kept it to myself. I afterwards discovered from Manners, that there was a reason for it, and that it arose from the desire of Lord Castleton to study his new secretary with as little restraint as possible, either upon himself or him. The conversation was therefore easy, turning at first upon the belles lettres, in which I was frequently asked for my opinion, which I gave freely, but never offered without being asked. I found afterwards, from Mr. Manners, that this was not unremarked to my advantage by Lord Castleton.

We afterwards fell upon history, English and foreign, in which our host was pleased to say he heard from Fothergill I had made more progress than is usual with an Oxford undergraduate. Without, therefore, alarming me as a catechiser, he adroitly allowed the conversation to lead that way, and seemed well enough pleased with my knowledge of the thirty years' war, the age of Louis XIV., the Revolution, and the public men, as well as wits, of the time of Queen Anne. In this, too, he drew me out by his own acquaintance with them, rather than that I abruptly volunteered what -knowledge I had.

Our afternoon was therefore most agreeable, and he assured Manners that he believed he should be more than satisfied with me. All this that good friend told me with pleasure previous to his returning the next day to his beloved Grange.

Thus left to myself, I found it was as much necessity as duty to attach myself entirely to the study of my new patron, and the exact fulfilment of his wishes. Nor was this difficult, for his mind was without tricks; courts had not spoilt him; and when he found a character as clear from deceit as himself, he gave it all his protection and all his good-will.

I attended him by appointment the day after our dinner, to take possession of what he always called my den, and he set before me a boxfull of papers of which he desired a précis as my morning's task.

"The evenings," said he, "you will have to yourself, and I need not tell you the more you pass them in the best company the better for your improvement, and therefore for your happiness."

Seeing me look embarrassed at this, he goodnaturedly asked the reason, and I fairly told him that not only I had no acquaintances in London, but that, from being a mere Oxford recluse, I felt without that confidence which a knowledge of the style of society he mentioned alone could give.

He laughed, and said, from what he could observe, he thought I should do very well.

"However,” added he, "we must try to initiate you. I will not affront you by telling you to read Chesterfield; and perhaps an accomplished female is better for such a purpose than all the male in

structors in the world. By the way, I have a large dinner and evening party to-morrow, which you will do well, and which as my aid-de-camp it is a sort of duty in you, to attend. Let us see what that will produce."

Then, recommending the précis to my best care, as it was to be laid before the king, he took his leave for some hours.

The last intimation was rather awful, and I bestowed all my pains on the task, which, however, from the clearness of the papers Lord Castleton had himself drawn, was so little difficult, that on his return he expressed, to my great pleasure, the highest satisfaction in what I had done, and we parted in mutual good humour-not always the case between patron and protégé.

CHAPTER IV.

OF A GREAT AND ACCOMPLISHED LADY TO WHOM DE CLIFFORD WAS INTRODUCED, AND THE BENEFICIAL EFFECTS IT WAS LIKELY TO HAVE IN GIVING HIM A KNOWLEDGE OF THE GREAT WORLD.

Sweet lady, you have given me life and living.

SHAKSPEARE.-Merchant of Venice. LORD CASTLETON had told me he would not affront me by recommending me to read Chesterfield. That was only with a view to taking my part among fine people. Manners, however, before he left me, recommended me a page of the same authority, with a view to my situation with my patron, and which, he said, I would do well always to remember, bearing in mind the numbers who had failed, for want of doing so, with this very nobleman. The passage was this:

"A young man, be his merit what it will, can never raise himself, but must, like the ivy round the oak, twine himself round some man of great power and interest. You must belong to a mi

nister some time before anybody can belong to you; and an inviolable fidelity to that minister, even in his disgrace, will be meritorious, and recommend you to the next. Ministers love a personal, much more than a party attachment."

I thought this excellent information, coming from such an experienced party man himself. I resolved to profit by it, and, from what I had seen, I was pleased to think that Lord Castleton was a man to command one's personal attachment, exclusive of all the attractions created by his power.

Pondering these things, I employed the time previous to the great dinner to which the earl had bidden me, in making little arrangements for my future comforts. I was still a demy of Maudlin, and resolved to keep it, as Prior did his fellowship, to give him "a crust and a clean shirt," after he and his party had been shipwrecked in the world. Meantime, my salary from Lord Castleton was £500 a-year, with which I took a pretty lodging in Green-street, to be always near my patron, and went to some expense in my wardrobe, to make the figure called for by my new position.

The party at Lord Castleton's was one of those grand ones, as they were called, which as a minister he was occasionally expected to give; I was rather anxious, therefore, as to its effect upon my appearance and manners, and how to acquit myself in a scene so entirely new to me. The family at