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reinstatement, in all his estates and dignities, of Lord Fermain
Clancharlie, miscalled Gwynplaine, on the sole condition that he should
be confronted with the criminal Hardquanonne, and identified by the
same. And on this point the chancellor, as constitutional keeper of the
royal conscience, based the royal decision. The Lord Chancellor added in
a postscript that if Hardquanonne refused to answer he should be
subjected to the peine forte et dure, until the period called the
frodmortell, according to the statute of King Athelstane, which orders
the confrontation to take place on the fourth day. In this there is a
certain inconvenience, for if the prisoner dies on the second or third
day the confrontation becomes difficult; still the law must be obeyed.
The inconvenience of the law makes part and parcel of it. In the mind of
the Lord Chancellor, however, the recognition of Gwynplaine by
Hardquanonne was indubitable.
Anne, having been made aware of the deformity of Gwynplaine, and not
wishing to wrong her sister, on whom had been bestowed the estates of
Clancharlie, graciously decided that the Duchess Josiana should be
espoused by the new lord--that is to say, by Gwynplaine.
The reinstatement of Lord Fermain Clancharlie was, moreover, a very
simple affair, the heir being legitimate, and in the direct line.
In cases of doubtful descent, and of peerages in abeyance claimed by
collaterals, the House of Lords must be consulted. This (to go no
further back) was done in 1782, in the case of the barony of Sydney,
claimed by Elizabeth Perry; in 1798, in that of the barony of Beaumont,
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