Truth is Stranger than Fiction. this : Hugh Smyth was married on the i cth of May, 1796, to Jane Vandenburgh, a daugh ter of Count Vandenburgh, at the residence of a Mrs. Bernard, afterwards the Countess of Brandon. The great Irish rebellion at just that time breaking out, the Countess of Bran don and two of her friends, the Marchioness of Bath and Mrs. Jane Smyth, came to Eng land and went to reside at number I, Royal Crescent, Bath (Somersetshire). For some unexplained reason, Mrs. Smyth left her aristocratic acquaintances, and removed to U'armnister, to the cottage of a poor carpen ter named Provis, where, after the birth of the plaintiff, she died, the child being left in the care of a woman named Lydia Reed. During early childhood, the boy was sent to local schools, and afterwards to Winchester College, where the payments on his behalf were made by Sir Hugh Smyth's butler, a man named Grace. Now, according to the plaintiff's story, Grace falsely reported to Sir Hugh that his son (the plaintiff) died in 1814. At about that time the Marchioness of Bath gave the plaintiff .£1,500, with which he started to travel, and remained on the European continent, without visiting England for the twelve years from 181410 1826. When the Marchioness handed him the money, she told him that her steward, Mr. Davis, at Warminster, had a quantity of property belonging to his (the plaintiff's) mother, consisting of her Bible, pictures and jeu-elry, which might be of great use to him. On his return to England he found that hjs father was dead, and his uncle, Sir John Smyth, was in possession of the family es tates; but, strange to say, the plaintiff, al though without means, did not think it worth while to make himself known, or claim his birthright; on the contrary, he travelled about the country, lecturing on education, under the name of Dr. Smith. In those days in England anybody who liked might call himself " doctor," without being ridiculed, much as it is in some of the States at the
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present time. This point must be borne in mind, as according to the plaintiff's own ad mission, Smith was an assumed name, and a man who has deliberately passed for a long period under one assumed name may not be very particular about using another. How ever that might be, one point was clear, viz : that, although he was without means, he did not ask for the £20,000 per annum to which, according to his own story, he was legally en titled. The lecturing business continued until 1835, and while the plaintiff was con tinually travelling about the country, he neither went to see his uncle, nor to secure the articles in the possession of Mr. Davis at Warminster. Ascertaining, in 1838, that Mr. Davis was dead, he went and saw Mr. Provis, in whose house he was born. The following is the plaintiff's own description of their last in terview : " I then saw old Mr. Provis, who was living at Fromс (Somersetshire). I had some words with him for obstinately refusing to give me any information concerning my mother. He said he would say nothing fur ther. I was taken away from his house at so early a period of life that he never troubled himself any further. I had seen him several times before. This was the last interview. He seemed to draw back. I used some hard expressions, and he struck me with his stick on the head. I told him it was the last time I should call upon him. He had struck me and had no right to do so. I put him down in a chair. The words I used were : ' How dare you strike me?' I was going away when he called me back, took me upstairs to his bedroom, opened his bureau, and gave me the Bible and the jewelry. A large picture, said to be that of my father, hung in the room below. He also asked me to pledge my word that I would follow his directions. I assured him that I would. He then gave into my hands a bundle of papers, sealed up, with directions to take them to Mr. Phelps, a solicitor, at Warminster. I
