Which when it bites and blows upon my body,

E'en till I shrink with cold, I smile and say,

These are no flatterers."

He said this with an animation which shewed that, for the moment, at least, he was no counterfeit, adding, in the same tone, "Why should I leave it? My poor ancestor, Lord Northumberland, paid a severe penalty for doing so; but though one's head is safer in these times, we are blessed with the same struggles among statesmen, the same intrigues, and the same treachery. Look here," concluded he, pointing to Apemantus's inscription

"Rich men sin, and I eat root.'"

In this humour, I found it in vain to oppose him; for I had already discovered, in my commerce with the world, that opposition to a favourite, though perhaps but a temporary opinion, only gives it strength, and so I held my peace.

After a pause of some minutes, he resumed the talk.

"It was amusing," said he, "after my first arrival here, to observe the speculations which were hazarded as the cause of my retreat, by a set of blockheads, who knew nothing about me, or knaves, who were paid for abusing me. One said I had run out my fortune, and had come here to retrench; and there may be a worse cause assigned than that. (Here Lord Rochfort red

dened a little, as if not liking to glance at such a thing.) Another did me the honour, at my years, to say that I was éperduement épris with a beautiful country girl, whom, from fear of rivals, I had immured with myself in this old castle, and never allowed her air or exercise, except upon the battlements. A third asserted that I had offended the king, by turning my back upon him in the closet, because he would not make me prime minister and the writer called upon all loyal subjects to support his Sacred Majesty in resenting this affront. This was in the Duke of E.'s paper; but I had ample revenge in his miserable mismanagement of his department, for which he is deservedly censured."

"Your lordship," observed I, "at least notes, and is interested with what is passing in the world, although so far retreated from it. May we not hope, then, that the time will come, when you may be willing to return to it ?"

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Never," returned he, " while that world is what it is. My intention, as my wish, is to live and die here."

"Without companions! without interests! no pursuits! no amusements! How can that be, with your lordship's mind?”

"That very mind is your answer. As to companions, to one who has taken a true measure of the world, Belford, mean and inconsiderable as it

is, and Berwick, immersed in trade and herrings, afford quite as much companionship (philosophically speaking) as London, though it holds its head so high. All are rogues; but these are honester rogues than you Londoners. A man cannot here

so well smile, and smile, and be a villain; he lets you detect him at once. Besides, have I not the sea?-enough to satisfy any lover of change."

"I meant not to speak of the honesty of the natives," said I, "but their companionship: and where, among them, shall we find a companion for Lord Rochfort?"

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Very fine," said he, assuming an air almost stern; "but what right, young gentleman, have you to think you can cajole me with such gewgaw compliments? Look I as if I were still one of the fools of the world, snuffing incense from the rogues of it? or as if, in fact, I was still in the House of Lords? Observe this roupe: does it look like a peer's robe? Observe these brogues: do they belong to a knight of the carpet? Handle this spade, it raised those roots (and he pointed through the window at the garden): does it give you reason to think I am one of the blind silk-worms you have left? No; I may be a worm; but a worm is an honest crawler of the earth, and not easily tempted from his hole by being told he is a beauty."

I own I felt abashed; for, with new habits and ideas, he had either learned, or invented, a new lan

guage; one which certainly did not encourage an attempt at persuasion.

me. you

Shewing, perhaps, my sense of this, he added, with a sort of ironical laugh, "Come, I think I am more likely to convert you, than What a triumph to philosophy, if the ambassador who came to tempt the hermit back again to court, to dainty dishes and silken sheen, should himself turn hermit,

'Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but frieze.' Oh! it would be divine poetical justice; like the prince robbing Falstaff— Argument for a week, laughter for a month, and a good jest for ever.' Allons," added he, still laughing most complacently at the thought, "here is a pen and ink; sit down and write to Lord Castleton, one of my treatises de contemptu mundi. Tell him the delights and comforts, but above all, the independence, of a border castle. Tell him that, like Cicero, I count the waves on the shore, and think it gives better amusement than the waves he is forced to watch in town. Or say that, like Lælius and Scipio, I make ducks and drakes with pebbles-far better than making them with guineas, as I used to do. Acquaint him how much better you find it to dig one's own potatoes without an opposition at every stroke, than to keep awake one night, for fear of being out-voted the next. Come, begin;

Pope shall supply you with the two first lines, and you will then go glibly on

'Awake, my Castleton, leave meaner things

To low ambition and the pride of kings.'

Here, still laughing at his own wit, he presented me with a pen and sheet of paper, and with mock earnestness desired me to commence.

I own I felt discomposed, if not displeased, but had too much command of myself to shew it. I, however, could not help saying, “I am glad to find that this exile has not deprived your lordship of your wit and merriment, though they are exhibited at the expense of friends who honour and love you. Lord Castleton does not so exercise his imagination, but laments your loss, and has never ceased to do so since your retreat; laments it, not more for his own sake, than that of the state."

"Which I am supposed unfit to direct," interrupted the marquess, loftily.

"Not by Lord Castleton,” replied I, "nor by any means all whom, for the sake of the country, he feels forced to act with. But at least what he says ought to be well weighed, before your lordship dismisses me with such severe banter."

"And what says his sagacious lordship?" asked Lord Rochfort.

"Why, that to fly from the field where alone your powers can be shewn is not the way to prove