Monmouth) told Mrs. Thomas, ’that she knew she had a large reckoning with the deceased, but, says she, as you know not what to demand, so I know not what to pay; come, madam, I will do better for you than a random reckoning, I have now no child, and have taken a fancy to your daughter; give me the girl, I will breed her as my own, and provide for her as such when I die.’  The widow thank’d her ladyship, but with a little too much warmth replied, ’she would not part with her child on any terms;’ which the countess resented to such a degree, that she would never see her more, and dying in a few years, left 1500 l. per annum inheritance, at Stepney, to her chambermaid.

Thus were misfortunes early entailed upon this lady.  A proposal which would have made her opulent for life, was defeated by the unreasonable fondness of her mother, who lived to suffer its dismal consequences, by tasting the bitterest distresses.  We have already observed, that Mrs. Thomas thought proper to retire to the country with her daughter.  The house where she boarded was an eminent Cloth-worker’s in the county of Surry, but the people of the house proved very disagreeable.  The lady had no conversation to divert her; the landlord was an illiterate man, and the rest of the family brutish, and unmannerly.  At last Mrs. Thomas attracted the notice of Dr. Glysson, who observing her at church very splendidly dressed, sollicited her acquaintance.  He was a valuable piece of antiquity, being then, 1684, in the hundredth year of his age.  His person was tall, his bones very large, his hair like snow, a venerable aspect, and a complexion, which might shame the bloom of fifteen.  He enjoyed a sound judgment, and a memory so tenacious, and clear, that his company was very engaging.  His visits greatly alleviated the solitude of this lady.  The last visit he made to Mrs. Thomas, he drew on, with much attention, a pair of rich Spanish leather gloves, embost on the backs, and tops with gold embroidery, and fringed round with gold plate.  The lady could not help expressing her curiosity, to know the history of those gloves, which he seemed to touch with so much respect.  He answered, ’I do respect them, for the last time I had the honour of approaching my mistress, Queen Elizabeth, she pulled them from her own Royal hands, saying, here Glysson, wear them for my sake.  I have done so with veneration, and never drew them on, but when I had a mind to honour those whom I visit, as I now do you; and since you love the memory of my Royal mistress, take them, and preserve them carefully when I am gone.’  The Dr. then went home, and died in a few days.