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-Project Gutenberg's The Exclusives, Vol I., by Charlotte Campbell Bury
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-
-
-Title: The Exclusives, Vol I.
-
-Author: Charlotte Campbell Bury
-
-Release Date: October 13, 2017 [EBook #55744]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EXCLUSIVES, VOL I. ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Chris Whitehead and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images generously made available by The
-Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-  THE
-  EXCLUSIVES.
-
-  VOL. I.
-
-
-
-
-  THE
-  EXCLUSIVES.
-
-  IN THREE VOLUMES.
-
-  VOL. I.
-
-  SECOND EDITION.
-
-  LONDON:
-  HENRY COLBURN AND RICHARD BENTLEY,
-  NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
-
-  1830.
-
-
-
-
-  LONDON:
-
-  Printed by J. L. Cox, Great Queen Street,
-  Lincoln's-Inn Fields.
-
-
-
-
-THE EXCLUSIVES.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-THE BOUDOIR.
-
-
-The boudoir of a woman of fashion exhibits in its history, if
-faithfully recorded, a picture of the manners, modes, and morals of the
-times; and, however little such things in themselves might deserve to
-be handed down, or registered as objects of imitation, yet to chronicle
-them for the day would not be without its use. The sensible part of
-mankind would laugh at the follies, and wonder at the extravagance,
-which the page of such ephemeral history unfolded; while the actors in
-the scene might possibly view in the mirror held up to them their own
-lives, and their own actions, in a new and truer light.
-
-Lady Tilney's boudoir,--the boudoir _par excellence_,--was not in fact
-a boudoir, according to the old legitimate meaning of the word. Indeed,
-Lady Tilney herself, the presiding deity of the sanctuary, professed
-her contempt of legitimacy in boudoirs, as well as in sovereigns; at
-least she did so in words, though, like many other professors, her
-words and actions frequently contradicted each other; and it may be
-questioned if there are any greater despots, than those who inveigh
-most against despotism.
-
-But to return from this digression to the boudoir. Lady Tilney's
-boudoir was destined to the reception of far other votaries than
-those of the old _rabattu_ god of love. No: her boudoir was visited
-by persons of a very different character from those who were formerly
-the frequenters of such a scene. Authors, poets, political intriguers,
-artists, and committees for the management of the state of society,
-formed the chief personages among those who figured there, and their
-business was of a very different complexion from that of the supposed
-use, or original meaning ascribed to a boudoir.
-
-In the former, of old, the painted harpsichord, the huge cabinet, the
-gigantic chimney-piece, the tapestried wall, were suited to the silken
-garb, and bag and sword, that formed the attire of the male part of
-its visitants; as well as to the hoop and fly-cap of the ladies who
-presided there. In this modern temple of idolatry, only a few of
-the ancient decorations were allowed a place, such as the marquetry
-cabinet, the _or-moulu_ clock, or vase of China; but for the rest, what
-a change!
-
-Volumes of worth, and works of merit and deep learning, were now
-covered by the novels of the day, or hidden by trivial elegancies newly
-imported from Paris; while on the walls, the rare productions of Titian
-or Vandyck were intermingled with some chalky portrait of the modern
-school, tricked out in the millinery geer of the fashion of the day.
-Scattered on the tables, however, there was a redeeming feature in the
-character of the decorative objects which met the eye, for there lay
-some richly chased gold ornaments, the works of Benvenuto Cellini, or
-some one not less skilful, though it may be of forgotten name; and
-while these ornamented the apartment, they served the double purpose of
-affording Lady Tilney an opportunity, not only to discourse on their
-beauty, but to enter into all the particulars of Cellini's strange life.
-
-Add to this description of the boudoir and its visitants, the
-occasional presence of Lady Tilney's beautiful children, and its
-portraiture is closed; but not so the genius and history of all the
-transactions, councils, and cabals which took place there. These will
-be best understood, by passing from the boudoir to Lady Tilney's own
-character and pursuits; if to describe these by any means were indeed
-possible: but it would be an endless, hopeless task, to enumerate all
-that Lady Tilney did, or fancied _she did_--still more what she said;
-for to do her justice, her's was no vapid existence of the mere routine
-of a London lady's life.
-
-No--indolence was not the besetting sin, insipidity was not the vice
-of her _morale_ or her _physique_. But as to enumerating severally the
-subjects which employed her care, and the various branches of these
-subjects into which she diverged, that indeed would be difficult. Her
-life and occupations may, perhaps, be best delineated by representing
-them as one vast bazar of interests, all equally claiming her
-attention--"the court, the camp, the senate, and the field:" certainly
-the field of Newmarket, where it is said she regulated her husband's
-calculations and interests with great success.
-
-These objects, and many more than these, which, as the charlatans say
-at the end of their lists, are too tedious to mention, filled up the
-life of this laborious and distinguished lady. Nor were her labours
-less onerous in managing the government of the society of _ton_. Her
-rule was there despotic--her word was law;--and if some few persons
-pretended to step aside, not following the fashionable multitude in
-bowing the knee to Baal, or ventured to think for themselves in the
-circle in which she moved, immediately, as though by an enchanter's
-wand, they were banished thence, and some more amalgamating spirit
-was chosen to fill up the vacancy. There was a kind of air-gun fired,
-which was sure to hit the mark, without betraying the hand that drew
-the trigger: a sort of _lettre-de-cachet_, as effectual as those
-promulgated in the times of Louis le Grand, which consigned to oblivion
-the offending persons, while the victims themselves could not fathom
-any cause or assign any particular reason for the sentence.
-
-Nevertheless, in the very midst of this ruling and reigning, this
-despotic sway in the court of _ton_, a secret dissatisfaction existed
-in the breast of Lady Tilney. She, indeed, was one of those haughty
-liberals who affect to despise kings and courts; not because they
-dislike those necessary evils, as they call them, but because they are
-themselves, or would be if they could, the greatest of all sovereigns.
-
-Notwithstanding, therefore, the high ground of rank and situation
-on which she stood, it rankled at her heart to have offended her
-sovereign, and to feel herself an object of just dislike to him; for,
-however great the magnanimity shewn to her on the occasion of her
-offence, still to be aware that, under circumstances, she could no
-longer be considered a favourite at court, was in itself a source of
-the deepest mortification. Impressed with this consciousness, what was
-to be done? Why, render all courts the subject of flippant raillery;
-vote them and their sovereigns old-fashioned bores; erect herself into
-a queen, and have a court of her own. In truth, this plan agreed better
-with her self-love than any other; because sovereigns and courts, in as
-far as regards the outward decorum of forms, regulate and keep society
-in its proper course; whereas, under the sham dynasty of _ton_, caprice
-bears rule, and tyranny in its worst sense marks the conduct of those
-who sit on its ephemeral throne.
-
-Connected with this system, the pride of ancestry too was necessarily
-another subject of ridicule with Lady Tilney, who thought that those
-who, on such grounds, pretended to take any lead in the world of
-fashion, had much better retire to their castles, and there indulge in
-dreams of their greatness.
-
-Nor did Lady Tilney's thirst for power end with her effort for
-universal dominion in matters of _ton_--she had another ambition,
-that of leading and controlling the political party to which she had
-attached herself. Here, however, her sway was more imaginary than real;
-and often the long-headed politician, or crafty diplomate, as they
-listened with apparent complacency to her advice, allowed her words
-to fall unheeded on their ear, or laughed at her in secret. With the
-young and uninformed aspirants in the career of political life, Lady
-Tilney had, perhaps, more success; and many a rising scion of a noble
-house has been known to adopt, under the influence of her smiles, and
-from a foolish vanity of being noticed by her, a line of conduct quite
-at variance with the wishes of their parents, and to the sacrifice of
-their own best interests.
-
-In this grasp at power, however successfully achieved, Lady Tilney felt
-herself ill at ease--her mind was continually harassed by reflections
-on the tottering and uncertain tenure of _ton_, and the possibility,
-nay, probability, of some younger, newer person, climbing to the
-envied seat which she then possessed. The fear of a certain Duchess
-of Hermanton was constantly before her imagination, as the embodied
-object of her alarm; and she considered it as a measure little short
-of self-preservation, to secure her influence, if possible, on a still
-firmer basis, by some decided act, or the invention of some fresh
-folly. As to Almack's, that circle of exclusiveness had been polluted;
-its brief course was run, and its brightness on the decline.
-
-The more Lady Tilney reflected on the subject, the more she became
-convinced of the expediency of her intentions; and determined,
-therefore, to mature her plan immediately. Having despatched her notes
-to the Comtesse Leinsengen, Lady Tenderden, and Lady Ellersby, she
-commanded that no one should be admitted to her presence but themselves.
-
-"Yet stay, Destouches," she added to the page, as she issued her
-orders; "Prince Luttermanne by all means, should he call." And then,
-having given audience to three cooks, four painters, two authors, an
-authoress, and several milliners, she finished with advice to a poet
-and a critique upon his work.
-
-Lady Tilney, before the arrival of the personages she had written to
-(for Lady Tilney knew the value of intervals), arranged her list of
-engagements; tossing some into the fire--with the velocity of one well
-practised in the weight, measure, and value of names; and examining
-others of more importance. She determined to mar all that might
-interfere with her own views in society.--"Mrs. Annesly, truly what
-a griffin! and the Countess of Delamere, and Lady Melcombe!--but the
-Marchioness of Borrowdale! that indeed requires attention." Lady Tilney
-rang the bell--Destouches appeared in a minute--the peculiar hasty
-touch of call was known to the well-appointed page. "Send Arquimbeaud
-here!" and the distinguished Arquimbeaud soon obeyed the summons. "I
-have determined to have a party, Arquimbeaud, next Thursday; see that
-cards are issued for that day, according to this list."
-
-As he withdrew, Comtesse Leinsengen was announced. The immense bonnet
-and deep veil--the splendid cashmere and still long petticoats
-(although they were generally worn very much shortened), afforded a
-favourable costume to the lady who now advanced; certain defects were
-thus concealed, and imagination might lend that delicacy of slimness
-and form to the feet and ancles which pervaded the rest of the person,
-but which did not characterize those of the Comtesse.
-
-The rapid volubility of the one lady, and the sharp short sentences
-of the other, began the conference. Lady Tilney placed the most
-luxurious of all the luxurious chairs close to the fire, pushed
-forward the screen, and with the eagerness of apparent friendship,
-seemed to wish to make her visitor quite at home: or, as she expressed
-it, "deliciously comfortable." "You have learned that word now,
-dear Comtesse,--indeed you have adopted it; and there is no one who
-understands the thing so perfectly as yourself."
-
-Midst all these courtesies and courtings the Comtesse observed a
-sort of abstracted air, though they were (and so far Lady Tilney was
-sincere) things of course.
-
-"My dear Comtesse, I am so glad we have a minute alone, to discuss
-our plans. I have many things of consequence to say to you; but before
-I begin I must speak to you of that horrible affair of poor Lady
-Mailing's; it is quite impossible to support her any longer, for you
-are aware her secret is publicly known. So long as she was prudent,
-and observed appearances, it was all very well; but _now_ it will
-be impossible for me to receive her. You know I never did receive
-any body who placed themselves in a similar situation--not even my
-own relations; my character has always been _intacte_, and I cannot
-_compromète_ myself, though I am very sorry for poor Lady Mailing;
-and had she only avoided this _esclandre_, and managed her affair
-prudently, I would have stood by her to the end; but as it is--"
-
-"Oh, certainly not," interrupted the Comtesse; "you must be conscious
-that every one knows Lady Tilney's high reputation, and it would never
-be supposed dat you would countenance a belle passion; vraiment, quand
-on est tellement dupe as to sacrifice sa position dans le monde, to a
-man's vanity, or to be playing de sentimentale at forty, it is quite
-enough to make one sick, and she well deserves to be vat you call
-blown. _Mais, de grâce_, do not let us prose more about her--_vat
-sinifies?_"
-
-"Oh, very true, and then there are other matters of so much greater
-consequence to consider. Do you really think that this administration
-will hold--you who are in all the secrets?--positively you must tell
-me. I am sure if that man (lowering her voice to a whisper) is at the
-head of affairs, all must go wrong--poor England! what will become of
-you? But we will never allow that--shall we?"
-
-"Oh! trève de politiques, ma chere, si vous m'aimez; it is a subject
-quite marital, and therefore, you know, not at all in my way. What I
-want to revolutionize, or rather to reform, is your state of society."
-
-"Precisely, my dear Comtesse, it is the very subject on which I wished
-to talk to you, when I wrote requesting to see you--you received my
-note, did you not?"
-
-"Oh, yes; but it is an affair on which we hold such very different
-opinions. My maxim is, se bien amuser d'après sa propre volonté--that
-is what I want to do; and to tell you the truth, I am ennuyé à la mort
-in your London world--every thing is so stupid here! Vat signify dat
-tiresome Almack, after all? It was good enough at first, when it put
-people in a passion, et pendant que se faisoit fureur; but now that,
-somehow or oder, you liberales admitted every petite demoiselle vid her
-red elbows, and vulgar mama to take care of her, it has lost all its
-character, and I positively intend to withdraw my name. Besides, de
-lady patronesses cannot even maintain a seat at de top of de room--de
-oder night I find Lady Melcombe and her daughter perch up in my seat;
-and though I walked over them and stared them down, dey positively took
-no hint, but sat still so comfortably vulgar it was quite provoking.
-No, no, my dear, Almack's day is finish and de thing must fall--so
-never stay by a falling friend; when a person or a ting begins to
-totter, leave it."
-
-"Very true," rejoined Lady Tilney; "there is much truth in what you
-advise (and she looked very grave). But then, you know, my dear
-Comtesse, you must consider the independence of our constitution--which
-makes it very difficult--"
-
-"Not to have a stupid society.--Agreed."
-
-"But the great number of our nobility," rejoined Lady Tilney, "and the
-weight and consequence of a still greater number of influential members
-in the other house"----
-
-"Renders all your pretences of a société choisie mere pretence."
-
-"Pardon me, Comtesse, you have yourself owned that my parties are
-select; and you yourself, although in a public situation, contrive
-to leave out those who do not suit your purpose. After all, what can
-tend more to the preservation of society?--than such impertinence" was
-on Lady Tilney's tongue; but she checked herself, and added with a
-little cough that gave time for reflexion: "What can tend more to the
-maintenance of a société distinguée than the exercise of this choice,
-made without reference to the rank or situation of the parties, but
-merely dependent on the voice of the few who are formed to lead?"
-
-"Very true," rejoined the Comtesse Leinsengen, "and if that system
-was properly upheld, it is the only chance of not being _obsédé_ by
-vulgars;--but you do not act upon it sufficiently. As to myself, I can
-no long bear de whole ting; my health does not permit of your late
-hours, and I generally go away when your company are beginning to
-arrive. And then these great routs of your Duchess D'Hermantons and
-your Ladi Borrowdales and Aveling, sont à dormir de bout."
-
-"Agreed, my dear Comtesse, I do so agree with you; it is the very
-matter I am longing to discuss with you. Do let us settle something
-amongst ourselves, that shall rid us of all these evils, and establish
-a _société à part_. I must tell you what I have already done to effect
-this purpose. You know that odious Lady Borrowdale has one of her
-everlasting At Homes next Thursday, to meet their Royal Highnesses the
----- as usual, that vulgar decoy; so I have therefore countermanded my
-former invitations, and issued my cards for that very day--Nobody will
-go there, will they?"
-
-"Perhaps not many; and if some do, there are plenty left."
-
-"Yes," said Lady Tilney, with ill-concealed anxiety, "but you know the
-royalties always do accept her invitations."
-
-"What matters dat--you do not care for royalties." For an instant
-Lady Tilney's command of language was checked--she almost betrayed her
-vexation, when fortunately the name of Lady Ellersby was announced,
-whose dawdling drawl, as she entered the apartment, smoothed over the
-asperities which began to mark the conversation, and which might have
-rendered it in the end a little too _piquante_.
-
-"My dear Lady Ellersby," said Lady Tilney, "how charmed I am to
-see you. I was dying to meet you, to consult you, to enjoy your
-entertaining society." The Comtesse Leinsengen smiled significantly, as
-she said, "And so was I."
-
-"Consult me! La--well, that is something quite new--nobody ever
-consulted me; but pray explain what you mean."
-
-"Oh! we want to establish some regulations by which our society shall
-be distinguished, and which shall save us from the inroads of all these
-people whom we are constantly meeting, and obliged to be civil to,
-whether we will or no--in short, something that shall make us, as we
-ought to be--a _race à part_."
-
-"I thought," Lady Ellersby replied, "we always were that."--"To
-be sure we were; but then, my dear, you know abuses will creep in,
-and all constitutions require from time to time to be strengthened
-or reformed, according to circumstances; and you know, my dear Lady
-Ellersby, that we have all of us long since lamented that Almack's,
-which was excellent in its way, has now, from the infringement on
-its privileges, become quite corrupted from its original design, and
-something positively must be done, or we shall be overwhelmed _en
-masse_--something to stem this torrent, this inroad of Goths and
-Vandals."
-
-"Dear me, that sounds very alarming--you quite frighten me; I don' t
-understand you--pray tell me what it is you propose."
-
-"Why," answered Lady Tilney, "we wish to form a society entirely
-to ourselves, which shall be quite exclusive--a society for which
-we shall settle _d'avance_ every particular and qualification of
-the persons who may be admitted to it. Thus you see (turning to the
-Comtesse Leinsengen), my dear Comtesse, we shall never do any thing
-but in concert with each other, and never invite any one but those who
-entirely suit us. You understand me now, don't you?" addressing Lady
-Ellersby.
-
-"Oh dear, yes! I think I do."
-
-"No, no, you do not understand her. Permettez--in one word I will
-explain vat Lady Tilney mean to say: voici le mot de l'énigme--you are
-all English, and though you do your _possible_ you cannot help being
-English. You are all afraid in dis country to do vat you like best; and
-though Lady Tilney propose to ask only de chosen few, you will none of
-you do so in reality, take my word for dat. You talk freedom, but act
-in chains. Now we, au contraire, _chez nous_--we women I mean--do de
-freedom, and never tink of de chain at all; but whenever you ladies
-make your lists for your parties for instance; den comes--dis is not
-politic, _toder_ is not right,--dis is not my husband's pleasure; some
-scarecrow or anoder is always driving you off de land of amusement. Now
-you say you will open your doors only to those you like, and you are
-right--dere is no oder secret for to make pleasant society; but you
-will _not_ do it nevertheless, ladies, for you are all de cowards."
-
-"Indeed, my dear Comtesse," rejoined Lady Tilney, "you will find
-that we _shall_, though--and I think effectually; although there are
-certain principles in our constitution which extend to the ruling even
-of private life--and these the wives of certain nobles cannot wholly
-overlook." Comtesse Leinsengen shrugged her shoulders.
-
-"Ah, dear, it is as I thought, you are de woman I like best in dis
-country; but you are all over shackle, up to de ear in de _qu'en dira
-t'on_! De plebe ought to be made of de noble's opinion, not de noble
-constrained to dat of de vulgar."
-
-"That may do very well with you," rejoined Lady Tilney, "but with us
-as an unqualified maxim it will never do. I grant, Comtesse, all that
-you say can be done in one's own house, where one makes one's own laws
-and rules in one's own way: so far it is only asserting one's own right
-to liberty, and as far as we can persuade people to be of the same way
-of thinking it is all right. But I have too much liberty in my heart to
-desire to tyrannize as you suggest; and, in fine, confess myself too
-much of an Englishwoman to wish to see your system prevailing amongst
-us."
-
-Lady Tilney said this in a tone of English pride, which proved that she
-had not forgotten all that was best worth remembering, although it was
-in contradiction to the spirit of what had fallen from her a moment
-before.
-
-Lady Tilney, however, dealt largely in contradiction at all times. The
-Countess Ellersby smiled; the Comtesse Leinsengen again shrugged her
-shoulders, drew her shawl around her, and was preparing to depart,
-saying, "Well! mes chères dames, I leave you to the enjoyment of your
-liberty, and have done."
-
-"But I have not done," said Lady Tilney; "I am determined we shall
-have a society that shall be quite our own, and yet not subversive of
-principles we must uphold. (Another shrug of the shoulders.) Allow me
-to say, that if you, Comtesse, and you, my dear Lady Ellersby, will
-but second me, I am sure we shall not fail, and I know I may reckon on
-Prince Luttermanne co-operating with us;--so far so good."
-
-"And Princesse Luttermanne?" inquired Lady Ellersby.
-
-"Oh, for the prince's sake we must have her," replied the Comtesse
-Leinsengen, "D'ailleurs, _dans ma position_, it could not be
-oderwise--in all cases we must pass over des inconveniens--besides she
-is good-humoured, and has _her own fry to fish_, and will not trouble
-us much."
-
-Lady Ellersby and Lady Tilney looked at each other, and laughed. "And
-then," observed Lady Tilney, "we have Princesse de la Grange, and
-Mrs. Kirchoffer; we must enrol them on our list (although they are
-sufficiently insipid), because they can be useful, and dare not act
-but in subserviency to _us_. But, Lady Boileau, what shall we do with
-her? She indeed has a will of her own, and she has a mother very much
-_de trop_, whom however she treats cavalierly enough (of which, by the
-way, I do not approve); but, notwithstanding, I think we must have her,
-though we can by no means be troubled with the mama."
-
-"Certainment pas," cried the Comtesse, "for the Irish mama with her
-vulgar repartee would give a mauvaise tournure to de whole society."
-
-"There you are right; and while we admit the daughter, remember, it
-is only on sufferance, just on the same footing as we admit Mrs.
-Kirchoffer, and as I propose that we should also do Lady de Chere and
-Lady Hamlet Vernon, and----"
-
-"Mais, que faire de la jeune lady," interrupted the Comtesse, "qui
-parmi un certain set is a good deal de vogue, Ladi--Ladi,--vat you name
-her?"
-
-"What, Lady Baskerville?" asked Lady Tilney; and then replied, "Oh
-she must be one of us, to be sure, for I think we can make use of
-her--she only longs to be in the fashion, and her husband also. Flatter
-their vanity, and you do with them what you chuse; make them believe
-they are of the _ton_, and you have them at command."
-
-"Well, den, now you have named all de ladies I suppose, and dere is but
-one cavalier; do you mean us to be a convent, and have no gentlemen?"
-
-"By no means, my dear Comtesse; of course there will be all our
-husbands." Here the Comtesse Leinsengen had recourse to her usual
-expressive gesture of contempt. "And then," proceeded Lady Tilney,
-"there is the Duke of Mercington, Lord Raynham, Lord Tonnerre, Leslie
-Winyard, and Frank Ombre,--Spencer Newcombe,--and we must not forget
-Lord Glenmore; though I wish he were more decided in his political
-creed. Besides we cannot omit Lord Albert D'Esterre, whom we must
-have on probation, for he is young and only just returned from the
-Continent; but they say he is very clever, and I think may in time
-become one of us. But, ere we decide further on the gentlemen, we must
-consult Prince Luttermanne."
-
-"Ah! bon chere ladi" (with a nod of approval). "Quite so," added Lady
-Ellersby, languidly; "for, though he is called good-humoured, he can
-be as cross as is necessary. I never saw any body _walk over people_
-better than he does."
-
-Lady Tilney, who had been for the last minute or two busily employed
-with her pen setting down the names which she had just mentioned,
-interrupted Lady Ellersby, saying, "By the bye, there is one rule very
-necessary to be observed, which I am sure we shall all agree in; that
-is, to admit no unmarried ladies, unless something very particular
-indeed should make us waive our resolve. When I say this, I do not,
-of course, mean to _balls_; but I mean to those coteries which will
-in fact constitute the élite of our society. And then I propose that
-we none of us go to the old-established dullifications; but, on their
-nights, each one of us must in turn take care to chuse that same
-evening for our coteries."
-
-"Dat vill do very well for de Lady Borrowdale, and de Lady Aveling,
-and dat old Marchioness--vat you call her--Feuille morte; but La
-Duchesse D'Hermanton, vat vill you do vid her? it is not so easy to
-_take dat lionne par la barbe_."
-
-"Oh," rejoined Lady Tilney, for this was a name she feared to offend,
-"the Duchess is not one of us, it is true; but we need only walk once
-a year through her apartments; and we can bear that--besides, she is
-a sort of person" (apart)--and Lady Tilney broke off abruptly from a
-subject, in itself always disagreeable to her.
-
-"And now," she went on to say, "having formed the outline of our plan,
-we have only to follow it up, and I am sure it will be successful. I
-wonder Prince Luttermanne and Lady Tenderden are not come, for I wrote
-to them both; and I should have liked that we talked the matter over
-altogether. However, I cannot doubt but they will agree with us in our
-arrangements; and if you, dear Comtesse, and you Lady Ellersby, will
-see Princesse de la Grange and Mrs. Kirchoffer, and Lady Baskerville,
-I will take care to speak to the other parties. Of course I shall see
-Prince Luttermanne some time or other this day, and Lady Tenderden,
-for they must have received my notes; and I will settle with him about
-our gentlemen." Then addressing the Comtesse, she added, "I need not,
-I am sure, remind you, who are so discreet, that the success of every
-thing which is to produce éclat depends upon the secret combination of
-the movements; and therefore, in speaking to the different parties,
-pray impress on their minds the absolute necessity of privacy, and
-not to let our designs be known beforehand by a premature publication
-of them, but rather let them be developed by their effect; and when
-their existence will have been confirmed beyond the possibility of
-counteraction."
-
-"Assurement laissez moi faire."--And here Lady Ellersby, looking at
-her watch, started from her chair, saying, "Dear me! I had no notion
-it was so late. I had an appointment with my Lord, and it is past the
-time. Bless me! what shall I do?" Then making her adieu, with more
-vivacity than was her custom, she departed in greater haste than she
-was ever known to do before.
-
-"Who _is her_ Milord just now?" asked Comtesse Leinsengen.
-
-"Oh fie! malicieuse," replied Lady Tilney.
-
-"Is it again dat little consequential personage who looks like a
-perdrix santé aux truffes? I fancy I saw something like a réchauffé
-getting up between them de oder night at Lady De Chere's."
-
-"Now really, my dear Comtesse, I must defend my friend. People are
-always so ill-natured--one must have some cavalier, you know, to walk
-about with in public--and scandal always ascribes evil where none
-exists. No, no; Lady Ellersby has too charming a husband for this to
-gain credit for a moment." The Comtesse's usual shrug implied comme
-vous voulez, and she added, "it is truly extraordinary how any body can
-call dat ladi handsome, vid her drawn mouth and peevish expression!"
-
-"Surely she has a sweet smile?"--"When it is not a bitter one,"
-rejoined the Comtesse; "but what _sinifies_? she does very well for
-what she is good for. Now I must go, and you must be de active agent in
-settling our Lady Parliament; as for me, I will have a sinecure post."
-
-"You are quite delightful, Comtesse, and ought to have every thing
-your own way; so good bye, if you _must_ go. I will remember to see
-Prince Luttermanne; I will not let the matter rest--adieu," and they
-kissed each other's cheeks on both sides, "adieu!"--"You will not
-let de matter rest--no, I am sure you will not--nor any oder ting
-or person," thought the Comtesse, as she glided out of the room.
-"How frightfully red her nose is become," observed Lady Tilney,
-soliloquizing, as she looked at her own smooth cream-coloured skin in
-the glass.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-CHARACTERISTICS.
-
-
-Of Lady Tilney's character a hasty outline has been attempted in the
-preceding chapter; falling short, however, as it is confessed every
-attempt must do, to delineate all its varied features. Something,
-however, may have been gathered, by viewing her in the midst of the
-group assembled in her boudoir; and the portraiture will be rendered
-still more distinct, as the character of her associates are further
-developed.
-
-Of Lady Tilney herself it may be said, that that real or pretended
-contempt of rank which she affected to entertain, arose from the
-circumstances of her own parentage, which, on her mother's side
-at least, was not noble; to the same cause, also, may perhaps be
-attributed her anxious irritability, ill concealed under a forced
-gaiety, lest the respect and homage which she considered to be her
-due, should not be paid her. There was a restlessness in her assumed
-tranquillity, wholly unlike the easy natural languor of her friend Lady
-Ellersby, to which she would gladly have attained, and which it was
-always the object of her ambition to imitate; but she never reached
-that perfectibility of _insouciance_, which marks a superiority of
-birth and station.
-
-Notwithstanding the part which she consequently was obliged to play,
-there was still a good deal of nature in her composition; much more
-than in that of the person whose demeanour she envied;--and had not her
-character been influenced by a life of dissipation, she seemed designed
-to have passed through existence diffusing usefulness and cheerfulness
-around her. Much might be said in extenuation of Lady Tilney's faults
-and follies, courted and caressed as she was; as indeed there is
-ever much indulgence to be extended to all who, in situations of
-power and of temptation (however many their foibles) remain free from
-positive vice. The voice of censure should be guarded therefore in its
-condemnation; remembering that the inability to do wrong, or the want
-of allurement to yield to it, are often the sole preservatives against
-similar errors.
-
-In commenting upon such characters as Lady Tilney's, it is not for the
-purpose therefore of attaching blame to the defects of the individual,
-so much as to point out the dangers attendant on their peculiar
-stations, and to shew how far even noble natures are liable to be
-debased by constant exposure to a baneful influence. Were not this the
-object of a writer, idle and contemptible indeed would be the pen,
-which could waste its powers in tracing the vanities and follies of a
-race which always has existed in some shape or other, and possibly will
-always continue to do so.
-
-There is an indulgence of spleen, a silly gossiping espionage, which
-delights in prying into the faults of others, without any motive but
-that of the gratification of its own mean nature--but there is an
-investigation into the habits and manners of the actors in the scene
-of fashionable folly, which, by dispelling the illusion, may preserve
-others from being heedlessly drawn into the vortex of so dangerous
-a career. A sermon would not, could not, descend from its sacred
-dignity, to effect this--a philosophical or moral discourse, would have
-as little chance of working such an end;--but a narrative of actual
-occurrences may perhaps give warning of a peril, which is the greater
-because it bears outwardly, and on a cursory view, no appearance of
-future evil; for to the young, and indeed to all, there is a charm,
-and a very great charm too, in being something superior, something
-that others are not, or cannot be. No one acquainted with human
-nature will ever contradict this. The question of vital importance
-to be asked is--In what ought this distinction to consist? and what
-will really give it? Certainly _not_ a life of dissipation, in which
-the affectation of new modes and manners constitute the business of
-existence; certainly _not_ the sacrifice of moral and religious duty,
-to a courting of frivolous homage and the pursuit of an empty _éclat_.
-
-These, however, it is to be feared, are more generally the spurious
-objects of ambition with persons in fashionable life, than the solid
-advantages, and lasting fame, which their situations afford them the
-means of securing. And if it is thus with the world of fashion in
-general, how much more was it the case in the circle in which Lady
-Tilney reigned! Herself and her friends had no thought that tended to
-any specific moral purpose, in the strict sense of the word. The duties
-that were performed, were such only in a negative sense; they went to
-church, they lived with their husbands; some of them, but not all, had
-escaped scandal; they were fond mothers, at least in the eye of _their_
-world; they were alive to their offsprings' interests, at least their
-worldly interests; and beyond this, it is to be feared, neither for
-them, or for themselves, did their views extend.
-
-Here may be closed the catalogue of their moral possessions. Of their
-outward shew of manner and courtesy, where so much in a _soi-disant_
-empire of ton might be expected, perhaps, there was still less to
-praise: a _brusquerie_ of address took place of polished breeding,
-where intimacy permitted any address at all; and where none was
-allowable, an insolent carelessness marked the behaviour, instead of
-that polite courtesy which is ever the distinguishing mark of really
-good manners.
-
-Lady Tilney, had she not stood on the 'vantage ground of _ton_, might
-have been called vulgar: the loud and incessant talking, the abrupt and
-supercilious glance and motion, had it not been backed by title and an
-assumed superiority, would have been designated by a very different
-name from that under which her manners passed current; and even as
-it was, they sometimes received a reproof which, however affectedly
-scorned, was deeply felt. An instance of this occurred on the occasion
-of her receiving the homage of a distinguished foreigner; when, in the
-intoxication of the moment's vanity, Lady Tilney forgot the respect
-due to one of exalted station, rudely turning her back, and brushing
-past him in the dance, a disregard of etiquette which he whose manners
-are all elegance and condescension, would never in his station have
-shewn to the meanest of his subjects, and whose sense of delicacy and
-propriety is so acute, that wherever female manners are concerned, none
-could better know how to condemn whatever derogated in the slightest
-degree from them.
-
-It was to the displeasure incurred by this circumstance, and to the
-loss of favour which all who have ever lived in its sunshine cannot
-fail to lament when withdrawn, that allusion was made, in speaking of
-Lady Tilney's contempt of sovereigns and courts. Here was to be found
-one bad effect of a system which, while false in every sense, arrogated
-to itself perfection in all.
-
-There was no immorality to rebuke in this instance of Lady Tilney's
-conduct; but it proceeded from a source, which if not in her, in others
-at least, might be productive of serious consequences; namely, from a
-contempt of established rules and received opinions; and if, in the
-midst of this arrogance there was a redeeming spirit of occasional
-kindness,--a smile which took the heart captive for the moment, and
-gave promise of better things,--it only caused a regret that the good
-which was there should be thus choaked by the noxious weeds of vanity.
-
-Some of Lady Tilney's companions in _ton_ had not, like her, escaped
-the breath of slander; one or more were supposed to have listened,
-at least, to that corruptive voice of gallantry, which withers the
-bloom and freshness of a married woman's reputation; whose error is
-remembered long after its cause has passed away--let it have been real
-or imaginary;--in either case the effect on a woman's character is
-the same. It is in vain that in a certain sphere there exists a tacit
-agreement to pass by, and gloss over such defamatory tales; the persons
-coming under their degrading mark have a seal set upon them, which,
-in spite of themselves, and maugre the usage of _their_ world, is
-nevertheless destructive of peace; and it requires little penetration
-to see beneath the forced smiles which are put on with the adornments
-of the toilette, the gnawing worm that preys upon the heart.
-
-The fatal effects of such errors attach only to those guilty of
-them; the feeling inspired for their situation would be one of pure
-commiseration; but, alas! the influence of example is contagious,
-and whatever is felt for the individual who thus errs, the sentence
-of condemnation must go forth against the crime. In regard to the
-other members who formed Lady Tilney's intimate circle, the Countess
-Tenderden, Princesse de la Grange, Lady de Chere, and Lady Boileau,
-for instance, there was equal matter for remark, varying with the
-character of each. The first of these, possessing nothing decided in
-her composition, had been, from the commencement, a follower in the
-track of others, and it was owing to this laziness of disposition that
-she became the ready and obedient slave of fashionable command, as well
-as from her early initiation into the secrets of _ton_, rather than
-from any other cause, that she held the place she did in Lady Tilney's
-estimation.
