682 A Story of the Heart. [JUNE, 



essayed to express the grace and dignity of that demeanour. And this 

 was the least part of all. She knew what was kindness and charity, and 

 practised what she knew. She but let her story delineate her character. 

 It must be presumed that Delacour was, in his way, ambitious, and this 

 was the object at which he now aimed. He had imagined beauty ; here 

 was beauty unrivalled, unexcelled ; virtue, here was virtue the most 

 alluring ; modesty, simplicity, truth, love, all combined in one ; and for 

 fortune, here was such as he could never have anticipated j connexions the 

 most to be desired, and influence the most to be coveted. But why rea- 

 son upon it ! She should be his in any condition of life, her beauty 

 were alone dowry fit for a prince. In all stations alike lovely, alike to be 

 desired. In such ecstacies he passed his hours 5 when a new suitor 

 appeared in the person of a young baronet of considerable fortune. 

 Money was nothing to him, and happiness every thing. Equally hand- 

 some and agreeable, and more rich than Delacour, he was, in every 

 respect, no common rival ; besides which, all the arts of a true lover were 

 devised to secure the treasure to himself. About this time, Mr. Sidney 

 incurred a great loss 'of property by an unlucky speculation. The affair 

 was stated to the baronet the carriage was put down but he was not 

 to be changed by time or place j the same accomplished suitor, the same 

 unchanged admirer nor did he fail to shew the preference he felt. But 

 what will love not effect ! Emily Sidney was an only child, and with all 

 the sweet ignorance of affluence, she wondered what riches had to do with 

 content. The old question of " love in a cottage, or a palace without," 

 this eternal young girl's theme, was pondered upon, but all thoughts 

 leaned to the same side, the predilection she felt, happily or unhappily, 

 for Delacour. He protested disinterested affection total disregard of all 

 future or present expectations and could she do less than believe him ! 

 The father consulted, the mother advised but Emily wept, and it ended 

 in the refusal of the baronet. A v/eek after, Delacour made his offer, and 

 was accepted ; and who could fail to be flattered by the preference ? From 

 that time they were all the world to one another for ever together he 

 the most attentive of lovers, she the happiest of women. 



As no man, by looking in the glass, is likely to form a just estimate of 

 his own defects, or his own peculiar perfections ; so no man discovers his 

 true character by gazing, however intently, in that inward mirror of the 

 mind his own imagination. For as our shadows, seen in the sun, are 

 most defective representations of our own forms, so are these mental 

 likenesses like the bright shape of fancy, too airy and too heavenly, and 

 too perfect to be aught but ideal types of what we would fain believe. 

 Delacour had his vanity. He bad hitherto been a happy and prosperous 

 man ; he was much sought, and, moreover, was beloved by one whose 

 opinion most men had been pleased to have gained. And if he deceived 

 himself, or believed too firmly in himself, what are not the deceptions 

 that we practise on ourselves, and on others and this, when we would be 

 true to all parties. It was, however, no deceit that he was in love, though 

 the manner of his loving might be another thing. Here his heart was 

 fixed. The world might go round, and the seasons change, but each and 

 the other could not affect him. All his feelings, his associations, were 

 here combined, and nature must change ere he could. But why descant 

 upon, or question, his emotions ? Who, in a dream, ever dreamed that 

 he should awake again in five minutes, or five hours, or ages, or cen- 



