supplied with a carriage, and she subscribes
to a circulating library.

A list still exists of the books taken out by her for her daughter's
use; some fifty-five volumes a month, chiefly trash: 'Vicenza,' 'A
Sailor's Friendship and Soldier's Love,' 'Clarentina,' 'Robert and
Adela,' 'The Count de Valmont,' 'The Three Spaniards,' 'De Clifford'
(in four volumes) and so on.

The next two or three years were brilliant enough; for the family
must have lived at the rate of three or four thousand a year. Their
hospitality was profuse, they had servants, carriages, they bought
pictures and furniture, they entertained. Cobbett was among their
intimate friends. The Doctor naturally enough invested in a good
many more lottery tickets, but without any further return.