sinecure in the colonies, Lord Castleton told me at once, that I might depend upon the nomination to both.

As this, however, was evidently the effect of having overvalued my service in respect to Lord Rochfort, with more scrupulous feelings than many old stagers would have thought prudent, I sat down to explain to Lord Castleton, that I owed my success more to accident than ability. I therefore related to him the whole history of the effect of Parrot's insolence upon that nobleman, as greatly aiding, if not solely procuring the result which ensued.

Lord Castleton, with all the liberality that marked him, wrote me for answer that my self-denial only enhanced, not only my service, but his wish to reward it; he had therefore ordered the patents to be made out against my return.

Behold me then, henceforward, not only with more power, but with an immense increase of income, half of it for life.

The first of the joyful impressions which this made upon me was, that it brought me somewhat, though but a little, nearer that fascinating dream, which still haunted me, spite of fate. But this was like a momentary gleam of sunshine in winter; for besides that any good fortune of mine could only bring our situations, not our hearts, nearer together (being wholly ignorant of her feelings towards me, even if she were free), I had been told, on authority, that if I had acquired the whole estate of Bardolfe castle, peerage and all, never could I pretend to her whom I now thought the betrothed Bertha.

This was only confirmed by the continued silence of Granville, in regard to my letter from York.

The tidings of my prosperity, however, I communicated to my benefactors, Fothergill and Manners, and the good family at Bardolfe, to whom it occasioned wonder as well as pleasure, for none of them could fancy, much less believe, that "t' young doctor," when he set out on a journey on foot, could have been destined to such good fortune as a place for life, and a seat in Parliament. One unlooked-for satisfaction was added to it, that it made my good, quiet, and retiring father hold his head up higher than was his wont at the grand jury at York; but this par parenthese.

On arriving in town, I wanted much to make me completely happy. I found myself involved in the novel business

of an election; for Lord Castleton had gladly fallen in with Lord Rochfort's proposal, that I should stand on his interest for the borough of Winterton; and so close had the time run, that I had scarcely an hour to give a farther account of my mission to my chief. However, the feared opposition not taking place, eight and forty hours sufficed to class me among the Commons of England; for in those days the interference of a peer in an election was not very scrupulously inquired into. And yet, as I never gave a vote which I would not have given had I been elected by a hundred thousand voices, and supported the measures I did, because I approved them, I have seen nothing in the virtuous, and uncorrupt incorruptible times since (in which the purest reform has prevented their return of any but the purest patriots), to make me feel that I did not love my country and act for its interests as honestly as they.

The benefit, however, which the state has received by this most virtuous change, from the universal corruption, folly, and turbulence of former times, to the universal wisdom, honesty, and unanimity of the present, is too clear to stop the current of these memoirs in order to prove it. But this also par parenthese.

I had now attained to the summit of the ambition of many a man beyond me in age-office, revenue, and the honours of Parliament; yet the events passing at Foljambe Park still occupied my principal interest. Granville had never noticed my urgent letter; my first enquiry, therefore, was after him; my next, Lady Hungerford. In regard to the first, I was more than ever anxious to see him, from his neglect (unkind, as I thought it) of my urgent request for information respecting the report of Bertha's marriage. It was now ten days since I wrote to him so urgently on the the subject, from the coffeeroom at York.

To my concern, though not my wonder, I found that both Granville and Lady Hungerford were gone to Foljambe Park ; he, almost immediately after I left town, and Lady Hungerford, only the day before I returned.

My heart sank as Lord Castleton told me this. Alas! thought I, they have gone to attend the nuptials of the young princess; he as counsellor to the family and near kinsman, she as the dearest friend of the bride.

Resolved to heroism, as I thought myself, I own the news shocked me. I grew pale and sick, and I thought Lord Castleton eyed me with peculiar curiosity; but I should have been equally affected had a porter in the streets regarded me with earnestness, on the principle of a guilty conscience.

My anxiety threw me off my guard, and I fear Lord Castleton discovered me. For I could not help saying, though my voice faltered, "I suppose they have gone to attend the wedding."

"What wedding?" asked Lord Castleton; "I heard of none. They mentioned none to me."

"Not of Miss Hastings, said I, "with Prince Adolphus of Saxony, her cousin? I suppose, as a minister, you saw him in town some days ago?"

"No won

"No; he passed through, without being presented." Aye, on the wings of love," observed I. der;" and I faltered more and more.

"You speak like what you are," said Lord Castleton, goodhumoredly, "a warm young man. Prince Adolphus, 1 am informed, is Mr. Hastings' nephew, but I have heard of no nuptials."

