THE VICARAGE. 303 



cc Your crest is the demi-lion, but no Flodden 

 scutcheon. I have two white saltiers, Neville 

 impaling Neville, for I married one of my own 

 name poor Elizabeth. We do not bear the rose, 

 the Yorkists took that. We were Lancastrian 

 Nevilles, steady to old Earl Ralph, but Cicely 

 married Plantagenet, and he wanted to be king 

 but I forget it all now." In this way he continued 

 muttering to himself, till he became at first indis- 

 tinct and then silent. 



Mr. Neville was the representative of one of 

 the oldest families in Devonshire. He succeeded 

 early to his property, and married a cousin of his 

 own name, who brought with her nothing but her 

 beauty and a taste for shew and hospitality, to 

 which her husband was but too much inclined. 

 He kept fox-hounds and an open house \ and as 

 economy was but little thought of, their was con- 

 sequently great waste and extravagance. Some of 

 the estates were either mortgaged or sold, in order 

 to procure a supply of money to pay the demands 

 of the creditors. Things went on in this way from 

 year to year, getting from bad to worse, till the 

 death of his wife and his only son, on whom he 

 doted, put a stop to his career of extravagance. 

 Little then remained but the family mansion, and 

 a small estate around it. His son, annoyed at his 

 father's expensive habits, had entered the army, 

 and married a respectable lady in Ireland. He 



