98 Whyte-Melvilles Sermon. 



f unately without a portion. He lias a desperate quarrel 

 with him, and returns to London. Then comes a most 

 graphic account of fast life in London, gambling, bill dis- 

 counting, and racing, which lead to his falling into a lower 

 grade of society ; his being compelled to leave the Guards 

 and to exchange into another regiment ; his arrest for debt 

 on the eve of his leaving England for a staff appointment ; 

 and ultimately his lot is ruin and beggary. Having 

 abandoned his title on the death of his father, he meets 

 with an old friend whose rustication at Oxford he had caused 

 most unintentionally ; joins him in partnership as a wine 

 merchant ; solicits and obtains the custom of some of his 

 aristocratic friends ; makes an honest living, and marries 

 his first love, whom he meets again at his partner's 

 wedding. 



I wonder how many will say, " What is the use of 

 recapitulating the story of an old novel which was written 

 years ago ? " My answer is, " Because it was written for 

 our learning, and I believe the lesson is just as necessary 

 to-day as it was when the book first came out." In that 

 book the author upholds all manly sports and amusements, 

 decries vulgarity and slang men and slang manners, and 

 points out the horrors of gambling. He makes his hero 

 travel, just as many a gambler does now, from rung to rung, 

 to ruin, until he reaches the bottom of the ladder — the 

 exception in Digby Grand's case being that he never loses 

 his innate sense of honour, although he is ruined. 



And as it was in the beginning, so is it now going on 

 daily, and for that very reason I have brought, as it were, 

 from Major "Whyte-Melville's grave his most admirable 

 sermon. In it he hints at Digby Grand eventually buying 

 back the family property, and dismisses the Hon. Jack 

 Lavish — an impecunious cavalry officer, an intimate friend 

 of Digby Grand, who marries an alderman's daughter to 



