THE duke's library 257 



his own intentions. The legacy-duty amounted to 

 £120,000. List to this, ye owners of wealth, with the 

 terror, ' Death Duties,' before you ! 



The reader need not now ask — Why were Drum- 

 lanrig and Neidpath denuded of timber, the estates 

 of March leased for cash at nominal rents, Charles, 

 third Duke of Queensberry's old equine pensioners 

 sold, or large but ' canny ' wagers made, or covered, 

 in the ring or at the gaming-table ? The result of one 

 and all point, 'pour y parvenir,' and that to benefit 

 the daughter of Madame Fagniani, her husband and 

 children. True, he might have left them all his ever- 

 accumulating wealth, but he evidently did not wish 

 to act in so pronounced a fashion as his deceased 

 friend Selwyn. He had never encouraged the notion 

 of the ' adopted ' daughter in his case. 



As residuary legatee Lord Yarmouth (who after- 

 wards, on the death of his father, became third Marquis 

 of Hertford ^) took the initiative in the legal proceed- 

 ings. But notwithstanding the law's delays, many 

 things could be and were done by the executors, 

 under the eye of the court — the realisation of the 

 deceased's personal property, as well as handing over 

 specific legacies, if not 'codiciled' out of legal formality. 

 Therefore I find as early as February 19th, 1811, the 



^ The Lord Steyne of Thackeray's scathing Vanity Fair. 

 R 



