of the statutes of the realm as might be considered by
the poor to be adverse to their interests. By his speeches he obtained
great success, and a sort of periodical that he issued, entitled _The
Lion_, was greedily bought and distributed. But it ran through eight
numbers only. The full title was "The Lion. The British Lion will be
free. Heaven is his throne and earth is his footstool. He spake and it
was done, he commanded and it stood fast. Liberty, truth bears off the
victory, independence."

He then started for Devonshire, accompanied by a gentleman who so
firmly believed in his pretensions that he defrayed his expenses to
the amount of a thousand pounds. This man, Mr. George Denne, and a
young surgeon named Robinson were completely duped by him. "My dearest
George," said the Knight of Malta to the former, "it may please Heaven
to take me in a short time from this sphere of my sublunary greatness,
to translate me to the beatitude of another world."

"I hope not, Sir William," said George Denne.

"But," continued Sir William, "I shall carry with me the pleasing
satisfaction of having provided in a truly princely manner for those
who, whilst I was on earth, had the sense and sagacity to see into the
nobility of my character, and to acknowledge me as Lord Viscount William
Courtenay, of Powderham Castle, Knight of Malta, King of Jerusalem,
Prince of Arabia, King of the Gypsies, and all the other honours and
titles which by descent or creation belong to me. To you, therefore,
George Denne, I bequeath the Hales' estate, with the proviso that you
erect a monument on the highest ground on that estate to the memory of
me, the great Lord of Devon, the regenerator of the world, and one of
the greatest benefactors whom the human race ever saw."

In like manner he bequeathed to Mr. Robinson the whole of Powderham
Castle and all its valuable paintings, together with one-half of the
lands belonging to the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral.

It will hardly be credited to what an extent he was run after at
Canterbury. 