-
-Lady Tenderden's unsatisfactory and frivolous existence had thus
-been passed without any decided plan, except that of being generally
-impertinent, and of courting personal admiration; which, when it is
-paid to beauty alone, ceases with the first cessation of youth: the
-consciousness of which fact added no genuine sweetness to the smile of
-Lady Tenderden; but left her, although in the possession of most of the
-outward circumstances which could grace existence, with a fading person
-and a dissatisfied mind.
-
-Princesse de la Grange was a star in the midst of this false galaxy
-of _ton_, in as much as a strict regard to married duty, and a
-preservation of moral and religious principle, gave to her character
-a superior brightness; but whether from the taint of the poisonous
-air she breathed, or from a defect of strength of mind, or from the
-situation she filled, or from all these circumstances combined, the
-Princesse de la Grange did not escape entirely the pollution of folly,
-and she too delighted in the vanity of being exclusive.
-
-In the love of being distinguished above her compeers, Lady de Chere,
-however, far excelled; attaining a perfection which her exceedingly
-clever and powerful understanding, together with the management of her
-conduct, and an appearance of general decorum, enabled her to preserve.
-Nor were her moral qualities alone conducive to her success: she had
-besides the advantage of being able to set her face like a flint
-(which indeed it resembled physically), and she deemed all emotion or
-all expression of natural feeling (even that of bodily kind) to be a
-weakness unworthy of a woman of fashion. Lady de Chere was once known
-on an occasion of personal suffering, when a few tears actually escaped
-her, to have exclaimed to her attendant: "You are the first person in
-the world who have ever seen me guilty of such weakness." Nay, she even
-carried this perfection of induration so far, as to boast of having cut
-her own mother.
-
-In this last instance of the perfectibility of _ton_, Lady Boileau
-yielded not the palm--she had remained a good many more years than she
-had bargained for, unmarried--she had studied under a mother, whose
-lessons eventually were but too well rewarded in kind. This mother,
-however, had loved _her_; and with much and unremitting labour, had
-effected for her an alliance of title--of wealth. What more could
-either of them with their views desire?
-
-Lady Marchmont had established her daughter greatly, and the daughter
-had accepted the marriage upon certain calculations: such as being
-her own mistress, independent of her husband, or her mother; who knew
-too well _de quel bois elle se chauffoit_, for Lady Boileau to like
-her surveillance. Lady Boileau had then made no scruple of swearing
-to love, honour, and obey him whom she loved _not_, held _cheap_, and
-determined to _resist_. But these words, and too many more, bear a
-totally different signification, it is well known, in the language of
-_ton_, from what they do in their common acceptation.
-
-One of the first steps of Lady Boileau after her marriage, was to
-gain admission into the circle of Lady Tilney on a footing of intimacy;
-for although she had been on visiting terms with her, yet she was aware
-that the mere interchange of cards did not constitute her the friend
-or protégé of Lady Tilney, to which distinction she aspired. There
-were one or two circumstances, however, which rendered the attainment
-of this object rather difficult. In the first place, Lady Boileau had
-a mother whom it would require more decided measures to detach from
-her than, as it has been seen, Lady Tilney chose to countenance. The
-general tenour of her conduct, too, was a thing yet unproved, and
-it was, therefore, still unascertained how far she might be true to
-their _esprit du corps_, and be worthy of admission into this circle.
-Lady Boileau was considered, notwithstanding these impediments, to
-be a person of promise, and she was accordingly admitted, with the
-tacit understanding, however, that she was not to push Lady Marchmont
-indiscreetly on the scene; where her wit and plain speaking might break
-forth in corruscations too potent for the _tendre demi-jour_, or rather
-darkness, in which the proceedings of the _ton par excellence_ were
-invariably to be veiled.
-
-There was, however, one person whose name has not yet figured in the
-catalogue, but whose character of mixed good and evil, would require
-a powerful pencil to delineate; for the many amalgamating tints which
-united and harmonised its opposing lights and shades were any thing
-but an easy task to give--divested of these, the portrait would become
-caricature. How often does marriage, especially in early life, give a
-colour to the future conduct of women. Had Lady Hamlet Vernon married
-differently, she was possessed of qualities which would have rendered
-her estimable as well as amiable; and was mistress of talents which,
-if properly directed and matured, would have rendered her a being
-distinguished above her sex. But this was not so; she had married for
-situation, and soon found the burthen she had imposed upon herself far
-outweighed the advantages she had contemplated in the step she had
-taken. Unhappiness was the first natural result; and in the absence of
-religious principle, young, beauteous, and fascinating, she soon found
-in the universal admiration paid her, a delusive balm to alleviate
-the society of a husband considerably older than herself, and who had
-married her from the pride of calling a person so admired his own.
-Under these circumstances, Lady Hamlet Vernon could not remain without
-the stigma of slander attaching to her.
-
-The early demise, however, of Lord Hamlet Vernon liberated her from
-the hazard of her situation, and at five-and-twenty she found herself
-again free. Titled, and with great wealth at her command, she was
-too clever for the empty votaries of folly, but too clever also to
-be entirely set aside by them. She was, at the same time, too much
-_sujetté à caution_ to be admitted on terms of unguarded intimacy
-amongst those in her own sphere who were observers of religious and
-moral conduct, and who happily form the aggregate of distinguished
-society in England. Left without choice, therefore, as to who should
-be her associates, Lady Hamlet Vernon was drawn into a society where
-the errors of her early conduct were, by the contagion of example, sure
-to be confirmed, and the remainder of any good principles that she
-might have possessed, in danger of being subverted; for it was not the
-least evil arising out of the system of the society alluded to, that
-the persons composing it were under a compact of exclusion of all who
-differed from them in habit and opinions; and, thus deprived of the
-power of comparison, their own conduct wanted that useful touchstone of
-its rectitude.
-
-We are all alive to impressions daily made upon us; and if a life of
-carelessness and dissipation is not to be checked by an occasional
-example of what is truly excellent and worthy in character, the moral
-perception between right and wrong of its mistaken votaries will soon
-be blunted, till at last both their ears and eyes are closed to all
-remonstrance. The riper in years, therefore, were sure to have their
-false estimate of life confirmed; _they_ could not return on their
-steps, even if they wished it; while the young and the inconsiderate
-were taught to believe, that those who had so long followed in that
-destructive but glittering career, were the only objects worthy of
-imitation, and in their turn became hardened actors in the scene.
-Although the characters hitherto produced as slaves to this system
-have been of the weaker sex alone, still let it not be imagined that
-they were its only victims, or that they alone played their part in
-upholding it.
-
-If possible, the men of the society were many of them as frivolous, and
-more vicious; and, though here and there might be found a character
-that, from family connection or ignorance of the tendency of the
-society, mingled in its contamination without infection, or making a
-wreck of principle, yet, far from these solitary instances detracting
-from the general truth of what has been said, it will be found that
-such persons, the moment they became aware of the lurking evil, broke
-from it abruptly; though perhaps, saving themselves with difficulty
-from the entanglement.
-
-In the members, however, which swelled the list of the male part
-of this circle, few indeed were there who ever made an effort to
-withdraw from it. Vice and folly, in manners and in dress--male
-coquetry--ineffable impertinence--ignorance--detraction of virtue
-which might have resisted, or talents which eclipsed them--insipidity
-in mind, and effeminacy in person--devotion to luxury,--these, and
-more than these, if such could be catalogued, of the immoralities
-and follies of man, were all to be found here, in degree and kind,
-revolving in their different orbits--and fulfilling their allotted
-parts in the system, till their existence closed. What though wit
-might sometimes play around their board, or the quick repartee enliven
-the monotonous circle of the evening--what though talent might be
-allowed, for a brief season, to expatiate on higher topics, and the
-deep discourse of great human learning might be suffered to dwell at
-intervals on subjects more intellectual--yet what profited this to
-those who listened or to those who spoke?--The moment's amusement, the
-indulgence of mere curiosity, the establishing of some political tenet
-or philosophical dogma, were alone the objects looked to. Talents, when
-found in this society, were in fact directed to none but _worldly_
-views; and the feeling which should have guided their possessors to
-acknowledge the bounty of the Author who bestowed them, and a faithful
-employment of his gifts, was not only wanting, but the sacred religion
-of that very Author was too frequently made an exercise for them--a
-subject of their scorn or cavil.
-
-Though untitled, yet of noble family, there was one, who figured
-first as most licentious and unprincipled among the devotees of _ton_.
-He was handsome, winning, specious; but he concealed under this
-attractive exterior a heart of the blackest dye; no sense of right or
-wrong checked its impulses. All to him was lawful that was attainable.
-Pleasure was his object; and he had sailed down the short voyage of
-his life unchecked by any of those reverses, unscared by any of those
-feelings of shame or compunction, which would have operated on a weaker
-mind; and if, for a moment, some enormity of conduct made the more
-timid--they could not be called the more virtuous--of his associates
-recoil, the hardened face, the laugh of carelessness, the ready excuse,
-soon dissipated these transient feelings of shame; and patronized,
-courted, upheld, in that true _esprit de corps_ which bound each member
-of the society to protect the other, his youthful career had been run
-from excess to excess.
-
-Although a person whose weight and influence in themselves were not
-great, yet he formed from his habits and opinions, and the talents
-which (though perverted) he really possessed, one of those ties in
-a fabric, which being multiplied, keep the whole body compact; and,
-having once obtained a footing in Lady Tilney's circle, it followed,
-as a matter of course, that he should be employed in that remodelling
-of her society, which it has been seen Lady Tilney was so anxious
-to effect, and his name therefore was not forgotten in the list,
-concerning which she intended to consult Prince Luttermanne.
-
-It is well for human nature, that many characters such as have been
-just described are not often found; it certainly had no compeer in the
-circle in which it moved. And though the folly of dress--the waste of
-time--the uselessness of life--indulgence in the excess of luxury, are
-errors and faults that cannot be too strongly held up to animadversion,
-yet they are, by comparison, of a venial kind. Their effects, however,
-ultimately do not prove such; for degradation of intellect must
-follow a course of indolence, and an obtuseness of conscience must
-be the consequence of long-neglected duties. Let it not be supposed,
-therefore, that because Lord Boileau, Lord Baskerville, Lord Marchmont,
-or Lord Tonnerre, were younger and less matured in a vicious course
-than another, that therefore their conduct was less deserving of moral
-censure--the seed that is sown in spring time will grow up to the
-harvest, and it must be reaped accordingly. The pursuits of a careless
-life of pleasure, the gaming-table, the society of opera dancers, the
-intrigues of _ton_, are not preparations for the maintenance of family
-consequence and wealth, still less for the fulfilment of the duties of
-married life, the protection of a wife's conduct, or the education of
-their offspring. Yet these, it is to be feared, were the sole objects
-of Lord Boileau, of his companions, and of many others.
-
-Besides these, however, there were characters intended to be included
-in Lady Tilney's arrangements of a far different complexion, and the
-very reverse of their inexistence--there were noble politicians, whose
-lives were passed in any thing but inactivity; there were titled wits,
-whose places were any thing but sinecures; poets, whose lays found
-frequent subjects in the galaxy of beauty that surrounded them; and
-painters, whose talents and winning flatteries constituted their patent
-of nobility. The admission of all the latter personages was a decided
-evidence of Lady Tilney's supremacy; for, with few exceptions, she
-alone considered that to be surrounded by talents was essential to high
-station, since with the generality of her coterie, the idea of mingling
-intellect in their pleasures, was rather to destroy than heighten them.
-
-Lady Tilney, however, in the end prevailed, and no society of _ton_
-was in future considered complete without those appendages. But even
-Lady Tilney's command of the suffrage of talents was not always
-absolute; and once, it is said, a man of holy profession, whose
-celebrity in his calling had led the London world in crowds to be his
-auditors, though thrice bidden to the shrine of fashion, declined, with
-steady consistency, to form one of a circle whose conduct in life it
-was his duty to reprove.
-
-It is not to be supposed that the list of cavaliers is yet full with
-the names of the persons just alluded to; there were many others too
-insignificant to bear designation--and enough of portraits. Catalogues
-of these can only be interesting to a few curious collectors, and are
-very unsatisfactory to the generality of persons. It is living with the
-actors on the shifting scene, which can alone, for any length of time,
-engage the attention, or be productive of any just understanding of the
-character. To note down their actions as they occur, and to develope
-the system by which their lives are regulated, will be the easiest, as
-well as the most profitable task; for although there may be something
-which at first appears unnatural, and scarcely to be recognised as
-truth, in the idea that there exists a regular and defined system in
-lives, which at a hasty glance seem spent in the careless manner of
-the persons represented, nevertheless it is so--and there is a depth
-in their folly, which requires to be sounded,--there is a mischief
-in their apparent carelessness, which it is wise to detect--there is
-a principle of latent evil under this seeming incipiency of conduct,
-which requires to be unfolded, and shewn in its true colours.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-AN OLD-FASHIONED ASSEMBLY.
-
-
-Although the outlines of Lady Tilney's project had been generally
-settled, yet some of its details were still wanting; and in the
-interval, she determined on one of those movements in the game, which a
-crafty adversary sometimes makes to cover an ultimate and deeper end.
-The Marchioness of Feuillemerte held one of her assemblies, and as it
-was admissible to appear in such a circle once at least during the
-season, _sans se compromettre_, Lady Tilney devoted herself for that
-evening to the unpalatable task, and engaged Lady Ellersby to meet her.
-
-After casting a glance of inquiry round the room, "My dear," said she,
-"did you ever in your life see such an heterogeneous multitude (she
-loved long, hard words) as are assembled here?"
-
-"No, except here"--"Figures," continued Lady Tilney, "_renouvellés des
-Grecs_--creatures dug out of Herculaneum, only not so elegant; all
-George the Third's court I believe; and then such a tiresome eternity
-of royalty, persons who never die, and whom Lady Feuillemerte, and Lady
-Borrowdale have preserved, together with themselves, in spirits, I
-believe, to exhibit on their great nights."
-
-"Yes," rejoined Mr. Frank Ombre, who had been permitted to overhear
-the whisper, and smiling with one of those doubtful expressions which
-might do for tragic or for comic effect, "we do not want royalty
-now to keep us in order,--that is quite an obsolete idea. No, we
-have more enlarged views; we like to turn every thing, _sans dessus
-dessous_--don't we Lady Tilney? I am sure I had rather bow to the
-sceptre of your beauty, than to that of any prince or princess--and you
-know I never flatter." At that moment a royal personage entered the
-assembly, when Lady Tilney, under pretence of going away, hurried to
-the door, saying, "oh, do let me avoid this _seccatura_."
-
-"Do, Mr. Spencer Newcombe," addressing this privileged friend of her
-own circle who stood near her, "do call my carriage,"--in the meanwhile
-placing herself in a situation that made it impossible, without
-rudeness, for the person whose approach she would have appeared to
-shun, to pass her by unregarded; a behaviour which, however consistent
-with Lady Tilney's ill breeding, when she wished to shew dislike, was
-never known to attach to any of the family who were the objects of her
-pretended contempt.
-
-Lady Tilney did not, on the present occasion, make her arrangements
-in vain, and was not only spoken to, but held so long in conversation
-by the royal person who entered, that she had the satisfaction of
-hearing her carriage repeatedly announced, till every individual of
-the assembly must have been aware of the cause of her delay. The dense
-crowd, however, which now encircled the prince, seemed to oppress
-Lady Tilney, and affecting to be almost overcome by the pressure,--a
-pressure which in fact she was herself causing, by obstinately keeping
-her place, and not allowing the conversation to drop--she was at length
-gratified by an offer of the arm of royalty to lead her to a seat, on
-which she sank affectedly, while the prince took that next to her. In
-one of the pauses of conversation which ensued, Mr. Ombre chanced to
-find himself exactly at the back of Lady Tilney's chair, and she took
-an opportunity of whispering to him, "how tiresome!" He shrugged his
-shoulders, and replied in her ear, "I pity you from the bottom of my
-heart," (adding aside to Spencer Newcombe), "As I do every one who
-always succeeds in every thing they wish."
-
-Shortly after, the prince rose to depart to speak to others, while
-Lady Tilney having made good her right to royal attention, now prepared
-to express her contumely of every thing regal, and to resume the
-exercise of her own right to absolute power in her own person.
-
-"Do, Mr. Ombre, sit down and let me have a _little_ real conversation
-with you, for I am sick of all the _fadaises_ which have just passed."
-"What a fortunate man," he rejoined, "shall I be, if I have only a
-_little_ conversation with Lady Tilney!--you know I never flatter,--and
-besides that distinction, a seat,"--dropping carelessly into the one
-that was vacant.
-
-But Lady Tilney did not read these words otherwise than in the sense
-to which they were agreeable to her, and immediately her hitherto
-repressed eloquence broke forth.
-
-"Have you read the Male Coquet? Do tell me, is it not exquisite? Among
-all the trash heaped upon people of fashion, this alone is well done.
-It must be confessed that, in spite of its severity, the whole is well
-drawn, and though highly coloured, not a daub."
-
-"Yes, I have read it, and I like it; but the world don't."
-
-"No! well I cannot conceive why--perhaps you can tell me.--Not like
-it! indeed you surprise me! Why, it has already gone through three
-editions."
-
-"Yes, in the advertisements! but they say the publisher is ruined,
-nevertheless."
-
-"Well! that is quite extraordinary! I thought all the world approved
-it."
-
-"The world!--the world, my dear Lady Tilney, is a very ill-natured
-world, though you have never found it so; but you will some day."
-
-"Oh, do not imagine," cried Lady Tilney, a little displeased at her
-supposed want of discernment, "do not suppose that I am not quite aware
-of the world's ill-nature--only--"
-
-"Only you are bound, my dear friend, to suppose it otherwise, since, in
-its opinion of you, it does indeed make an exception."
-
-"You know I hate flattery, Mr. Ombre."--"Well, well, I have done; but
-in some cases, what appears flattery, is truth. Besides, I never _do
-flatter_."
-
-"Come, come," said Lady Tilney, "never mind! let us return to the Male
-Coquet, I have not half done talking about it. What do you think of
-the character of Lord Algernon, is it not delightful, is it not quite
-perfect?--And for that very reason, quite detestable."
-
-"My dear lady, I never knew but one perfect person in the world whom I
-could bear; do you guess who I mean?"
-
-"Dear me, are you still here?" said Lady Ellersby, approaching at the
-moment.
-
-"Yes--you know when those royalties _will_ talk to one,
-it is impossible to get away."--"Ah, true--and it is so
-fatiguing."--"Royalties--dose royalties, and you mind _dem_?" said the
-Comtesse Leinsengen, who had caught Lady Tilney's words as she passed,
-leaning on the arm of the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
-
-"My dear Lady Tilney, I wonder to see _you_ here--but you always do de
-reverse of what you talk, you know--I tell your so."
-
-Lady Tilney was embarrassed, and looked around for an escape from
-the conversation. She saw the half-formed sentence preparing by Lord
-Rainham; which, however, she knew must undergo the necessary process
-of preorganization and arrangement before it was addressed to her.
-Luckily the Comtesse Leinsengen pressed forward before this could take
-place, and Lady Tilney, to avoid any more sarcasm on her inconsistency,
-willingly allowed for once the witty Lord to pass without a word. Mr.
-Ombre, who was still by her side, and had lost nothing of the scene,
-gave his word of consolation to Lady Tilney, as he remarked:
-
-"How appropriate to the situation which he fills;--the ready orator,
-the decided projector of measures and expedients,--how truly great a
-minister! You know, Lady Tilney, I never flatter. I really think so."
-Lady Tilney had no wish to continue the subject, and turning to Lady
-Ellersby, remarked,
-
-"Did you ever see such jewels as the Duchess of Hermanton's? How
-vulgar to wear them in such quantities; she is like a walking
-chandelier. But, look, there is Lord Arlingford; he is coming this
-way--I want to speak to him, and if you move a step or two forward, I
-shall be able to do so." Lord Arlingford was accordingly arrested on
-his passage, for he had not intended to converse with Lady Tilney, but
-was looking on towards a group of persons, in the midst of whom stood
-the Duchess of Hermanton. "Well, Lord Arlingford, how surprised I am to
-see _you_ here; are you not bored to death?"
-
-"Why, Lady Tilney," he asked, in return, "should you be surprised to
-see me in an assembly to which half London is invited?"
-
-"That is precisely the reason," she replied, "I should have thought you
-never went to these sort of things; they are very tiresome, and I am
-sure you must be dreadfully annoyed."
-
-Lord Arlingford was not an apt _élève_ of Lady Tilney's, although his
-high rank and connexions had made her sedulously endeavour to direct
-his education in the world of _ton_ from his very first _début_.
-
-"Pardon me, not in the least _ennuyé_. I do not come often enough, or
-remain long enough in these places, to be sickened by the shew--and
-_as_ a shew, it is a very splendid one, and I like to see so much
-beauty as is here to-night gather together."
-
-"Fewer at a time," said Lady Tilney, "would be more agreeable, I should
-think."
-
-"Perhaps so, for habitual private society; but then that is quite
-another affair: all things are good in their way, and in their proper
-season and measure." Lady Tilney was mortified at this very rational
-distinction of the indocile Lord, but went on to say, "At least you
-will allow that a circle more _choisie_ is preferable--and one comes
-to this sort of mob only as a kind of disagreeable duty."--"Duty! that
-is quite a new idea of duty to me--but I am happy to be taught by so
-fair an instructress." As he spoke, Lord Arlingford's grave countenance
-(for it was a countenance of gravity for so young a man) relaxed into
-something like vivacity; and Lady Tilney, profiting by the momentary
-gleam of expression, requested him to assist her through the crowd, in
-order that she might speak to the Duchess of Hermanton.
-
-"You will come, will you not, Lady Ellersby?" turning her head over
-her shoulder as she spoke.
-
-"No (for at this moment the Duke of Mercington was coming towards her),
-I have already seen the Duchess." Lady Tilney would then have lingered,
-glad to have exchanged the arm on which she leant for that of the man
-of still higher rank; but the Duke only making her the acknowledgment
-of a familiar nod, offered his arm to Lady Ellersby, and as her friend
-walked away in a contrary direction, Lady Tilney, mortified, bit her
-lip, and was obliged to proceed.
-
-The crowd in the door-way soon stopped her progress, and turning to her
-companion, she observed,
-
-"I wonder how many private couriers Lady Borrowdale keeps in pay, to
-bring over the newest fashions from Paris. Have you seen her to-night?
-did you ever behold any thing like the magnificence of her gown?"--"I
-think," replied Lord Arlingford, "that she is a very fine-looking
-person, and in her youth must have been perfectly beautiful; but I did
-not observe her gown." The subject seemed to inspire Lord Arlingford,
-who broke through the usual briefness of his sentences as he continued,
-"And her manner, I think, is excellent; there is so much dignity in it,
-united with so much courtesy; and she is never, I am told, capricious,
-or forgetful of good-breeding."
-
-"Why, my dear Lord Arlingford, this is an oration--you are quite
-eloquent! But you cannot really like that old-fashioned _manière_ of
-curtseying."
-
-"Indeed I am serious; I like it very much: and if I were to point
-out the person whose manners I should like to see any one I loved
-adopt, in public at least--for I have not the honour of her intimate
-acquaintance--it would be Lady Borrowdale's."
-
-"How singular you are! Really, if you entertain such opinions as these,
-we must expel you from our circle. But if you are determined to be
-extraordinary, I suppose you will tell me that you cannot bear any
-thing that is younger or more modern."
-
-"Pardon me; there is Lady Georgina Melcombe, and the Ladies
-Fitzmaurice, and their cousins, the Ladies Partington, and many others,
-who look as if they were every thing which the young and lovely ought
-to be,--unaffected, cheerful, and courteous."
-
-"Oh, this is worse and worse; you are becoming quite insufferable. But
-do tell me who is that person there, whose appearance is so particular,
-and who has so extraordinary an air--is he a foreigner?"
-
-"No--that is Lord Albert D'Esterre. Are you not acquainted with him? He
-is a very charming person,--full of talent, and very handsome, as you
-see. But I forget--you cannot well recollect him, for he went to the
-Continent as a boy, and is only lately returned."
-
-"True; I remember--I hear he is likely to distinguish himself--pray
-present him to me."
-
-The presentation took place; and, after a few words, including an
-invitation to Lord Albert to her _soirées_, Lady Tilney passed on with
-Lord Arlingford to where the Duchess of Hermanton was standing.
-
-To have taken pains thus to seek one whom she affected to despise,
-whose manners and right to fashion she was perpetually calling in
-question, might argue great inconsistency; but in this instance Lady
-Tilney's wishes to be well with the Duchess of Hermanton, far from
-being the result of any thing like the contradiction of a settled
-principle, were the absolute fruits of it, and were influenced by a
-feeling of fear--if she would have confessed it--by an apprehension
-that that really amiable person, possessing the envied superiority of
-united rank and birth and talent, should assume her proper place in
-society, and overthrow the false rule to which Lady Tilney herself laid
-claim. It was therefore conciliation rather; and, as she addressed
-the Duchess, she put on her sweetest smiles, and laid aside those
-indescribable airs which were displayed when she intended to scorn
-or crush; and, while uttering those nothings which form the sum and
-substance of what is said on such occasions, her manners were almost
-servile. The simplicity of unquestioned superiority is one of its
-most sure characteristics; and the Duchess of Hermanton's mode of
-receiving this homage was unaffected and courteous. But as the two
-persons had little similarity in their natures, the conference lasted
-only sufficiently long for Lady Tilney to preserve that degree of
-familiarity in acquaintance, which she determined should prevent
-her being a stranger to one too independent and distinguished to be
-altogether passed over.
-
-Meanwhile, Lord Arlingford having profited by the opportunity to quit
-Lady Tilney, now joined Lady Georgina Melcombe and some of the persons
-standing together in another part of the room; and Lady Tilney, thus
-left alone, had, for a few moments, leisure to behold the splendour of
-the apartments and of the persons met in them. In her heart she could
-not but acknowledge that whatever London could boast as being most
-distinguished was present, and that the good and great predominated;
-but it was _not exclusive_--that is, it was an assembly constituted of
-almost all those whose rank entitled them to be on the list of Lady
-Feuillemerte's visitors.
-
-It was numerous, therefore, which is the very essence of an assembly;
-for what is so insipid as public receptions where the members are few,
-the rooms half filled, and the scene unenlivened by those circumstances
-which a diversity of ages, characters, and dresses cast around?
-
-Here all met the society which best accorded with their tastes.
-The politician, the courtier, the man of fashion, found here their
-associates and their amusement, each in their different sphere, as they
-retired from the rest to discuss some present topic of public interest,
-or glided through the throng with that easy politeness which breathed
-of the atmosphere they inhaled in the presence of their Sovereign,
-paying the well-timed compliment as they passed, or displaying
-the refinement of wit and repartee in their short and animated
-conversations.
-
-Here, too, amidst the younger and fresher forms, beauties of former
-days still shone in the dignity of their manners, and of that air and
-carriage which the fashion of their time had rendered a portion of
-themselves; which lent a grace to their every movement, and might well
-have afforded a school of manners and propriety of outward bearing
-for the young who mingled with them--in counteraction of the oblivion
-and extermination of all manners, which the prevailing system of the
-_soi-disant_ members of _ton_ would have enforced.
-
-Such, at least, were the external features of an old-fashioned
-assembly--in its moral character the advantages were no less. Its
-honest and avowed purpose was the interchange of those courtesies
-which render life agreeable, and the preservation of those general
-guards in society which, as checks to profligacy, are more useful than
-abstract theories of ethics, or codes of moral laws. People, unless
-lost, sin not so blindly in mixed communities--one individual forms a
-restraint on the others--children stand in awe of parents, and these,
-in their turn, acknowledge a wholesome control in the presence of
-their offspring--the good are a terror to the evil (for an alloy will
-ever exist); while the one and the other mutually afford examples of
-imitation, or beacons of danger to be avoided, which every individual
-may, if there be the will, turn to profit, in the correction of some
-temper, the curbing of some excess, the chastening of some wish, or the
-abandonment of some folly.
-
-The more intimate associations in life are not here spoken of; but
-these in characters of the same description as Lady Feuillemerte's,
-would doubtless be founded on the same basis, and have the same
-objects in view; for whether in the cherishing of natural affections,
-the formation of those friendships which spring up in the domestic
-circle, the cultivation and exercise of talents which give a charm to
-existence, or the acquirement of more important attainments, the system
-which holds out examples, and affords restraint, will ever be best.
-
-The "_société choisie_," however, which Lady Tilney desired to form,
-was, in its nature, the very reverse of what has been described. Its
-exclusive character was to consist, not in the selection of what was
-amiable in nobility, or virtuous in talent; it was not to be the circle
-drawn within a narrower circumference, for a more perfect enjoyment of
-private friendship, or the cultivation of more intellectual pursuits
-than the wide range of fashionable life could afford; it was not to be
-retirement from the busier throng, for the purposes of a more rational
-and purer existence; but it was to consist of those whose follies
-in the pursuit of pleasure, and whose weakness in the indulgence of
-all the empty toys of life, had given them a distinction above their
-fellows; of those who judged immorality, when burnished by the tinsel
-of superficial acquirements, as venial error;--of those, in short,
-who were either senseless or wicked enough to consider life but a
-bubble, to be blown down the current, according to the dictates of
-the will, and whose daily existence testified, that they were alike
-without a thought or a fear for the morrow's eternity. Such were to be
-its members, and its seclusion from the general eye of the world, its
-secession from all others but--; its rigid law, that unmarried women
-were not eligible to its chosen meetings--for what purpose, and to what
-end were these? If for vanity of distinction, merely, it was weak;
-if for the purpose of indulging in pursuits and conversation, which
-would receive a check in a society less selected for the object--it
-was wicked. In whichever point of view, a society so constituted must
-be demoralizing, for assuredly it would have the character of being,
-if it even were not, really vicious--and its example would have a
-contaminating effect in the corruption of morals, and the overthrow of
-the barriers of domestic peace.
-
-It cannot be said that these were the reflections of Lady Tilney,
-as she stood for the few moments alone in the crowd at Lady
-Feuillemerte's. It would be injustice to her to suppose that they were,
-or that she contemplated in the formation of a coterie, according to
-her own peculiar prejudices, any of the evils with which the system was
-sure to be pregnant. It is thus, however, with all reforms, entered
-upon for private ends; the individual sees but the accomplishment
-of his own and his immediate associates' views, in what is to be
-overturned; and the fatal result accruing to the community, even if
-clearly distinguished, are at the moment but as dust in the balance of
-self.
-
-It is more probable that, as Lady Tilney gazed on the mingled group
-around her, blind to the demerits of her projected revolution of
-society, and proud of influence, which over a certain portion of the
-London world she had succeeded in establishing, she became firmer in
-her purpose; and as her eye fell on one individual after another, whose
-manners, mode of life, dress, or very name were disagreeable to her,
-or proved them wanting in the stamp of ideal fashion, the necessity
-of the measure she contemplated she conceived became more and more
-imperative. Whatever might have been Lady Tilney's reflections, she
-was not long suffered to indulge them. In the tide which passed before
-her appeared Lord Rainham, unattended however, as previously, by the
-Comtesse Leinsengen: Lady Tilney therefore awaited his address, without
-any appearance of recurrence to her professed distaste for royalty.
-
-"A marvel, I declare!" were the opening words of a speech already
-polished, _usque ad unguam_, before Lord Rainham ventured to give it
-utterance.--"Behold Lady Tilney without a crowd of worshippers at her
-feet!--Explain me this phenomenon, and say, have you been cruel to your
-slaves, and are they gone themselves, or have they forgotten their
-allegiance? Such things have been, though they ought not to be--and yet
-methinks you would find it sufficiently dull, if all things were as
-they ought to be, would you not? tell me the truth, and give me your
-confidence; I have long wished to have the confidence of a handsome
-woman, and I promise you _indulgentia plenaria_."
-
-"No, not for the world!--I hold it to be quite a false maxim to have
-any confidants: besides I have nothing to confide."
-
-"You are too wise to be so handsome," said Lord Rainham abruptly, "and
-so good night; for since you will not parley with me, 'tis in vain I
-linger;" and as he turned away, words of fresh _impromptu_ on some
-other subject began audibly to escape his lips.
-
-"In your orisons be all my sins remembered," whispered Mr. Ombre as
-he passed, and again found himself at Lady Tilney's side. "It is high
-time such bookworms as I should retire into our cells; so, lady sweet,
-good night.--You know it is not I who speak, but he, who would have
-been blest, could he have poured all his sweetest lays into that gentle
-ear." Lady Tilney considered the homage of talent as peculiarly her
-own, and would gladly have retained the speaker; but gliding with the
-gentle undulation of some shadowy form towards the door, he escaped the
-infliction of a penalty, which even the syren smiles which were his
-reward could hardly at times repay.
-
-It was now growing late--the assembly was breaking up, and Lady Tilney
-looked anxiously for some _cavalier_ to attend her to her carriage: but
-this was not a point of easy settlement. In degree he must be either
-of rank, or a dependent--one who was her equal, or one on whom she
-might confer distinction by her choice of his services. Neither such
-requisites, however, were to be found in the group around, and Lady
-Tilney, whilst feeling yet more and more the necessity of an exclusive
-circle, where such predicaments would be avoided, was doomed still
-further mortification in the approach of Colonel Temple, a person whom
-she hardly ever considered recognizable, and whose offer of assistance,
-made evidently with sarcastic reference to her being alone, came in a
-shape particularly offensive to her.
-
-"Will you allow me to have the honour of calling your carriage," he
-said, addressing her with easy familiarity; "or if you are going to
-walk through the rooms, allow me to escort you?" (offering his arm).
-
-"No," said Lady Tilney, in a manner that might have awed any one else;
-"I am going away immediately."
-
-"Well, then, let me call your carriage," he replied, with a tenacity
-that nothing could evade--whilst Lady Tilney continued to move on,
-terrified lest she should be seen _so_ attended.
-
-This apparent anxiety to avoid him, was, however, with Colonel Temple,
-the surest incitement to a continuance of his proffered attentions. It
-might not have been exactly consistent with the general, high breeding
-and politeness which distinguished Lady Feuillemerte's assemblies, for
-any one to have acted under this influence perhaps; but Col. Temple was
-a character known to all the world as such, and privileged to do things
-which no one else did. He was a man, too, of family, and felt his
-situation in society, in the midst of all his eccentricities. His want
-of refinement had its compensation in an honesty of disposition quite
-at variance with the measured forms of fashionable exclusiveness, but
-which made him generally beloved; while his shrewd sense, mixed with a
-certain vein of sarcastic humour, always penetrated the littleness of
-vanity, and often inflicted on it its severest wounds.
