preserved manor, but she escapes also the momentary irritation which that malignity is apt to excite. And really that is no small evil to avoid; for one may, without much effort, forgive mankind their little passions, but it is difficult to forgive oneself the humiliation of being affected by them ;" and she walked away, not so much wounded by any assault that had been levelled at her, as pained that her indignation could not have been more indifferently expressed.

But no consciousness of superiority is sufficient to protect a woman against the attacks of envy. The desire of pleasing, and of being beloved, that tender instinct, which nature has made the most predominant of her emotions, renders her vulnerable on every side; and if she escapes mortification on the part of her pride, she is tolerably certain of suffering on that of her affections: for there are few distinctions that compensate to a female for the terror of being hated.

Her countenance was yet flushed with indignation when her son entered the room.

As soon as she perceived him, she summoned him to her, and declared an intention of returning home. But the ladies so earnestly intreated him to favour them with another song, that he hesitated.

"Do as you like, Edmund," she said, "it is scarcely worth while though, I think."

"Oh, surely, if it will give any pleasure," said he, replying to the request of the Miss Courtenays; and endeavouring to cover, under the pleasing courtesy of his own manners, the too visible disdain of his mother's, he proceeded to the piano.

Some feelings of self-reproach passed across the mind of Catherine-feelings which, as soon as she

and her son left the house, and were on their way home, thus expressed themselves.

"I cannot think, my dear Edmund, by what effort you are able, amongst such very silly people as those we have just left behind, to say and do civil things; for I, on my part, have need of all the fortitude I can command, to keep myself from openly affronting

them."

"I do it upon the same principle on which I endeavour, imperfectly indeed, but still to the best of my ability to do every thing-the principle of doing to others as I would they should do unto me."

"Ah, those are the only precepts for conduct!" said Catherine with a sigh; "and those who make them the guide of their life, are the only proper people. Can you conceive, Edmund, any thing more unsatisfactory to an immortal soul, than to pass its time with such people, with the exception of Matilda, as we have just left?"

"To me it is unsatisfactory, I certainly must confess," he replied, "and by choice I should not cast myself in their way; but being there, my dear mother, I would, upon Christian principles, make the best of it."

"Ah, Edmund, poor Ann Morton was right! She always told me that I could find no happiness amongst worldly people; and true enough it is, they are very unsatisfactory. Poor Ann!" and she sighed again. "I think, Edmund," she continued, "the next time you go to see Ann, I will go with you."

"She will be delighted to see you," he replied, "and I hope you will keep your intention."

"I will-yes-I certainly will," she said, and thus their dialogue ended.

VOL. I.-S

CHAPTER XVI.

WHEN every thing was finally arranged for Matilda's marriage, Mr. St. Aubyn, avoiding a parting interview with her, accompanied a young man in whom he was interested in a few months' tour to the Continent thus escaping, as far as he could, all participation in an event so painful to him. We must now introduce to our readers a person who has some part to play in the future pages of our history.

But as it is generally better to let people speak for themselves, we will suffer Mr. Harcourt to display his own character in his own way; and as it was of a kind exceedingly easy to fathom, a short scene, which occurred the week before his marriage with his intended bride, will enable them to form a tolerably correct judgment respecting it.

"My dearest little girl," said he, taking from his pocket a morocco case, "I have brought you, from Hamlet's the prettiest set of ornaments I could find: but they are not quite what I wished, either."

"My dear Charles! what could you be thinking of?" replied Matilda, almost ready to cry, as he displayed to her observation some jewels, which, in point of value and beauty, were fitter for a Duchess than a private gentlewoman; "you cannot have considered what our income is to be, and what sort of visiting we shall have the power of entering into."

"Visiting!" he replied, "why we shall visit eve

ry body, to be sure! And do you think I would have my wife make an appearance inferior to any lady she may happen to be acquainted with, and such a wife too! No, Matty, you shall look like an angel as you are!"-a very energetic determination, which he sealed with a salute, to prevent her, as he said, from adding another word about the matter.

With this careless good humour, he arrested every species of advice which she would fain have offered to him; and she was too much disposed to view him in a favourable light, to doubt of his hereafter becoming more accessible to counsel, when experience had taught him prudence-a species of instruction which, she was aware, must be paid for, before it is valued, and which she believed Charles could afford to purchase, without any serious injury to his for

tune.

The wedding day at length arrived, and at St. James's church, in London, Matilda was united to Charles Harcourt. Her heart was somewhat sad, that neither of the friends most dear to her were present on this occasion. Mr. St. Aubyn, we have already said, was absent by design; and his mother, after vibrating between a wish to oblige Matilda and an unwillingness to sanction any thing so melancholy to Edmund, at last declined it.

Of the happiness of Charles, young, generous, enthusiastic, and loving his bride with all the ardour which attaches to such a character, it is needless to attempt the delineation. It would be equally fruitless also to labour at conveying any notion of the felicity of Mrs. Belgrave, who, in the ecstacy of presiding and dictating, and finding in Charles Harcourt an ally ready to second every idea of expense

and shew, which could make the matter sufficiently magnificent for a paragraph in the Morning Post, could almost fancy she was celebrating for the third time her own nuptials. Again her imagination feasted upon once more seeing in print those magic characters, "the charming Mrs. Belgrave," more delightful to her eye than black letter to the antiquary, or the titlepage of his first work to a young author: not a circumstance of the description she was to excite, escaped her imagination, "Attired with her accustomed elegance,-Brussels lace and white satin, -graceful simplicity,-scarcely to be distinguished from the bride, for whose sister, rather than mother, she might have passed," &c. &c. Herself and her own appointments were all that she saw in the business; but seeing them through the medium of extreme complacency, she was disposed also to view every thing else with satisfaction. She became so tender and affectionate towards Matilda, that when the latter took leave of her, after breakfast, to set off with her husband upon a bridal tour, she was able without effort to command a genuine tear, as she bid her farewel: an occurrence which, though she really at the moment felt too sincerely to calculate about, she turned to in recollection as infinitely valuable, inasmuch as it would enrich the paragraph, already so fertile in Brussels lace and beauty, with a slight sketch of her exquisite sensibility.

Mr. Belgrave also, being a prominent person in the drama of the day, giving away the bride, and giving a dinner, was likewise, in his way, important, and therefore pleased; and good Mr. Willett and his daughters, always being happy, were, of course, at a wedding, happier still.