it may keep you right under temptations and trials, of which you will have enough here; but once give it the reins-let it lead you wrong, or plunge you into false ambition-that is, make you seek a place that does not belong to you, and which this very pride, well regulated, would make you avoid-you immediately become the sport of those whom you condescend to court. 'Optat ephippia bos' contains a useful lesson, and the anguish of Wolsey is unpitied, when he exclaims,

Whe

'My high-blown pride at length broke under me.'' Such were the lessons of this excellent man. ther I profited by them or not, remains to be seen; but the pride he had noticed, and even recommended, made me assure him, with perhaps too much quickness, that he was mistaken if he thought I could court any body, and that if I seemed so eager in watching Hastings's conduct, it was only because of old affection, and quite as the equal he had taught me to consider myself. "His friend," said I," I may still be; his hanger-on I never will be. Once convinced that he thinks I am so, in that instant I am restored.”

"I desire nothing better," said Fothergill.

CHAPTER X.

I DISCOVER MORE OF THE REAL CHARACTER OF FOLJAMBE HASTINGS.-CROSS-EXAMINED BY MY TUTOR AS TO MY LOVE FOR BERTHA.

'Tis a fault I would not change for all your virtue.

ID.-As You Like It.

FOR One or two days after this conversation I kept close to my college, though my mind often wandered after the person who so much interested me, as in truth he did many others, though in a manner far different. For by this time I had learned, in regard to him, what astonished, as much as it distressed me. I thought I had a right to know him well, and though of an eager character, running often to extremes, a strong feeling of friendship and a taste for letters had, at Sedbergh, seemed the order of the day. But from what I now learned, I found it must have been owing to the want of opportunity and competitors, in more stirring scenes, that he thus settled down into the sentimental and philosophic youth he seemed to be. He disdained most of his school-mates, and loved to associate with no one but me, who, though sufficiently 'commoto dentro," was generally "cheto fuor." With

me, there could be no rivalry in anything but the acquisition of learning; and though the competition of schoolboys in every thing else is fierce enough (witness his battle with Ramshorn), that which is confined to their books is seldom of a loud character.

Judge then my surprise, to be told by many that, though but six months in the University, Hastings had already attained to almost the summit of notoriety. I mean not as to learning; though in this also he was so little deficient, that in his themes, but particularly his verses--thanks to Eton-he had won the praise of his tutors. With this, however, he was little content; for, strange to say of the quiet person he had been at Sedbergh,―to be, par excellence, the renowner of Oxford, seemed to be his great ambition.

Hence he was always the first of his clique, whatever their object. At the tennis-court he could play the marker without odds; in the field he led the hunt; and on the water was perfect at the oars. At Bullington, in summer, he presided over cricket; and at Port Meadow, in winter, was inimitable in skaiting. He gave suppers to the young nobility in his rooms, and pic-nics to the ladies in Bagley Wood. The old English game of single-stick was not then quite worn out, and he actually had won a hat upon a public stage at Abingdon, in a perilous contest, not without blood, of twelve on a side, between the two counties of Oxford and Berks. The hat he brought that very evening in triumph, and laid it at the feet of one of three mistresses who had been given him by the public voice.

In fencing and boxing with Mr. Douce, nobody went beyond him, and nobody, except Lord Albany, could come near his excellence in pistol firing at a mark.

These two were rival "renowners" in every thing, but especially in this,-in which they practised every day, with such equal success, that the numerous spectators, who assembled to witness their skill, hoped they would never quarrel, as, if they did, it would be impossible for either of them to escape.

Then again he played nobly at billiards; and he would sit up half the night at whist, or the bottle. But the acme of his fame was acquired at Ascot, where he actually won a plate run for by gentlemen who rode their own horses; and that the renown of it might not be lost, he returned in the jockey dress and cap in which he had run, from the heath to the very gate of Christ Church, to the astonishment and dismay of all the officials.

This, however, had like to have cost him dear, for there was an intention to expel him for riding a race; but he pleaded so stoutly, though so respectfully, that he had had leave to attend the course, and was not therefore within the jurisdiction of the college, that the plea was allowed; and having declared that the degradation of riding through the streets in jockey costume was mere absence of mind, without intention to break rules, moreover expressing sorrow, and being withal a sort of favourite, from his high station, figure, and talents, he was let off for a very heavy imposition, and confined to college till it was accomplished!

Even here renown did not abandon him; for he gave the task to two servitors to perform for him, and paid them with such a number of guineas, that his love of fame was gratified to the last.

These things came out by degrees, and had been the talk of the different colleges before I came, and this disposition and conduct were what caused Mr. Fothergill to liken him to Alcibiades. My astonishment at

hearing them may be conceived, but I was also grieved at the account, because it too forcibly proved that the disparity of our dispositions was at least equal to that of our stations, and that friendship with such a man, if not already lost, could not continue. On the other hand, Lord Albany was his constant companion, aider and abetter in these excesses, and how in any thing could I compare with Lord Albany?

The thought sank deep into my soul, but still deeper for the conviction which it gave, that the little evanescent and almost imperceptible hope (imperceptible even to myself), that my intimacy with the brother might lead to one with the sister—that this hope, I say, was lost for ever. My misery was complete.

This was not unperceived by my observing tutor, who told me he plainly saw, not only that I was much changed in manner and spirits, but that there must be a far deeper cause for it, than the fear of losing a mere school friendship. I allowed this to be truth, and as concealment, simulation, or dissimulation, were no parts of my character, he soon got the whole out of me.

The impression this made upon his kindly feelings -kindly, though often stern in his decisions-was serious indeed.

"My good fellow," said he, "I now see to what more than half the interest you feel for your schoolfellow is owing. I knew not that there was a female in the case, that female Hastings's sister, the descendant of the Plantagenets, and the grand-daughter of a German prince. This is no trifle, and requires more than momentary deliberation to advise upon it. Meantime, take my word for it, this extreme susceptibility of yours will go near to ruin you."

I asked if this was all the consolation he could give me? He paused, and said it was certainly something