-
-Lady Tilney, from repeated slights, was a darling object of his
-attacks, and could she without compromise have purchased immunity from
-their never-failing and successful arrogance, by an honourable truce,
-she would gladly have done so. But Col. Temple was _too_ arrogant,
-_too_ presumptuous, to be checked by any defiance of ultra fashion--too
-independent, too high-spirited, to suffer a cold and haughty
-recognition, in place of the politeness and courtesy due to him as a
-gentleman, and thus this warfare had become interminable.
-
-Enjoying his triumphs in the way in question, he followed Lady Tilney
-from room to room--even to the steps of her carriage, assuring her
-as they proceeded, that her apprehensions of being detected in his
-society were compliments to him beyond price; he was aware that, to be
-of importance, the next thing to being liked, was being feared--and
-bidding her be sure to send him a card for her next choice _soirée_, he
-handed his victim into her carriage, under a thousand half-pronounced
-inuendos upon his insufferable vulgarity, and the awful anathema of
-future exclusion.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-A MODERN COTERIE.
-
-
-If any circumstance had been wanting to give strength to Lady Tilney's
-resolves on the momentous question of social reform, the occurrences
-at Lady Feuillemerte's were in themselves sufficient--at least, they
-formed an addition to that kind of plausible excuse, sought for on all
-occasions where the will is previously set on a particular line of
-conduct, but which, without a pretext, it would hardly be safe for the
-individual to adopt.
-
-The motley and unkindred assemblage of the previous evening, with its
-royal restraints, its want of organization in its inferior members, and
-the consequent offences experienced by those of higher order--for Lady
-Tilney, although she did not divulge the stain inflicted by Colonel
-Temple's assiduities, yet felt it deeply,--were points she dwelt upon
-to her colleagues in the following morning with that extreme pathos and
-eloquence which the sufferings of self never fail to produce, and which
-could not but enforce on her auditors conviction of the necessity of
-the measures she proposed.
-
-Closeted, therefore, with the leading characters in her own peculiar
-circle, the final arrangements for that _société choisie_ which was
-to eclipse courts and banish sovereigns, to school rank, and bring to
-maturity all the yet unripened follies of a _soi-disant ton_, were at
-length concluded. The lists were full--the doors were closed to all but
-the secret representatives of the system, and the anathema went forth.
-Strange that St. James's did not shake from its foundation, England's
-sovereign resign his sceptre, and her lengthened line of nobility
-crouch in the dust, under the awful denunciation of such an ascendancy.
-But though this were not so--yet must the loyalty of many a high-born
-subject, and the purity of many a noble and virtuous mind, have been
-outraged, when the results of a system at once so contemptuous and
-immoral began to be developed.
-
-It will be remembered that Lady Tilney had already fixed on the evening
-of Lady Borrowdale's assembly as a fitting occasion for the display of
-her own undivided rule in the empire of fashion. Her cards had been
-issued for that purpose, and these were now followed by injunctions
-through various channels, requiring an early attendance--since the two
-syrens of the day, Pasta and Sontag, it was whispered, were engaged
-to give additional effect to the opening charms of exclusiveness,
-and render the blow struck at the existing state of society at once
-decisive.
-
-Lady Borrowdale's apartments, it was decreed, should possess only
-the _canaille_ of the fashionable world, and royalty be doomed to
-oblivion there, in the surpassing lustre which Lady Tilney's circle
-would display. To the authority that called for this ready obedience,
-none of the satellites of Lady Tilney's court were ever known to offer
-resistance;--and though the chiefs of her party alone knew the real
-object of the summons, yet the uninitiated hastened to obey it with the
-same alacrity as their superiors, satisfied that in so doing they were
-best consulting their views of advancement to the distinction courted
-by them, as well as securing a greater license in the indulgence of
-those follies and errors which made the sum of their daily occupation.
-
-To tell of the decoration of the apartments, of the splendour and
-luxury which reigned around the mansion of Lady Tilney, to dwell on
-externals, would be to repeat descriptions a thousand times given, and
-tend to no developement of import. A plant, under the fairest guise of
-colour or of form, sometimes contains within its fibres the deadliest
-poison; and in the scorching plains of the East, the upas-tree extends
-an alluring shade over the exhausted and unconscious traveller, who is
-soon to sink beneath its deadly atmosphere. But what would it profit
-were the naturalist to dwell only on the pencilling and texture of the
-one, or the traveller describe vaguely the outspreading branches and
-inviting coolness of the other, and yet neglect to record the noxious
-qualities and inherent dangers of each. The plant and its virtues, not
-the scene in which it is to be found, must first be recognised and
-known, if escape from its contagion be intended;--and it is to the
-habits and system of a people, not to the country they inhabit, that we
-must look, rightly to understand the manner in which their lives are
-passed.
-
-To a casual observer, Lady Tilney's assembly presented no
-distinguishing external marks at variance with received habits or
-customs. The rooms were not darkened, the servants passed through the
-apartments at intervals in the performance of their respective duties
-without constraint: the company, however, was less numerous, and more
-scattered and divided into detached parties. The conversation, with
-the exception of Lady Tilney herself, was carried on in a low tone,
-scarcely audible but to the individual addressed; the different members
-of the coterie, when they moved about, seemed to do so under certain
-measured and stated paces.
-
-It was not, however, the step and air of real dignity of fashion, but
-rather the mincing _minauderie_ of _des petites maîtresses_. Whatever
-was done or spoken (when for a moment some general observation was
-hazarded), appeared as if performed by rule, and under apprehension
-of drawing down ridicule, which at once went to destroy all natural
-grace of speech or demeanour. This sentiment attached more particularly
-to the younger and newer noviciates, who felt that an unguarded
-expression, or a movement at variance with the prescribed forms of
-the circle, would render them the objects of the malicious remarks
-and sneers of the more experienced--an uneasy restraint, therefore,
-was often the consequence; and had it not been, that to form part
-of so chosen a society, and under Lady Tilney's roof, was in itself
-an indescribable satisfaction--some who were there might have been
-suspected of suffering considerable _ennui_, and of being ready to
-admit, by the suppressed and ill-concealed yawn, that although the
-honour of exclusiveness was great, the pleasure was certainly small.
-
-Not so, however, with the more initiated--these appeared by habit to
-take the part at once most to their tastes; to select the companion
-most agreeable to them; to remain under the eye of observation, or
-retire from it, as they chose, with indifference;--for it was not
-only in _what_ was done or said, but in the _manner_, also, that the
-distinguishing characteristics of this coterie were to be detected.
-All things were lawful--but then under outward forms (not however of
-propriety always, or of morality), but of convention; and whoever
-attained fulfilment of these, had the privilege, the _indulgentia
-plenaria_, as proposed by Lord Rainham, to sin with impunity.
-
-When it was said, therefore, that an assembly composed as the present
-differed not in its appearance from others passing under the same
-generic name, it was premised to be only under the impression of a
-first view;--a more intimate acquaintance with many of its laws and
-practices, so opposed to received customs in the world, could not in
-the end fail to astonish! And first the observer (the moral observer
-is meant) would have been struck by the discovery, that the young and
-beautiful in this magic circle were all married women, and that the
-person who individually (for the number was rarely more than singular)
-paid his assiduous court, leant over the chair, and whispered into the
-ear of the fair whom he selected or was selected by, was no aspirant to
-her hand in marriage, no relative--neither was he her husband--but a
-member of the privileged society, which was alone sufficient.
-
-His astonishment would have been yet stronger on discovering that for
-a season, till mutual convenience, or disagreement dissolved their
-familiar acquaintance, each party, similarly paired, invariably met,
-conversed, and retired at the same time, when the circle broke up, or
-when they quitted it, apparently on the same footing of intimacy which
-the most holy ties could have sanctioned; while those whom such a tie
-actually bound to them were themselves pursuing a similar career.
-
-Had the conversation which for the most part occupied this portion of
-the _société choisie_ been reported, or reached the ear, it is possible
-a considerate mind might have thought, notwithstanding the singularity
-of a system which excluded the unmarried from scenes of amusement, that
-it was well they formed no portion of it; but still, in an escape from
-its early influence, enjoyed the opportunity of attaining to a degree
-of moral principle, and feminine decorum, which must otherwise have
-been swept away in the general license.
-
-This, however, can unfortunately be said only of the one sex--the
-unmarried in the other, provided their attainments were of the kind
-to authorize admission, were not on the excluded list; and the young,
-well-principled, and ingenuous perhaps at their outset, might, in the
-examples constantly before them, have found incentive to conduct,
-which at a future day they would discover to have been the great bane
-and poison of their existence.--Of these the person who entered Lady
-Tilney's apartments when the coterie had nearly assembled, and who was
-new to most of them, offered an instance, for whom the liveliest fears
-with justice might have been entertained.
-
-Young, strikingly handsome, talented, of high rank, of widely extended
-interest, and possessing all the means of gratifying every wish, to
-what dangers was not Lord Albert D'Esterre exposed, in such a scene as
-has been described, and on which he was from that evening to play a
-part! He seemed, with the impulse of natural politeness, to look around
-for Lady Tilney, as he entered, as if he would pay his first homage to
-her, whose self and not her house he visited; in a manner directly the
-reverse of that false refinement of modern _ton_, which seeks a display
-of its _savoir vivre_, in a pointed indifference to all the received
-forms of society.
-
-Before he had reached the second room he was met by Lady Tilney, with
-a greater degree of courtesy and _empressement_ than was usual in her
-receptions; and his address was listened to with more complacency and
-patience than generally marked her manner towards any one.--"Who is
-he?" passed in whispers round the circle amongst those to whom he was
-unknown.--"Did you hear his name announced?"--"No! I have seen him
-somewhere before, I think--is it not Lord Albert D'Esterre, Lord ----'s
-son?"
-
-"Ah true, it is! but what an extraordinary lengthy speech he is
-making--surely Lady Tilney must be ready to expire under its
-duration."--"Not under its dulness, I am certain," said Lord Glenmore,
-as he caught Lady Baskerville's remark to Lord Rainham, "for, D'Esterre
-is too clever ever to say a dull thing." "Or ever do a wise one,
-perhaps," added Lord Rainham in his most caustic manner.
-
-"Did you hear Rainham?" whispered Spencer Newcombe to Ombre; "there was
-no time for gestation there--it was really well said."--"Then, if so,"
-replied his neighbour, "we may 'for once a miracle accept instead of
-wit.'"
-
-"No; I do not allow of miracles now a days," said Lord Rainham,
-turning sharply round, having overheard the remark applied to him: "I
-do not believe in miracles--not even in the resurrection of the Glacier
-man--do you, Ombre?" The laugh was with the latter speaker; but Mr.
-Ombre thought that, in fact, miracles had not ceased when Lord Rainham
-could thus improvise two good things without incubation; and so he
-whispered into the ear of his friend Spencer Newcombe, as Lord Rainham
-moved away.
-
-While Lord Albert D'Esterre was thus affording subject of remark to
-the coterie, and their observations in turn made matter of ill-natured
-review among themselves, he was addressing his courteous excuse to Lady
-Tilney for having disobeyed her commands, in arriving so late. Lady
-Baskerville was probably right in her conjecture, that Lady Tilney felt
-considerably bored by his doing so, and making reference to injunctions
-which she had forgotten the moment they were given, because certain
-they would be generally obeyed, and Lady Borrowdale's assembly be left
-untenanted by all her early visitors.
-
-She heard him, however, with smiles and outward complaisance; for Lord
-Albert was of consequence enough in a political way, at least, for Lady
-Tilney to court; and as she assured him that he was still in good time,
-and that the Sontag had not yet sung, presented him to several persons,
-whom, she remarked, would be almost strangers to him after so long an
-absence from England.
-
-In all, however, that Lord Albert had said, he had been sincere; and in
-his manner towards the different persons he was made known to, there
-was a genuine distinguished air of high breeding and politeness, as
-much at variance with the manners, as his ingenuousness was with the
-minds and dispositions of those who figured in the moral masquerade
-before him. Although fresh in this scene, and therefore without
-contamination, he was powerful, and, therefore, worth appropriation;
-and what was considered _outré_ and too _manière_ in his address, was
-partially overlooked at the moment, as certain to give way under the
-powerful influence of better examples.
-
-The Sontag now came forward and poured her liquid notes mellifluous
-through the assembly. Every body was in raptures--indiscriminate
-raptures;--for though raptures were generally obsolete, there were a
-few short seasons for a few new things in which it was permitted to
-be rapturous; but woe to the unhappy individual who, ignorant of the
-mark, gave way to these ebullitions at unallowed times, or beyond the
-peculiar limits prescribed by _ton_.
-
-When the _aria_ was concluded, however, the remarks among the
-younger votaries of fashion were principally directed to the figure
-and appearance of the singer, rather than to her performance. Leslie
-Winyard admired her foot; Lady Boileau her eyes; Lord Gascoyne saw
-indescribable beauty in the delicacy of her waist; and Lord Tonnerre
-declared her neck to be as fine drawn and as perfect as that of a
-race-horse--a simile which was perhaps the only figure of speech the
-latter lord could have hazarded, consistently with his knowledge of any
-subject. These by turns approached the singer, and as they addressed
-her with an air of familiar condescension, seemed in their ungentle
-gaze to seek an opportunity of confirming their previous judgments;
-which, according to the result, were signified in the presence of the
-persons by a look, or a whisper, to one another.
-
-If a few ventured an observation on what they had been listening to, it
-was in a tone either of indiscriminate praise, founded on some one's
-opinion in their own circle from whose decree there was no appeal;
-or else, measuring things in themselves admitting not of parallel,
-by one another, they drew an unfair comparison between the powers of
-Sontag and of Pasta; just in the same way as a pseudo connoisseur would
-measure the merits of Paul Veronese or Tintoretto by those of Raphael.
-
-"I am surprised you waste so much time in this discussion," said Mr.
-Ombre, who was standing near the parties debating on the latter point;
-"there can be no question as to the merits of the case--Sontag is new."
-
-"Is she not enchanting?" asked Lady Tilney, addressing Lord Albert
-D'Esterre, who had been listening with the utmost attention--"quite
-perfection!" He smiled; "I do not know that I ever heard or saw any
-thing _quite perfect_; at all events, I prefer Pasta."
-
-"Well, you surprise me!" replied Lady Baskerville; "there is such
-brilliancy--such lightness, such fluency in the Sontag."
-
-"But there is more depth, more pathos, more poetry in Pasta.
-Nevertheless I admire Mademoiselle Sontag; and because I prefer one, I
-am not deaf to the powers of another singer--a feeling of the sublime
-does not exclude the lesser sense of the beautiful."--"What a prosing,
-sententious popinjay; ay!" whispered Lord Baskerville to Lady Ellersby.
-
-"But he is very handsome," she answered.
-
-"I know not what you ladies may esteem handsome" (and here Lord
-Baskerville put himself in his best possible form, and bent his cane
-against the ground); "but I can see nothing in that stiff conceited
-face and figure to call handsome; and I would not be doomed to
-listen to his affected pretensions for half an hour together on
-any condition whatever--no, not to hear Sontag sing three songs
-consecutively--beautiful, charming, dear as she is!"
-
-"Does beauty enter in at the ears?" asked Spencer Newcombe.
-
-"Not exactly; but it goes a great way towards making what does enter
-there agreeable," replied Lord Baskerville.
-
-"What do you say, Sir Henry D'Aubigne," addressing that celebrated
-artist: "is not the Sontag exceedingly lovely?"
-
-"Indeed I have not yet had an opportunity of judging," was Sir Henry's
-discreet reply; for he gave offence to none. "There is considerable
-grace and play of countenance certainly; a fine-cut eye; and on the
-whole I should say she was a very pretty creature. But really, in this
-land of beauty, (looking round him as he spoke), one may be allowed to
-be difficult, and where there is so much to dazzle, confess oneself
-unable to decide."
-
-"Sir Henry is almost as graceful in his speech as in his portraits; I
-wish I were such a poet!" sighed Mr. Ombre, "and then I might hope to
-turn all the ladies' hearts, for they accept your homage, but will not
-mine, although I never flatter."
-
-Thus did the poet and the painter mutually pay their allotted fealties
-to the sovereigns of _ton_, when the whisper ran round the room that
-the Sontag was again about to sing.
-
-During the performance, Lord Albert D'Esterre was standing at the back
-of Lady Hamlet Vernon's chair, addressing to her, at intervals, his
-conversation on the merits of the singer.
-
-"I am told," said Lady Hamlet Vernon, when the music ceased, "that the
-Sontag is very like Lady Adeline Seymour. You will know, Lord Albert
-D'Esterre?" Lord Albert coloured.
-
-"I do not see the least resemblance to my cousin;" and then he
-added: "I was not aware that Lady Adeline had the advantage of your
-acquaintance."
-
-"I have not the pleasure of her's neither--I hear she is a most
-delightful person!" Lord Albert again coloured, and felt his heart beat
-quicker at the mention of a name so dear to him.
-
-"Is Lady Dunmelraise expected in town this year?" continued Lady Hamlet
-Vernon; "I understand she has very bad health. A very intimate friend
-of mine, from whom I sometimes receive a letter, Mr. George Foley--you
-may perhaps know him--and who is at present staying at Dunmelraise,
-informs me that she is far from well."
-
-Lord Albert D'Esterre found himself irresistibly drawn towards Lady
-Hamlet Vernon, by the circumstance of her knowledge of Lady Adeline
-Seymour, and they continued for a long while in conversation--till
-interrupted by Lord Rainham, who, quitting the circle of the political
-characters of the day, with whom he had been in apparently close
-discussion, addressed Lady Hamlet Vernon on some other topic, and Lord
-Albert turned aside.
-
-"Tell me what is your real opinion of the person you have been
-conversing with?" said Lord Rainham, in a low voice, while his small
-quick eye followed Lord Albert; "is he clever? has he talent--tact, or
-any other serviceable quality?"--"I hardly know how to answer inquiries
-of such depth," answered Lady Hamlet Vernon, smiling; "had you asked me
-if he were agreeable, I could have answered yes. But to what do your
-questions tend--are they general or particular; or are they political,
-or what?"
-
-"Oh, I mean, is he like other people, like other young men--empty--and
-conceited?--or has he wherewithal to make his conversation
-endurable--worth listening to--point--repartee--subject--does he talk
-of people or of things?"
-
-"Of both. But shall I add another to your list of inquiries--To what
-side of the question does he lean? Does not this sum up all you would
-know from me? And what if I should tell you--I know nothing about the
-matter?"
-
-"Psha! well: that may be too--what _do_ you think--?"
-
-"Why I think him very handsome."
-
-"Aye, may be so; I dare say he is--but--"
-
-"But has he avowed his political creed? will he support your favourite
-measures, or oppose them? I know that is all you wish me to say,"
-replied Lady Hamlet Vernon.
-
-"Why, to be sure, one judges in these days of a man's sense a little
-by his politics--one learns whether he thinks at all, or follows his
-interests."
-
-"Oh, you all do that, my dear lord. But come; I will tell you what I
-think of Lord Albert D'Esterre: I think he is worth winning--and--"
-
-"You will try," said Lord Rainham.
-
-"Fi donc!--now I will tell you no more." And Lady Hamlet Vernon left
-the foiled diplomatist to lament the failure of his mission, and learn
-to play his part better for the future.
-
-The evening, or rather the night, was wearing fast away; the Sontag
-had sung three times, and those who had formed part of Lady Tilney's
-first _soirée choisie_ were soon to be left in possession only of the
-recollections--no--not the recollections--the life of the aggregate
-assembled there would banish such an exercise of mental powers--but in
-possession of the fact, that they had been of the chosen number; that
-they _had_ heard the favourite of the hour, _not_ in the too-frequented
-Opera, but in the privacy of the drawing-room; and that they alone
-could justly, therefore, weigh her merits, and determine her defects.
-
-In follies such as these a large portion of Lady Tilney's associates
-were sure to find gratification on the morrow. And it might have
-been well had all contented themselves with these, so comparatively
-harmless, although such worthless, fruits of _exclusive ton_; but it
-may be feared that, with some, the result of that evening, and the
-prospect of others to succeed it of the same kind, held out objects of
-a far different complexion, which a sure immunity from censure, and a
-complete freedom from obnoxious comparisons, successfully tended to
-promote.
-
-Lord Albert D'Esterre had turned away from a group of young men with
-whom he had been conversing, and whose discourse, assuming a tone and
-character equally indelicate and revolting to his feelings, he thus
-endeavoured to avoid, when he found himself near Lady Boileau.
-
-"Lord Albert D'Esterre," she said, addressing him, "if you will excuse
-an invitation so destitute of form, will you do Lord Boileau and myself
-the pleasure of dining with us on Saturday--I will send you a card."
-Lord Albert bowed with courtesy, and expressed himself sorry that he
-was already engaged, and, after some conversation of little interest,
-as Lady Boileau's carriage was announced, she left the room. Leslie
-Winyard, with the familiarity of one well acquainted, whispered in Lord
-Albert's ear--
-
-"You have _échappéd belle_ from that."
-
-"What do you mean?" asked the latter.
-
-"Why, I mean that you have escaped a most uncomfortable concern by just
-refusing the invitation to the Boileaus."
-
-"I thought I heard you say to Lady Boileau but now that you would be
-delighted to wait upon her."
-
-"Oh yes, certainly, one _says_ those sort of things; and if nothing
-better occurs, one _does_ them;--but it does not always follow: for
-instance, if any one were to ask me whom I liked better, or if you, or
-some equally pleasant person, were to propose our dining together at
-Crockford's--"
-
-"I am not a member of Crockford's," said Lord Albert D'Esterre, gravely.
-
-"Oh! but your name is down, and _you_ are certain of being admitted
-on the next ballot, and--" Lord Albert attempted to reply, but Leslie
-Winyard continued, "and, as I was telling you, if a pleasant dinner was
-prepared at Crockey's, I should, of course, not starve myself at the
-Boileaus."
-
-"I confess myself at a loss to comprehend what you mean."
-
-"Well then, some day go and try; find yourself frozen in rooms where
-the fire is lit only five minutes before the hour of your expected
-arrival--starve at the hands of the very worst cook in England,--and
-then, when you hear that my Lady spends twelve guineas on a new bonnet,
-squanders thousands on her journies to Paris, and ruins Boileau in
-articles for her toilette, _marvel_--but the thing is so."
-
-"Is it possible?" Lord Albert continued saying to himself; as the
-person who had been talking to him turned away, half in derision of his
-unsophisticated expressions and manner of receiving what he said,--"is
-it possible that so much refinement of duplicity can exist, for an end
-so trivial--where the gratification of the spirit of falsehood, or the
-indulgence of an ill-bred impertinence, is the only object?"
-
-Whilst thus musing, and preparing to leave a scene which, as he became
-more acquainted with the actors, appeared little suited to his tastes
-or modes of thinking, he saw Lady Hamlet Vernon approach the door
-unattended. A recollection that she alone, in the manner she spoke of
-Lady Adeline Seymour, had seemed to have any sentiment in common with
-himself, made him move towards her, and inquire if he could be of any
-service in seeing her to her carriage.
-
-"I do not know if it is up," was her reply, "but perhaps you will have
-the goodness to ask." He did so, and in the interval, before it was
-announced, they continued conversing. "_Je vous félicite_," said Lord
-Rainham, addressing Lady Hamlet Vernon in a low tone as he passed, and
-looking significantly at the same time at Lord Albert D'Esterre.
-
-"There is no cause," she replied, "I am waiting for my carriage, and I
-think it will never come."
-
-"_Discrète_," answered Lord Rainham, as he moved towards the door, and
-signalled what he had observed to Leslie Winyard, whose answering nod
-expressed concurrence in his suspicions.
-
-It was long before Lady Hamlet Vernon's carriage arrived, and she
-continued talking with Lord Albert on various topics; the societies of
-Paris and Vienna, compared with that of London; the state of the Opera,
-and the prevalent bad taste of music on the Continent. She inquired
-for many who in their exile in this country had been known to her, and
-with whom, in the splendour of restored rank and fortunes, she found
-Lord Albert had lived on terms of close intimacy. In speaking of them
-he seemed to dwell with pleasure on their recollection of the services
-rendered them in England, as a bright trait in the human character,
-which betokened feelings that it was plain to see were in accordance
-with his own generous and noble nature--and which had formed the basis
-of that familiar intercourse in which he had lived with them. Although
-the reverse of this picture has been ascribed to too many foreigners,
-who have with justice been accused of ingratitude, it ought not
-therefore to be recorded that all were subject to such condemnation.
-Lord Albert knew otherwise.
-
-As he extolled their characters and perfections, and spoke of the
-charms which their society had always possessed for him, Lady Hamlet
-Vernon listened with increased attention, as if she would have gathered
-from his discourse the individual sources of that satisfaction, which
-he professed in so lively a manner to have found. "You are warm and
-enthusiastic in your eulogiums," she said: "I hope that in England,
-also, you may find those whom, with the same reasons, and an equal
-ardour of attachment, you will be disposed to admit to your friendship."
-
-There was something in the tone in which these words were addressed
-to him, that made Lord Albert D'Esterre for a moment fix his eyes on
-the speaker; but they were as quickly withdrawn, when he saw Lady
-Hamlet Vernon blush, apparently confused, and then pluck a flower from
-a vase near her, while she endeavoured to hide her face by inhaling
-the perfume. There was an awkwardness in the pause which ensued, which
-neither seemed at the moment able to surmount; when fortunately Lady
-Hamlet Vernon's carriage was called, and as Lord Albert handed her to
-it, he received an invitation to her house in the evening, when Lady
-Tilney's _coterie_ were to assemble there.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-"NEWSPAPERS"--"THE PARK."
-
-
-The newspapers of the following morning had devoted columns to the
-description of Lady Borrowdale's entertainment, and the numbering of
-the distinguished persons assembled there; the dresses, the apartments,
-the decorations, the viands, and every minute arrangement, were all
-detailed with an accuracy which an eye-witness of the scene would
-readily have acknowledged, and which none but an eye-witness could
-possibly have succeeded in giving.
-
-In a far less conspicuous and pretending manner, did the announcement
-figure in the same paper, that "Lady Tilney yesterday evening received
-a select circle of her friends at her house in ---- Street, where
-the Sontag gave several specimens of her unrivalled talents." An
-uninstructed reader would have been misled by these harbingers of
-public events; and from the tone of the respective _affichés_ feel
-justified in the conclusion, that the one must have been the production
-of Lady Borrowdale's own pen, or at least from her dictation, while the
-other appeared naturally as the result of that publicity, to which the
-actions of the great are always subjected. But this would have been
-far from the fact, or rather the very opposite to it; it was to the
-milliners, the confectioners, the musicians, the _maître d'hotel_, and
-the other individuals interested in affording publicity to the dresses
-and entertainments of their employers, that the long and circumstantial
-details of Lady Borrowdale's, or any other great assembly, are to be
-attributed; free from any petty interference, or the gratification of a
-silly vanity on the part of the principals themselves.
-
-That this was the fact, was a circumstance which could not escape Lady
-Tilney; and aware that such evidence, if it reached the public eye,
-would destroy at once all the sacredness of her select _coteries_,
-and the charms of the _société choisie_ which she was labouring to
-form, she determined on suppressing it, and issued orders, not to
-be disobeyed with impunity, for the effectual prevention of any
-announcement of whom the circle consisted of on the evening in
-question, and of its proceedings, with the exception that it excelled
-all other of the same date, by the possession of Sontag's inimitable
-powers. A mystery, which suited well with the ideas of Lady Tilney
-and of her friends on the subject of exclusive _ton_, would thus, she
-conceived, be thrown over their actions, and the rites of the supreme
-deity of fashion impenetrably veiled from the prying, inquisitive eye,
-and vulgar imitation of its pretending votaries.
-
-Humility is a duty of as especial injunction in the sacred volume,
-as its opposite is of strict prohibition; and let it not surprise,
-therefore, that Lord Albert D'Esterre, young in the world's masquerade,
-and imbued with feelings, which if not religiously grounded, were
-at least, from their purity, analogous to the moral doctrine which
-religion teaches, should be struck, as he perused the two paragraphs,
-by the apparent vanity of the one compared with the unostentatious
-wording of the other, and drew his inferences accordingly.
-
-"What silly pomp in Lady Borrowdale; how unworthy her rank--how
-positively little, thus to set forth the splendour of her
-entertainment, which is worth nothing when it loses the character of
-being a natural consequence of her station in society. What could
-be more brilliant than Lady Tilney's assembly; and yet there is no
-parade--no _catalogue raisonnée_ of all that was seen, done, or said in
-her drawing-rooms--how much more like a woman of real fashion."
-
-Had Lord Albert D'Esterre been acquainted with the actual truth,
-in all probability the opinion which he passed on this trivial
-circumstance, as he took his breakfast, would have been the very
-reverse of what it was; and, however he might hold cheap any silly
-ostentatious display of wealth or rank, he would certainly have been
-more ready to overlook Lady Borrowdale's carelessness whether her
-assembly was reported accurately, or not at all, than he would have
-been to forgive Lady Tilney's over-anxiety and ultra, _ton_ism (if such
-a word may be coined), to screen the names and numbers of her guests,
-and give celebrity to the coterie by making it a matter of secrecy and
-of injunction to her domestics.
-
-The mornings of Lord Albert, however, were generally passed in
-reflections of much more use and importance than such as newspaper
-subjects could furnish. During the whole of his residence abroad, his
-time had been employed in acquirements of a solid kind. He had studied
-men and things--had made himself acquainted with the constitutions,
-governments, resources, and political importance of all the great
-European states; had lived amongst their inhabitants for the purpose
-of acquiring that accurate knowledge of their habits and dispositions,
-which tends so much to a just appreciation of the line of policy to
-be observed towards them, and which must ever be influenced by an
-acquaintance with national character.
-
-While receiving their instructions he had formed friendships with
-some of their most distinguished literati in all the different
-branches of knowledge, and had returned to England fully prepared for
-the commencement of that public career to which his inclination led
-him; and in which, amongst those who knew him intimately, and could
-appreciate his abilities, he was justly expected to shine.
-
-The habit of occupation which he had formed whilst thus pursuing his
-studies on the Continent, did not desert Lord Albert D'Esterre, even
-in the noise and bustle of London society, in the midst of which he
-now found himself; but in the mass of business which now fell upon
-him in consequence of his taking possession of his large estates, in
-the conferences of lawyers and agents, in the answering of letters on
-these matters of varied interest which now occupied him, and in the
-attentions to those minor cases of life, the etiquettes and forms of
-the world, he still found leisure for serious and studious application;
-nor indulged in the idleness of fashion till the duties of the morning
-had been performed, when alone he availed himself of them, for the
-purpose of relaxation and the unbending of his mind.
-
-It was the morning after Lady Tilney's soirée, and when he had gone
-through his usual course of occupations, that Lord Albert recollected,
-with what would be called old-fashioned politeness, "the propriety of
-leaving his cards with the persons to whom he had been presented the
-preceding evening, and more particularly with Lady Tilney herself; and
-he determined to do so on his way to the Park. On arriving at Lady
-Tilney's door he was informed that she was at home (for his name was
-already on the list of those who had the entrée), and he was preparing
-to dismount when he saw the carriage of the Countess Leinsengen
-drive up. She bowed to him, and he was presently at the _portière_
-to hand her out; and offering her his arm, conducted her to Lady
-Tilney's boudoir. "Comment ça va-t-il chère Comtesse," said the former
-addressing her; "I congratulate you on possessing de acquaintance of
-de only polite Englishman I have ever known--Dare is milor Albert
-D'Esterre had vraiement de galanterie to get off his horse and conduct
-me from my carriage. N'est-ce pas merveilleux in dis country!"
-
-Lord Albert bowed to the compliment; but added: "I am sure Lady
-Tilney will not allow such a cruel sentence on our nation to pass even
-your lips, Comtesse; and will agree with me, that though a few may
-have taken up a false system, and assumed an air of disregard to the
-courtesies of life, yet it is only such as seek for distinction by
-false means, and by doing the reverse of what others do: we cannot,
-therefore, allow the censure to be general on us all; indeed, I do
-my sex but justice I hope, when I say, that they are in this country
-invariably the friends and supporters of women, and--" "Oh yes; perhaps
-if one tumble down, or break one's leg, or meet vid any personal danger
-or affront, dis may be so; but dese affairs do not arise every day: and
-for de little cares of de men, _les petits soins_, I never knew one of
-your country men who knew vat dey meant."
-
-Lord Albert smiled at the manner in which the argument in favour of
-his politeness was maintained; but perceiving Lady Tilney little
-inclined to keep up a conversation on the subject of national manners,
-he refrained from drawing the comparison, which would have been just,
-between a natural politeness, arising as much from feeling and imbued
-delicacy of sentiment, as from habit, and the mere outward forms of
-courtesy and etiquette, which in those most profuse of them have seldom
-any thing of sincerity.
-
-"Well, I suppose ve must go to dat tiresome Almack dis evening. You
-go?" said the Comtesse Leinsengen, addressing Lady Tilney; "for my part
-I tink I shall viddraw my name."
-
-"Oh, certainly I shall go," replied the latter, "for it is absolutely
-necessary you know, my dear Comtesse, that some of us should be there;
-and besides I am of opinion that as people must have something to keep
-them quiet, and which _they think recherché_, Almack's is as good
-as any thing else, and therefore I shall support it--In regard to
-_us_, I agree perfectly with you, it is _passée_, and no longer what
-was intended." The Comtesse shrugged her shoulders: "You will be at
-Almack's to-night," said Lady Tilney, turning to Lord Albert D'Esterre,
-"although we are giving it such a bad name, will you not?"
-
-"Your hours of admission are limited you know, and I scarcely think I
-can get away in time from ----"
-
-"There is no debate of consequence, is there?" rejoined Lady Tilney
-with earnestness--"I may forget, but should there be, of course----"
-
-"I did not mean from the house," continued Lord Albert, "but I am
-going to dine where I shall meet Baron H.; I have known him on the
-continent, and his conversation is so very interesting."--"And so very
-long," added the Comtesse Leinsengen, interrupting him, and with a look
-which was intended to repay many discussions she had been constrained
-to endure at Lady Tilney's hands; "I wonder he ever finds people to
-listen to him."--"But where do you dine," said Lady Tilney, seeming to
-disregard the opinion just uttered. "I know Barnette, and he is very
-agreeable, very clever, but I wonder he allows himself to be so _fétéd_
-by people so little known in the world. I shall be happy, I am sure--"
-
-"I am to meet him at the Miss D.'s," replied Lord Albert, interrupting
-her, and who felt that _this_ was the point he was called upon to
-answer, and not that of who were or who were not known in Lady Tilney's
-estimation.
-
-"And do you really visit them?" said the latter with great surprise,
-"are you not _ennuyé_ to death at their parties?"
-
-"_Ennuyé!_ no--but then I must premise that I never am so under any
-circumstances."
-
-"Ah, _bon!_ do tell me how that is, Milor," said the Comtesse
-Leinsengen, "precisely, do tell me how you avoid infection from dat
-prevalent disease of your island, dat _bore_ you call it."
