The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 207: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

182 REYNOLDS’ WORKS was a touching reflection, made by the twins to each other, that the hapless Lavinia had taken that eternal flight at such a moment to intercede at the footstool of eternal grace for the man to whom, notwithstanding all his crimes, her heart was devoted. It was now communicated to all the domestics and to the surrounding tenantry that our young hero was Duke of Marchmont. He received their respectful homage with a becoming modesty, and he gave orders that the funeral of the deceased husband and wife should be con- ducted with all possible privacy. They were interred in the family vault of the village church; and thus terminated the career of a man whose life was full of misdeeds, and of a lady whose soul was spotless. Wilson Stanhope, Mrs. Oxenden, and Armytage were re- leased from their captivity, according to the queen’s promise; and they all three had their own good reasons for maintaining a profound silence in respect to the transactions in which they had played a part at Oaklands. Madame Angelique executed a deed, which Mr. Coleman drew up, transferring the bulk of her property to certain charitable institutions in the metropolis, and she was then suffered to take her de- parture from Oaklands, bitterly repenting that she had ever mixed herself up in the affairs of the late owner of that man- sion. The Burker was conveyed away secretly, and under circumstances of all possible precaution, by the two Hindus, and in a deep disguise, as well as under a feigned name, he was placed on board a ship bound for the East Indies. The embalmed corpse of Sagoonah was interred in the church- yard of the village of Oaklands. We have purposely avoided entering as yet into any details calculated to clear up the mysteries attending the fate of the Duchess Eliza after her flight from Oaklands, as well as the birth of her twin children, because we shall presently have to describe the whole of the evidence which was given before a committee of privileges appointed by the House of Lords to investigate the claim of Christian to the Marchmont peerage. But before commencing those important explanations, we will lay before the reader the substance of the confession made by the deceased nobleman, in the presence of Mr. Coleman; Purvis, and the physician, and which the solicitor duly committed to paper. In doing this we shall have to make repeated references to the opening chapters of our ECORUICOOOKS (E()