[464b] Oxford and Bolingbroke.
[464e] George Ridpath (died 1726), a Whig journalist, of whom Pope (Dunciad, i. 208) wrote—
“To Dulness Ridpath is as dear as Mist.”
He edited the Flying Post for some years, and also wrote for the Medley in 1712. In September William Hurt and Ridpath were arrested for libellous and seditious articles, but were released on bail. On October 23 they appeared before the Court of Queen’s Bench, and were continued on their recognizances. In February 1713 Ridpath was tried and, in spite of an able defence by leading Whig lawyers, was convicted. Sentence was postponed, and when Ridpath failed to appear, as ordered, in April, his recognizances were escheated, and a reward offered for his discovery; but he had fled to Scotland, and from thence to Holland.
[466b] Lady Orkney’s sister, Barbara Villiers, who married John Berkeley, fourth Viscount Fitz-Hardinge, had been governess to the Duke of Gloucester, Queen Anne’s son. She died in 1708, in her fifty-second year; and on her husband’s death four years later the peerage became extinct.
[466c] For the street criers, see the Spectator, No. 251.
[466d] Addressed to “Mrs. Dingley.” Endorsed “Nov. 26, just come from Portraine”; and “The band-box plot—D: Hamilton’s murther.”