-
-"Oh, I always do what I like," replied Lord Albert with a smile.
-
-"Cela ne fait rien à l'affaire, one do not always know vat von like."
-
-"I have nothing to reply to that; but for myself, if I do not find
-exactly what I like I always endeavour to extract entertainment from
-the persons or place, where, or with whom I may chance to be."
-
-"Par exemple, at the Miss D.'s, what can you find at their horrible
-conversaziones to keep you awake," asked Lady Tilney, "c'est un ennui à
-périr, it makes me yawn to think of it."
-
-"Oh, he goes to do penance for his sins, and purchase indulgence for
-dose to come, n'est ce pas, Milor?"
-
-"Neither, I assure you; I was really more entertained during a _soirée_
-there last week than I have been since my return to England."
-
-"Ah, le beau compliment! de grâce do not avow it," said the Comtesse.
-
-Lady Tilney looked amazed at these opinions, like one in doubt if she
-had not with too much precipitation admitted an enemy within the camp,
-in the person of Lord Albert; and whilst canvassing the necessity of
-retrieving her error, by his future exclusion, and at the same time
-the policy of retaining one of his interest and promise in her circle,
-with a view to his reform, she directed her enquiries to him in a tone
-almost dictatorial, as to the ground of his faith in the merits of
-the society he had been extolling. "Will you tell me, Lord Albert, of
-whom are these parties generally composed? I have yet to learn that
-there are distinguished individuals capable of creating such great
-interest apart from what is generally termed the society of London;
-or, I must conclude--but I will not do that hastily--that you yourself
-have imbibed ideas quite foreign to propriety, and have given way to
-associations quite unfitting your situation in the world."
-
-Lord Albert in his turn seemed astonished at these categories, but
-answered with perfect ease: "I have found at the Miss D.'s many whom I
-meet elsewhere and, every where; but my chief attraction is the number
-of talented persons who are often assembled in the circle, and whose
-conversation affords me the greatest interest, and much instruction."
-
-"One do not go into society to be instructed," said the Comtesse
-Leinsengen with a sneer.
-
-"Surely not," added Lady Tilney, "clever people are well in their
-way,--I mean your really learned persons--men who have read, travelled,
-written all their lives, but then it is in one's own apartment in the
-morning that they are sufferable. I know but very few indeed, who are
-presentable, or who have the true talent of turning their powers to
-account, without torturing one to death with their learning; and then
-without great circumspection they become familiar, and one is obliged
-to take so much trouble, and be so much on one's guard, to keep them
-in their place. Be assured, Lord Albert, you will find this to be the
-case," continued Lady Tilney, "if you give unlimited encouragement to
-_gens de ce grade_--There is but one subject on which you may listen
-to them, I mean politics; but how few there are of the class who are
-enlightened enough to speak on that subject. We have, it is true, D--
-and B-- C--, and the Count K--, sometimes with us; and among our own
-countrymen, we have M-- and a few others, but--"
-
-The Countess Leinsengen's impatience was here manifested by the usual
-shrug of her shoulders, and as she perceived Lady Tilney embarking on
-the interminable ocean of politics, turning quickly to Lord Albert she
-enquired,
-
-"But who may be de very clever persons, Milor, who give you so much
-amusement in dis very charming society?"
-
-"Where there are so many to name, it is hard to select," replied
-Lord Albert; "but there was the great traveller, who has been further
-into the interior of Africa than any one has yet penetrated. His
-descriptions of deserts, and skies, and camels, conveyed me beside
-him in his pilgrimage; the trackless sands in which no insect can
-find subsistence; the well by which the caravan halted, the only
-visible friend of the traveller throughout the vast desert; the wide
-canopy of starry heavens, spread out above; those heavens and those
-stars, of whose clear brightness we in these cloudy regions have but a
-faint idea; the varied and picturesque garb of guides and guards; the
-meekness of the patient camel; the silence of the march, unless some
-alarm from the fierce and wandering tribes of the country disturbed
-its tranquillity; and then the noise, and gesticulation, and activity,
-which accompanied the pitching of the tents for the night's or noon's
-repose, were circumstances all described and dwelt upon by the
-traveller, with a nervous strength and accuracy of delineation which
-nothing but original description can give, and which came to me with so
-much force and truth, and such beauty of imagery, that I thought, as he
-spoke, travelling was the only delightful way of passing one's life."
-
-Lady Tilney and the Comtesse Leinsengen exchanged looks, while Lord
-Albert was thus giving way to the natural feelings of a mind yet
-untinctured with the follies of fashion, and which saw no degradation
-to his rank in seeking and finding amusement in the society of
-enlightened persons.
-
-"Tell me," at length asked Lady Tilney, with an expression something
-like contempt, "had you no _changement de décoration_; was all your
-talk about camels, and deserts, and wells, and stars?"--"Ah," cried the
-Comtesse Leinsengen, "_avouez moi, Milor, que la nouvelle du jour vaut
-been mieux_." Lord Albert smiled, and allowed that this was amusing too
-in its way; but he added,
-
-"We had a change of divertissement I assure you, after dinner; _Il
-cantar che nel' anima si sente_ took the place of conversation for a
-time, and Mr. M--"
-
-"Oh he is well enough," said Lady Tilney, "in his place, and sings
-charmingly;" (for the person in question was the Anacreon of her party,
-and sometimes tuned his lays to subjects on which party feeling and
-political animosity loved to cast derision)--"he is well enough."--"And
-sings, do you not think," rejoined Lord Albert, "divinely? I have heard
-others sing finely--sweetly--scientifically--even feelingly; but such
-lightness, such magic bursts of imagery, such painting of sounds, I
-never heard but in his song."
-
-"And you have heard de Sontag: you heard her dis last evening?"
-
-"Oh yes, often; I heard her at Vienna before she came to England."
-
-"Well, and you prefer dis little gentleman--_tout les gens sont
-respectables_;" and she sneered, as if in contradiction to the words.
-
-"Perhaps the parties will not bear a comparison," added Lady Tilney,
-jealous of one whom she patronized, and whose merits she had in a
-measure acknowledged; and then, turning to Lord Albert, she continued--
-
-"You must not mistake me, my dear lord; I have no objection to the
-_sort of thing_ you have been describing. I honour talent, and delight
-in conversation; but then it must be on a proper footing; in circles
-where those persons who talk, and talk very well I dare say, should be
-under restraint; where they would feel themselves debarred entirely
-from _undue_ license, and a consideration that they formed part of
-the society, and where they would appear in their true characters--to
-direct and amuse others when called upon; just as actors and singers
-come upon the stage to play their parts, and then retire. Now in the
-circle you allude to all this necessary distinction is overthrown at
-once--every one there, from the nature of things, considers himself
-_pair et compagnon_ of the company, and behaves accordingly. In small
-rooms--"
-
-"_On meurt de chaud au de froid, par parenthèse_," interrupted the
-Comtesse, who dreaded one of Lady Tilney's long discussions; "for
-dere is one moment a thorough air, and de next all is shut up, and
-one fries vid de fire; but dat is always de case where dere is no
-_poêle_ stove--However, adieu ma belle; I must go and leave you and
-Milor dere to settle all de points about dat société which he likes so
-much--adieu--_au revoir, Milor, je vous salue_."
-
-Lord Albert would have followed his natural impulse of politeness, and
-handed the Comtesse Leinsengen to her carriage; disposed, perhaps, also
-to escape further conversation with Lady Tilney on topics where they
-seemed to hold no ideas in common. This, however, he was not permitted
-to do, the Comtesse declining his offered arm, saying she should never
-be forgiven if Lady Tilney were deprived of the triumph of converting
-him from his errors;--and closing the door, as she insisted on his
-remaining, Lord Albert was left tête-à-tête with Lady Tilney.
-
-"Do you not think she is terribly gone off this year?" said the latter.
-
-"I do not know if I understand you. If it be that her beauty is gone
-off, I should say yes--but I never heard she _was_ handsome."
-
-"No?" asked Lady Tilney, with an expression of satisfaction; "but she
-is surely very _distingué_ looking."--"She has the advantage of that
-species of polish which the world gives," was Lord Albert's reply; "but
-this often covers an unpolished mind--and I am not sure it is the first
-thing I should look for."
-
-"I like nature as much as you can do, my dear lord; I ever stood up for
-that liberty and freedom attendant on persons not quite _fait au feu_;
-but I must confess that I like to have them a little dressed, _not
-perfectly raw_."
-
-How far Lord Albert might have found it possible to agree with Lady
-Tilney in this new question, so suddenly started, it was not left him
-to discover; for at that moment fresh visitors were announced--and, as
-they entered, Lord Albert prepared to depart. Not, however, till Lady
-Tilney--who, spite of what she called his false theories, saw he was a
-person by no means to be hastily rejected--had bidden him to her box at
-the Opera on Saturday evening. "I am determined to be at the rising of
-the curtain," she said, "to hear the Sontag--only it is so difficult to
-be in time. Were you ever in time in your life?"--
-
-"Yes, I have," answered Lord Albert, smiling.
-
-"Then be at the very _premier congé d'arche_ on Saturday," added Lady
-Tilney, as he bowed to her and left the apartment; glad to have gotten
-over a visit of ceremony, where, from the tone of conversation which
-had passed, he augured that little in future would be found consonant
-to his ideas or his tastes.
-
-As he rode from the door, Lord Albert turned his horse towards the
-Park. It was one of the first Spring days that had shone in the early
-year, and all the gayest of London seemed hastening to enjoy its genial
-influence.--Yes, even the weary and the _blazé_ in life's crooked paths
-appeared for a moment to acknowledge the charm which the brilliancy of
-the scene and the brightness of the atmosphere combined to form. Smiles
-were in every face and cheerfulness in every movement.
-
-Than the throng of Hyde Park there is perhaps no promenade in Europe
-more dazzling; none where more magnificence of equipage, or more beauty
-of human form is displayed; and it is difficult for the young, and the
-handsome more particularly, not to feel intoxicated as they enter on a
-stage where the whole appearance is so fair, and where a consciousness
-of personal charms assures them they must themselves shine.--It is
-not probable that Lord Albert D'Esterre, philosophical as he has just
-appeared while discoursing with Lady Tilney, was altogether free from
-feelings so natural to his years, or from that species of vanity which
-seeks a display of personal beauty, or whatever other quality may best
-glitter in such a scene.
-
-He was young, strikingly handsome, possessing a form of perfect
-symmetry, and moreover one of the finest horsemen of his time. What
-wonder then if, as he sought the crowded road of the Park, something
-like self-love had a share in the direction which he took, and the
-choice made of the spot where he might breathe the balmy air of such a
-day. As he joined some of his acquaintances in the Ride, and stopped to
-speak to others, passing from right to left and from north to south in
-the gay and splendid crowd, his recollections were naturally turned to
-similar parades in other countries, and he felt pride as an Englishman
-in considering how far our national display of beauty and of wealth
-outshone that of other capitals.
-
-"Neither Vienna, nor Paris, nor St. Petersburgh, can rival this,
-Glenmore," he said, in the buoyancy of his gratification at the
-scene--"nothing that we ever beheld there is comparable with this--now
-is it?"
-
-"You have chosen your day well," replied the latter, "because, if it
-had been one of those three hundred and sixty-five days of mist which
-we generally enjoy in this metropolis, I should be disposed to dispute
-the point with you, and set the sunshine of a Parisian Spring against
-the brilliancy of our ladies' eyes and the splendour of their retinues.
-And would you not agree with me?"
-
-"Why, as a mere animal, I might, perhaps--climate does affect our
-_physique_, I will allow; but the national pride--"
-
-"Oh, bah! my dear D'Esterre your national pride in this instance has
-nothing to do with the matter;--and if the belles of Paris, or Vienna,
-or the Calmuck beauties of St. Petersburgh, could rival ours, their
-horses and coach-makers surpass what you see before you, and their
-summers be eternal, your _amour de la patrie_, I fear, would not long
-continue _to bias_ your judgment. No, no, D'Esterre, that feeling does
-not live on food like this; but we have other and better sources for
-it, as you well know and feel."
-
-Lord Albert's face shewed, in the generous glow which suffused it,
-a sense of his friend's appreciation of his sounder judgment; but he
-added, with a smile, "if you will not allow my present admiration
-to proceed from such a noble spring, at least do not accuse me of a
-reverse of sentiment, if I draw a comparison, in another respect, not
-at all favourable to my countrymen. Do you observe that line of men
-drawn up in battle array, and with impertinent nonchalance passing
-judgment on the women who drive before them? It must, or ought to be,
-at least, offensive to the pride and delicacy of the former; it would
-shock any European, and is a custom more suited to eastern despotism,
-and to the rules of an Asiatic slave mart, than to a civilized nation."
-
-"But do you conclude, therefore, that the men are alone to blame in
-this?" asked Lord Glenmore; "and is it to be presumed that they would
-have forgotten the courtesies and respect due from them, if women in
-general had been more true to the delicacies and decencies of their own
-sex. Do justice to the men while you blame the practice of the day, and
-acknowledge, that if the nod, or motion of the hand, or impertinent
-glance of recognition now takes place of the bow and respectful
-salutation of other times, yet that there must have been a sufferance
-of the change, if not an encouragement of it, and an equal alteration
-of manners on the other hand, or it would never have been."
-
-"I dare say you are right, Glenmore; and if so the more the pity. But
-although custom sanctions all change in reciprocal demeanour between
-men and women, yet because the stiff and _manière_ address of the last
-century was laid aside with the silk coat, and bag-wig, and sword, I do
-not see why courtly manners should have been exiled at the same time.
-So long as society is to exist on a proper footing, there must be an
-outward shew of proper feelings; and when all deference in minor points
-ceases, it is quite certain that all consideration of respect in more
-serious matters will cease too."--"What is that I hear?" cried Leslie
-Winyard, riding up to Lord Glenmore's side, and nodding familiarly to
-his companion;--"what is that I hear about proper feelings, and all
-consideration of respect? You are not moralizing in Hyde Park I hope."
-
-"D'Esterre says that you men do very wrong to sit on your horses, rank
-and file, and let the ladies parade before you; and I think what he
-says is true."
-
-"Indeed!" replied Mr. Leslie Winyard, and looking round in Lord Albert
-D'Esterre's face with a sneer, "I believe if we were not to do so,
-you would have very few beauties to admire in your ride,--the women
-only come here to see us."--"And what do _you_ come for?" asked Lord
-Glenmore smiling.--"Oh, to shew ourselves, certainly: to _be_ admired."
-Before he could reply to the insufferable impertinence of this
-speech--if indeed he would have deemed it worthy any reply--an equipage
-caught the eye of Lord Glenmore as it entered the gate, and putting
-spurs to his horse he was at its side in a moment and speaking to the
-ladies in it. "Whose carriage is that?" asked Lord Albert of Leslie
-Winyard, who continued to saunter his horse in company with him.
-
-"It's the Melcombe's," he replied, after a pause, and having put the
-handle of his whip, which contained a glass, to his eye--"it's the
-Melcombe's: Georgina is a d--d fine girl. Don't you know Georgina? they
-say Glenmore is smitten,--I'll go and see the fun;" and, with these
-words, this model of the gallantry of the nineteenth century rode off.
-"What can he mean," said Lord Albert to himself, "by calling any woman
-familiarly by her name in that manner, unless she be his sister or near
-relative; but to me, a stranger almost to himself, and to the party
-utterly unknown, what abominable vulgarity, what detestable insolence!"
-
-There is no saying how far Lord Albert might have gone on in his
-animadversions on the manners of his sex, if he had been left quite
-to himself, for there was enough around him, and before his eyes, to
-provoke remark even in a mind less alive to the niceties and decorum
-of polished life. But his attention was called another way, and he
-in turn was to become a subject of flippant ridicule; to be set down
-as a person _à prétension_, by the young men whose manners he had
-very justly condemned, and who chose to attribute to coxcombry and to
-affectation, a demeanour and a bearing which they had not the power to
-imitate.
-
-A graceful inclination of the head from some lady passing in the
-throng, and whose feathers waved in unison with the movement, as she
-bowed to Lord Albert, caught his eye. He gazed for a moment, not
-recognizing the party, but lifted his hat courteously from his head,
-and as he looked back to ascertain better who it was, perceived the
-carriage had stopped near the gate. Turning his horse, therefore, he
-rode in the direction, and discovered that it was Lady Hamlet Vernon
-who had saluted him. He approached the carriage, with all the air and
-gallantry of a really high bred person, thanked Lady Hamlet Vernon
-for the honour she had done him, in recognizing him in the crowd;
-apologized for his own blindness, and continued for some minutes in
-conversation with her on the beauty and gaiety of the scene, and on
-the current topics of the day. His back was turned at the time to the
-phalanx of horsemen, whose ranks, and avowed occupation, had given
-occasion to his remarks on the bad manners of the age; and who now,
-assembled in closer body by the gate, were ready to give their last
-glance of scrutiny or recognition to the departing carriages.
-
-"That's a fine horse that man is upon," said Lord Tonnerre, pointing to
-Lord Albert; "who the devil is he?"
-
-"Oh! its D'Esterre," said Leslie Winyard, "do you not know him a mile
-off, by all his bows and grimaces: for me, I could 'wind him i' the
-lobby, any where.'"
-
-"Damn the fellow, what business has he with such a horse--can he ride?"
-
-"I should think not," drawled out Lord Baskerville; "he is the most
-conceited animal London has boasted for some centuries. I heard him
-talk last night about that dear Sontag, till I was sick."--"And, my
-lords and gentlemen," said Leslie Winyard, in mock solemnity, "he
-talked not only most fancifully, as my Lord Baskerville avers, last
-night, but on this morning too: and upon what? Divine, O ye augurs!
-declare it, ye soothsayers!--Why he discovered, in the very age and
-body of the time--its forms and its complexion, and pronounced our
-manners, rude; our bearing, unlike gentlemen; our noble array here,
-barbaric and uncivilized;--in short, [assuming his natural tone] he
-is a d--d puppy. I caught him, but now, preaching in this strain to
-Glenmore, who, like a fool, said he agreed with him!"--A general
-murmur burst from the circle which had listened to Leslie Winyard,
-and the words coxcomb, ass, puppy, poppinjay, and jackanapes, issued
-simultaneously from the lips of these polished ultras of ton.
-
-Lord Tonnerre alone was silent, but his features shewed him to be as
-little in a mood for gentleness as any of them. When having grasped
-his rein, and put his horse on his haunches, he glanced a look of
-intelligence to those around him, and was off at full speed towards the
-spot where Lord Albert, leaning from his horse, was still conversing
-with Lady Hamlet Vernon. Regardless of courtesy, or the consequences of
-his impetuosity, he kept his violent course till within half a neck of
-the carriage, and then suddenly endeavoured to wheel round, and pass on
-the other side. Lord Albert's horse, startled at this close and sudden
-approach, plunged, and alarmed at the carriages and noise, became, for
-a moment, unmanageable, and broke away. His rider's admirable dexterity
-and coolness, however, soon enabled him to rein in this movement,
-and return towards the spot from which he had started, and where his
-preoccupation had prevented his observing that a crowd of horsemen had
-gathered, who partially stood round, or were dismounting, seemingly to
-assist in some accident. He moved at a quicker pace, and found that
-Lord Tonnerre's horse, on being so roughly checked, had reared, and
-fallen back on his rider.
-
-Lord Albert was on his feet in an instant, and making his way through
-the throng was as eager in his inquiries, and prompt to render
-assistance to the sufferer, as if he had been personally interested
-in him. He found, however, no serious mischief had occurred. Lord
-Tonnerre, with the exception of having been stunned with the fall, and
-not yet able to rise, seemed perfectly himself, and careless of what
-had happened.
-
-His first inquiries were for his horse; and having been assured by
-several of his friends that no injury had been sustained in that
-quarter, he swore loudly against the animal for a fault which had been
-entirely his own, gave way to the most violent gesticulations of angry
-passion against the curiosity (as he called it) of the by-standers, and
-so disgusted Lord Albert D'Esterre by his want of proper feeling under
-an accident that might have ended fatally, that the latter mounted his
-horse once more, rode round to the other side of Lady Hamlet Vernon's
-carriage to assure her that she need be under no apprehension for
-Lord Tonnerre's safety, and continuing by her side as she proceeded
-out of the Park, left the actors of this paltry scene to bear their
-discomfiture as they best could.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-"THE OPERA."
-
-
-It is not to be supposed that Lady Tilney should keep a determination
-formed fully one hundred and forty-four hours before the season of
-its fulfilment, or retain on the Saturday evening the same degree of
-passionate admiration of the Sontag's powers, which she had expressed
-on the previous Wednesday to Lord Albert D'Esterre, when announcing
-her intention of being present at the first scene of the Opera. She
-did, however, reach the house, on the evening in question, before the
-conclusion of the third act, and found the Comtesse Leinsengen already
-in her box.
-
-"Eh bien, ma chere, à la fin vous voilà! have you been ever since at
-dat tiresome dinner?"
-
-"Oh no; I drove home immediately after you went away; but I had
-a thousand things of consequence to do, and could not positively
-arrive sooner. Amongst other things there was a great enormous card
-of invitation from the D'Hermantons. It is quite out of the question
-_my_ going: and I think the affair ought to be overturned as much as
-possible--our cause should be established without offence directly
-given, but decidedly; and if we are engaged elsewhere, you know, our
-excuse of '_exceedingly sorry_' will always effect this, and save us,
-in the present instance, from the extensive and moral acquaintances of
-the Duchess, and from the _fadeur_ of her evenings. I would myself send
-out cards did I not think it would be too marked; but some of us might
-do so. There is Lady de Chére, I see, in her box; would you arrange
-the business with her to-night in the room--Do you agree with me, my
-dear Comtesse?" Her friend nodded assent; and in her abrupt rough voice
-said, "N'ayez pas peur! I can always hold up my head and tread _down de
-plebe_--we are used to dat; but for you, I fear in dis country, you do
-not understand de matter."--
-
-"You know, my dear Comtesse, I have often explained to you, that our
-constitution--"
-
-"Oh! trève de politiques I implore," said the Comtesse Leinsengen,
-turning her head away, and looking towards the stage: "trève de
-politiques je n'en puis plus; but fiez vous en à moi."--
-
-"I am surely the last person you ought to suspect unequal to that task!
-It is quite unjust to me, dear Comtesse! Have you forgotten the woman
-whom Lady Ellersby and myself thought we could use? whom we actually
-paraded for a season, maintained she was a beauty, and a person 'qui
-feroit fureur;' and after all, when she failed, left her planté in the
-midst of the promised honours; actually ejected her from Almack's,
-and if we met, walked over her as a person whose face we had never
-seen!--Was not this carried with a proper spirit?"
-
-"Yes, under my suggestion; but I could have told you from de first
-that her _grand nigaud de mari_ would be always _à ses trousses_, and
-prevent her being of the least service to us. It is quite a mistake
-to attempt such a measure, _ça sent le roman_, and I do hate all
-romance--Dat young milor, (vat you name him?) dat was at your house
-de oder morning, Lor--Lor Albert D'Esterre; I don't think, upon my
-word, never I don't, dat he will do us any good, I have my doubts dat
-he is only _un espion_, and--" Whilst the Comtesse was speaking, the
-door of the box opened, and there entered, with an air of affected
-refinement, a person whose appearance ill suited with his outward show
-of courtliness--his face was red and large, with grey eyes, his hair
-inclining to flaxen, and his whole figure round and ill-formed.
-
-This physiognomy, however, if Sir William Temple would have allowed
-himself to be natural, was an index to his disposition, for he was _au
-fond_ good-natured; but an overweening vanity--a desire to be fine, and
-be considered one of the beau-monde, had spoilt the man, and he became
-insufferably pompous and conceited--in proportion as his exertions in
-good dinners _in_ the season, a good country house _out_ of it, and
-a vote in parliament, made him successful in obtaining the notice of
-people of rank, and of the minister. The first thought his cook good,
-his chateau, at an easy distance from London, convenient--and the last,
-remembering the old woman's adage, considered that every little helped,
-and that Sir William's vote, so long as it was on the right side, was
-as good as any other. He had made his way thus far with tolerable
-facility, but his ambition grew by feeding on, and was only to be
-satisfied by the attainment of the highest distinction of the _ton_ of
-the day; such as in his estimate was conferred by the protecting smile
-of Lady Tilney, the Comtesse Leinsengen and others of that _élite_ body.
-
-No opportunity therefore was lost, no pains omitted to arrive at this
-desirable end, and to improve the recognition with which Sir William
-found himself at times honoured, into what should at least _appear_ a
-footing of intimacy. An opera box was an outwork more easy to be taken
-by a _coup de main_, than a lodgment effected in the citadel itself;
-and while unregistered on the favoured list of the _entré_ at Lady
-Tilney's mansion, the access to her circle in the public theatre, which
-was not denied him, appeared a license of the utmost importance, and
-one which he was the last man to let grow obsolete by neglect of usage,
-or forget to turn to profit.
-
-"Has not the Sontag outdone herself to-night, Lady Tilney?" asked Sir
-William as he entered the box.
-
-"Yes, never was there such a singer--I have been listening till my very
-ears ache with intense attention."
-
-"I am so glad, Lady Tilney, to hear you say so, for I have been
-disputing the point with Lord Albert D'Esterre, who maintains that
-the Sontag's singing is not in the first style, and a great deal more
-of the same sort; but he might as well endeavour to persuade me that
-Ude is inferior to Doveton's present man Mariné. I think Lord Albert
-D'Esterre wishes to be thought an oracle, and the superior judge of all
-judges, and that without his decree there can be no perfection."
-
-"_Vraiment_," said the Comtesse with a shrug of her shoulders, "I
-think Milor might suspend his judgments till he heard if people cared
-for dem."
-
-"Ah, how delighted I am Comtesse to hear you say so," cried Sir
-William, repeating the words he had first addressed to Lady Tilney, and
-which indeed he addressed to every one of _ton_, let what might be the
-subject, or the sense that fell from them.
-
-"_Vraiment!_" again came drily from the lips of Comtesse Leinsengen,
-accompanied with a look at the speaker, which told him that the
-contempt conveyed in that expression, when speaking of Lord Albert,
-attached equally to himself. Fully understanding the intended meaning,
-and conscious that with the Comtesse Leinsengen he had made much less
-way than with Lady Tilney, he turned once more to the latter, and
-addressed her on a subject by which he knew well he should pay his
-court successfully.
-
-"You were not at Lady Borrowdale's the other night. You never saw such
-a set as were assembled there; positively there was no stirring without
-coming in contact with people whom one had never seen before--and then
-it is such bad taste to collect such a crowd--for my part, I got away
-after the first glance at the affair." Lady Tilney smiled, and Sir
-William, encouraged, continued, "Do you dine at Doveton's?"
-
-"I believe so."
-
-"I am delighted to hear you say so. Lord Osbalston asked me for the
-same day--but Mariné, you know, lives with Doveton now, and he could
-always turn the scale with me" (laughing affectedly); "_Apropos_,
-might I venture to ask the honour of your partaking of my rustic fare?
-I am living, you know, quite _en garçon_; but it would be a variety,
-so different from all you meet elsewhere; so very plain, and so very
-humble; and you would of course do me the honour to name your own
-party. Might I hope that you too, Comtesse, would condescend so far?"
-
-This was the boldest step Sir William Temple had yet taken; and
-he stood in proportionate anxiety, breathless and red, awaiting a
-reply which was to confirm or crush his hopes. May be, like a second
-Cæsar, he felt that he had crossed the limits of the empire, and
-saw that victory only could retrieve what he had hazarded, and that
-he must rise or fall by that. If victory did attend him, then, like
-another Alexander, he might weep for fresh worlds to conquer; but if
-he fell,--"oh! what a fall was there, my friends!" Such feelings, no
-doubt, did agitate his swelling breast when he saw the interchange of
-looks pass between Lady Tilney and her friend, as if they questioned
-each other.
-
-"Shall we gratify this man?" (this fool he would have read, could
-he have interpreted the Countess Leinsengen's expression): "shall
-we countenance him?" and in the tremendous moment of suspense Sir
-William blest his stars that there were none by to mark him. But when
-the joyful sound of Lady Tilney's voice pronounced an acceptance of
-his petition, he would have given every thing, short of the promised
-honour itself, that the whole Opera house had been present to witness
-his triumph. "You will receive us _en garçon_, Sir William, dat will
-be very good," said the Comtesse Leinsengen: "all I bargain for is dat
-there should be no misses--dose unmarried women are always in de way."
-
-Sir William was too much intoxicated with joy--too much absorbed
-with the prospect of his increasing consequence in the eyes of the
-fashionable world, when it should be announced that he had entertained
-the Comtesse Leinsengen, Lady Tilney, and a party of distinguished
-personages to dinner, at his house in May Fair, to pay attention to
-any thing not immediately connected with the results which that dinner
-would produce. He had heard not one word distinctly beyond the promised
-acceptance of his invitation; although he continued mechanically to
-reply, whenever he imagined himself addressed. "I am so glad to hear
-you say so!--I am delighted to hear that!" At last, on recovering
-a little, he perceived that Lady Tilney and her friend had entered
-into an argument on the subject of the unmarried ladies, to whom
-the Comtesse had alluded, and in which his dinner seemed entirely
-forgotten, or likely to be so.
-
-"Dey are always tinking of settlements, and jewels, and have nothing
-to do but take notice of what oders are doing," rejoined the Comtesse
-Leinsengen, in her most thrilling tone: "Our way is much de better dan
-yours; we marry our children at once, or put them in de convents: dat
-settles de matter, and make dem much happier too."
-
-"I am not quite so sure of that point, my dear Comtesse," said Lady
-Tilney, "although I own ladies are bores; but we manage the thing
-in _our_ way, and as well at least: we let them _seem_ to please
-themselves, which is half the battle towards making them satisfied with
-the lot they draw, and we ourselves direct the entire _marche du jeu_.
-You know I am for liberty in all things; liberty of choice as well as
-conscience; but very young people do not know what they wish and it
-is only when a little acquainted with the world that any body can be
-said to have a choice." Sir William Temple remained in torture during
-this discussion, and more than once wished all the unmarried ladies
-in London, who thus seemed to step in between himself and fortune,
-at the bottom of the sea. At length, tired, but not convinced, Lady
-Tilney left her opponent in the middle of a sentence, and turning to
-the unhappy Sir William, asked, "for what day shall I make our party at
-your house?"
-
-"I am delighted to hear you say that!" was the prompt and very sincere
-answer of the person addressed. "Oh, any day you do me the honour to
-appoint."
-
-"Dat dinner of yours, Sir William, oh vraiment je me fais fête d'y
-penser," cried the Comtesse Leinsengen, turning abruptly round to him,
-and determined that her rival in argument should not have even that
-subject entirely her own.
-
-"I hate vaiting and puts off; we vill fix de day at once--vat say
-you to Sunday? to-morrow--de Sunday is always frightful dull in your
-country; 'tis the only day, besides, in which I am disengaged."
-
-"I'm so glad to hear you say so," replied Sir William, "let it be
-to-morrow," turning at the same time with a look of inquiry to Lady
-Tilney.
-
-"Oh, after church there is no objection to diverting one's-se1f
-innocently; it is impossible to read and pray all day: besides I like
-to make the Sunday, on principle, a gay, chearful day."
-
-At this moment Lord Albert D'Esterre entered. "Shall I ask him for
-to-morrow?" eagerly whispered Sir William into Lady Tilney's ear;
-afraid lest the subject nearest his heart should again be usurped by
-some other topic.
-
-"Yes--no--yes, you may;" replied Lady Tilney; whose answer in the
-affirmative was decided by her wish to know more of Lord Albert in
-society, and a little also by Comtesse Leinsengen's having held cheap
-her penetration in regard to the qualifications of the former for their
-_société choisie_. The invitation was quickly given, and no excuse
-would be admitted. While Lord Albert was endeavouring to extricate
-himself from this importunity, and Sir William to convince him of
-the impossibility of disobeying Lady Tilney's commands, which he
-advanced to strengthen his cause, the Comtesse Leinsengen caught the
-conversation:
-
-"So, Milor, you will not be at de party to-morrow? an excuse vraiment!
-when de people make _me excuse_, I know what dat means, and it is made
-up in my mind never to ask dem again."
-
-"When you have once expressed that horrible sentence," answered Lord
-Albert, smiling, "it would surely be impossible to incur so great a
-danger; but as I am really not able to give my assent to the very
-obliging invitation, I shall not, I hope, be deemed deserving of the
-penalty."
-
-"What! _then_ you will _not_ accept?" asked the Comtesse Leinsengen
-again, in her own abrupt tone of command.
-
-"No; I lament I cannot." The Comtesse shrugged her shoulders, adding:
-
-"What! you will not accept, I suppose, because it is Sunday; and you
-are engaged all de day long to de Church; is it not dat--are you what
-dey call a saint?" Lord Albert felt annoyed by the importunity with
-which he had been assailed; and conceiving, according to his own ideas
-of good breeding, that declining an invitation at first was sufficient,
-he continued to look more grave and annoyed. Still as the Comtesse
-repeated the question:
-
-"Are you what dey call a saint?"
-
-"No, a sinner certainly; but would I were indeed a saint."
-
-"So den you condemn us all, I suppose, who do not keep de Sunday
-stupidly _à la façon Angloise_? Vill you tell me now, Milor, vat you
-tink one may do on a Sunday? I suppose you would not hang your cat,
-_par exemple_, if she killed her mouse on Sunday, vould you?"
-
-Lord Albert D'Esterre looked still more cold and grave, as he drew
-himself up and leant against the back of the box, saying, that "it was
-an unfitting time and place for such discussions, and that he begged
-to be excused from entering upon them." Then bending forward to Lady
-Tilney, who had remained silent, and saying a few words to her, he
-bowed and retired.
-
-"Il est farouche et fanfaron au possible," cried the Comtesse
-Leinsengen, as he closed the door; "after to-night I have done vid him."
-
-"He is only original; and it will be a great thing to soften his little
-prejudices, and teach him to enjoy existence under your tuition,
-if it were possible," said Sir William, making as low a bow as his
-_embonpoint_ would permit, "'_to soften knotted oaks, and bend the
-rocks_,' it would be done--"
-
-Lady Tilney smiled at the mis-quotation, while the Comtesse Leinsengen
-added in a tone of impatience: "but Miladi, do vat she vill, cannot
-make a bore agreeable; but, ah!" turning round, "dere is Milor
-Baskerville, how glad I am to have something humanized to talk to!
-Milor, we have just had a saint in our box; do you not smell de odour
-of sanctity very strong?"
-
-"I am at a loss to know your meaning, Comtesse--pray explain;" and
-when she did so, he replied; "Hem! from the first moment I saw him, I
-suspected that stiff unnatural sort of manner had something sinister,
-(hem!) I hope I am not worse than my neighbours, (hem!) but whenever
-I hear any thing approaching to cant (hem!) I fly from it, (hem!) as
-I would from all that I hold most detestable; (hem!) besides, since
-his conduct to Tonnerre, I have considered him (hem!) hardly in the
-light of a gentleman. (hem!) You heard, Comtesse, did you not, of that
-affair? (hem!)"