66 And yet the account must be true."

"What account ?"

"That in the World newspaper, that he was engaged to his cousin, and had therefore proceeded to Yorkshire without stopping."

""Tis strange, if this be so," said Lord Castleton, "and Granville or Lady Hungerford knew it, that neither of them should have mentioned it."

"It might be a secret," returned I, "and they the confidants of it."

"You have at least settled it in your own mind," returned the earl," and the prince must be lucky, for he is as poor as Job, and the lady, Honora tells me, is rich, and not only eminently beautiful, but still more lovely in character."

Lady Hungerford," answered I, "is seldom deceived in her judgment of her friends."

"The more happy for you," replied my patron, smiling. Here the conversation ended, and, after a few business. topics I was allowed to seek repose, if I could, in the solitude of my lodgings. When there, I turned the matter a

thousand ways in my mind. That the marriage was about to take place, every thing conspired to prove. Public report uncontradicted-the visit of the two the most likely to attend it, not only from connection and friendship, but as having been long the trusted depositories of the secret ;-for of this I had no doubt. Why, however, it should have been a secret at all, or Lord Castleton not apprized of it when it was to be one no longer, weighed a little, though but a little, on the other side.

No; I had no consolation; though if I had had it as to the instant marriage, what it would ultimately have availed me was a question I did not fail to ask myself. Still I wished it determined; and would rather have been even present at the ceremony, than be torn to pieces as I was by the anxieties of suspense. The next morning, therefore, and two or three after that, I ransacked every newspaper for the expected intelligence, and even made a daily journey to a city coffee-house, where I had been told the York county papers were taken, to satisfy my curiosity.

Lord Castleton wondered at my unusual eagerness about his post, and my impatience till all his packets were opened; particularly when he discovered, as he soon did, that this great interest was all occasioned by an expectation of his hearing from Lady Hungerford. My own disappointment as to Granville, to my annoyance, remained, nor did I like to intrude upon him again; in short, iny uneasiness grew unbearable, as is always the case with protracted suspense.

At last the well-watched knock of the postman produced a letter in Granville's hand, aud the Ferry-bridge post-mark. Its contents were remarkable.

"I did not answer you immediately," said he, " for I myself, though here, was too litle informed to resolve your question; nor would I write now, but that I know you to be so sensitive a gentleman, that I shall have a quarrel a l' outrance on my hands if I do not say something. What to say is the question, for what can I say, when I know nothing correctly?

Surmises I could give in plenty, but could not answer for their truth. I may tell you, however, that there are no preparations for a wedding, nor do I know if any are in contemplation. Meantime, what is certain is, the severe illness of Mr. Hastings, who is confined to his bed, which is anxiously

attended both by the prince and Bertha. You did not judge ill of the handsome Adolphus when you pronounced him so fine a fellow. (This gave me a severe pang.)

"As to engagements, I have certainly heard of them (and I will no longer conceal from you, on sufficient authority); but how they got into the papers, except by dealing with the devil (which I believe all editors do), I don't know. Yet there is no outward indication of one at present; though there is certainly great intimacy between the cousins, for Bertha does not refuse herself to his attentions; and, on his part, his respect for her seems always so profound in her presence, as to prevent his showing his agreeable qualities; for, out of it, he is really excellent company.

"This is all I know. If any one knows more, it is Lady Hungerford, to whom, before she arrived here, there had been frequent letters from the supposed princess elect.

"Let me not conclude without felicitating you on the accession you have made both to your reputation, station, and fortune. A seat in Parliament, and two thousand a-year, half of it by patent for life, make you a bon parti for any damsel, however high. Never forget therefore, what I long ago told you, that there is more than one Bertha in the world."

"When I do," said I, as I finished reading, "may my right hand forget her cunning." And will it be believed, that what Granville thus threw out respecting a bon parti actually made me direct my thoughts towards this forbidden land, with a sort of elevation, spite of all caution to the contrary, and spite even of the present situation of affairs. Oh, youth! youth delightful with hope, and irrepressible by fear!what is not thy value?

Notwithstanding all this, I was obliged to come to a sober examination of the case. Whatever might be the situation as to engagement, previous to the handsome foreigner's arrival, it was clear that they must have now come to mutual understanding, for Bertha "did not refuse herself to his attentions," and in her presence his respect for her was so profound as to check his natural spirits. What greater proof could I have?

I would have given my new appointment to have been allowed to consult Lady Hungerford, whose gloomy assurance (never forgotten), that if I was even Lord Bardolfe, or Lord