evidently without foundation, by declaring, one fine morning, Lord David

Dirry-Moir sole and positive heir in default of legitimate issue, and

by his royal pleasure, of Lord Linnæus Clancharlie, his natural father,

the absence of all other issue and descent being established, patents

of which grant were registered in the House of Lords. By these patents

the king instituted Lord David Dirry-Moir in the titles, rights, and

prerogatives of the late Lord Linnæus Clancharlie, on the sole

condition that Lord David should wed, when she attained a marriageable

age, a girl who was, at that time, a mere infant a few months old, and

whom the king had, in her cradle, created a duchess, no one knew exactly

why; or, rather, every one knew why. This little infant was called the

Duchess Josiana.

The English fashion then ran on Spanish names. One of Charles II.'s

bastards was called Carlos, Earl of Plymouth. It is likely that Josiana

was a contraction for Josefa-y-Ana. Josiana, however, may have been a

name--the feminine of Josias. One of Henry VIII.'s gentlemen was called

Josias du Passage.

It was to this little duchess that the king granted the peerage of

Clancharlie. She was a peeress till there should be a peer; the peer

should be her husband. The peerage was founded on a double castleward,

the barony of Clancharlie and the barony of Hunkerville; besides, the

barons of Clancharlie were, in recompense of an ancient feat of arms,

and by royal licence, Marquises of Corleone, in Sicily.

Peers of England cannot bear foreign titles; there are, nevertheless,

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The Man Who Laughs