purse.

On the contrary, Lord Brandon himself was, even as a young man, a votary of prudence, and his sister being left dependant upon him, utterly without fortune, a man worth a plum and a half, and totally free from trade, though a wharfinger's son, was by no means, as Lord Brandon himself told Lady Cherubina, to be sneezed at.

Lady Cherubina thought so too, and a very slight club acquaintance, between her brother and my friend, was cultivated-with what views, you may guess. One of Bostock's weaknesses, as I have told you, was a strong desire to raise himself in the scale of society. He was alive to elegance and beauty, and Lady Cherubina, who was both elegant and beautiful, was only prevented from shewing how much she was so by the res angusta domi. Lord Brandon, in fact, could supply her with little pin-money; but as Bostock, though not too rich for an earl's sister, might be able to make this up to her, the prospect of doing so, and therefore of attaching her the more to himself, if only from gratitude, he said, had no small influence with him in his views to happiness.

In fact, Bostock's nature was generous, and the very contracted mode of living to which Lord Brandon and his sister were forced to submit, while it emboldened him in his aspirations, pleased his spirit in the thought that he could bestow upon her the ease and comfort she deserved.

All this, as the acquaintance went on, was more and more cherished by the moderation, not only in practice, but in sentiment, as far as he could judge from

his conversation, which seemed to belong to both the lady and her brother.

66 an

"In short," continued Forthergill's memoir, offer was made and accepted, during the interval between which—that is, after the offer, but before the acceptance-my friend, to guard against a false step, did me the honour to ask my advice; not telling me that he had already decided. I gave it very honestly, and indeed strenuously, against the proceeding; for I had long before formed those opinions upon the imprudence of unequal marriages, which I have endeavoured to impress upon you.

"Unluckily, my remonstrance came too late, for he had been accepted the very day when my letter arrived, and my only comfort was, that, knowing nothing of Lady Cherubina, I had confined myself to general, and had made no personal allusions. I left him, therefore, to his fate, and as he told me he was happy, I believed him. I could not, indeed, well make out why he had changed the name of his house from the old English Hall Barn, by which it had been formerly known, to so Frenchified a name as Beaumanoir, by which it had been newly christened; but as he told me it was only in indulgence of an amiable little whim of Lady Cherubina, whom he was bound, from her condescension in marrying him, to gratify in every thing that was reasonable, and I had no means of judging of the reasonableness of this, though I had my suspicions, I let it pass.

"As he had now been married two years, and his letters, though few, always announced that he was

happy, I also discharged those suspicions. Still it was not without curiosity that I accepted an invitation to pay him a visit in the summer at his newchristened house.

“On arriving, I was struck with what I thought a strange incongruity, in a porch of elaborate Grecian architecture with Corinthian pillars, stuck upon the plain, old-fashioned edifice, whose many gables, picturesque enough in themselves, seemed put to shame by this heterogeneous modern addition; nor could my quaint fancy help thinking it might be a sort of emblem of the alliance of my friend, Benjamin Bostock, with Lady Cherubina Bragge. When I afterwards pointed it out to him as a want of keeping, which, with his good taste, I wondered at, he, with some hesitation, acknowledged it, and that he had even remonstrated against it; but it was Lady Cherubina's fancy, which, after all she had done for him, he could not well oppose.

"I quite approved this grateful disposition of his. To Lady Cherubina I now expected to be introduced, he having sent her up word of my arrival, and request ing her presence. But when the door opened, and I expected the ceremony of being presented to the lady of Beaumanoir, I was somewhat surprised with the flippant tone of a groom of the chamber, in silk stockings and gold-laced knee-bands, who, addressing his master with the literal answer of his mistress, said, "Sir, my lady says she begs you will entertain Mr. Fothergill as well as you can yourself till dinner-time, as she is really so busy that she cannot see him till then.'

“ I saw my friend was hurt at this; but not knowing what to make of it, I formed no conjecture, farther than to suppose Lady Cherubina was a woman who knew the value of time.

"A gay landau and four now drove up to the door, with a footman, a valet, and lady's-maid outside, and two ladies and as many gentlemen within; and bandboxes and packages innumerable, though no more seemingly than was necessary for so many people. They were eagerly kissing their hands to some one in the window above, whom I rightly judged to be Lady Cherubina ; but what surprised me was, that, far from being eager to meet them, Bostock did not seem pleased. They are my lady's cousins,' said he, and have come too soon by an hour, as they will prevent a walk in the garden. I hope, however, they will not come in here, and we may then escape through the glass door."

6

"His hope was not disappointed; for though the door of the room was thrown open, and all the four heads poured in at once, they as precipitately withdrew, as if by common consent, and, without the least notice of the master of the house, the whole party ran up stairs, one of the ladies exclaiming in the way, 'It is only Bostock and somebody with him; let us go to Cherubina's dressing-room."

"My friend looked somewhat abashed at this, but forebore any remark, except that they were all such friends! He then invited me into the garden, where I found a strange medley, owing to most fearful alterations in the act of being perpetrated. The original plan of the inclosure had been in the cha

racter of the house, old-fashioned, straight gravel walks, clipt hedges, and yews cut into shapes, pyramidal, globular, and now and then a peacock. But all these were giving way to an attempt at both an Italian and a French garden; much trellis, and many balustrades, forming as much incongruity with the mansion as the porch in the other front.

"I had not quite recovered my surprise at the cavalier conduct to my friend of his guests just arrived, and we both were for some time silent, till at last, by way of something to say, looking at the alterations going forward, I observed, I suppose this too is the taste of Lady Cherubina?"

6

"He seemed a little embarrassed, when he replied, "You are right; but it is all unfinished, and it is not fair to judge. That trim hedge and all those yews are to come down."

"A pity,' said I, though hesitatingly, for I saw it

was

6

against his own wish; those yews seem five hundred years old, and assort so well with the house.'

"True,' said he, but things are not advanced enough to be understood, and everybody allows Lady Cherubina has so exquisite a taste, and she was so decided about it, I thought it a pity, and useless, to thwart her.'

"I felt this unanswerable, particularly the last part of the assertion, so tried to change the subject, but was saved the trouble by another barouche and four, the very counterpart of the first arrival (dead and live lumber inside and out), which drove up to the porch and began to unload.