-
-"No, vat _affaire_ you speak of?"
-
-"Oh, you know he nearly caused Tonnerre a most serious accident, and
-(hem!) his favourite horse Chester, it is feared, is entirely ruined."
-
-"No, I never heard one word of it, vat was it for?"--"Why, Tonnerre
-(hem!) was riding up gently to speak (hem!) to Lady Hamlet Vernon
-in the Park, (hem!) my Lord Albert D'Esterre, who was by her
-carriage, (hem!) chose to turn his horse short round, and to shew his
-horsemanship, spurred the animal, who plunged and kicked, and (hem!)
-Tonnerre's horse was driven against the carriage and reared, and fell
-back--(hem!) and--"
-
-"And what did de oder Milor do--did he tumble off?"
-
-"Yes, (hem!) at least I believe he did, but I don't know--we were all
-so engaged, (hem!) in assisting Tonnerre--the last I saw of him was his
-horse going through the Park Gate like a shot, for he can't ride."
-
-"Baskerville," interrupted Lord Glenmore, who had entered the box,
-and, while talking with Lady Tilney, had overheard the latter part of
-this veracious history,--"Baskerville, you must pardon me if I correct
-your statement a little. _You_ may have _heard_ the circumstances
-only related, _I saw_ them--and if ever a man deserved having his
-neck broke, and losing a favourite horse, it was Tonnerre. I never
-witnessed any thing like the manner in which he rode, not _to_ Lady
-Hamlet Vernon's carriage, _but at_ D'Esterre, and if the latter had
-not been the excellent horseman he is, I think there might have been
-more serious results accruing to both than actually happened. However,
-Tonnerre and his horse are quite well, for I met both to-day." Lord
-Baskerville had a mode of dropping the corners of his mouth, raising
-his chin, and turning up his eyes, whenever he wished to shew signs
-of contempt; but too discreet to offend a person of Lord Glenmore's
-calibre, he managed to suppress them in some measure; and having heard
-out what Lord Glenmore had to say, turned without answering him to the
-Comtesse Leinsengen.
-
-"Do not talk more about dat man, I pray you, I am tired to death of
-his name," said the latter; "but tell me, Milor, vill you and Miladi
-Baskerville meet me to-morrow at dinner? Miladi Tilney and myself are
-going to do Sir William dere de honour to dine vid him, and vid our own
-party."
-
-Lord Baskerville looked amazed, and before he could recover his
-surprise, Sir William himself seemingly confirmed the strange
-announcement, by facing round and assuring _Baskerville_, as he called
-him, on the strength of many a good dinner before, that "he should be
-delighted to see him; and Lady Baskerville too, I hope will confer
-the same honour upon me as these ladies." Lord Baskerville, ere he
-answered, directed a look of inquiry to the Comtesse Leinsengen, to
-ascertain if the matter were really serious.--"Oh, you must come vid
-me," said the Comtesse, "I positively vill have no excuse."
-
-"I am ever ready to obey your commands, Comtesse, you know, and--"
-
-"I am delighted to hear you say so," cried Sir William. (Lord
-Baskerville drew up.) "And Lady Baskerville?" continued the former.
-
-"Hem! _I_ cannot _answer for Lady_ Baskerville, Sir William--but (hem!
-hem!) I will certainly inform her of the invitation, and (hem!) should
-she have no other engagement, (hem!) doubtless she will be most happy,
-and (hem!) will wait upon you; (hem!) but dear me the Opera is ended,"
-looking at his watch, and turning to Lady Tilney. "Oh those tiresome
-bishops--really I wish people would not meddle with what (hem!) they
-have nothing to do,--we are always now deprived of half our ballet on
-the Saturdays." (hem!)
-
-"_C'est vraiment ridicule_," murmured the Comtesse Leinsengen: "dere is
-no country in de world where dis sort of foolish ting takes place but
-in England."
-
-"It is rather an infringement upon our liberties, I will allow,"
-observed Lady Tilney, "to turn us out of our Opera boxes at a
-particular hour."
-
-"Liberty--liberty--dat liberty of the subject is all a farce, chere
-Miladi; it is all a make believe, as I often have de honour of telling
-you. Lord Baskerville, vill you be so obliging--my schall."
-
-Lady Tilney, however, would not suffer the Comtesse to go till she
-had spoken to her again on the subject of their _soirée_ at Lady
-de Chere's. "The Duchess of Hermanton's night will be a very good
-opportunity," she said; "to let the world know that we do not mingle in
-societies of the kind; all the regulars, as they consider themselves,
-look upon D'Hermanton House as head-quarters, and make a point of
-attending like subalterns gaping for promotion; and if we are there
-it will have the worst possible effect. Then again, such as we choose
-to invite to Lady de Chere's, will understand what is meant, _sans
-nous compromettre_, and hold off in future from engagements like the
-D'Hermanton's. You know it would be unwise and impolitic to impart our
-intentions to all indiscriminately who compose our circle; but we must
-at the same time afford some guide for conduct. If we do as I propose
-the affair will be very well understood, without our being unpleasantly
-involved, and the system will answer well, n'êtes vous pas de mon
-avis, chere Comtesse?"--"Peût-être qu'oui," was the Comtesse's answer,
-accompanied by the habitual shrug of the shoulders; "and," continued
-Lady Tilney, "I think there was every one at my house the other night
-who ought to be invited. Shall I send Lady de Chere my list?"
-
-"I will see about dat; but first we must know if Miladi vil do as
-we wish. Laissez-moi faire, j'arrangerai tout ça," and taking Lord
-Baskerville's arm, she was leaving the box--
-
-"But what shall we do about dat dinner to-morrow, chere Miladi?" she
-added in a lower tone to Lady Tilney.
-
-"Oh go, by all means; he is well enough--will be so pleased that we may
-do henceforth as we like with him, and it allows others to hope for the
-same honour."
-
-"Vell, den, I vill go--remember Milor you are engaged to me to-morrow."
-Lord Baskerville made one of his most refined bows. "And who else shall
-we have?" asked the Comtesse of Lady Tilney.
-
-"Oh! I don't know; there are the Boileaus and Lord Gascoyne, and Prince
-Luttermanne, and Lord Tonnerre."
-
-"Dose vill do very well; I vill tell dem if I see dem in de room.
-Adieu, chere Miladi. Ve shall dine vid you to-morrow, Sir William," she
-added as she left the box.
-
-"I am delighted to hear you say so!" replied the happy Sir William
-Temple.
-
-"May this be true!--O may it--can it be;--Is it by any wonder
-possible?" whispered Spencer Newcombe, who had heard the Comtesse
-Leinsengen's last words, and now approached Sir William with affected
-surprise.
-
-"Come, my master; if so, the great ones shall not have you all to
-themselves," he continued: "I too will dine with you to-morrow. Lady
-Tilney, are you of the party?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Why, where is the sign now? have ye e'er a calendar--where's the sign,
-trow you?" Spencer continued saying.
-
-"The what?" asked Sir William.
-
-"The sign--Believe me there's a most secret power in that! Court any
-woman in the right sign, Sir William, as you have done, and you shall
-not miss."
-
-"I am delighted to hear you say so!" replied Sir William.
-
-"I believe he thinks you allude to the sign-post of an inn," whispered
-Lord Boileau, who had joined the party, "and it suits well enough to a
-dinner-giving man like him." Lady Tilney now prepared to leave the box;
-and taking the arm of the Duke of Mercington, was followed by all the
-men who had paid their visit and their court to her.
-
-Sir William seemed to look with pride on the world behind him, as he
-mingled in the crowd; conscious of the mark of fashion which would from
-the morrow be emblazoned on his brow; and in the hurry of the throng,
-and in the quiet of his pillow, the glory of his future success and
-progress alike presented itself to him that night in a thousand forms.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-THE DINNER.
-
-
-When Lord Baskerville announced to Lady Baskerville the names of those
-who composed Sir William Temple's dinner party, she was sufficiently
-astonished; but felt there could be no compromise in being present, and
-at once accepted his invitation. The affair being considered rather in
-the light of a party to Richmond, or some similar gaiety, several of
-the guests went together. Prince Luttermanne attended Lady Tilney; the
-Boileaus joined Lady Hamlet Vernon; and Lord Baskerville engaged his
-friend Lord Tonnerre to accompany himself and Lady Baskerville.
-
-As the carriage of the latter proceeded down ---- street, they passed
-the church at the moment when Lord Albert D'Esterre was leaving the
-door, after evening service. Lady Baskerville's quick eye immediately
-recognized him, although mingled in a crowd of those denominated the
-common people; and pointing him out to Lord Tonnerre, the latter asked,
-in his usual tone of command,
-
-"What can _he_ be doing in that crowd?"
-
-"Isn't it Sunday?" rejoined Lord Baskerville, yawning. "He has been, I
-suppose, (hem!) to some conventicle. (hem!)"
-
-"Yes, he looks like one of those d--d Methodists, who would ring people
-to church from morning to night, by G--;" (Lord Tonnerre forgot that
-swearing was no longer a fashionable vice) "they ought to be scouted
-from society."
-
-"True," replied Lord Baskerville, "I think (hem!) that it would do a
-great deal of good to society, if (hem!) they were all run up, _à la
-lanterne_."
-
-"Ay, hang them--hang them as high as you can see," continued Lord
-Tonnerre; "rid the land of them any how. There's my father--I wish _he_
-had them for once in his hands; there's not a stricter person on earth
-than my father; he'll suffer no immorality, he'll have no profligacy
-in the family; but if one of these canting rascals was ever known to
-cross his door, or to be found on his estates, he'd make short work
-with him--he'd send him away with marks which the fellow would carry
-to his grave,--by G-- would he. All this comes, however, from the
-manner in which we pass our Sundays. I hate foreigners and all their
-d--d ways; but they act more sensibly than we do in regard to Sunday:
-they let the people amuse themselves after church. It's right to go to
-church, and all that,--that I'll allow; but I am sure the common people
-would be much better afterwards with what is fitting for them, quoits,
-or nine-holes, or cricket, or something to busy them with, instead of
-going to Methodist meetings, where they turn saints, merely because
-they have no better amusement; unless, indeed, it be the alehouse."
-
-"And there get drunk," remarked Lady Baskerville; "that would be
-vastly better, vastly more moral. When you and Baskerville rule the
-state, things will be much better managed, no doubt." This was said
-half sneeringly; for Lady Baskerville for some reason was not in very
-good humour.
-
-"Hem!" rejoined Lord Baskerville; "I must beg your Ladyship would limit
-what you say to yourself. It is (hem!) a liberty I _never_ take _with
-you_, to say what you _would_ or would _not_ do (hem!)" Upon this a
-silence ensued in the trio; when a few minutes broke the awkwardness
-occasioned by it, and they found themselves arrived at Sir William
-Temple's door.
-
-Lord Tonnerre offered his arm to Lady Baskerville as they alighted;
-while Lord Baskerville, to avoid the unfashionable appearance of
-entering the room with his wife, stopped, seemingly for the purpose of
-giving orders to his servants, till such time as he imagined he could
-walk in alone. There were arrived of the party only Lady Tilney and
-Prince Luttermanne. Lord Baskerville, having made his bow, retired
-to a sofa, discomposed at finding that the Comtesse Leinsengen, on
-whose appearance he had staked the whole of his consequence, and the
-excuse of his presence, was not yet come. Lord Tonnerre too, displeased
-that Sir William Temple continued to occupy Lady Baskerville with the
-profusion of his acknowledgments for the honour done him, and that Lady
-Tilney appeared too much engaged to notice any one, stood for some
-moments in gloomy silence, when at length Lord Somerton entered.
-
-"How d'ye do, Somerton?--glad to see you," was Sir William's salutation
-to his guest, as he held out a finger to him, and continued talking to
-Lady Baskerville.
-
-"Tonnerre," said Lord Somerton, turning away from this brief reception
-with a degree of contempt; "come aside, I have something to tell
-you;" when a deep discussion on matters interesting and intelligible
-to the former seemed to ensue, since it was productive of a partial
-relaxation of the scowl which generally characterized his face when he
-felt himself, as in the present instance, overlooked, or when subjects
-indifferent to him, or above his comprehension, were alluded to.
-
-Lady Tilney, hitherto absorbed in her conversation with Prince
-Luttermanne, now looked up, and addressing Lady Baskerville with an air
-of protection, invited her to come and take the seat next to her. "What
-a vastly pretty cap you have on!--do tell me where you got it; and, my
-dear Lady Baskerville, if you have nothing better to do, pray don't
-forget to come to me to-morrow night. Have you seen any thing of Lord
-Albert D'Esterre to-day? What do _you_ think of him? _I_ can hardly
-understand him yet; sometimes I think one thing, sometimes another.
-They say he is a Methodist--how extraordinary! if he was not young, or
-not handsome, or not _d'une bonne tournure_, one might suppose such a
-thing; but as it is I don't believe it--do you?"
-
-"I have not seen enough of him to judge," was the cautious reply
-(for Lady Baskerville could be cautious where so deep a stake was at
-hazard as fashionable consideration); "but I think he rather affects
-singularity."
-
-"Perhaps so; but then you know he will soon correct that fault when he
-has lived a little longer amongst us. I have heard that he is engaged
-to be married;--do you know if it is true?"
-
-"I did hear," said Lady Baskerville, "something about a Lady Adeline
-Seymour, a cousin of his who has been brought up in the shades, and is
-said to be a world's wonder of beauty, and purity, and perfection; but
-the engagement was an affair of the papa's and mamma's, and probably
-the parties themselves will hate each other in consequence."
-
-At this moment the Comtesse Leinsengen was announced, and then
-followed Lord and Lady Boileau, Lady Hamlet Vernon, Mr. Spencer
-Newcombe, and Lord Gascoigne, each received with that portion and kind
-of welcome which marked a well-studied knowledge of Debrett on the part
-of Sir William Temple, who felt himself the deity of the day, and who,
-complimentary, facetious, pompous, _affairé_, and familiar by turns,
-according to the _calibre_ of the person he addressed, moved about
-the apartments like some presiding Joss or Amsterdam Cupid. The whole
-party were at length assembled, the dinner announced, and the company
-withdrew to enjoy the very best _artiste's_ best efforts, put forth on
-an occasion so replete with honour and distinction to his _employé_.
-Lord Baskerville contrived to place himself next to the Comtesse
-Leinsengen, whose hand, in her _qualité d'ambassadrice_, the master of
-the feast had shewn his skill in precedence by soliciting, as he led
-the way to the dining-room; a circumstance, by the way, fortunate for
-him on his _début_, for although Lord Baskerville's arm would have been
-far more agreeable, yet the Comtesse would never have pardoned such a
-neglect of her grade in favour of her dear friend Lady Tilney.
-
-Of the other arrangements of the party it would be unnecessary to
-speak, and equally useless to catalogue the dinner itself. It is
-known to all that in London, after the first few weeks of the season,
-every one's table who gives a dinner is covered in exactly the same
-way--there may be degrees of excellence in the flavour and science of
-the dishes; but the things themselves are, as the Geneva traveller said
-of travelling, "_toujours la même chose, toutes les villes sont les
-mêmes, vous avez des maisons à droite et des maisons à gauche--et la
-rue au milieu--c'est toujours la même chose_."
-
-It is true there are certain critical periods in a spring season,
-in which nature's fruits, still immatured, are brought to perfection
-by the fostering hand of man; and on these the deep and skilful in
-gastronomy will seize as apt occasions for a display of superior taste
-and refinement; then, and then only is it, as is well known, that
-cucumbers are lawful, green peas to be suffered, and strawberries and
-peaches tolerated; but beyond this there is even yet another point--"a
-grace beyond the reach of art"--the very North Pole of elegance--the
-paradox, it may be called, of the gastronomic system--it is to display
-these productions when positively they are not to be got. Happy the man
-who so succeeds--thrice happy Sir William, that on this day the stars
-so ordered it, that while London was yet innocent of cucumbers or peas,
-you should be profuse of both;--that when peaches and strawberries had
-not so much as crossed the thoughts of the most refined, they too in
-abundance graced your board. Oh! happy consummation of those honours,
-which from the last evening seemed about to centre round your head, and
-raise you to the pinnacle of gastronomy and of _ton_. During the first
-moments of all dinners a very few monosyllables are uttered--a sort of
-murmuring conversation then ensues between the parties nearest each
-other,--till at last one individual more gifted or more hardy than the
-rest hazards a remark across the table, and the talking becomes general.
-
-It was Lady Tilney who on the present occasion broke the monotony
-of those half-audible sounds that whispered round the table. "Lord
-Gascoigne," she said aloud, "I hope you are really going to put down
-that vile newspaper, The ----, it is a disgrace to London."
-
-"I should have thought that you, Lady Tilney, would rather have upheld
-a paper of its principles, and which affords such a proof of what you
-always profess to have so much at heart--the liberty of the press."
-
-"You must pardon me, it has nothing to do with the liberty of the
-press,--but a great deal with its abuse,--besides, the liberty of the
-press applies only to politics--not to private affairs."
-
-"_C'est selon_," replied Lord Gascoigne with provoking suavity of
-manner; "if we publish ourselves what we do, we court public remark."
-
-"She cannot forget or forgive," whispered Spencer Newcombe to Lord
-Baskerville, "that she herself was once the target at which some of the
-severest shots of this paper were sent."
-
-"How?" asked the latter.
-
-"Why, when, for party's sake, she was once about to take a step.... I
-cannot tell you about it now--some other time," he added, as he turned
-to Lady Boileau, who had asked the same question of him thrice.
-
-"Publish ourselves! my dear Lord," continued Lady Tilney to Lord
-Gascoigne, "why we never do that if our actions attract notice from our
-situation."
-
-"They should be more looked to," was the reply of the latter,
-interrupting her; "if there is nothing to censure, the satirist's
-occupation is gone."
-
-"Vraiment Milor treats de subject en moraliste, and as if himself vas
-a paragon of excellence dat could not err. Pray, Milor, do you always
-tink so wisely on vat you do, dat you never do nothing wrong yourself?"
-
-"Oh, do wrong--yes a thousand times a day, Comtesse,--but when I do,
-I do not quarrel with the world because it will not think me right,
-nor if it call me a fool or a knave, am I angry--for perhaps it is a
-truth--at any rate, other and better men than I have been called the
-same."
-
-"It is an execrable paper," said Lady Tilney; "and ought to be burnt by
-the hangman."
-
-"It is an abominable ting," said the Comtesse Leinsengen, "and would
-not be suffered in any country but England."--Lady Tilney would have
-interrupted her, but the Comtesse was bent on proceeding: "I repeat,
-as I have often had de honor to tell you, dat de English are a people
-of contradictions; dey talk always of dere great _purité_,--dere
-_virtue_--and den suffer so quietly all dose vile tings to be said of
-dem in de public prints." Lord Gascoigne, who did not care one straw
-what was said either of himself or any one else, perceiving he had
-sufficiently fanned the growing indignation of Lady Tilney by his
-apparent callousness to public attack, for a moment remained silent,
-amused to hear the topic discussed in other hands. Lady Tilney loved
-argument, and for its sake often adopted opinions which at other times
-she would as strongly have opposed.
-
-"If the things alluded to _are done_," she continued, addressing
-herself to the Comtesse Leinsengen, "they are _better told_--I always
-like every thing to be told."
-
-"Vid de exception always, ma chere amie, of vat concerns one's-self,"
-replied the Comtesse sharply.
-
-"But I deny that there is any truth," rejoined Lady Tilney, not
-appearing to notice this last remark; "I deny that there is any truth
-in any thing that comes through such an abominable channel as that
-paper; all its remarks are the offspring of impertinent malice or
-envious vulgarity, and all its facts, falsehoods."
-
-"Hem!" said Lord Baskerville, in his slowest and most imposing tone,
-"these things have always been, Lady Tilney, and always will be. Some
-satirist or other, (hem!) has always lived since the Flood, from
-Lycophron down to our own day, to lash the vice and follies of the
-age, as _they_ say; but in fact to indulge that spleen which is common
-to the canaille at all periods. And after all, what does it signify?
-Nobody thinks about any thing that is said of any body--hem!--nine days
-after it is said--hem!"
-
-"If I ever saw _my_ name in that d--d paper," exclaimed Lord Tonnerre,
-while his brow was knit in tremendous frowns, "if ever allusion were
-made to me--the writer should eat his words."
-
-"My dear Tonnerre," rejoined Lord Gascoigne, once more taking up the
-conversation, "you would find he has an ostrich's stomach. But why
-should such a toy trouble you?"
-
-"By G----, the writer shall suffer," replied Lord Tonnerre, furiously,
-"he shall suffer--he shall pay--"
-
-"Who," asked Lady Boileau quietly, "who shall pay?"
-
-"The scoundrel--the ---- who has dared to use my name," answered Lord
-Tonnerre, after several efforts at utterance, which his passion for
-some moments impeded.
-
-"But you must discover _who_ is the _who_," replied Lord Gascoigne,
-with provoking calmness of manner.--"Junius himself was never hid so
-successfully as is this writer. You will find it fencing in the dark,
-Tonnerre, if you meddle with him.--But I see you are angry; now take my
-advice, when you are so use this antidote--it is an excellent rule I
-learned from my grandfather--repeat your alphabet; and that being done,
-your anger will be over too." Lord Tonnerre's face moved convulsively
-in every muscle, and his whole frame seemed to writhe under the words
-of Lord Gascoigne.
-
-"He boils like a pot," whispered Spencer Newcombe.
-
-"Oh, do not vex him, pray," said Lady Baskerville; "he is _only
-nervous_."
-
-"Mad, mad!" rejoined Lord Gascoigne, "pray take heed." With many hems
-and ha's, Sir William Temple remarked, that for his part he thought it
-cruel to delight in mischief; that to him it always appeared a most
-uncharitable practice to wound another's feelings--and somewhat rude
-too; fit only for the vulgar.
-
-"The pleasure or amusement," he continued, "of saying ill-natured
-things is quite beyond my comprehension--quite inconceivable. I
-remember, when I used to live a good deal at D---- House, there was a
-rule established that no one should notice, remark, or seem to observe
-what was passing;--it was considered so very vulgar to interfere
-with other people's affairs--all were left at large without account
-or question--and the consequence was, there never was any thing so
-enchanting since the world began as that society--so _suave_, so
-equal, so gentle, so serene;--not a voice ever heard louder than a
-whisper--every one so well amused, every one so well employed, that
-_ennui_ was unknown. There never was any thing to compare to that
-society."
-
-"_De graces!_" exclaimed the Comtesse Leinsengen, as Sir William
-concluded this effusion of his reminiscences, "_de graces!_ do not tell
-us, Sir Villiam, of _vat_ VAS: to talk of _tings_ gone being delightful
-is like telling a woman who is _passée_, 'I remember when you were so
-admired.' De ting to talk of is _to-day_."
-
-"Oh, of course," rejoined Sir William, taking the Comtesse's last words
-_au pied de la lettre_, "of course the society of to-day--the society
-_here_--is _par excellence_, the most delightful in the world." A nod
-here passed between Spencer Newcombe and Lord Gascoigne, indicative of
-Sir William having escaped from his blunders with more adroitness than
-they had given him credit for; and at the same moment the ladies rose
-to depart.
-
-"_Vraiment_," exclaimed the Comtesse Leinsengen, as she entered the
-drawing-rooms, "I do tink, as we are de deities of dis fête, ces
-messieurs might for once have broken through dere abominable customs,
-and accompanied us; but dat terrible Lord Somerton and dat young milor
-Tonnerre would tink, I suppose, de constitution in danger, if dey did
-not remain at de table after de ladies.--I vonder, Miladi Baskerville,
-comme Milor est votre éléve, dat you do not teach him better."
-
-"Dear Comtesse, not I, I assure you--it is quite enough to take care
-of one's-self; I never interfere with other people's affairs--nothing
-would induce me to undertake any body's education."
-
-"I believe you are very wise," said Lady Boileau; "the _laissez faire_
-and the _laissez aller_ is the best rule."
-
-"I do not quite agree with you in that," said Lady Tilney; "how could
-we have a pleasant or a distinguished society if that system was
-allowed to prevail? how could we--"
-
-"La! what sinifies dat?" said the Comtesse Leinsengen, as she arranged
-her _bérin_ at the glass; "_Vos milliners ne valent rien_--I have just
-sent to Paris, and then I shall have a _coiffure_ that will not be so
-hideous."
-
-"Did you observe the Duchesse D'Hermanton's last dress?" asked Lady
-Baskerville; "she did think it was perfection; one feather on the top
-of another, flower upon flower, flounce upon flounce, jewel upon jewel,
-till she was one mass of moving millinery--I never saw such a figure
-since the days of Lady Aveling's ambassadress' glory."
-
-"Vat sinifie vat dose women do? D'ailleurs les Angloises ont toujours
-singé les modes." In this, and similar conversation, passed the hour of
-separation in the drawing-rooms, while at the dinner-table the subject
-of discussion possessed as little interest as is generally found in
-society so constituted.
-
-"Baskerville, Boileau, Gascoigne," said Sir William Temple, as he
-resumed his chair after the departure of the ladies, "will you not come
-up, and in the short absence we are doomed to suffer from our fair
-companions, let us find comfort in this poor earthly Nectar?" (Sir
-William believed his wines to be the best in creation.) "Baskerville,
-what wine do you take?"
-
-"Claret," was the reply of the latter, accompanied by a look of
-surprise which seemed to say, "of course."--"Did you ever hear such a
-question!" he added in an under-tone to Lord Boileau.
-
-"Never--he might as well have asked if one would try Chambertin
-after _Truites à l'Aurore_, or _Clos de Voguet_ after _Bécasses à la
-Luculle_!" rejoined Lord Baskerville.
-
-"Fools were made for jests to men of sense," whispered Spencer Newcomb,
-"and I know of no one who affords more amusement than my friend there,
-Sir William."
-
-"How officious and _affairé_ he was in contriving this party," said
-Lord Gascoigne.
-
-"And how puzzled, lame, and lost in prosecuting it!" rejoined the other.
-
-"He is a most substantial ass," said Lord Baskerville.
-
-"Tonnerre," asked Sir William at the moment, and affecting to vary the
-theme, according to the taste of the person, "Do you know which is the
-favourite for the Derby?"
-
-"Gad, he turns his words as many ways as a lathe," whispered Lord
-Gascoigne again--"understands all subjects alike, and is as learned as
-the occult philosopher of Hudibras."
-
-"And as much renowned for profound and solid stupidity," rejoined the
-latter. A laugh escaped at these words; and as their "ha! ha! ha!"
-passed round, Sir William laughed louder.
-
-"Very good that, Spencer, I just caught the end of it--the point is
-always in the tail you know."
-
-"He caught it," said Lord Gascoigne, repeating the words, and looking
-at Spencer Newcomb; "do you think he did?"
-
-"If it was with his mouth, he might certainly--for it is large enough
-to catch any thing--and he is welcome; I give him my jest for his
-dinner, it is the only return I ever make."
-
-"And you thrive on your bargain generally, Spencer, I should suppose."
-
-"How long do you think I took from Penzance to town?" said Lord
-Tonnerre aloud; and without waiting for any reply added,--"Eighteen
-hours by ----, in hack chaises too, changing every stage."
-
-"_I_ do not conceive it much to do," rejoined Lord Baskerville. "I
-remember, (hem!) once leaving town seven hours after the mail; and
-though I had rips of horses, I arrived, (hem!) at twenty minutes before
-his Majesty's stage coach, (hem!)"
-
-"Well," said Lord Gascoigne, "well, Basky, that is excellent,--ha! ha!
-ha! that is excellent,--ha! ha! ha!" The abbreviation of his patronymic
-was always distasteful to Lord Baskerville, and on this occasion he not
-only felt his dignity compromised by the license of Lord Gascoigne's
-address, but was himself offended by the covert suspicion conveyed
-of the substantiality of the fact he had related; turning therefore
-away with an air of contempt, he addressed himself to another of the
-party. Lord Gascoigne, however, was not so easily to be silenced, and
-exchanging looks with those who had watched the scene, added, with very
-provoking calmness,
-
-"Basky, you were not offended, I hope, with any thing I said, I meant
-only--"
-
-"Not at all," replied Lord Baskerville, the corners of his mouth
-dropping in the exact angle of scorn by which, as a mathematical man of
-_ton_, he would have described his contempt of the speaker,--"not at
-all, Gascoigne; I beg you won't think of it;"--and he turned again to
-the party with whom he was conversing.
-
-"Beat--beat, Gascoigne," exclaimed Spencer Newcomb.--Lord Baskerville
-looked around with a dignified air, and for a moment silence ensued,
-not however without a wink passing from Spencer Newcomb, implying that
-they had gone as far as was advisable. But Lord Gascoigne was not to be
-stopped without a farewell shot, as he added, "Well, Baskerville, we
-start at eight, and breakfast at nine, is it not so?" The latter again
-tried to look grave, but obliged at length in self-defence to join in
-the laugh which followed these words, he let fall for an instant the
-mask that too often covered his most trivial actions, and appeared the
-good-hearted good-humoured creature nature had made him.
-
-"Somerton," said Sir William Temple, breaking the subject of
-conversation, "do you remember when you were at my chateau in the
-north?"
-
-"Yes," was the dry reply he received from one who, though he eat
-his dinners, held him in the most sovereign disdain, and this "yes"
-sounded harshly on the ears of Sir William, living as he did in the
-praises bestowed on his establishments, and never losing an opportunity
-of referring to the subject of them; nor was he less annoyed, as he
-observed a whisper pass between his northern guest and Lord Tonnerre,
-to whom Lord Somerton had turned after his very short and laconic
-reply, and added,
-
-"The fellow had one covey of partridges, two dozen of Burgundy, and a
-mistress; I made love to the one, drank the other, killed the third,
-and then quitted."
-
-"Good," said Spencer Newcomb, who had overheard what passed; "he would
-have pardoned you, however, the first, if you had praised the others."
-
-"No doubt he would," replied Lord Somerton, "but on my conscience I
-could not do it, and I presume he feels this as well as myself, for
-I shall make him give me a dinner the first day in the week I am
-disengaged." Thus fared Sir William Temple in the hands of those for
-whom he had lavished, and _incessantly_ lavished, an expense which, if
-properly directed, would have rendered him an amiable, respectable, and
-happy individual. As it was, he spent his money on objects despicable
-in themselves, and for persons absolutely turning him into ridicule
-while enjoying his bounty.
-
-The party from the dining-table soon after arose, some having
-attained the object for which alone they came, the enjoyment of
-a dinner; others who had yet a further motive, ascended to the
-drawing-rooms, and after passing there sufficient time to complete
-arrangements, arrange departures, and fix dry points that needed
-discussion for the morrow's amusement or occupation, took their
-departure also, leaving Sir William Temple to feed on the empty
-honour which remained to him, of having entertained in his house in
-May-fair so distinguished a party; none of whom, however, beyond the
-dinner-living Lord Somerton, Spencer Newcomb, and one or two lordlings,
-ever intended to think more of him for the future.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-THE CONTRAST.
-
-
-On the evening of Sir William Temple's dinner-party, the invitation
-to which Lord Albert had declined, he retired at an early hour to
-his study; and having closed his door, he sat some minutes with his
-head reclining on his hands, endeavouring to shut out the frivolous
-insignificances of many late past evenings, and to recal those of a
-very different description and tendency.
-
-A sweet and silvery tone of feeling analogous to a fine Wilson that
-hung opposite to his writing-table, shed a serene, self-satisfying
-sensation over his mind; it might be a false complacency, yet
-complacency for the time being it was--and he opened his writing-box,
-in the lid of which was a portrait. This portrait represented a very
-youthful girl intently busied in copying a bust, the likeness of
-himself. A flush passed over his countenance, his eyes sparkled, and a
-genuine sensation of rapture thrilled through his heart, as he said,
-
-"Oh! how superior to all I now see around me--young, innocent,
-intelligent, the dignity of human nature is here! Gazing at this image,
-I can never err; it would recal me to the path of rectitude were I
-ever so inclined to swerve from it." At that moment a letter caught
-his attention; it was still unanswered--again he coloured, for it had
-remained so since the preceding morning; and such a letter! Now with an
-eagerness that would have redeemed the slight, he actually kissed the
-opened page; and previous to replying to it, re-perused the following
-contents of
-
- LADY ADELINE SEYMOUR'S LETTER.
-
- "I think it a long time, dearest Albert, since I have heard from you.
- But then you are so busy, and have so many things to do; whereas I
- have nothing to do, but to count up minutes, days, and hours; yet
- this is so wrong, that I blame myself even for thinking, much more
- for writing the thought; and would blot out the dissatisfied words,
- but that I promised you should know truly, and without disguise, what
- really passed in my mind.
-
- "After what I heard good Mr. Adams preach last Sunday, how dare I
- wish to hurry on time, when I make so poor a use of it? Indeed, dear
- Albert, when I think seriously, I do not wish it; but when I feel that
- we are parted, and yield to that feeling, why then I am a wayward
- creature. Does not this prove, my dear Albert, how cautiously we ought
- to look into our hearts, since out of them are the issues of life? I
- will do so; I will try to do so, if God will help me; for it is only
- by this watching that I shall render myself at all worthy of you.
- Mamma said to me the other day:
-
- "'My dear love, remember that marriage is a state necessarily
- imposing many duties, and accumulating many cares; this in its
- happiest instances must ever be the case; it is wisely ordered that
- it should be so. But it is a state honoured by God and man, and opens
- upon a wide field for self-improvement. If entered upon in this view,
- it brings with its pains many delights and consolations, both for
- this world and the next; but if it is engaged in rashly, merely for
- the purpose of running a more unchecked career, or for the unworthy
- purposes of aggrandizement in rank and fortune apart from nobler
- views, it never fails to produce disappointment, and it may be,
- disgust of life and endless misery.'
-
- "What a terrible picture, my Albert! But I cannot conceive it
- possible that any body should marry from any motive but attachment,
- and therefore I can hardly persuade myself that any of these awful
- consequences are likely to attend on marriage; only my Bible shews me
- the insufficiency of all mere mortal trusts; and Mamma, I know, never
- says what she does not think is true; therefore I must try and prepare
- myself for becoming such a wife to you as will secure our mutual
- felicity. The little book we exchanged on the day you left us, I read
- morning and evening, and as soon as it is finished I begin it again;
- so when you are reading yours, you may be certain we are pronouncing
- the same words, thinking the same thoughts, lifting up our hearts
- together to the God who made us.
