sibility of finding fault with her. As well might Lord Rossville have attempted to admonish the brook that babbled past him, or have read lectures to the fly which buzzed round his head. For forty years Lord Rossville had been trying to break her in, but in vain. Much may be done, as we every day see, to alter and overcome nature: Poneys are made to waltz-horses to hand tea-kettlesdogs to read-birds to cast accounts-fleas to walk in harness; but to restrain the volubility of a female tongue, is a task that has hitherto defied the power of man. With so much of what may be styled dissonance in similarity, it may easily be imagined, that Lord Rossville and Miss Pratt, even when most in unison, produced any thing but harmony. Yet they only jarred—they never actually quarrelled, for they had been accustomed to each other all their lives-and while she laid all the rebuffs and reproofs she received to the score of bile, he tolerated her impertinence on account of blood.

The softness and suavity of Mrs St Clair's manners formed so striking a contrast to the sharp gnat-like attacks of Miss Pratt, that Lord Rossville became every day more attached to his

sister-in-law's company, and she soon found herself so firmly fixed in his good graces, that she ventured to request permission that she and her daughter might be allowed to visit her relations, with whom she had hitherto only communicated by letter.

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Certainly, my dear Madam," replied the Earl; " nothing can be more proper and reasonable than that you should recognize and visit the different members of your own family, who, I am happy to think, are all persons of unblemished reputation, and respectable stations in life, which respectability is in a fair way of being increased by votes which, I understand, an uncle and brother of yours have lately acquired in the county; and as there is every appearance of our having a warmly contested election shortly, their political influence, if properly directed, cannot fail of proving highly beneficial to them. I therefore give my unqualified assent as to the propriety of your visiting your own family, as soon as we can arrange the proper time, mode, and manner of doing so-but, with regard to the daughter of the Honourable Thomas St Clair, I must candidly acknowledge to you, my dear Madam, I have not

yet brought my mind to any fixed determination on that point-your own good sense will naturally point out to you the very peculiar situation in which she stands. Miss St Clair is at present to be viewed as the heiress presumptive to the titles, honours, and estates of this family; but, observe, although presumptive, she is by no means heiress apparent-for there is a wide and important distinction betwixt these apparent synonyms." Here his Lordship entered into a most elaborate explanation of these differences of distinction." And now, my dear Madam, I am sure you will agree with me, that, in a situation of such peculiar delicacy, every step which Miss St Clair takes ought to be weighed with the utmost nicety and deliberation; since what might be befitting the heiress presumptive might be deemed derogatory to the heiress apparent—and what dignity demands of the heiress apparent, the world might censure as an undue assumption of consequence in the heiress presumptive."

Mrs St Clair, though choking with indignation at this round-about insinuation that her family was scarcely fit to be associated with by her own daughter, yet repressed her indignation, and

The

as she did not consider it of much consequence that she should accompany her on her first visit, she readily yielded the matter with a good grace. But no sooner had she done so, than the Earl, as was often his custom, immediately tacked about, and took the opposite side of the argument. result was, that Mrs and Miss St Clair should immediately proceed to visit the respective members of the Black family, and the Earl's travelling chariot-and-four, with all appliances to boot, was ordered out for the occasion. It was with a thrill of delight Mrs St Clair took her place in it, and drove off in all the eclat of rank and state.

CHAPTER XI.

Pictures like these, dear Madam, to design,
Ask no firm hand, and no unerring line.
Some wandering touches, some reflected light,
Some flying stroke alone can hit 'em right.

POPE.

FEARFUL anticipations mingled with Mrs St Clair's natural affection, as she thought of the meeting with her own family. Its only members consisted of a brother—who, partly by industry, partly by good fortune, had become the proprietor of a large tract of unimproved land in the neighbourhood-two unmarried sisters residing in the county town, and an old uncle from the East Indies, a half-brother of her mother's, reported to be enormously rich. When she had left home, her brother was a mere raw unformed lad, but he was now an elderly man, the husband of a woman she had never seen, and the father of a numerous family. After quitting the noble do