They were a house
called "English-Irish," and "inside the pale," which means that they
stood high in British favour, and contributed heroes to the army or
navy from each of their hardy generations. They had no title, but to
be The Warren of Warrenstown, Meath, was to be entitled to look down
with disdain upon upstart baronets and newly created peers. Sir.
Christopher Aylmer's daughter, Catherine, was honoured to marry
Captain Michael Warren, and her brother, Admiral Lord Aylmer, only too
glad to take charge of her boy Peter later on.
Peter was the youngest of a family, composed with one exception of
boys, and the most ambitious of the lot. When he was nine years old
(he was born in 1703, by the bye), his father, Captain Michael, died,
and three years later the oldest son, Oliver, decided to send Peter to
his uncle Lord Aylmer to be trained for the service. Is it far-fetched
to assume that Oliver found his small brother something of a handful?
If Peter was one-quarter as pugnacious and foolhardy at twelve as he
was at forty, there is small wonder that a young man burdened with the
cares of a large estate and an orphaned family would be not unwilling
to get rid of him,--or at least of the responsibility of him.
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