LOVES OF A BACHELOR. 351 



admiration of her favourite pieces in general terms, — the fear of get- 

 ting myself into another scrape similar to the affair with Miss Bennett 

 being vividly before my eyes. 



Without tiring the reader's patience with a minute statement of 

 the progressive stages of our further acquaintance, I may just 

 observe that it unconsciously ripened on my part, and apparently on 

 that of hers too, into an ardent love, which consummation was 

 brought about almost entirely by means of exchanging pieces and 

 volumes of poetry, and by my employing myself for a series of 

 weeks, to the exclusion of every thing else, in writing original lines 

 for her album. These lines she invariably assured me stood per- 

 fectly unrivalled in the English language for their poetical beauties ; 

 but 1 have since been abundantly satisfied — although I fully believed 

 her at the time — that greater nonsense, whether looked upon in the 

 light of poetry or prose, never proceeded from a goose-quill. 



In a i'ev,' months afterwards — how the understanding had been 

 brought about between us I cannot undertake to say, but I positively 

 protest I never asked Miss Ogilvie's hand in marriage — in a few 

 months afterwards, I say, we found ourselves discussing the most 

 eligible time for our approach to the golden altar of hymen. The 

 marriage day was at length appointed ; and I was for weeks prior 

 to it busily engaged in making the requisite arrangements for the 

 celebration of the nuptials; so too, to all appearance, was my in- 

 tended bride. 



During all this time every thing went on most auspiciously and 

 most agreeably ; and as " the great, the important day, big with" 

 our future fate, so far as human penetration could perceive, approach- 

 ed, my apparently embryo spouse seemed to increase in her affec- 

 tion for me. She was most profuse in her protestations of ardent, 

 unalterable, eternal attachment. In fact, so completely had she, by 

 means of her words and her actions, obtained the ascendancy over 

 me, that, for her sake, I would cheerfully have faced, single-handed, 

 a century of furies, and this, too, though not over famous for con- 

 stitutional courage. I set her down as a paragon of all that is excel- 

 lent mentally, as well as surpassingly handsome in her person ; and, 

 if at this period any man had had the imprudence and hardihood to 

 have uttered in my hearing the most oblique hint touching tlie virtue 

 of her principles or conduct, he was that instant inevitably a dead 

 man, provided any fatal weapon had been within my reach. I had 

 even, by this time, begun to look on the issue of my correspondence 

 with the physician's daughter as a blessing of the first magnitude, 

 seeing that had it not terminated as it did I could never have had 

 the supreme happiness of having Miss O. for my wife. 



Matters proceeded most smoothly until within a fortnight of the 

 day which was to witness the consummation of my bliss. I then set 

 out to my native town for the purpose of inviting two of my relations 

 to be present at the marriage ceremony. But, O ! the agonies of 

 parting with Christina, although our separation was not to be above 

 twelve days ! Repeatedly did my tongue refuse lo perform its office 

 of pronouncing the word "adieu," and my limbs, until the very 

 moment the coach was lo depart, field out against ciirrying nic from 



