Maria Riddell, the Friend of Burns. 23 



careful recipient among her treasures. Signing himself 

 " T. C, Poet Laureate of Montserral," he exclaims: — 



" Maria, with a friend like you 

 I could be happy in a cell ; 

 Especially if Anna too 

 Would in our little cottage dwell. "16 



Maria came back to England, presumably for her edu- 

 cation, but returned to Antigua in 1790 with her parents. 

 It may have been on this occasion that she met her future 

 husband, and she was not yet eighteen when, on September 

 i6th, 1790, she married Walter Riddell^'' in St. Kitts, as his 

 second wife. His first wife had been Ann, only child and 

 heiress of William Henry Doig^^ of Antigua, whom he 

 married at St. Marylebone Parish Church, London, on June 

 ist, 1786,1^ and who died childless at Hampstead on May 5th, 

 1787,20 leaving him her Antiguan property known as " Doig's 



16 Much of the foregoing information has been obtained from 

 Maria Riddell's papers. See Footnote 1. 



17 Walter Riddell was born on March 4tli, 17G4. At the age of 

 fifteen (April 21st, 1779) he was appointed Ensign in the 51st 

 Regiment of Foot, then quartered at Minorca, and he became Aide- 

 de-Camp to the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir William Draper, K.B. 

 With the rest of the garrison Riddell was made a prisoner of war 

 by the Spaniards in Febriiary, 1782. He subsequently received a 

 Lieutenancy in the 81st (Highland) Regiment of Foot (December 

 18th, 1782), but after the general peace in 1783 he was placed on 

 half pay. "A miniature on ivory. Portrait of Walter RiddelL 

 aficribed to TTimer, in gold locket frame" ; was part (lot 61) of the 

 property of the late Dr A. de Noe W^alker sold, by direction of 

 his executors, by Messrs Foster, 54 Pall Mall, on December 13th, 

 1900 ; it was purchased by Mr E. M. Hodgkins, of 15Sb New Bond 

 Street, for £78 15s, but cannot now be ti-aced. Mr Hodgkins, how- 

 ever, possesses another miniature of Walter Riddell with powdered 

 hair, wearing dark blue coat, white waistcoat, and white cravat ; 

 signed and dated on the reverse " R. Cosway, 1791," which was 

 bought at Messrs Chi-istie's (lot 58) on November 26th, 1902, by Mr 

 Hodgkins for £'210. (See illustration, facing p. 24.) 



18 For a pedigree of the Doig Family see The History of the 

 Island of Antigua, by Vere Langford Oliver, vol. i. (1894), pp. 

 204-207. 



19 Extract froai the Parish lU^gister of AFarriages. 



20 The Seats Maijazine (1787), p. 258. 



