EPISODE FROM AN UNPUBLISHED NOVEL. 309 



the Guards : he was intimate with a young friend of mine, and by his 

 means a progressive familiarity between us became strengthened. 



The father of Lionel, who was then at the head of that noble 

 family, was far from having sufficient wealth to support the magnifi- 

 cence in which his ancestors had been accustomed to live, but was 

 too haughty to wish to have it so supposed. He had married young ; 

 had five children, three sons and two daughters, and was at this time 

 in his forty-seventh year, robust of frame, vigorous of constitution, 

 and of an angry resentful temper. In no doctrines was he so 

 thoroughly confirmed as in these : that to be quick to take offence, 

 determined to resent, and extreme in punishment, are the qualities 

 that distinguish a man of ancient race, and high honour, from his 

 inferiors. 



His sons had all been educated in the same principles, and, like 

 their father, held every sentiment by which they might in the least 

 be contravened in sovereign contempt. That suavity of manners 

 which prevails in the upper orders of life alone can prevent persons 

 of this description, of whom there are too many, from being dan- 

 gerous to society, and finally destructive to themselves. 



It is not necessary for me further to recount the means by which 

 I became intimate with this family, though, from this intimacy, I de- 

 rived ecstatic but short-lived happiness, the consequences of which 

 were misfortunes that must never end. In proportion as men find 

 themselves pressed by their wants, be those wants real or imaginary, 

 they are eager to take every probable means by which they hope 

 they may be removed. Lady Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Earl 



P , was at this period in her sixteenth year, and was already so 



finely formed, so enchantingly beautiful, and by the sweetness of her 

 manner so captivating, that the family, and especially her father, 

 looked forward to something like the disposal of such rare qualities, 

 not only for the settlement of this daughter, by a most advantageous 

 marriage, but, in some way or other., for the personal benefit of her 

 relations. Was it possible for a youth whose heart was tremulously 

 alive to those delightful sensations which the sight of exquisite 

 beauty and virtue produce, not to be captivated the instant he beheld 

 Lady Elizabeth ? I was a youth of this description, and I beheld her 

 at that peculiar age when such a heart is most unguarded, and there- 

 fore most susceptible. 



Though in the daily company of young men, whose age, rank, 

 and expectations made them generally haughty, and often insolent, 

 whose example might have taught me a more than sufficient confi- 

 dence in myself, the passion which soon took possession of my heart 

 was of too delicate a nature for its purity to suffer such alloy : it was 

 long cherished, in respectful fear, without once daring to express 

 itself, except by tender anxieties, officious attentions, and that painful 

 silence which timidity imposes. The jealous watchfulness of the 

 whole family was such that it was scarcely possible to find an oppor- 

 tunity for any person, from whom nothing extraordinary was to be 

 hoped, especially for one like me, whose rank, youth, and person 

 might render him dangerous, to be alone with Lady Elizabeth. The 

 various fears I had felt, contributed, for a time, to teach me dis- 