-
- "How thankful we ought to be for good books; are they not messengers
- from heaven? And yet how we slight them. Often, when engaged in my
- morning's duty of reading, my wandering mind turns so frequently
- to drawing, to music, or any other exercise, that at length I
- have punished myself by determining not to have recourse to these
- recreations till I can moderate my ardour for them, and enjoy them
- only as recreations; they _ought not_ to be more--all beyond is
- idolatry. I have of late, too, engaged myself in active duties among
- the poor around our neighbourhood; and my rides to their different
- habitations give me such additional health and spirits, that I am
- always ready to laugh at all Mr. Foley's silly jokes. My heart is so
- light, and I feel so happy--I see no end to all the diverting things
- I have in view, and some day or another when, please God, I am really
- your wife, all the schemes I form for the benefit of those within the
- circle of my influence will be fully realized.
-
- "What an extended sphere of usefulness will then be mine, and oh!
- my Albert! what an awful responsibility too will then attach to my
- situation! I pray daily that I may be enabled to meet it as I ought.
- What I grudge most is, the time which I am now frequently forced to
- lose, in being civil to our dull neighbours here; and I do confess
- that to sit amused by Miss Grimsdale's side, while she talks over
- the last county ball, or to listen to old Lady Henniker's history
- of her ménage with becoming patience, is a trial for which no
- self-complacency in the idea, that I am making a sacrifice to oblige
- others, does in any degree compensate. But Mamma smiles when she hears
- me answering _tout a rebours_, and sees my fingers entangling the
- silks, and tells me afterwards that we are not to live to ourselves,
- and that in fact to please others, when not neglecting, any positive
- duty, is a minor virtue. I am sure she is right--but, dear Albert, I
- feel on such occasions how difficult it is to be good! Mr. Foley, to
- whom I expressed myself thus the other day, told me, 'I talked a great
- deal of nonsense, though I was a very charming person altogether,'
- and ended by asking me seriously--'What wrong I thought it possible
- I could do, living as I did?' How ignorant he must be of the state
- of the human heart, not to know that our best efforts are faulty,
- our purest actions imperfect! I stared at him, and then attempted to
- explain to him that all our thoughts, words, and actions, are marked
- with inherent error. He stared at me in return, and, looking at me
- incredulously, asked 'do you really mean what you say?'
-
- "'Most assuredly,' I replied; 'can any one mean otherwise?' Then he
- looked very grave indeed, sighed heavily, and said, 'it was a sad
- thing to see one so fair and young imbued with such false ideas--ideas
- which in the end would make me wretched.' I laughed, as I assured him
- that it was he that was deceived, and who would be wretched; that as
- for myself, I was the gayest, happiest creature upon earth; and all
- I had to dread was, loving the world too well, and seeing it in too
- fair a light. I had not a corner of my heart, I said, unoccupied, or
- a minute in the day unemployed; and besides that, my reliance upon
- God made me feel as if I never could be perfectly unhappy under any
- circumstances.
-
- "But no sooner were these words uttered, than my heart smote me,
- for I thought of _you_, dear Albert, and suddenly a cloud seemed to
- pass over me, and my deceitful heart sickened at the thought of the
- possibility of losing you; and then I knew how ill I was prepared to
- yield that perfect obedience which we are called upon to yield to the
- will of heaven.--I believe my countenance betrayed somewhat of this
- self-condemning spirit, for Mr. Foley quickly asked, whilst fixing his
- searching eyes on mine, 'What, is there _nothing_ which could make you
- miserable?' and I trembled, and blushed, and felt a tear of shame rise
- in my eye, as I answered:
-
- "'Perhaps I deceive myself, and think of myself too highly.
- Perhaps--in short--at all events, I know that I am _trying_ so to
- feel, and so to think.' He laughed contemptuously, saying:
-
- "'I guessed how it was--poor Lady Adeline! this false system is
- spreading fearfully indeed!' What could he mean? Mamma told me on my
- repeating to her this conversation, 'that to many persons Mr. Foley
- would be a dangerous man; but not to you, my child; and I have a
- love for that wayward creature, the son of the dearest friend I ever
- possessed, which makes me incline to overlook his faults, and hope
- that he will amend them. Who knows but the mode of life we lead may
- be the means of sowing some good seed in his heart? However, my dear
- child, encourage not his conversation on such points.' I believe Mamma
- is right, for notwithstanding my dislike of his irreligious tenets, he
- is so well-informed, and so very diverting, that I cannot help being
- entertained by him. And in many respects I assure you, Albert, he is a
- good man, and general report bespeaks him such. He is very charitable;
- is kind to people in distress; and goes regularly to church, when he
- is with us--is not all this very unaccountable with his strange way
- of talking to me? I do not understand it, and indeed it is not worth
- thinking much about, one way or the other. Write to me, dear Albert,
- and tell me what your opinion is upon this subject. I wish in all
- things to conform to your wishes, and to model my opinion on yours:
- for I well know your excellent principles and unerring judgment.
- To-morrow, I allow myself to return to the delight of copying your
- dear bust, '_O che festa!_'--Sometimes (I am almost ashamed of telling
- you) I divert myself with putting my caps and hats on it, and please
- myself with the idea that it is very like _me_--do not laugh and call
- me 'foolish child!' Now I dislike that _you_ should call me child;
- remember the day you receive this I shall be seventeen, so put on all
- your gravity and consider me with due respect.
-
- "The menagerie is thriving; I visit our pets every day, and you will
- find them in fine condition when you return,--when will that be? I
- wish the time were come, don't you? Good night, good night, for there
- is no end to this writing. I must end. Again good night. Dearest
- Albert, I am, heart and soul, your own
-
-       "ADELINE SEYMOUR."
-
-"Sweet, pure Adeline!" cried Lord Albert, "how shall I answer
-this letter." He seized a pen, and in the first glow of fondness
-and admiration, which such a letter and such a portrait before him
-inspired, he filled two pages, not less tender or sincere than those
-which had been addressed to himself: when he was suddenly disturbed by
-hearing a bustle and violent clattering of horses in the street, and at
-the same time the voices of some of his own servants. This increasing,
-he rang the bell to inquire the cause, and no one answering, he at
-length opened the door of an apartment and called to the porter,
-asking what was the matter? He was answered, that a carriage had been
-overturned opposite his door, and it was wished to bring the lady who
-had suffered from the accident into his Lordship's house.
-
-"By all means, immediately," Lord Albert exclaimed; "afford every
-assistance possible;" and in a few instants a lady was borne in by two
-domestics. She was immediately placed, apparently insensible, on a
-couch in an adjoining apartment. The female attendants were summoned
-to her aid, and Lord Albert himself supported her head on his breast:
-"Good heavens!" he exclaimed, "it is Lady Hamlet Vernon! Send off
-directly for Doctor Meynell." A stream of blood flowed over her face,
-and in order to ascertain where she was wounded it was necessary to let
-down her hair, which fell in glossy masses over her neck and shoulders.
-The glass of the carriage window, against which Lady Hamlet Vernon had
-fallen, was the cause of the catastrophe; and though the injury was
-not found to be dangerous, the wound had been sufficiently severe to
-occasion a suffusion of blood. The physician soon arrived, and having
-examined the extent of the evil, applied remedies and administered
-restoratives to the terrified Lady Hamlet Vernon, who was shortly after
-restored to her senses, and enabled to explain the cause of her having
-met with so dangerous an accident.
-
-"She was returning," she said, "from Sir William Temple's
-dinner-party, when her coachman, whom she supposed was intoxicated,
-drove furiously, and the carriage coming in contact with the
-curb-stone at the corner of the street, overturned, was dashed with
-violence against the pavement, and broken to pieces." This account
-was corroborated by her footmen, who had miraculously escaped unhurt.
-Lady Hamlet then expressed her thanks at having received such prompt
-and kind assistance, and Doctor Meynell having pronounced it as his
-opinion, that if she remained quiet for a few days, she would find no
-disagreeable effects result from the accident, and that she might with
-safety be removed to her own house, Lord Albert's carriage was ordered
-to convey her thither. "I am happy, indeed, to think it is thus," said
-Lord Albert; "and that I have been of the least use is most gratifying
-to me."
-
-This adventure, related in a few words, occupied an hour or more in
-its actual occurrence; and Lord Albert had had leisure to remark the
-symmetry of form and feature for which Lady Hamlet Vernon had been so
-long celebrated. He might have beheld Lady Hamlet for ever, rouged and
-dressed in public, and have passed her by unnoticed; but when he beheld
-her pale, dishevelled, in pain, and dependent on him at the moment for
-relief, he thought her exquisitely fair, and there entered a degree of
-romantic illusion in this accident which roused his fancy, while her
-sufferings touched the friendly feelings of his nature.
-
-As he assisted her to her carriage, they passed through the room
-where he had been sitting previous to her arrival; the candles were
-still burning, and his papers lay in confusion around, the writing-box
-was open, in the lid of which was the portrait of Lady Adeline. Lady
-Hamlet Vernon pausing, complained of a momentary feeling of faintness,
-and threw herself on a chair close to the writing-table; her eyes in
-an instant were rivetted on the picture, and at the same moment Lord
-Albert's hand closed it from her view. There was nothing that demanded
-secrecy in his possessing Lady Adeline's picture. His engagement to his
-cousin was generally known, and his having her portrait, therefore,
-was no offence against propriety; but every body who has loved will
-understand the feeling, that the sacredness of their heart's affections
-is broken in upon, if an indifferent or casual eye rest upon a treasure
-of the kind. Lady Hamlet Vernon spoke not, but her looks testified what
-they had seen; while he remained confused, and seemed glad when she
-proposed moving again to the carriage.
-
-"I am afraid," she said, her voice trembling as she spoke, "I am
-afraid my accident has been the occasion of breaking in upon your
-retirement, and disturbing you out of a most delightful reverie. I
-shall regret this the more if it makes you hate me altogether--but the
-fault was not mine."
-
-"Hate you! Lady Hamlet Vernon--hatred and Lady Hamlet Vernon are two
-words that cannot by any accident be connected together."
-
-"Ah! would that your words were as true as they are courteous," she
-replied mournfully; "but courtesies, alas! _imply_ an interest that
-they do not mean. Do not, however, let me detain you, Lord Albert; it
-rains"-- As he still lingered at the door of the carriage, which they
-had reached, and in which she now entered, he added, "You will at least
-give me leave to enquire for you to-morrow?" which was all he had time
-to say, as the carriage was driven rapidly away.
-
-Lord Albert returned to his room, with a confusion of images chasing
-each other in such quick succession through his mind, that though he
-resumed his pen to finish his letter to Lady Adeline, he found it
-difficult to do so; and he was conscious that the few words which he
-added were in such a different tone, and so little in keeping with the
-previous part, that he finished abruptly, and, folding and sealing
-his letter, closed the box that contained the miniature, and throwing
-himself back in his chair, mused in vacancy of thought till slumber was
-overpowering him. Without once adverting to Lady Adeline's book, he
-hastened to lose in sleep the feeling of dissatisfaction which had so
-suddenly possessed him.
-
-On the following morning, when Lady Hamlet Vernon arose, feeling
-little of the accident of the preceding evening, and having taken
-particular pains with her toilette, she cast a glance of complacency
-at her reflected image in the mirror, and, descending to her boudoir,
-placed herself on a sofa, spread with embroidered cushions, folded a
-velvet _couvre-pied_ over her feet, ordered a table stored with books
-to be placed within her reach, on which also rested a guitar and a
-vase of flowers, and gave way to a train of reflections and feelings
-unaccountably called up by the occurrences of the previous evening.
-Lady Hamlet Vernon was a person who had read, and did read, at _times_;
-but in the present instance, when calling for her books, she intended
-no farther use of them beyond casual allusion to their contents, and
-what their appearance might avail to give an interest in regard to
-herself.
-
-She lay with her arm resting on a pillow, and her ears attentively
-listening to every cabriolet that passed, eagerly anticipating a visit
-from Lord Albert. She twice looked at her watch; once she struck it, to
-know if its sound answered to the hour its hand designated.--"Surely,"
-she said, with some impatience, "he must at least inquire for me?--and
-it is late--late for a person of Lord Albert's early habit--it is
-really three o'clock." At that moment a short decided knock at the
-door roused her attention. Her hand was on the bell in an instant,
-lest the servants might deny her--but in another the door opened, and
-_not_ Lord Albert, but the pale and melancholy Frank Ombre entered. The
-revulsion from pleasure to disappointment occasioned by the appearance
-of this visitor, and which displayed itself in Lady Hamlet Vernon's
-features, was ingeniously ascribed by her to a sudden pain in her head,
-the consequence, she said, of her accident the preceding night; which
-accident she hastened to detail, and was gratified by the homage of
-regrets, most poetically expressed by Mr. Ombre, who remarked that the
-danger of this occurrence was transferred from herself to her admirers.
-
-"The beautiful languor which it has cast over your person has produced
-a varied charm more inimical to our peace than even the lightning of
-your eyes. What a fortunate man that Lord Albert was, to be on the
-very spot to render you assistance! There are some persons, as we all
-know, who are born felicitous--they please without caring to please;
-they render services without thinking what they are doing, or even
-being interested in reality about the persons whom they serve; they
-are reckoned handsome without one regularly beautiful feature, and
-pronounced clever, superior, talented, without ever doing any thing to
-prove it. But in that, perhaps, lies their wisdom--one may be _every
-thing_ so long as one never proves one's-self _nothing_."
-
-"True, there are such people in the world, I believe; but do you really
-mean to say"--(and she almost blushed.)
-
-"I never mean, or can mean, to say any thing that is disagreeable to
-you"....
-
-"Oh, it is not I who am interested in what he _is_, or is _not_; but,
-to confess the truth, a very dear friend of mine, a charming young
-person, takes an interest in him, and I should like to know if he is
-worthy of that interest before her affections are further engaged."
-
-"Ah! my dear Lady Hamlet Vernon," replied Mr. Ombre, "there is nobody
-like you--I always said so. You know _I never flatter_; but you are so
-disinterested, always thinking about other people, always so kindly
-busy where you can be of any use; so unlike the world in general, in
-short, that it quite spoils one for living in it."
-
-"Well, this is a point we shall not dispute about, my dear Mr. Ombre,
-only tell me what you know of Lord Albert D'Esterre? what are his
-tastes, his habits, his pursuits, his politics?"
-
-"Of himself I can tell you little; with his father I was very intimate
-long ago, and I believe, somehow or other, people do always contrive
-to be like either father or mother, some time or another in their
-life. Of the father I could tell you, that there did not exist a more
-polished or high-bred man, a term which you know is not always justly
-applicable to persons of high rank; one very well versed in literature
-too, at least for the peerage in that day, and so long as he continued
-in public life, no one acted more to the general satisfaction of people
-than my Lord Tresyllian. Of the mother there is little to say, except
-that she was--nay is, for aught I know to the contrary--a very good
-sort of person; who was never known to make any noise, save once, in
-her life, and that certainly was not on a judicious occasion, for
-it was when the famous Bellina, the dancer, was _attachée_ to the
-suite of her husband during his embassy at ----. Then indeed Lady
-Tresyllian did make some very unadvised stir, and contrived that the
-whole court should remark upon the subject; but her husband, who was
-the most polite man in the world, as I have said before, represented
-to her the inutility of such conduct, pointed out how such a lady,
-and such a one, conducted herself in similar situations; stated that
-these sort of things always happened, and were only unpleasant when
-they were injudiciously managed, and in short the affair was amicably
-adjusted; an affair which happened so long ago, that it is only some
-old chroniclers like myself who have any recollection of it.
-
-"After Lord Tresyllian's return to England, he continued to fill
-several official situations as long as his friends, or his party
-rather, as those are called who contrive to hang together for some
-interest,--their own or their country's, it matters not--continued in
-office--and on their retiring, his Lordship retired also: I suppose to
-preserve his consistency, or because his talents were not needed in
-the new arrangement. Since then, gout and disappointed ambition have
-contributed to make him a recluse from the busy world of fashion; and
-in the magnificence of his princely fortune, and in the society of
-a chosen few, who have shared his fate, or depended on his interest
-in their political career, his existence is now passed, settling the
-balance of Europe in his closet, opposing his Majesty's ministers (as
-long as they shall not include his own party) in the senate, and on
-every other occasion, and haranguing every assembly of disappointed
-patriots in his own county, of which he is lord lieutenant.
-
-"Of Lord Tresyllian's patriotism I presume none doubt--of his judgment
-and good taste in politics, from the last-mentioned fact, while holding
-his present situation, perhaps there may be some question. But he has
-considerable parliamentary interest, and will therefore always have
-some who will think all he says or does right. His eldest son Osberton
-we all know follows in his father's line of opposition; glad, I dare
-say, to be saved the trouble of acting or thinking for himself. I need
-not tell you more of him--in short, there is nothing to tell, but his
-party. What Lord Albert D'Esterre's will be, remains to be proved;
-I mean in the only way people think a man's being any thing is of
-consequence, namely the part he will take in public life. He inherits
-wealth from Lady Tresyllian, and so far will be independent of his
-father; but he is too young, I should think, to escape the toils that
-will be laid for a young member, and therefore we shall soon see him
-engaged on one side or the other, as a tool of party. By the bye, what
-says Lady Tilney of him for that?" Here another knock announced another
-arrival, and Mr. Ombre rose to depart.
-
-"Pray, my dear Mr. Ombre, do not run away; I should be so delighted if
-you would stay and help to keep the conversation alive, I am too weak
-to do any thing but listen. Indeed my poor head tells me that I ought
-not to do that."
-
-"I would not stay a moment longer on any account--not for the world,"
-was Mr. Ombre's reply, gently pressing her extended hand; "I am sure I
-have talked too much already. Lord Albert D'Esterre," (for it was he
-who entered), "I request you will not be so agreeable as you usually
-are, for our fair friend feels the effect of her accident last night;
-and I am sure she ought not to be amused, unless being put to sleep
-be called amusement. If I were her nurse I would prescribe a quieting
-draught and bed, as to a tired child; and so I take my leave and give
-my advice without any fee: it is always the cheapest thing in the world
-you know;" and he went away at the very proper moment, having left
-behind him the character of being the most agreeable man in the world.
-
-"I should have come sooner," said Lord Albert, "to inquire for you,
-Lady Hamlet Vernon, but I was afraid of being too early; and I really
-put a restraint on my wishes in not being at your door much sooner;
-for I was very anxious to know you had not suffered from the shock you
-received last night."
-
-"I have suffered, certainly," she replied, blushing, "but not to
-any alarming degree; a day or two of confinement to my sofa, and Dr.
-Meynell assures me I shall be quite able to go about again as usual. In
-the mean time, here are my friends," pointing to the books, "who are
-ever at hand to entertain me."
-
-"And surely," Lord D'Esterre replied, "there are a thousand living
-friends also, alike ready to endeavour to make the hours pass sweetly;
-nevertheless, I honour those who can be independent of society for
-entertainment."
-
-Lady Hamlet Vernon saw she had guessed rightly, and went on to say,
-sighing as she spoke, "The fact is, that London crowds are not society,
-that the whole routine of a town life unsatisfactory; and that every
-circumstance, depending upon a mere pursuit of dissipation, is in
-itself necessarily an alienation, for the time at least in which we
-are engaged in it, from all our higher and better enjoyments; but then
-when one has lost all on whom one depended for comfort, and support,
-and advice; when one is left alone, a heart-broken thing upon the wide
-world, misjudged by some, condemned by many, flattered it may be by a
-few, there is such a stormy ocean, such a desert waste outspread to
-view, that the heart seeks refuge from the alternative in a multitude
-of minor trifles, which leave no leisure to feel, still less to
-reflect; and hurrying on from hour to hour, one passes life away as
-chance directs."
-
-Lady Hamlet Vernon did not know to whom she was speaking, or she would
-have spoken in a very different tone. She had heard of refinement and
-morality, she could even admire both; but to religious principle she
-was a stranger. She paused after having uttered the last words, and,
-looking in Lord Albert's countenance as she waited for a reply, read
-there a varying expression, the meaning of which she was at a loss to
-interpret. At last he spoke, and said with deep earnestness, which
-failed not to attract her attention, although she was not prepared to
-understand the import of his words:
-
-"Is it possible! then I grieve for you indeed." As he uttered this
-brief sentence he took up a book, unconscious of what he was doing; and
-opening the title-page, read "Tremaine." Lady Hamlet Vernon had had
-recourse to her salts, to her handkerchief; and then, as if repressing
-her starting tears, she asked, "What do you think of Tremaine?--is it
-not charming?--Do you know I have thought the hero was like you."
-
-"I hope not; I would not be like that man on any account whatever."
-
-"No!--and why?"
-
-"Why, because I think false refinement the most wretched of human
-possessions; and all refinement is false which converts enjoyment to
-pain; nay, I deny that it is refinement; it is only the sophistry of a
-diseased mind, the excrescence of a beautiful plant; however, the work
-is a work of power, and its intention pure, though I do not think it
-free from danger. But tell me, Lady Hamlet Vernon--that is, will you
-give me leave to ask you a question?"
-
-"Certainly."
-
-"Did you ever read the third volume of Tremaine attentively through?"
-She blushed a genuine blush as she replied: "_Not quite_: I am
-afraid--I thought it heavy."
-
-"You do not surprise me; the mind must come tutored to the page to
-enjoy it as it ought to be enjoyed; and perhaps the fault which might
-be found is precisely this, that those who would be most likely to read
-it, are those who would be least likely to benefit by its perusal."
-
-"You certainly converse, Lord Albert," said Lady Hamlet Vernon, "very
-differently from any person I ever conversed with; your ideas are quite
-extraordinary to me, quite new, and you have made me lose myself in a
-world of thought; you make me feel that every thing I have hitherto
-thought was all mistake; but you must allow me to say, that, though
-willing to become your pupil, I must be somewhat instructed in this
-novel language before I feel myself competent to reply."
-
-"What I said seems to me very simple; I am not conscious of having
-expressed any abstruse or recondite thoughts: at all events, I
-certainly did not mean to be affected, still less impertinent--it was
-something you said, which startled me, and made me feel concern, and it
-might seem to you, that I evinced it with too much freedom--if I have
-erred, pardon me."
-
-"Pardon, my dear Lord! there is no question about pardoning; but I am
-curious to know what made you look so very grave when I said I wished
-to forget my existence, and lose all sense of what had befallen me, or
-what might befall me, in the busy idleness of life--do you attach any
-very dreadful idea to this declaration?"
-
-"A very dreadful one indeed," was his reply.
-
-"Well, then, I do begin to believe that what I heard of you was
-true--you are one of the saints--I mean, one of the set of people who
-go about preaching and praying all day long. But then you frequent
-balls and assemblies, and are so charming, I cannot reconcile this idea
-with your air, appearance, and demeanour, or with the character of
-those sour, misanthropic beings: do explain to me this mystery."
-
-"I wish I were one of those whom you so designate," said Lord Albert
-D'Esterre gravely,--"but indeed I am far from being so. All I can say
-to explain my meaning briefly is, that I have received a Christian and
-religious education, and consequently that I think to live by chance,
-and to let accident sway our actions, is a perilous state of delusion."
-
-"What do you mean to say, Lord Albert, that you regulate all your
-thoughts, words, and actions, by some strictly self-drawn line of rule?"
-
-"Oh, Lady Hamlet Vernon, you probe my conscience, and I am thankful to
-you: no, indeed, I have never yet been enabled so to do--but I wish I
-could--not indeed by any self-drawn line or rule, but that by which all
-ought to guide themselves."
-
-"Well, at last I have met with one extraordinary person, and this our
-conversation must be resumed; but here comes some unwelcome visitor,
-and for the moment the subject must drop."
-
-The conversation was interrupted by the announcement of Mr. Temple
-Vernon. He has been already noticed as the object of Lady Tilney's
-particular dislike from his independent, and, as she termed it, rude
-freedom of character, and he must have been unpopular in a coterie
-where studied deportment and total absence of all nature formed a
-requisite merit for admission. But he was nearly allied by marriage to
-Lady Hamlet Vernon, having inherited that portion of her late husband,
-Lord Hamlet Vernon's property, which was not bequeathed to herself.
-He was first cousin of the late Lord also, and Lady Hamlet Vernon's
-jointure being paid from estates that devolved to him, she had been
-condemned to keep up an intercourse which, under existing circumstances
-of his _mauvaise odeur_, in her particular circle, she would gladly
-have dispensed with. She however endeavoured to maintain that kind
-of friendly intercourse with him, which would prevent any thing like
-collision in matters where her own interest was concerned, and with
-this view preferred exposing herself to harsh remarks from Lady Tilney
-and others of the society, as to his admission into her house. "Ah, Mr.
-Vernon, is it you," said Lady Hamlet Vernon to him as he entered; "I
-hope I see you well?"
-
-"Allow me rather to inquire, Lady Hamlet Vernon, about yourself;
-I have made a _détour_ of at least two miles to satisfy my anxiety
-concerning you all. London is ringing with the terrible accident which
-befel you last night. Pray tell me all the particulars, and tell me too
-who was the fortunate knight-errant that rendered you assistance?" Lady
-Hamlet made an inclination of her head towards Lord Albert D'Esterre.
-
-"Ah! is it so? well, he looks as if he were made for adventures,"
-directing his glance towards Lord Albert. "Now, though I, poor devil
-that I am, desire no happier chance, I may drive about all day or night
-and no such good fortune ever betide me as delivering a lady from a
-perilous accident--really, Lord Albert, I congratulate you." Lord
-Albert bowed, as he replied,
-
-"I am exceedingly happy that my servants were of any use; but indeed I
-had not the good fortune you ascribe to me: for I was sitting occupied
-in my library, and wholly unconscious of what passed in the street,
-till Lady Hamlet Vernon was brought into the house."
-
-"Indeed, is it so? well, I have heard it said through the whole town,
-that Lady Hamlet Vernon's horses ran away, that the coachman was dashed
-from his box, and that some _preux chevalier_ had seized the horses
-in their course, and though nearly annihilated himself, had succeeded
-in his desperate efforts to stop them; whereas I am happy to see my
-Lord is safe and sound. Lady Hamlet, I rejoice to find very little the
-worse, and the long paragraph in the Morning Post all a lie. Well,
-there is only one thing to be done under these circumstances, which is
-to set the story right by a counter-statement, and therefore pray do
-tell me all the particulars."
-
-Lady Hamlet Vernon smiled, with constrained complacency, saying, "you
-may tell the fact, Mr. Vernon, if you chuse to take the trouble, which
-is simply this;--that on returning home my coachman was drunk, and
-upset my carriage; and the accident happened close to Lord Albert
-D'Esterre's door, so that I was borne into his house, and received
-there every kind attention."
-
-"But," enquired Mr. Temple Vernon, who had listened with evident
-eagerness to the recital, "where were you going?--whence were you
-coming?--for all these particulars are of importance."
-
-"Oh! home."
-
-"Good heavens, home! and at the early hour of twelve?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"But where were you coming from?"
-
-"Oh! we had been dining at Sir William Temple's."
-
-"Ah, and is that really so? was all that Temple said at the clubs
-yesterday morning really true? Did you, and the Tilney, and the
-Leinsengen, and I don't know who else, dine with him? Well, that is
-really too good--why no room in London will hold Temple after this. He
-was always insufferable, even before he was promoted in the world; and
-now that affairs have taken this favourable turn, heaven knows what he
-will become; why he'll burst like the frog in the fable. But I am very
-sorry, for his dinners were good dinners in their way; now, however,
-they will be intolerable, for they will consist in every course of
-_réchauffés_ of what Lady Tilney admired, or did, or said--do tell me
-how the affair went off."
-
-"Indeed, Mr. Temple Vernon, I cannot talk more to-day; rather I pray
-you tell me some news--how did the D'Hermanton's party end?"
-
-"Well then, if you so command it, let us turn to my note
-book"--affecting to read, as he counted over his fingers, "Lady Tilney
-was _not_ at the Duchess of D'Hermanton's; Lady Ellersby _was_, but
-only walked through the apartments; Lady Boileau went no further
-than the first room; item, Mr. Pierpoint did not either; neither did
-Comtesse Leinsengen, who sat all the evening by Lord Baskerville, but
-spoke little; the Duke of Mercington only shewed his waistcoat, and
-then departed: all of which I hold to be signs that portend dark doings
-in the court of Denmark. Now this I think is a correct _résume_ of the
-Hermanton 'at home.' As to the politics of the last evening, it is
-confidently stated that the Duke of ---- has some famous bird-lime,
-called expediency, which will catch a vast number of young birds,"
-turning at the same time to Lord Albert, "is it not so, my Lord?"
-
-"Mr. Temple Vernon seems so perfectly master of every body's
-intentions and affairs, that I scarcely know, in his presence, whether
-or not I am master of my own."
-
-"The fact is, my good Lord, that nobody knows what they are going to do
-(if they will only confess the truth) for two minutes together."
-
-"In one sense that is true enough, Mr. Temple Vernon, for we intend
-many things which we never do, and _vice versâ_; nevertheless our will
-is free, and fortunately not always under the direction of others to
-guide it for us."
-
-"Oh! this is becoming too deep for me," interrupted Lady Hamlet Vernon.
-
-"And for me too," replied Mr. Temple Vernon, "as I have a thousand
-things to do before seven, and it is now past four o'clock; however
-I leave Lady Hamlet Vernon with less regret, knowing she has so
-entertaining a companion as Lord D'Esterre." This was said very
-ironically, and as the latter quickly perceived all the monkey malice
-of the man, he disarmed it of its sting by rising to depart, saying:
-
-"Lady Hamlet Vernon has far more entertaining companions lying on her
-table, than are generally to be met with among London idlers; and not
-to prove myself one of these, I must make my bow without further delay,
-trusting soon to have the pleasure of seeing her once more, in the gay
-scenes in which she is so fair an ornament;" and again bowing to Mr.
-Temple Vernon, he departed before the latter could leave the room.
-
-"Well, my dear Lady, you owe me something, I am sure, for having rid
-you from the presence of that formal personage." Lady Hamlet Vernon did
-not look as if she agreed with him, but forced a smile as she replied:
-
-"I like variety in character and manners; the world would grow dull, if
-every one were cut out on the same pattern."
-
-"I am glad to hear you say that, my dear Lady Hamlet Vernon, for that
-is exactly what I think; and, therefore, I have always held off from
-the tyranny, which goes to make every body subscribe to the same code
-in manners, dress, hours, nay even language; and at least, my coat, my
-neckcloth, my hair, is all after a cut of my own, and I find all does
-vastly well; for if the world does not approve the one or like the
-other, they are at least afraid of me, because I think for myself. This
-answers my purpose precisely as well. But you look serious, I see, and
-therefore I will follow my Lord Albert D'Esterre's inimitable example,
-and leaving my last sentence in the tablets of your memory, farewell,
-most fair and fascinating lady. One word more I beg to add, remember
-that I wish exceedingly to go to Lady Tilney's next Friday, and I leave
-my wish in the hands of the kindest and fairest of the daughters of
-Eve. I _depend_ upon your managing it for me."
-
-"Oh! certainly, nothing is easier you know, you are always _le bien
-venu_, I wonder that you can make this request a favour."
-
-"Ah! all that is very well from your lips, but you know, although
-I am the most admired man about town, I am sometimes by some chance
-forgotten. It is very odd that it should be so, but nevertheless it is
-often unjustly the case; and I correct fortune by such applications as
-the one I have just made to you; and now _je vous baise les mains_ in
-the D'Esterre phraseology, though I would much rather do so in reality,
-and so farewell most fair."
-
-"Depend upon me," replied Lady Hamlet Vernon, kissing her hand to him
-as he left the room. "Depend upon my hating you most cordially," she
-said to herself; as her head sank on the pillow of her sofa, and she
-tried to shut out from her recollection all his ill-timed _bavardage_,
-and to recal the strange but eloquent converse of the interesting Lord
-D'Esterre.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-THE PRIMA SERA; LETTERS, SNARES.
-
-
-Lady Hamlet Vernon, in consequence of her recent accident, received
-society at home instead of seeking it abroad; and for several evenings
-the _élite_ of _ton_, passed their _prima sera_ at her house. Lord
-Albert D'Esterre was constant too in his attendance there, and was
-evidently much occupied with Lady Hamlet Vernon. His attentions did not
-escape remark, and though Lady Tilney's object, in wishing to possess
-an influence over Lord Albert, was quite of another nature, still
-she felt some disappointment at finding he was interested in another
-quarter, and therefore less likely to yield to the designs which she
-had formed upon his political independence.
-
-"I'll tell you how that matter stands," replied Lord Rainham, as she
-inquired his opinion on the subject, "the _love_ is at present entirely
-on the lady's side; Lord Albert is not at all captive, and he has such
-obsolete ways of thinking, that I imagine he will not be easily caught.
-I should recommend his being given up altogether, he will never play a
-part among us, depend upon that; and you will not find him worth the
-trouble of educating."
-
-"Oh! as to playing a part, my dear Lord, one does not want every body
-to play a part, at least not a _first_ part you know; and as for
-_educating_ them, that is quite out of the question."
-
-"But," rejoined Lord Rainham, "you forget there is such a thing as
-persuasion; and it is said D'Esterre took his seat on the side of
-ministers by some means of that sort. Now it is possible, that although
-no _liaison de cœur_ exists between him and Lady Hamlet Vernon, yet as
-a clever woman, she may have decided his vacillating judgment; to say
-the truth, I believe she has." Lady Tilney bit her lip, and something
-like the word provoking, escaped her, as she replied, "I would scorn
-to persuade any body to any thing against his will; there is nothing
-I have ever maintained more strenuously, than that every individual
-should have a free choice in all the different elections of life."
-Lord Rainham smiled. "But after all," she added with an affected
-indifference, by which she attempted ineffectually to conceal her
-mortification, "it is of very little importance which side Lord Albert
-has taken."
-
-"One would have thought so indeed but for the disappointment which is
-evident since he has declared himself," replied Lord Rainham, drily.
-
-However much Lady Tilney felt chagrined at the thought that another had
-succeeded in turning Lord Albert's mind in a direction contrary to her
-wishes, yet she was too politic to betray her disappointment to the
-person who had triumphed; and therefore, on the evening in question,
-she paid more than usual attention to Lady Hamlet Vernon.
-
-"Dear Lady Hamlet Vernon," said Lady Tilney addressing her, as she
-took a seat by her, "you must not pretend to be ill any longer, we
-positively cannot do without you;" and then turning to Comtesse
-Leinsengen, she added, "did you ever see any thing to equal the beauty
-of her fairy foot?"
-
-This was a sore subject, as the reverse of the proposition always
-suggested itself to the Comtesse's fancy, in respect of her own; and
-she pretended on the present occasion not to hear it, but tossing up
-her head, took Lady Baskerville's arm, who was sitting on the other
-side of her, and whispered in her ear, "Lady Tilney does take such
-_engouements_, and then is as quickly tired of them, _des feus de
-pailles_," shrugging her shoulders contemptuously; "but I wonder she
-_like_ to dat old story of her admiration for feet, when she made
-herself so very ridiculous in her affected praises of dat _soi-disant_
-princesse. De lady who professes to worship liberty, independence,
-and all dat sort of ting, to sit holding anoder woman's foot upon her
-knee, and making all dat sort of fuss, for my part, _je n'ai jamais pu
-conçevoir ce plaisir là_."
