After the Seymour period, the Amesbury estates passed through different hands, belonging in 1720 to Henry, Lord Carleton; he having purchased them from Charles, Lord Bruce, son of the Earl of Ailesbury. Lord Carleton left them by will to his nephew, Charles, Duke of Queensberry, in 1724, who married the charming Lady Catherine Hyde in 1720. This couple spent much time at Amesbury, altering and improving it in various ways, and entertaining their friends. The poet Gay was a devoted friend and admirer of the Duchess, who, indeed, seems to have been an attractive woman of immense spirit and wit. She offended George II. and his Queen by her defence of Gay’s play, the _Beggars’ Opera_, and was forbidden the Court for some time; but she, standing firmly by her friend, refused to retract or alter her sentiments, and finally forced the Court to receive and forgive her. Here is a copy of her message to the King:— “_Feb._ 27_th_, 1729. “That the Duchess of Queensberry is surprised and well pleased the King has given her so agreeable a command as to stay from Court, where she never came for diversion, but to bestow a civility upon the King and Queen. She hopes, by such an unprecedented order as this, that the King will see as few as he wishes at his Court, particularly such as dare to think or speak truth. I dare not do otherwise, and ought not nor could not have imagin’d that it would not have been the very highest compliment that I could possibly pay the King, to endeavour to support truth and innocence in this house. (Signed) “C. QUEENSBERRY.”