The Countess of Derby continued to be on bad
terms with her eldest son. In right of her marriage
settlement she possessed the estate of Knowsley, in
Lancashire. She writes to her sister-in-law : — " The
Isle of Man was restored to my son Derby imme-
diately after the arrival of the King. Monsieur his
late father gave it to me for twenty-one years; and
my son, without saying a word to me, after I had
helped him in prison, and maintained him and all his
family, has treated me in this manner ! Our friends
advise me strongly to come to some agreement by
which I should have half the revenue. But I do not
believe I shall get anything, except by force. His
wife is a person without a single good quality. What
shocks me most of all in her is, that she never speaks
the truth, and that she makes her husband do things
that are quite unworthy of him, which, however, I fear,
he is too much inclined to do ; and I apprehend there
will be complaints of him from the Parliament, for not
acting legally in his government of the provinces of
Lancashire and Chester, having raised money and
v)vcrtaxed the people ; but I cannot help it, as I

;im quite a stranger to his proceedings

As for that sword which has been restored to my
son, 1 cannot tell what it means ; for Monsieur his
father never had any carried before him in the Isle



LIFE AT COURT. 2"] V

of Man. It is a piece of his wife's vanity to have
it put in the Gazette."

The Earl of Derby had never made a display of
those insignia of royalty to which the possession of
the Isle of Man entitled him, and he had advised his
son to follow his example, having written in his last
instructions to him ; — " Some might think it a mark of
grandeur that the lords of this island have been called
kings, and I might be of that opinion if I knew how
this country could maintain itself independent of other
nations, and that I had no interest in another place.