-
-"It does seem to me rather extraordinary," replied Lady Baskerville;
-"but then Lady Tilney is so very good-humoured, she always protects
-every body she thinks put down or in distress." This was a prudent
-answer on Lady Baskerville's part, but not well received, which on
-perceiving, she quickly added:
-
-"As to myself, I confess I do not take any pleasure in those sort of
-out-of-the-way admirations; I can admire beauty in other women; but I
-cannot affect to be so exceedingly enchanted by it as to turn _fille de
-chambre_ in its honour. But there are many things in the world vastly
-ridiculous; for instance, can any thing be more so in its way than
-that Duke and Duchess D'Hermanton, who have been married I don't know
-how long, and are still _aux premiers amours_; one sees them eternally
-dawdling about together, as if persons came into company to be always
-setting a pattern of conjugal felicity. It is pardonable, perhaps,
-for very young people, during a few months to fancy themselves vastly
-in love; but after that time it is sickening--don't you think so,
-Comtesse?"
-
-"Oui, vraiment; _au reste_ it is only in dis country that people do
-give themselves such _ridicule_, and to say truth, not often, even
-here."
-
-"But pardon me, Comtesse," said Lady Baskerville, withdrawing from her;
-"I must go away, for I see Lord Boileau waiting for me, whom I had
-promised to take to Almack's, and had nearly forgotten;" so saying she
-passed into an adjoining room, and addressing him said:
-
-"Lord Boileau we are very late, and if we do not make haste we shall be
-shut out."
-
-"Oh, no--all _that_ is left out of the evening's entertainment, I can
-assure you, for they begin to be afraid that nobody will go in, though
-the doors are left wide open all night."
-
-"I am not surprised, for I hate the whole thing, and think it is become
-quite detestable, only I promised Lady Aveling to go to-night, so if
-you are ready let us begone;--but I have not made my curtsey to Lady
-Hamlet."
-
-"Indeed, Lady Baskerville, you may spare yourself that trouble, if you
-mean to be agreeable, for do you not see she is enamoured _pardessus
-les yeux_ with _that_ Lord Albert D'Esterre."
-
-"Ah," rejoined Lady Baskerville, looking in the direction where they
-sat, "is it so? Well, every one has her taste; but I cannot say such a
-person would ever touch my heart."
-
-"Oh! _your_ heart we all know is assailable but _by one_, and that
-Baskerville is the man, the most to be envied in all the world; to be
-sure there never was _such_ a wife as you are, quite perfect, Lady
-Baskerville, only too perfect." Lady Baskerville cast back her head,
-and looking at Lord Boileau with one of her _intelligent_ smiles, they
-passed on, and stepping into the carriage, drove off to finish their
-evening amusements in the insipid glitter of an Almack's ball.
-
-After the lapse of some weeks Lady Hamlet Vernon was completely
-restored to health and beauty, and again resumed her usual routine of
-existence. She sought dissipation at all times eagerly, from habit;
-but now there was added to this impulse a restlessness of feeling, an
-anxiety if alone, and a void in her heart, from the evening in which
-her accident happened, such as she had never before experienced. It
-was in vain for her to conceal from herself, that she had perhaps
-_hitherto_ unconsciously courted the society of Lord Albert D'Esterre
-more than of any other person, without considering how far she was
-yielding to the gratification consistently with any probable chance
-of happiness to herself in the ultimate issue. She certainly had a
-decided preference for Lord Albert D'Esterre, or why did she seek
-every opportunity of seeing him; or why feel uneasy when she heard of
-his acknowledged affiance to another? These feelings prompted her to
-know more of the appearance and character of his intended bride, whom
-circumstances had as yet prevented from appearing in the great world of
-London, and to whom she was an utter stranger.
-
-Under this influence, she determined to address a letter to one with
-whom she was in the habit of corresponding, and whom she knew to be on
-a visit to Dunmelraise, the seat of Lady Adeline's mother. She felt
-confident that she might take this step without compromising herself,
-and without her inquiries being deemed strange, or indicative of any
-thing beyond a natural curiosity. Shortly after this letter had been
-written, the following reply came from her friend, Mr. G. Foley; the
-contents of which were not at all calculated to tranquillize Lady
-Hamlet Vernon's feelings, if she really had any affection for Lord
-Albert.
-
- _Letter from Mr. Foley to Lady Hamlet Vernon._
-
- "When one is not to write of that which one is thinking about,
- it is the most difficult thing in the world to write at all. But
- you command, and I must endeavour to obey. Let me see how am I to
- commence? Perhaps it is best that I do so by giving you _the history_,
- as one young lady writing to another would say, of the Lady Adeline
- Seymour. You know that Lady Dunmelraise, her mother, lost her husband
- and an only son soon after Lady Adeline's birth; she then fell into
- low spirits and bad health, but by degrees roused herself to live for
- this child; and I must do her the justice to say, she has fulfilled
- her task admirably.
-
- "As to personal appearance, Lady Adeline Seymour is of that height
- which just escapes being too tall; of that slimness which just escapes
- being too thin; of that untutored manner which is often nearly being
- _gauche_, were it not that it is accompanied by a childish grace which
- evades the charge. Quick of perception, and quicker still in feeling,
- she has a peculiar way of checking these impulses so as never to
- allow them to betray her into any unbecoming harshness or abruptness
- of manner; the very fear one entertains that she may overstep the
- boundary of polished _rétenu_ gives an additional zest to her, but
- _gare a ceux qui voudroit l'imiter_--for she is perfectly original and
- defies all copyists. As to her face it is not marvellously beautiful,
- still less regularly so, but it is of such love-like paleness, chased
- by such sunny gleams of joyous youth continually playing over her
- features, that one could not wish it changed even for a more regular
- beauty. She is the very model of the poet's dream when he wrote--
-
-    ----'Her pure and eloquent blood
-    Spoke in her cheeks, and so distinctly wrought,
-    That one would almost say her body thought.'
-
- "Thus much for Lady Adeline's appearance and manners. In regard to
- the acquirements and endowments of her mental being, I am perhaps not
- myself qualified to speak--she is not precisely what the laborious
- educating mammas would call accomplished, but she has a master genius
- for _one_ art and a love for all. Her musical talent certainly
- requires much instruction to bring it to any perfection, but the
- scraps of airs she warbles as she flies about the house, are in the
- best taste as far as they go--and a few Venetian ballads which she
- sings to her guitar, and which she says her cousin taught her, are
- quite inebriating.
-
- "She unfeignedly undervalues all she does; perhaps too much so; but
- you read in her countenance that she is perfectly sincere; that all
- _spoken_ praise distresses her; and you are involuntarily led to seek
- to give her homage in some more palatable shape.
-
- "What do you think of this portrait of the young Adeline? It looks
- like that of a heroine in romance, as I glance my eyes over the
- words, and yet I have such a nausea at all the persons bearing that
- designation, that I would fain save the delightful one of whom I am
- writing from that hacknied name. You must have heard, of course, that
- she is engaged to her cousin Lord Albert D'Esterre; but like all those
- engagements made for people when they are children, I do not think
- it will be fulfilled _con amore_--not but what she blushes whenever
- she speaks of him, and _that_ she does pretty frequently; and if he
- is grown up like a certain bust (for I have not seen him these three
- years, and boys change so from eighteen to one and twenty), he really
- must be _un bel Giovane_. By the way, she has made an exquisite
- drawing of _mon beau cousin_, but that is neither here nor there,
- the fiction of seventeen is always beautiful. Pray in your next
- gracious letter inform me what sort of man he has become, for I feel a
- brotherly regard for this very nice person, Lady Adeline Seymour, and
- should like to think she had a chance of happiness. Happiness, what a
- sound! but the reality, where is it?
-
-      'Come L'Araba Fenicè
-    Che ci sia, ciascun lo dicè
-    Dove sia, nessun lo sà.'
-
- "I should have told you, by the bye, that with all the gaiety,
- which is one of her greatest charms, Lady Adeline has a tincture of
- seriousness mingled with it, which some might suppose approached to
- Methodism; but even if it is so, _à son age elle en guérira_.
-
- "I have been a long time here: but it has been a great gratification
- to me, and time has glided softly by; for in addition to the charms
- of the daughter, Lady Dunmelraise is in all respects a very agreeable
- and sensible woman, has seen a great deal of the world, and besides
- all that, honours your humble servant with her very particular regard;
- which she tells me is bestowed entirely for the sake of my mother,
- the friend whom she loved most in the world next to her own family;
- but I am vain enough to flatter myself that she likes me a little for
- mine own sake too. And you, who understand every thing _à demi mot_,
- will know how soothing it is to a sick heart to receive kindness; this
- has induced me hitherto to linger on from day to day; but I shall
- vary the scene soon, for I begin to think that even I may be _de
- trop_; for I hear frequent mention made of Lord Albert D'Esterre's
- expected arrival; so to-morrow I set off for Luryddicath Park. Lord
- Tresyllian's; who, you know, is father to Lord Albert.
-
- "And now, my dear Lady Hamlet Vernon, having given you the particulars
- you required, I will not weary you with more of myself: but in pity to
- me, seeing that I am still for a time cut off from that only tolerable
- place in England, London, do write me a brief, gracious missive, that
- I may feast upon it till I am once more restored to your presence, and
- in the mean while believe me to be the most devoted of your slaves.
- Can I say more?
-
-     "G. FOLEY."
-
-Lady Hamlet Vernon, after perusing this letter, fell into a deep train
-of reflection, if such can be called intense feeling usurping the mind,
-to the exclusion of every other idea. The image of Lady Adeline, thus
-vividly pourtrayed by Mr. Foley's pen, stood in actual presence before
-her; and combined with that image, rose the vision of Lord Albert
-D'Esterre. The happiness which would be the growth of an union between
-two such persons as her knowledge of the one, and her fancied knowledge
-of the other, represented them, was embodied with forcible reality, and
-tears coursed each other involuntarily down her cheeks as she sat, more
-like a marble image than a living being.
-
-From this state she was suddenly roused by the servants announcing
-Lord Albert D'Esterre himself; and making an effort to subdue the
-feeling which either she was too much ashamed, or too proud to own,
-she endeavoured to receive him with as much composure as she could
-assume. After the first words of course had passed, Lady Hamlet Vernon
-was too deeply absorbed in one subject for her readily to turn to any
-indifferent topic; and she at length addressed Lord Albert on the
-subject of her solicitude, saying, "Do you know I have received a
-letter this morning full of the praises of a person, in whom I believe
-you are much interested; it is from a friend of mine now staying at
-Dunmelraise, and who draws such a picture of the charms of Lady Adeline
-Seymour, that I wonder, Lord Albert, to see you here--but you are going
-to Dunmelraise, are you not, immediately?" Her tears almost flowed
-afresh as she pronounced these words; and unconsciously she cast a
-look of tender intreaty on Lord Albert. The latter had involuntarily
-started, coloured, and hesitated to reply to this unexpected question;
-at length he answered:
-
-"No, not immediately; I am unable to leave town yet."
-
-"You are not in love," Lady Hamlet Vernon exclaimed, "no, you are _not_
-in love with Lady Adeline Seymour--I read your heart in the measured
-calmness of your words; she is _not_ the mistress of your affections."
-
-The sentence seemed to have escaped Lady Hamlet Vernon's lips without
-the power of control, in a moment of excitement; and her eyes, which
-had been fixed on Lord Albert, now as suddenly fell beneath his gaze as
-he exclaimed with astonishment,
-
-"What can you mean, what _do_ you mean, Lady Hamlet Vernon?" At that
-moment Lady Tilney was announced, and a minute after Lord Gascoigne.
-Conversation became general; but Lord Albert, evidently labouring under
-some painful feeling, took no part in it. Still he seemed determined to
-remain, to await the departure of the others, when Lady Tilney proposed
-to Lady Hamlet Vernon to accompany her to the Park; and the latter,
-fearing that she had compromised herself in the too open expression of
-her feelings relative to Lord Albert and Lady Adeline Seymour, availed
-herself of the opportunity to avoid any renewal of the theme. With a
-heart ill at ease, she prepared to attend Lady Tilney to the dazzling
-throng of Hyde Park; while Lord Albert, seeing it was vain to look for
-any explanation of Lady Hamlet Vernon's extraordinary address to him
-at the moment, reluctantly handed her to Lady Tilney's carriage; and,
-trusting to some future opportunity to ask an explanation, he mounted
-his horse and rode off; but not with a mind so tranquil or a heart so
-buoyant as he had possessed a short time before.
-
-In proposing to take Lady Hamlet Vernon to the Park, Lady Tilney's
-real object was to withdraw her from Lord Albert, whose anxiety had
-not escaped her observation, and whose political career she still had
-hopes might not be positively decided; at any rate, if hope remained,
-it was worth the trial; and should she have been correct in her idea
-that Lord Albert had not committed himself irrevocably, no time was
-to be lost; that very moment perhaps he waited only the voice of Lady
-Hamlet's influence, to decide his wavering intentions. Lady Tilney's
-part was therefore quickly taken; and as they proceeded to the Park,
-she endeavoured to turn Lady Hamlet Vernon's mind from Lord Albert, if
-he really occupied any share in it, by adverting to every topic of the
-day; among other things she said:
-
-"What do you think! Miss Melcomb's marriage with Lord Glenmore is at
-length declared. I had long had my suspicions that it would be so; but
-I cannot say I approve of the affair; and I am sure you will think
-with me, Lord Glenmore is too great a card to be played by that little
-miss, who has never left her mamma's wing; and has, of course, imbibed
-all her prejudices. But although Lord Glenmore has allied himself with
-this family, we must not wholly give him up; besides the Georgina
-is pretty, and she may yet not prove quite such a simpleton as she
-looks." Lady Tilney, however, in vain endeavoured to interest Lady
-Hamlet Vernon in any subject she discussed; the former acquiesced in
-every thing her companion said, in order to avoid the argument which
-would have followed any dissent from her opinion. Lady Hamlet Vernon's
-remarks, when she made any, were short, and little to the purpose; and
-at length, wearied and ill at ease, she complained of a head-ache, and
-besought Lady Tilney to set her down at home.
-
-When the carriage-door closed, Lady Tilney flung herself back,
-exclaiming as she drew up the glass, "How provokingly discreet, she did
-not once commit herself!" and Lady Tilney drove once more back to the
-Park, in the hope of seeing Lord Albert; and if possible, by courting
-his attention, of counteracting any influence which might have been
-exercised on his opinion by Lady Hamlet Vernon. She looked, however, in
-vain for him in the crowd; and at length drove home, disappointed and
-displeased at her want of success, and out of humour with every thing.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-FASHIONABLE FRIENDSHIP.
-
-
-Lord Glenmore's marriage soon became the subject of general
-conversation. The day of the nuptials was already named, and the
-ceremony was to be in the most splendid style. In compliment to Lord
-Glenmore, several of his acquaintance were invited. Amongst these was
-Lady Tilney and Lady Tenderden; the Comtesse Leinsengen of course; and
-Lady Ellersby, who on her mother's side was related to the family of
-the Melcombs. The parties named expressed themselves annoyed at the
-idea of forming part of what they called the _Melcomb mélange_; but a
-secret wish to retain an influence with Lord Glenmore, whose marriage
-it was intended should not, without a trial of Miss Melcomb's aptitude
-for _ton_, banish him from their circle.
-
-The whole affair, however, was _sotto sugezione_ in the opinion of
-Lady Tilney and her friends. "The strangest thing of all is," exclaimed
-the former, as she was conversing on the subject with Lady Tenderden
-and the Comtesse Leinsengen, "that the marriage takes place in church."
-
-"In church! _quelle idée, vraiment on mourra de froid_."
-
-"And pray how must one be dressed?" inquired Lady Tenderden.
-
-"Oh, _en costume de traineau_, I presume, since it is in von of your
-cold church; but vat sinifies how von dresses for it?"
-
-"If it rains I really must send my excuse," said Lady Tilney, who
-wanted to be on a level at least with the Comtesse in impertinence.
-"Have you seen the _trousseau_?" she added.
-
-"Yes, I have," replied Lady Tenderden. Lady Tilney looked blank; she
-could not bear that others should precede her even in the inspection
-of a _trousseau_. Lady Tenderden, continued:--"Madame Duval brought
-me every thing that was worth seeing; the laces are magnificent, and
-the _corbeille de noces_, and every thing is in good taste. But here
-is Lady Ellersby," exclaimed Lady Tenderden, glad to break off from a
-subject which had been disagreeable to her, "I do not suppose _she_
-will approve of the programme of this ceremony."
-
-"My dear Lady Ellersby," the ladies all exclaimed, running up to her,
-"why did you not exert your influence with Lady Melcomb to prevent this
-_baroque_ fancy of being married in church; surely your relationship
-would have authorized your good advice on the occasion." Lady Ellersby
-looked surprised, and asked an explanation.
-
-"Do you not know," answered Lady Tilney, "that the ceremony is to take
-place in a church?"
-
-"La! does it? What a strange fancy!" drawled Lady Ellersby; "but I
-should never think of giving any advice to Lady Melcomb--I never do, to
-any body."
-
-"Dat Mademoiselle Melcomb, vid all her imbecile _niaiserie_, seems not
-to have played her part amiss."
-
-"I think she will turn out better than one could have supposed,"
-rejoined Lady Tenderden, "when she becomes _un peu plus façonné_."
-
-"Do tell me who are the invited?" interrupted Lady Tilney, addressing
-Lady Ellersby.
-
-"Oh, half London, to be sure; such a quantity of tiresome relations,
-and so much property, and family dignity, there will be no end of all
-the cousins--don't you know they are just the sort of people who teem
-with relations?"
-
-"But who is there of the party that one knows?" replied Lady Tilney.
-
-"Oh, there are ourselves, and the Duke of Mercington, and the Boileaus,
-and Baskervilles, I believe; I fancy too the Duke and Duchess
-D'Hermanton, and some of _that_ set, are also among the _priés_, but
-I must go now _en qualité de cousine_, and leave my card with the
-Melcombs, and then I shall go on to Kitchener's, who has the resetting
-of the family diamonds. I am told they are magnificent; and I should
-so like to persuade Lord Ellersby to let mine be reset too, I have had
-them three years in their present form, and am so tired of them as
-they are--he, he, he!--well--adieu, we shall meet to-night at Lady De
-Chere's?"
-
-"_Avouez moi qu'elle passe la permission qu'ou a d'être bête_,"
-observed Lady Tenderden, as she left the room.
-
-"May be so, but she is a very old friend of mine, and besides, she is
-perfectly _comme il faut_, and after all, that sort of thing gets on in
-the world just as well as talent."
-
-"Perhaps better," rejoined Lady Tilney.
-
-"_Précisement_," said the Comtesse Leinsengen, "but, _il faut que je
-pars, je vais voir le trousseau_, for oderwise I shall have nothing to
-say to Lady Baskerville, who goes vid me to-night to de Opera. _Adieu
-les belles, adieu._"
-
-"I wonder how she can be at the trouble of going to see that foolish
-_trousseau_," exclaimed Lady Tilney, as soon as she was out of hearing.
-"She is so _inconséquente_. Did Lady Ellersby name the Baskervilles as
-being among the invited?" continued Lady Tilney.
-
-"Oh yes, the Comtesse, depend upon it, has taken care they shall be
-asked; and my Lord is always flattered in being reckoned a requisite
-appendage to a woman of high rank; but he will soon find his error
-in depending on her smiles, for except for the gratification of the
-moment's vanity, she seeks no further aim, and at all times scruples
-not to sacrifice her _çi-devant_ friends to her new ones."
-
-"Poor Lord Baskerville," replied Lady Tilney, "was intended to be by
-nature _le bon enfant_, which she calls him; but he has fallen into the
-terrible mistake of thinking himself a _leader_ of _ton_, which gives
-him a ridicule that he would not otherwise have."
-
-"How well you read characters, my dear Lady Tilney! But I thought he
-was a _protégé_ of yours."
-
-"Oh, so he is; I like him of all things; and he is often vastly useful.
-One must have different characters at command to fill different parts,
-or else nothing that one wants would go on. But to return to the
-Melcombs, I do not recover from my surprise about that marriage."
-
-"It only shews what perseverance will do, I wished to talk the matter
-over with you, and to ascertain whether or not you meant to attend;
-so now I need not trouble you longer. Your gown you say is to be
-rose-colour, mine shall be jonquille."
-
-"Ah, you always look divine in that golden light: but what light do
-you not look divine in?"
-
-"I must positively run away, or you will quite turn my head with
-flattery. Adieu, adieu," and they parted well pleased with each other.
-
-When Lady Ellersby stopped at Lady Melcomb's door, where she had
-intended only to leave her card, a multiplicity of people on the same
-errand _faisoit queue à la porte_; but to her infinite dismay, just as
-her carriage drove up, Lord Glenmore, who happened to be coming out of
-the door, approached her with a countenance beaming happiness.
-
-"I am sure Georgina will be at home to _you_; do allow me to hand you
-out of your carriage."
-
-"Not for the world, I would not intrude; I am sure Miss Melcomb has a
-thousand things to do, and to arrange; but--"
-
-"Nay, dear Lady Ellersby," continued Lord Glenmore, pressingly (who
-thought every one must be as anxious to see his bride, as he was eager
-she should be seen), "Georgina will be so disappointed if you do not
-go up stairs, that I must entreat you will." And in short, for once,
-what between curiosity to look at the bridal paraphernalia, and a sort
-of awkwardness to do a decided thing, and say no, Lady Ellersby's
-indolence was overcome, and she allowed herself to be handed up stairs
-into the drawing room, where were assembled a host of ladies (_not_
-Miss Melcomb), who were busily engaged admiring the various dresses and
-finery which were displayed before them.
-
-"You are just come in time, Lady Ellersby," exclaimed Lady Aveling,
-"for after to-day, nobody is to be admitted."
-
-"No? well, la! I am glad then; but my dear Lady Melcomb I came, I
-assure you, expressly to wish you joy, and to leave my congratulations
-also with Miss Melcomb, whom I hope, I am to see, for Lord Glenmore
-insisted on my coming in, otherwise I would not have done so--knowing
-how tiresome visitors are at such a moment; but since I am here, do me
-the favour to mention to Miss Melcomb, how very happy I am to have the
-opportunity of wishing her joy."
-
-"And do look," cried Lady Aveling, "at this enchanting hat; it is just
-come from Paris--was there ever any thing _de meilleur gôut_?--and
-then look at this, and that _seduisante_--really, Lady Melcomb, your
-selection has been exquisite. But here comes the bride."
-
-Then ensued kisses, curtseys, and congratulations, during which Lord
-Glenmore retired, wearied with the nonsense of the female coterie, and
-despairing of even catching a glance from Miss Melcomb.
-
-While the marriage ornaments continued to absorb the attention of the
-other visitors, Miss Melcomb took Lady Ellersby aside to shew her what,
-she said, was infinitely better worth looking at--a miniature of Lord
-Glenmore.
-
-"So, my dear," said Lady Ellersby, "you are really what they call in
-love? he, he, he!"
-
-"I am fondly attached to Lord Glenmore, and feel proud now in declaring
-it;--it has become my happy duty," replied Miss Melcomb.
-
-"Duty!" replied Lady Ellersby, opening her mouth, and _ouvrant des
-grands yeux_, "he, he, he!--surely you are not serious? Whoever heard
-a young person going to be married, that is, going to be her own
-mistress, talk of duty! Tell me, really are you not delighted at the
-idea of having horses and equipages, and doing exactly what you like,
-and going out every where you please? That was what I liked and thought
-of, when I was going to be married, and----but then I was not in
-love--he, he, he!"
-
-"No?" replied Miss Melcomb, somewhat astonished.
-
-"Certainly not--he, he, he!"
-
-"I have no wish," rejoined Miss Melcomb, "to be more my own mistress
-than I am at present. I shall, on the contrary, feel myself less at
-liberty, for of course a married woman has a thousand things to think
-of which a girl has not."
-
-"La, my dear, you talk in a way which it is very right to teach
-children, but when people act for themselves they think very
-differently. Every body, you know, marries to avoid being governed."
-
-"I never could have married for that reason, for I have been the
-happiest of creatures at home."
-
-"Well really, la! you don't say so! But now you will have an opera
-box, jewels, equipages, and all sorts of delightful things."
-
-"I don't know--perhaps if Lord Glenmore intends I should--"
-
-"La, how droll you are; you don't really mean to set out by asking his
-leave, or consulting him on such trifling subjects as these, my dear
-child, he, he, he! you are enough to spoil any husband.--Well, good
-morning--you must correct yourself of such _enfantillage_--remember
-what I say. Six months will not have elapsed before you recant all
-this, and change your present mode of thinking and feeling."
-
-Miss Melcomb smiled, and shook her head in token of dissent. "Good
-morning," Lady Ellersby repeated, "I have already intruded too much
-upon your time; I shall be delighted to cultivate your society when you
-come back a gay bride; and pray tell Lady Melcomb I will not torment
-her any more just now.--Once again accept my congratulations, and my
-best compliments to Lord Melcomb, he, he, he!"
-
-It is a strange thing that in the happiest of times there is often a
-word spoken, or a thing occurs, which seems to interpose a dark spot
-upon the brightness of happiness, as though we were not to forget the
-nature of mortal felicity. Lady Ellersby's words, of six months will
-not elapse ere you have changed your present feelings--sounded in Miss
-Melcomb's ears long after they had been spoken; and though she strove
-to drive them from her remembrance, they remained fixed there like a
-warning which she was not to disregard--a foreboding of evil (for to
-the happy all change has terror in it). Minor circumstances such as
-this, have happened to every body in their course through life, and
-have been like visions which opened a vista to futurity.
-
-The day at length came which was to unite Miss Melcomb with Lord
-Glenmore, and the various persons invited met at Lord Melcomb's house,
-from whence their carriages followed in the suite of that of the
-bride's. The ceremony took place in St. James's Chapel, and it was a
-beautiful sight to see the bride, with composed bashfulness, in the
-long white robe and coronal that bound her veiled brows, so fitly
-emblematic of her own purity, supported by her father to the altar,
-and given from the paternal arms into those of a husband, who was
-henceforth to be all the world to her, and whom she acknowledged to be
-lord of her affections in the seriousness of true and deep attachment,
-as the chosen of her heart. Her velvet prayer book in one hand--the
-other folding her veil across her person, which it but partially
-concealed, she knelt down in that spirit of piety which hallows and
-sanctifies the vows she was about to take. The previous tremor which
-had shook her frame as she advanced to the altar, was stilled into
-composure as she bent the knee, and raised her thoughts to heaven.
-
-Lord Glenmore, too, seemed imbued with the same devout feelings, and
-all those who came with lighter thoughts, appeared, outwardly at least,
-impressed.
-
-When the ceremony closed, the now Lady Glenmore knelt before her
-parents, and as they pressed her to their breast, blessed her with
-silent fervour; and even the most insensible acknowledged a touch of
-feeling at this scene. Lady De Chere was heard to say, that she had
-no idea it would be made such a serious affair of; had she known it,
-she certainly would not have been present. Congratulations having been
-offered on every side, some with sincere goodwill, but the greater
-part with common-place phrase; the marriage party returned to Lady
-Melcomb's, where a breakfast had been prepared.
-
-"What a _mélange_ of persons!" observed Lady Ellersby, as she stopped
-in the door-way on entering, in order to reconnoitre. "If I had not
-been obliged" (she whispered to Lady Tilney), "nothing should have
-brought me here."
-
-"And _I_ most indubitably should not have come," replied the latter,
-"had it not been to _oblige you_; and after all I would have given a
-great deal that I _had not_: for I assure you, my dear, as soon as the
-affair of the day is over, we must none of us be seen here again; what
-we may do respecting Lord and Lady Glenmore, _reste a savoir_. But
-yonder is Lady Baskerville and Lady Tenderden, let us join them, and
-by keeping as much as possible together, and talking to no one but in
-our own circle, shew that we are not here even at present on familiar
-footing." Lady Baskerville was conversing with Lady Tenderden on one
-of those square Ottomans _dos-a-dos_, with their several cavaliers by
-them, Lord Tonnerre, Lord Gascoigne, Lord Boileau, &c.
-
-"Well I am sure," said Lady Baskerville, addressing Lord Boileau,
-"if I were Lady Glenmore, I should heartily wish all this _étiquette
-de noces_ was over; when a marriage has taken place, and it is known
-to all the world, the amusement is ended, and there is nothing to be
-wished for, but the comfortable arrangement of two sensible persons,
-who know what it is to live without being _a charge_ to each other."
-
-"To be sure," replied Lord Boileau, "I wonder how people can make this
-sort of fuss and _étalage_; it is assuming that one is interested for
-them--nobody cares whether any body is happy or miserable, and it is a
-bad taste to _affiché_ their private feelings in this public manner."
-
-At this moment a general movement in one of the apartments attracted
-every body's attention.--"Lord Melcomb is dead!" "Lord Melcomb is
-dying!" resounded in audible whispers.
-
-"Call my carriage."--"How shocking."--"I would not be in the room with
-a corpse for the world."--"Do let us get away."
-
-"Who knows but it may be catching--how fortunate for Glenmore," said
-Lord Boileau, looking over the people's heads, as he beheld Lord
-Melcomb apparently lifeless. "He will have the pretty heiress and her
-fortune at the same moment."
-
-"What do you mean?" asked some one who stood near.
-
-"Why, only if the old Lord dies, that Miss Melcomb becomes immediate
-mistress of Melcomb Park, and an estate of ten thousand a year."
-
-"Does she! you do not mean so; had I known that, I would have proposed
-to the girl myself," said Lord Tonnerre.
-
-"But is he really in an apoplectic fit?" said another.
-
-"Perhaps, but sometimes people do outlive these sort of things, and
-walk about quite gaily many years."
-
-"Ah! there is that chance to be sure," said Lady Baskerville, laughing.
-It is lamentable to remark, how those who live in fashion's fooleries
-become actually indifferent to every thing, and to every circumstance,
-of what mighty moment soever, that does not immediately concern their
-interests and pleasures. The most tremendous events, the most awful
-dispensations, the most surprising occurrences are to them so many
-little coloured bubbles, that seem to blow about for their amusement,
-or targets set up to shoot jokes at. Life and death seem but as
-foot-balls for these puppets to play with: it would be laughable if it
-were not horrible.
-
-Lord Melcomb had only a fainting fit, occasioned by over fatigue,
-and the heat of the room. The brilliant crowd, however, which were
-assembled at his house, fled in dismay on the first alarm of sickness
-or of sorrow; and their inquiries the next day for his health, were
-influenced more by curiosity, than by any feeling of humanity, or any
-real care whether he were alive or dead. This event, however, had a
-very different effect on the minds of Lord Melcomb's sincere friends,
-who waited with anxiety to learn the effects of this sudden illness.
-On Lady Glenmore's mind it cast a cloud, which seemed to overshadow
-the bright dawning of her happiness; and she trembled at the idea of
-some unknown calamity, an idea which had once before visited her, when
-called up by Lady Ellersby's words, and which now again recurred to her
-with painful intenseness. A short hour, however, relieved every one
-from anxiety; Lord Melcomb was completely restored, and he received the
-embraces of his child: when kissing away the tears, which she could
-not restrain, he entreated her to lay aside all fears on his account.
-Once more the bridal pair received the parental blessing; and taking
-leave of the few dear friends that surrounded them, stepped into their
-carriage and set off for Lord Glenmore's villa, where after remaining a
-short time, and feeling quite reassured on Lord Melcomb's account, they
-proceeded on a tour to Paris.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-A FASHIONABLE EASTER.
-
-
-The season was approaching when, in good old times, the heads of great
-families left the metropolis, and in the retirement of their country
-seats or villas devoted the precious hours of the solemn festival of
-Easter to reflection, apart from busy scenes of public life in the
-bosoms of their families--thus setting an example worthy of imitation:
-and overcoming, in some degree, the difficulty with which we know a
-rich man shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
-
-How widely different is it at the present day with those who call
-themselves _The Ton_. They go indeed, at this holy season, to villas,
-and country seats, but take with them there all the follies, and vices,
-and habits of that daily idleness and dissipation which can suffer no
-pause in its riot, no diminution in its intoxication.
-
-Lady Ellersby had invited to Restormel Lady Tilney and the more select
-of her coterie. Some there were, the subalterns of their _corps élite_,
-who, however subservient and ready they had proved themselves to
-adopt the follies of exclusiveness, had as yet failed in establishing
-themselves in its full rights and prerogatives, and who, after the
-sacrifice of their own true dignity, still found themselves but as
-tools in the hands of others. These, often overlooked in the more
-_recherché_ amusements, _heard_ of the party at Restormel, but only
-_heard_, and were not among the invited. To be excluded on such an
-occasion was a mortification of the severest kind, and it became a
-matter of the greatest importance to have their names inserted, if
-possible, on the select list. To obtain this point, the infinite pains
-and ingenuity employed were worthy of a better cause. The Baskervilles
-were of the number overlooked; and, addressing his wife on the subject
-with as much eagerness as it was permitted one of his dignified
-refinement to display, Lord Baskerville said:
-
-"Imagine what Boileau has just told me; Lady Ellersby has a party at
-Restormel next week! I do think _we_ had a right to be asked; don't
-you?"
-
-"Oh certainly, _love_," replied Lady Baskerville, a sweet-sounding
-epithet of affection which but on few occasions passed between them:
-"Certainly: and if we are not, I shall think it quite rude; but _I
-will_ arrange the matter."
-
-That night Lady Baskerville went to the Opera with Lady Boileau; as
-soon as an opportunity presented itself, Lady Baskerville turned
-suddenly round, and said, "Oh, there is Lady Ellersby, I see, in her
-box: how well she looks--of _course you_ are going to Restormel at
-Easter?" and she kissed her hand the while, in her most smiling manner,
-to the lady of whom she spoke.
-
-"No, I am not invited," replied Lady Boileau. "Are you?"
-
-"Yes," rejoined Lady Baskerville, (determined to hazard the lie at
-all events, and trust to chance, or her own devices, to make it true
-afterwards.) "But how very odd she should have left you out; it must be
-some mistake."
-
-"Oh, no, it is not a mistake--it cannot be; for Lady Ellersby, you
-know, makes all her invitations on these occasions _de vive voix_."
-Lady Baskerville almost betrayed herself as she _felt_ Lady Boileau's
-penetrating eyes fixed upon her's, with a scrutiny she did not wish to
-prolong; however she rallied dexterously, and turned off the discourse
-into some other channel; but Lady Boileau returned to the charge,
-saying:
-
-"Well, my dear Lady Baskerville, as _you are_ asked, do you not think
-you could get us invited also? You know I hardly ever break my rule of
-running the risk of compromising a friend by tormenting her to procure
-invitations, but for this once I think I may venture, considering
-our long friendship, to entrust you with the secret (for you know I
-would not have it said for the world), that I wish to be of the number
-of the _Priées_ to Restormel--now as I intend giving my first ball
-immediately after Easter, I shall consult her to-night about certain
-persons whom I am rather doubtful whether I shall ask or not, and then
-by appealing to you, throw the conversation into your hands, and give
-you an opportunity of naming those who are invited to Restormel, which
-will bring about the subject in such a natural way, that either I must
-be asked or she will commit herself by a rudeness which she generally
-avoids."
-
-Lady Baskerville sat on thorns, but during the length of this speech
-she had leisure to collect her scattered senses, and began a reply
-equally elaborate, professing herself to be exceedingly attached and
-obliged to Lady Boileau, and for _that very reason_ declining all
-interference on the present occasion--"for you know," she said, "it
-makes one so very _nervous_ to put a friend under the unpleasant
-predicament of being refused. Besides, the moment one lets the
-world know that one has a friend who wants any thing, people begin
-immediately to conclude that they may want many things, and directly
-look shy, and make an excuse, and get off, and probably cut both the
-_asker_ and the person for whom they ask. However _you know_ I will do
-what _I can do_, but only I entreat you will leave me at liberty to
-chuse the mode of managing this business."
-
-"Yes," rejoined Lady Boileau, "most certainly; but perhaps the best way
-of all will be to say nothing about it, beforehand, and then for me to
-arrive unexpectedly, and say _you_ had asked me, and had forgotten to
-mention to Lady Ellersby that you had done so."
-
-"Oh! _not for the world_, my dearest Lady Boileau, not for the
-world,--besides,--I just recollect--Lord Baskerville had some idea
-we should not go at all;"--at that instant arrives Lord Baskerville
-himself, and forgetting his acquired manner, he opened the box-door
-somewhat abruptly, and in his natural gay agreeable way, such as is his
-own when he ceases to remember he is an exclusive, he said, addressing
-Lady Baskerville,
-
-"I have this instant had an invitation for you, which I am sure you
-will accept with pleasure: it is from Lady Ellersby to go to Restormel."
-
-"Dear! la! Lord Baskerville, how odd you are--that is so like you--to
-have forgot--and Lady Ellersby too, she must have forgotten, don't you
-know _we were_ asked a fortnight ago."
-
-"Ah--hem! very true," and taking the hint which Lady Baskerville had
-given him by an expressive glance, "hem! I _had_ really forgotten, I
-always forget _those sort of things_, hem!"
-
-"Yes, and you said then, _if you_ remember, that _you_ would not go,
-for that you thought of visiting Tunbridge, as you always conceived
-Restormel to be a dull, damp place, and so unwholesome, with its
-quantity of trees and stagnant water."
-
-"Ay--so I did,--hem! very true, and so it is, and now you put me in
-mind, I rather suppose _we_, that is _I_, shall not go, for of course
-_your_ ladyship will do as you chuse."
-
-Lady Boileau, though young in years, was too old a bird of fashion
-to be caught with chaff, she saw through this matrimonial manœuvre,
-but was too prudent to let her perception be seen; and in regard to
-Lady Baskerville's refusal on the subject of Restormel, she pretended
-to take it as the latter intended it should be taken, and her outward
-appearance remained unruffled, but at the same time it was marked
-in the tablets of her memory, as a token of friendship _not to be
-forgotten_.
-
-"Indeed," replied Lady Boileau, in answer to Lord Baskerville's last
-remark, "you are both quite right, Restormel _is_ a _dull_ place, and
-I advise you to secure a party for Tunbridge, in which I shall be most
-happy to join you."
-
-"I will think about it, hem!" replied Lord Baskerville, "and consult
-the Comtesse Leinsengen," and thus he bowed out of the box. Shortly
-after, Lady Baskerville feigned a very bad head-ache and retired before
-the end of the ballet. Not so Lady Boileau; she watched Lady Ellersby's
-movements, and contrived to meet her in the room just at the very
-moment when the crowd prevented her escaping.
-
-"What do you think I have been doing all night?" Lady Boileau asked?
-
-"Not listening to the Opera," replied Mr. Spencer Newcomb, who was
-handing Lady Ellersby.
-
-"As if any body ever really came to attend to or listen to it!" she
-observed; "it is the very last thing one comes to the Opera for,"
-yawning.
-
-"I have been much better employed," rejoined Lady Boileau, "for I
-have been defending the _agrémens_ of Restormel against Lord and Lady
-Baskerville's assertion of its being the dullest place in the world;
-they both declared it always gave them the vapours."
-
-"So it does me," replied Lady Ellersby, again yawning, "and that is
-precisely the reason why I take such special care never to go there,
-without having it well filled. But then all places in the country are
-alike, and one _must_ go out of town at Easter."
-
-"Well, Lady Ellersby, that may be true enough: all country places are
-insufferably dull except it be to give a fête during the lilac and
-laburnum season; but I think your friends might make some distinction
-between _you_ and your _place_, and as far as I could observe there was
-none made by the Baskervilles."
-
-"Oh was there _not_, he, he! Oh if such _is_ the case I am sorry I
-asked them to-night."
-
-"To-night! did you not make Lady Baskerville the invitation long
-before to-night? you will pardon my asking the question; I have a
-particular reason, which I will explain to you hereafter, for doing so."
-
-"La, dear, no," yawning, "I never thought of asking any body _long
-ago_." This, though in contradiction to her former declaration of
-taking care to _secure_ a party, she was obliged to say in order to
-avoid a marked rudeness to Lady Boileau, "and," she continued, "now
-I have the good fortune to meet you, dear Lady Boileau, will you
-and Lord Boileau have the charity to join us; and, notwithstanding
-Lady Baskerville's terrific account of Restormel, venture to come
-and _egayer_ its melancholy bowers; at all events it will be better
-than remaining in town, and we will try to do what we can to render
-ourselves agreeable to you."
-
-"I shall be delighted; we shall have the greatest pleasure in waiting
-upon you, and am certain we shall be extremely well amused."
-
-The great object of Lady Boileau's day was now successfully attained,
-and doubtless she laid her head upon her pillow that night with all the
-satisfaction which such success ought to confer. Lady Baskerville, on
-her part rejoiced in having as she thought so completely outmanœuvred
-her friend, and enjoyed the triumph which her superior skill in the
-management of such matters, as well as her superior knowledge of _the
-world_, had afforded her. Yet these women called each other _friends_!
-How is that sacred name profaned, that name which can have no embodied
-existence, but with the sincere and good, yet which is polluted in the
-world's mouth at every instant.
-
-Restormel was, as it had been described by Lady Baskerville, an
-exceedingly gloomy place, but all within the house was luxury; beyond
-its walls, however, there were none of those moral circumstances which
-can give interest even to the dullest spot. The scenery was monotonous
-and insipid; but there might have been an enlivening character thrown
-over the gloom, in the happy countenances and cheerful looks of
-dependents and retainers, if such had been the will of the possessors
-of Restormel. But this was not the case, the cold calculating system
-of employment of the poor, merely when the purpose of keeping up the
-grounds or other improvements made it necessary, and then taking no
-further charge whatever of the beings so employed, regarding them only
-as the labourers of the hour, conspired to give the place a moral, as
-well as a natural gloom.
-
-No peasant's abode in these domains was ever cheered by Lady Ellersby's
-presence; no sufferer in sickness or distress alleviated beyond the
-donation of money, and that but seldom;--none of those heart-interests
-in short were ever evinced, on her, or her Lord's part, which confer a
-mutual delight on those who receive, and on those who bestow them, and
-which maintain that link between the higher and lower classes, which
-is at once so beautiful and so beneficial, and without which all the
-luxuries in the world will never produce any thing but a melancholy and
-unsatisfying grandeur.
-
-There certainly, however, were the means, if they had been resorted
-to, for every laudable gratification of interest and entertainment at
-Restormel. And where is the country place in which, if its possessor
-fulfil the various duties the possession entails on him, the means are
-wanting; and even as it was, if that sickly appetite for excitement
-which characterised its present inhabitants could ever have been
-satisfied, it must have been here, where every thing connected with
-their system of life was found in profusion; but the factitious smiles
-which gild the exterior of such a circle as was generally to be met
-with at Restormel is not the sunshine of real happiness.
-
-Easter was now arrived and the party assembled at Restormel, consisted
-of the Tilneys, the Tenderdens, the Baskervilles, the Leinsengens,
-Luttermannes, Lord Tonnerre, Lady Hamlet Vernon, Lord Albert D'Esterre
-(who was asked _on trial_), Lord and Lady Boileau, by the manœuvre
-which has been described, and one or two single men like Mr. Leslie
-Winyard, Mr. Spencer Newcomb, &c. &c.
-
-These persons all met on the first night of their arrival at an eight
-o'clock dinner. Lord Albert D'Esterre had been invited at Lady Tilney's
-suggestion, who considered a country house a good stage for the display
-of a new _debutant_, and as affording no unpropitious opportunity of
-forwarding her wishes in regard to Lord Albert's political bias. These
-wishes, however, were soon doomed to disappointment; Lord Albert had
-accepted the invitation under the impression that in the country there
-was more leisure and tranquillity than the hurry of a London life
-allowed; but whether in the country or town, he might have known, had
-not the fatal mist of delusion which comes over all who enter on a
-tortuous path began to blind him, that reflection and serenity of mind
-do not depend on time or place; that power, that calm, may be destroyed
-or may be nurtured in cities, as in lonely wilds, it is true; but had
-he thought for a moment, he would have felt that the gay assemblage in
-which he was to mix at Restormel, was not calculated to restore him to
-that state of mind which he believed himself anxious to regain.
-
-In the course of Lord Albert D'Esterre's acquaintance with Lady Hamlet
-Vernon, he had discovered much to charm, to dazzle, and to lead a mind
-so young as his into a maze of error. Sophistry had gradually drawn
-its veil before his perception of truth; through this he viewed her
-character; and under the same delusive influence, he persuaded himself
-that the interest he took in her arose from the purest motive, namely
-that of endeavouring to free from error, one whose nature was naturally
-endowed with capabilities for becoming truly estimable. He listened to
-all her dangerous and seductive opinions, while he gazed on her beauty,
-bewildered with the false conviction that he did so to prove to her the
-error of the one, and to point out the peril which, with such unfixed
-tenets, the other would most probably lead her into.
-
-What a melancholy prospect, he inwardly exclaimed, lies before that
-beautiful creature, whose principles have never been formed to virtue,
-and who has been cast among those whose every axiom is contrary to the
-laws of purity and truth! What delight in the reflection, what a good
-action it will be, to disentangle such a being from the snares that
-surround her, and restore her to a life of usefulness and happiness. My
-heart aches for her, when I think how in early youth, before she could
-know her own wishes, she was married to an unprincipled husband, one
-who could never have known her worth; she must not be abandoned without
-an effort to save her. Thus did Lord Albert parley with himself, till
-a dangerous admixture of evil glided in with his better feelings, and
-prevented that clear perception between right and wrong, which under
-his engagements should have made him at once fly from Lady Hamlet
-Vernon. It was _not_ so, however, and Lady Hamlet Vernon was more the
-object that led him to Restormel, than any wish for, or sense of, the
-necessity of retirement and reflection.
-
-The mode of living at Restormel was what Spencer Newcomb wittily
-called the _foreign system_, that is, every pleasure-giving
-circumstance was throughout the daily routine cultivated to the utmost
-point which art could reach. To give an account of it in detail would
-be a work of supererogation; for it was a transfer of London to the
-country, only with this difference, that the post town and high road
-took place of the streets of the metropolis; and the shrubberies and
-gardens of Restormel, of those of Kensington and the Park; with the
-exception, too, of a rather animated discussion between Lady Tilney and
-Lord Tonnerre on the subject of female influence; and which brought the
-parties into closer collision, than was consistent with the outward
-harmony of exclusive _ton_.
-
-Little occurred during the first few days of the retreat to Restormel
-to vary the monotony of the scene. With reference to this latter
-subject, Lady Tilney remarked to Lady Baskerville, as they left the
-dining-room, on the evening when the affair alluded to had taken place,
-"I am very sorry, my dear Lady Baskerville, very sorry indeed, that
-what I said should have taken such a desperate effect on your friend
-Lord Tonnerre; however, it does every body good to hear the truth now
-and then, and as he seldom if ever hears it, I think I have done him
-service in sounding that tocsin in his ears for once in his life, don't
-you, my dear?"
-
-"He, he, he!" tittered Lady Baskerville, who did not like to offend
-the speaker, though she was really angry with her in her heart; "I
-dare say you are quite right--but for my part, I never wish to teach
-any body any thing; I was so tired of being taught myself, that
-whatever reminds me of the dull days of being a good girl, and having a
-governess, quite overcomes me."
-
-"Oh," observed the Comtesse Leinsengen, "what sinnify, whether dat Lord
-is in a passion or not, nothing will ever change him. He knows but two
-phrases in the dictionary, _I will_ and _I won't_, you _shall_ and
-you _shan't_, and he do tink himself, and all dat belong to himself,
-quite perfect, _c'est une ignorance crasse a tout prendre_, but what
-_sinnify_ it? He was alway Milor Tonnerre, he _is_ Milor Tonnerre, he
-will alway _be_ Milor Tonnerre; _laisser le grogner, c'est son métier;
-en qualité de Tonnerre il grognera toujours, quesque ça nous fait? il
-n'est pas notre mari laisse-le là de grâces_," and she looked at Lady
-Baskerville as she spoke.
-
-This affair, however, did not pass over quite so easily as Lady
-Tilney would have had it; and it ended in Lord Tonnerre's going
-suddenly to town; and Lady Baskerville remaining in exceedingly bad
-humour: for to be without an _attaché quelconque_ was as bad as to be
-without a hat from Herbot's.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-FASCINATION--THE CHURCH-YARD, &c.
-
-
-In a continued scene of frivolity, to call it by no harsher name, and
-in the turmoil of petty passions and jarring female interests, passed
-the hours at Restormel that led on to the most solemn period of the
-year. Amongst the actors in it, Lord Albert D'Esterre cannot (with the
-feelings and character which he still possessed) be supposed to have
-held a part at all consistent with his true wishes; and, but for the
-increasing and alarming fascination of his senses, and the warping of
-his better judgment, by the influence which Lady Hamlet Vernon still,
-day by day, more effectually exercised over him, he would have quitted
-a society altogether, of which he could never really form a component
-part, and _from_ which, but for the third power which held him in
-combination with it, he must have quickly separated himself.
-
-But, however much this fatal influence might affect the general line of
-his conduct, the good seeds sown in early life, though sadly choaked as
-they had been, were not yet totally eradicated; and on the morning of
-the Easter festival, he took his way to the village to obey the calling
-bell of church. The service had begun when he entered, and it was not
-till the first lesson was commenced that he lifted his eyes from the
-book, and beheld in the family pew opposite Lady Hamlet Vernon. A flush
-of various feelings coloured his cheek, and suffused with a richer glow
-even the whiteness of his forehead. She is then, he thought, in despite
-of the example around her, really good;--she has listened to my advice;
-she has come to the fountain-head for instruction--all is well! He then
-endeavoured to follow the service throughout its solemn beauty; but his
-mind was disturbed, and his thoughts wandered.
-
-When the congregation was dismissed, of course he bowed and approached
-Lady Hamlet Vernon with the greetings of the morning salutations, and
-offering her his arm, they walked slowly on into the church-yard;
-it was one of those quiet gray days, which belong neither to winter
-nor spring, but owned affinity with both, and there was a freshness
-in the odour of the new trodden grass, which might have been deemed
-the precursor of flowers, had not a frosty air chilled the sweet
-promise;--some fine old yews surrounded the church-yard, and the
-gay colours of the country peoples' ribbons and cloaks appeared in
-brilliant relief as they lingered beneath the dark boughs.
-
-The rustic curtsey, and abrupt inclination of respect, which were
-offered in homage to Lord D'Esterre and Lady Hamlet Vernon on either
-side, as they passed through the village throng, indicated that the
-actions of those in the higher ranks of life can never be disregarded
-by the lower; a kind of deep respect, and an apparent satisfaction,
-sat on the countenances of these good people, and they showed by their
-very looks and manner, that they felt the hallowing of the sabbath to
-be a link of sympathy existing between them and their superiors, which
-mutually allied them in the bonds of christian fellowship.
-
-These are feelings which, even in the uneducated, are still indigenous
-to the human heart, and, if cherished and preserved, become as
-productive of good as, when neglected or contemned, they tend to
-incalculable evil. As Lord Albert and Lady Hamlet Vernon passed along,
-the latter observed:
-
-"I love to linger here; these rude memorials of love and respect to
-the dead" (pointing to the graves at their feet) "are a mournful
-gratification to the living; they tell us that in our turn we may at
-least hope to remain some short time in the memories of those whom we
-quit; but after all, _tout passe_," and she sighed heavily;--"yes,
-_here_ undoubtedly all that the proudest trophies can do, is for a time
-to point the moral of a good or bad character by the stone that covers
-or decorates the tomb."
-
-"But the tomb, dear Lady Hamlet, is only the repository of the dust;
-it will itself become like the dust it covers; but never, like that
-awakened dust, be infused with new life, a life far more glorious than
-all that we can form an idea of; and we must look not _upon_, not _in_
-the grave, but beyond it, where death is swallowed up in victory."
-
-"_You_ can do this, and you are happy," she replied. A cold revulsion
-struck on Lord Albert's heart as she paused and breathed with labouring
-breath,--"and can _you_ not do so?" he asked in deep low tone and
-shuddered as he spoke. She shook her head; and after a moment's pause
-said, "all the happiness I know is confined to a few brief moments--a
-few electric gleams of pleasure, which vanish in their birth; a
-feverish uncertain and fearful catching at delight, which yet eludes
-my grasp. These are all the means which I possess to obtain happiness;
-yet, such as they are, and such as my success in them is, I would not
-exchange them for yours--what! exchange your cold, leaden, measured
-_theories of feelings_, for they are nothing more--or the beating pulse
-of spontaneous joy, which even in this moment of our communing is mine;
-no, Lord Albert, no--meanly as I think of myself when measured by your
-standard in the general tenour of our existence, and in the scale of
-being, there are moments when I soar above all that was ever dreamt of
-in your philosophy,"--and as she spoke her eyes danced in a deceptive
-brilliancy that for the moment turned Lord Albert's brain. He shuddered
-as he felt the pressure of her arm on his while she uttered these
-words, and his uncertain footsteps slid upon the base of a marble tomb.
-
-In the action of recovering himself, a kind of change seemed to pass
-through his frame; so much are we influenced by trivial circumstances,
-which yet are surely not the agents of chance; in so doing his eyes
-rested on an inscription engraven on the stone, and as if glad to
-escape from answering her, he read the following lines:
-
-    They were so one, it never could be said
-    Which of them ruled, or which of them obeyed;
-    He ruled because she would obey, and she
-    By him obeying, ruled as well as he.
-    There ne'er was known betwixt them a dispute,
-    Save which the other's will should execute.
-
-"The lines are indeed beautiful," said Lady Hamlet Vernon, "and I
-could be content to be the mould under that stone, if I had ever
-enjoyed an existence to which they might with truth have been
-applied--but as it is, _non ragionam di lor_;" and she sprang lightly
-forwards, adding in a tone of affected levity, "let us make haste back
-to Restormel; why, dear Lord Albert, we shall be laughed at if it is
-known that we have been to church." The spell was broken, he made no
-reply, and they continued the remainder of their walk in silence.
-
-"Hard, cold, insensate man!" cried Lady Hamlet Vernon, when she
-reached her own apartment; "but he shall be met with an equal share of
-self-love. I will subdue this haughty nature, and mock at him, when his
-hour of suffering arrives. If he loved passionately any thing, even
-that doll, that infant, that piece of clock-work Lady Adeline Seymour,
-I could forgive him; but he does not, it is a systematical pursuit of
-an ideal perfection, that leaves his heart always cold and untouched,
-and fenced round as it were with adamant. Proud D'Esterre, thou shalt
-weep for this"--and she paused for a moment, then collecting all her
-thoughts, her final resolution was taken, and availing herself of a
-communication which she had to make to Mr. Foley, who she trusted
-might be instrumental to her purpose, with a breaking heart, and with
-contending feelings she seized a pen, and traced the following letter:
-
- "I am happy to inform you, my dear Mr. Foley, that the official
- patronage, which you have long wished me to procure for you, is now
- actually obtained, and your arrival in town is all that is wanted
- to arrange the necessary preliminaries. A letter received yesterday
- informs me of this; but in the interim, I wish you could make it
- convenient to pass a few days here on your road to London; for between
- ourselves, this place and its society is insufferably dull; and were
- it not for tilt and tournament between Lord Tonnerre and Lady Tilney
- (who you know under the rose cannot hear each other,) we must have
- all gone to sleep, or torn one another to pieces, or eaten our own
- paws, like antediluvian hyenas, from the absolute want of mental
- nourishment. But in this predicament, resembling people reduced to
- starvation on a sea voyage, we cast lots to see who should first
- be sacrificed for the benefit of the rest, and fortunately by the
- address of Lady Tilney, the lot was made to fall on Lord Tonnerre,
- who finished his existence amongst us, as he always lived, in a storm
- of passion; the only one of the party, I believe, who regrets his
- absence, is Lady Baskerville, who is now _sans cavalier_, and in the
- Roman phraseology, _d'impeccarsi_. I advise you then by all means to
- come quickly, and to supply the vacancy.
-
- "But to leave joking, I must tell you my dear friend, that I languish
- for a rational companion, and one who will kindly enter into my
- feelings; nobody understands me here;--too good, and too bad, I am
- like Mahomet's tomb, hanging between heaven and earth, and I find no
- resting place for my sick soul, nor shall I, 'till you come with your
- kindly smile, to solace my weary spirit. Come, therefore, and that
- without delay, for you well know that when any thing is to be done, it
- had best be done quickly--all delays are dangerous, and with me they
- are despair.
-
- "Would you wish to know something of those you will meet here? I have
- only to mention their names, and refer you to our old note book; I see
- no great visible change in any of them. Mr. Spencer Newcombe has been
- here for a few days, and is certainly the _most_ diverting man in the
- world; and well he may be, for he lives entirely for that purpose.
-
- "Lord Albert D'Esterre is here also; he sets up for a censor and
- corrector of men, manners, and things. He will have enough to do,
- if he persists in this unpopular walk; but I am much mistaken, if
- he will not soon find it a very arduous undertaking, and one indeed
- which is quite hopeless. If he were but content to do as other people
- do, who live in the world, and to be a little more like his day and
- generation, and a little less of Don Quixotte, he would really be a
- pleasant person. He does not, _par parenthèse_, seem in a hurry to
- join his betrothed, which I think is rather a good sign; for I should
- have but a poor opinion of a man who did as papa and mamma ordered,
- and fell in love precisely as he had been desired to do in the days of
- his childhood.
-
- "The Tilney, the Leinsengen, the Baskerville, the Boileau, go on in
- their usual way; and like the old quotation, though they all differ,
- yet they all agree in one thing at least, which is wishing the society
- of your agreeable self; so under pain of not only my displeasure,
- but that of all the world's, come quickly, and delay not. Adieu, and
- believe me to be the most true of your true friends.
-
-     "H. V."
-
-In consequence of the occurrence of Lord Albert's morning walk, he
-felt little inclined to join the circle on his return to Restormel; and
-was in a mood too replete with contradictory feelings, to allow him to
-reflect calmly, still less to enable him to decide sanely upon the only
-vigorous step he should have taken, namely, to flee from temptation.
-He excused himself under the plea of being unwell, from leaving his
-own room; and sitting down with a determination of communing with
-his own heart, he found not the habit so easy, after long neglect;
-and was conscious that he mused, without deriving any fruit from his
-contemplations.
-
-But by degrees, this confusion of mind subsided; and then came that
-soothing composure, which, after a state of emotion, is always welcomed
-with something like pleasure. He opened a favourite author, Owen
-Feltham; and he could not read long, without seeing his own necessities
-reflected in the page, as in a glass; this is one way by which to prove
-whether a moral or religious work be sterling or not, does it apply to
-our necessities? does it first probe, and then salve our wounds? Lord
-Albert D'Esterre found this book did both; and in its perusal, there
-was a sanctity of enjoyment to which he had been long a stranger. This
-enjoyment was, however, too soon disturbed by his servant bringing in a
-note; he felt it as an unwelcome intrusion; but it was opened after a
-moment's hesitation, and contained the following words:
-
- "I am anxious to know how you really are. I too am unwell, and I dread
- lest I should have have said or done something this morning, which
- may have offended you--oh! if you know how terrible it is for those
- who have none to care for them, to suppose for an instant that they
- have given pain (however, unwittingly) to the only person whose good
- opinion they are anxious to possess, and who has evinced an interest
- in their welfare--you would now feel for me. I am not of those who
- make a display of their heart's feelings--far from it, I am a miser of
- the few treasures which lie hoarded there; it is for that reason that
- I mingle with the rest, as though I were one of _them_; and that I am
- now writing these troubled lines in the midst of the insipid turmoil
- which surrounds me; _tout comme si de rien étoit_. Aid me in bearing
- my grievous burthen of existence, and send me one line to be a cordial
- for the moment at least; the present moment's ease is all I ever hope
- for."
-
-What an overturn to all composure was conveyed in this little bit of
-perfumed paper; fifty commencements of reply were made and torn; at
-last he rang his bell, summoned his valet, and having given a verbal
-answer to the effect that he would shortly obey the commands of Lady
-Hamlet Vernon, he appeared in the drawing-room almost as soon as she
-could have expected a written reply. She was sitting apart from the
-rest of the company with a look of abstractedness and melancholy, the
-effect of which was heightened by extreme paleness; her beautiful dark
-hair was less carefully arranged than the laws of fashion demanded, but
-it was not the less beautiful for that, and some stray tresses fell
-gracefully upon her neck; her air, her dress, the subdued expression of
-her eyes, were all captivating, and precisely in Lord Albert's _own_
-way.
-
-There was a carelessness or scorn of _fashionable_ dress, which
-particularly suited his theories on the subject, not that his practical
-admiration had not fifty times been excited by a very different mode of
-attire; for the fact is, that men's tastes in respect to the costume of
-women are always regulated by that of the person they are in love with.
-On this occasion, however, it is certain that Lady Hamlet's attire was
-in the letter and in the spirit precisely what Lord Albert D'Esterre
-pronounced perfect. She held out her hand to him as he entered the
-saloon with the composed air of friendship, and expressed her pleasure
-at seeing him, for she had feared his indisposition would not have
-allowed him to leave his room: and then motioning him to sit down by
-her with that expression of calm interest, which attracts without
-affording any plausible application of the sentiment to a more vivid
-interest, she secured her object, and he occupied the vacant seat next
-to her's. Mr. Leslie Winyard, who was playing _écarté_ (even on the
-sacred day) with Lady Boileau, while the rest were studying and betting
-on the game, called to Lord D'Esterre, "ah! Lord Albert, we have all
-been guessing the reason of your absence; one said writing letters
-of love, another sleeping; but the successful guess was given to my
-penetrating judgment, writing a sermon on the vanities of human life,
-that is, holding up to censure all that we your friends are doing."
-
-"I assure you, Mr. Leslie Winyard, that you have not proved your
-judgment infallible; for I do not plead guilty either to _your_ charge,
-or to any of the others."
-
-"Well, then, join in our game; Lady Boileau intends to beat me, and
-I'll vacate my seat in your favour, and, in parliamentary phrase,
-accept at the same time as many hundreds as you may choose to give me."
-
-"Pardon me," said Lord Albert, "I cannot."
-
-"Did you suppose Lady Hamlet Vernon would let him do so?" whispered
-Lady Baskerville.
-
-"That may be," replied Leslie Winyard, "but my life for it that is not
-his reason, he will not play because it is Sunday."
-
-"Sunday, is it?" yawned Lady Ellersby; "dear me! I did not know it was
-Sunday."
-
-"Leslie Winyard declares you will not play because it is Sunday, Lord
-Albert D'Esterre," exclaimed Mr. Spencer Newcomb.
-
-"Whatever may be my motive, or my fancy for not playing," replied Lord
-Albert, "I conceive that it is at variance with the high good breeding
-of this circle to inquire further into the matter, though, if it will
-afford any satisfaction to Mr. Leslie Winyard, I have not the smallest
-hesitation to give to him those motives."
-
-"I am bounden to you, my Lord," rejoined the latter, putting his hand
-to his heart, "but for the moment waive the honour of hearing more,
-being at the very crisis of the game," and so saying he turned to the
-card-table, and left Lord D'Esterre to the undisturbed enjoyment of his
-conversation with Lady Hamlet Vernon.
-
-She first broke silence (speaking in a low tone). "How many misnomers
-there are in the world; this society considers itself the mode and
-paragon of manners and of fashion--the world _par excellence_; and yet
-the members of it are always doing or saying something to offend the
-feelings of each other. Why was a being like myself thrown amongst
-them? one who sees their falsehood and folly, and yet cannot escape
-from it. But on the contrary, every day as it passes seems more and
-more to entangle me. I possess indeed one friend, from whom I look
-for consolation; but _he_, like every one in this world, has his own
-troubles, and indeed I have sometimes feared, that is I fear"--she
-broke off abruptly as if to find a suitable expression for what
-she would say, then again continued after a pause--"that I did not
-altogether act a generous part by him; one may excite a deeper interest
-than one intends, for it is so soothing to a desolate heart, to find
-any one whom it can like, and rest upon, that it is easy to be betrayed
-into a conduct, that would afterwards perhaps render one obnoxious to
-the imputation of coquetry; the character for which of all others, I
-have the most decided contempt. I have not yet learnt from you, Lord
-Albert D'Esterre," laying particular emphasis on her words, "that
-firm independence of mind, which never yields under circumstances;
-for whatever vain disputation I may hold with myself, I find I am
-continually yielding to the influence of events, and floating down
-the tide of life, guided more by impulse, than by principle. It will
-perhaps be as well in the end--who knows?"
-
-Lord Albert D'Esterre had listened with evident pain to the sophistry
-these words contained, and as Lady Hamlet Vernon paused, added in his
-most impressive manner:
-
-"Oh! dear Lady Hamlet Vernon, I fear it will undoubtedly _not_ be well
-with us in the end, if we live by chance; and we may all know, if we
-chuse to know, that so to live will prove our condemnation."
-
-"Persuade me of _that_, teach me your knowledge, and I will act upon
-it; give me your conviction and I will bless you."
-
-"Surely," thought Lord Albert D'Esterre, "it is my duty to reclaim
-this person from the unhappy and destructive errors into which she has
-fallen; it would be altogether wrong, it would be barbarous, to abandon
-one, who calls upon me for aid, who appeals to _me_ for instruction."
-Not but another view of the subject crossed his mind, for thoughts, as
-we all know, flow in from contradictory sources.
-
-"Surely the friend to whom you allude, and on whom you say you rely,
-will be a far more able instructor than I can be."
-
-"Ay, so he might (she replied) if"----"If what?"----"If I durst on all
-occasions apply to him--but--but there are existing reasons to which I
-before alluded, and which I now frankly tell you, have frequently made
-me deny myself the consolation of his society. We shall see how things
-are now, when we are to meet again after a long absence."
-
-Lord Albert D'Esterre could scarcely misunderstand the meaning which
-these words implied, and he was too delicate to press the matter
-further; but when they separated for the night, the chief point which
-was impressed on Lord Albert's mind was, that Lady Hamlet Vernon
-was beloved by Mr. Foley, and if she did not positively return that
-sentiment in its full degree, that she owned a preference in his
-favour, to which it was very nearly allied. Yet if it were so, why
-should that circumstance cause him uneasiness? It could only be from
-the interest he had imbibed for a person, who seemed intended for a
-higher and better career than the one she was pursuing.
-
-Men, even the very best of men, frequently deceive themselves on
-similar occasions; they are not, perhaps, _in love_, they do not mean
-to be so; still less is it their intention deliberately to awaken an
-interest which they feel they cannot return: but though they are few,
-who would attempt to _win_ a heart under these circumstances, and
-merely for the triumph of doing so; _all_ are not sufficiently free
-from vanity to _refuse_ one, when spontaneously offered, nor, while its
-possession can be valued for the passing gratification of self-love
-_only_, voluntarily forego the distinction which its homage affords.
-That such was the predicament in which Lord Albert D'Esterre stood, or
-that such was the train of his thoughts, it would be difficult to say.
-
-Lady Hamlet Vernon's conduct and manners towards himself certainly
-betrayed partiality, which it was impossible to avoid seeing; but it
-was equally impossible to attach to them the decided character of love;
-and even were it so, Lord Albert stood pledged to an engagement of
-the most sacred nature, and one which had it been intimated to him he
-could have abandoned, he would have started from the contemplation of
-its possibility; still, however, his mind was under delusion in regard
-to Lady Hamlet Vernon, and the interest which he would have persuaded
-himself was felt for her sake only, was, it is to be feared, nearly
-allied to a sentiment, which in his circumstances never should have
-been entertained.
-
-If, however, Lord Albert D'Esterre was wandering in the maze of
-undefined resolution, and with an uncertainty of object, in all his
-speculations, not so Lady Hamlet Vernon, who well marked the nature of
-the interest she was gradually acquiring over him, and which she hoped
-soon to see augmented in a degree which would render him completely her
-own.
-
-Many days did not elapse from this time before Mr. Foley arrived.
-With that refinement of tact which all women understand so well, Lady
-Hamlet Vernon made her first approach towards the object she had in
-view, by producing between Mr. Foley and Lord Albert D'Esterre a mutual
-partiality.
-
-She effected this, as is often successfully done, by repeating
-favourable opinions respecting each, which were uttered, or were
-not uttered, as it chanced by the parties one of another; "_mais on
-ne s'avise jamais de tout_," and there was one circumstance which
-operated against her wishes whilst cementing their intimacy. Thus was
-the influence which Mr. Foley's vivid description and praises of the
-attractions of Lady Adeline Seymour produced on Lord Albert D'Esterre's
-mind. Although somewhat diminished by absence and by the too great
-security he felt of conceiving her to be beyond the possibility of
-change, these attractions still retained their power, and it needed but
-the description which he more than once listened to of her beauty and
-her worth, as the theme was dwelt upon by Mr. Foley, to revive in him
-all the latent feelings of his love and admiration for her. After this
-revival of the natural allegiance of his heart, Lord Albert D'Esterre
-started from his wayward dream as though he had been warned by his
-better angel. Shaking off the listless unaccountable thraldom which had
-of late palsied his resolution, he ordered post-horses, and determined
-to set off for Dunmelraise the very next day.
-
-
-END OF VOL. I.
-
-
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