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 'L I B R.AR.Y 
 
 OF THE 
 UN IVLRSITY 
 Of ILLI NOIS 
 
 823 
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 AT HOME. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY A. J. VALPY, RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.
 
 AT HOME. 
 
 A NOVEL. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF 
 
 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES ABROAD. 
 
 Then gay ideas crowd the vacant brain, 
 While Peers, and Dukes, and all their sweeping train, 
 And garters, stars, and coronets appear, 
 And, in soft sounds, " Your Grace" salutes their ear. 
 
 Pope. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 HENRY COLBURN, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 
 
 1828. 
 
 •„. -«•
 
 <fo2 3 
 
 B?9zi 
 
 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 AT HOME. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 m 
 
 ARRIVALS. 
 
 See, now comes the captain all daub'd with gold lace, 
 Oh, la ! the sweet gentleman, look in his face. 
 
 Swift. 
 
 Has fate or fancy ever led thee, gentle reader, 
 to the pleasant village of Fairton since the 
 cavalry-barracks were built on the top of 
 Broomhill? If such has been thy fortune, recall 
 to thy memory the neatly-gravelled path that 
 winds through the oaks and brushwood of this 
 
 VOL. I. A
 
 2 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 scraggy mount — the green turnstile that at the 
 bottom of the hill divides this path from the 
 church avenue — the white cottages here and 
 there peeping out from between their respective 
 apple-gardens — the corner of the market-place, 
 with its venerable yew-tree just seen in per- 
 spective from the bridge — and lastly, the long 
 reach of the river hurrying towards the dark 
 woods and green glades of Ellesmere Park. No 
 one who has once seen the hamlet of Fairton, 
 the cleanest, brightest, prettiest village in all 
 the west of England, can ever forget it. 
 
 Never was this little place in a more joy- 
 ous bustle than it appeared on a fine evening 
 towards the end of last May twelvemonth. 
 Nearly all the ragged boys of the neighbour- 
 hood had collected round a cracked drum and 
 tuneless fife, and were parading up and down 
 the Broomhill path with more zeal than disci- 
 pline. A well-contested match at single-stick 
 gave excuse, if such were wanting, for the 
 assemblage of most of the village youths at the 
 far end of the avenue ; whilst many a blue-eyed
 
 AT HOME. 3 
 
 damsel strolled unregarded up and down the 
 mall, dressed in her Sunday garb of ribands, 
 less blooming than her cheeks, and giving alter- 
 nate attention to the fair companions of her 
 walk, and to the suggestions of her own busy 
 imagination. 
 
 Farmer Hughes and the village apothecary 
 leaned over the balustrades of the bridge, some- 
 times throwing stones into the stream, and 
 sometimes listening for more distant sounds : 
 mine host of the Red Lion paraded the well- 
 swept pavement before his own door ; and Betty 
 more than once opened and shut the window 
 of the bow parlour, and returned to re-dust the 
 flower-pot and pepper-caster that stood together 
 on the mantle-piece, whilst a smile on her lip and 
 a tear in her eye struggled for the mastery. For 
 know, gentle reader, that on that eventful day, 
 His Majesty's 70th regiment of dragoons, with 
 yellow facings, had given place to his Majesty's 
 60th regiment of dragoons, with black facings ; 
 and though the former had been deservedly 
 popular, their unknown successors in office were
 
 4 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 welcomed with enthusiasm ; and hope or fear, 
 or joy or sorrow, affected more or less every 
 inhabitant of Fairton on so momentous an occa- 
 sion. In short, that little world was in a tem- 
 porary state of excitement ; and excitement is 
 in itself, to most men, positive pleasure. 
 
 At last, the cracked drum gave place to 
 sounds "more tuneable than pipe to shepherd's 
 ear ;" and before the setting sun had sunk be- 
 hind the woods of Ellesmere, the arrival of the 
 first detachment was duly certified. Loaded 
 baggage-waggons were seen to cross the bridge ; 
 a dusty post-chaise or two turned into the yard 
 at the Red Lion to refresh their weary steeds ; 
 and it was even reported, that before the moon 
 had risen, one cornet, two servants, and three 
 corporals, had called at the post-office to inquire 
 for letters. For some days, this delightful agi- 
 tation continued : nor did the villagers return to 
 the humble tenor of their way till after the 
 whole regiment had been in turn seen and com- 
 mented upon at church. 
 
 Mr. Quantum, the apothecary, was acknow-
 
 AT HOME. 5 
 
 ledged to be the pre-emiment tale-bearer of 
 Fairton ; and on the excuse of paying a visit, 
 half friendly, half professional, to the surgeon 
 of the newly-arrived regiment, he repaired to 
 the barracks : nor did he return from thence 
 till after having, by indefatigable ingenuity, 
 made himself acquainted with all the names 
 and much of the private history of the dif- 
 ferent officers ; a kind and degree of informa- 
 tion which he was always most sedulous to 
 acquire. 
 
 But what is the use of any discovery without 
 the enviable privilege of communicating it to 
 the world ? The golden ore is worthless in the 
 mine ; and, like it, many a tale of wonder has 
 owed its value merely to its currency. Mr, 
 Quantum was fully sensible of this truth ; and 
 therefore felt a laudable anxiety to communi- 
 cate the result of his researches even beyond 
 the precincts of his native village : nor was he 
 ill qualified for this undertaking ; for though he 
 had fewer customers than mine host of the Red 
 Lion, and less information than the portly post-
 
 6 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 master, he yet possessed the superior advantage 
 of being", in his official capacity, occasionally ad- 
 mitted into the houses of some of the neigh- 
 bouring gentry : thus forming that connecting 
 link between the two classes of society which 
 naturalists aver is indispensable to all parts of 
 creation. 
 
 His Rosinante was at length favoured with 
 the long-forgotten feed of oats — his boots shone 
 in all the glory of Warren's blacking — his 
 usual pocket dictionary, otherwise called Bu- 
 chan's Medicine, was exchanged for the latest 
 army-list that had reached Fairton ; and, thus 
 prepared, he commenced his intended circuit of 
 visits, by riding up Mr. Fielding's avenue in 
 that determined, measured pace that may be 
 called the trot-important : nor did he stop to 
 comprehend the servant's assurance — that his 
 " master was out walking, but that he would 
 go to seek him" — till after he had reached the 
 library-door, and, at it, made his most obse- 
 quious reverence to the empty room. 
 
 Mr. Fielding probably owed his precedence
 
 AT HOME. ' 
 
 on Mr. Quantum's visiting-list to -the circum- 
 stance of his being both rector aud landlord of 
 the village of Fairton. For though the bene- 
 volence of his disposition and the amenity of his 
 manners rendered him affable to all, there was 
 little in his character to induce his present 
 visitor thus to select him as the repositary of 
 his newly-acquired information; for amongst 
 Mr. Fielding's various literary pursuits, bio- 
 graphy in detail was little attended to ; nor did 
 his family contain many of that lovely sex which, 
 since the days of Madame de Sevigne, seems to 
 have taken the department of memoirs under 
 their own especial patronage. For Mr. Field- 
 ing had been ten years a widower, and Julia, 
 his only child, was not particularly addicted to 
 gossiping. 
 
 Some old-fashioned writer once observed, 
 that no man could feel alone in a library ; and 
 that of Mr. Fielding was well calculated to con- 
 firm this assertion. Its shelves were filled with 
 the best editions of the classics ; its tables were 
 covered with newspapers and other ephemeral
 
 8 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 productions. One or two originals of Vandyke 
 bore testimony to Mr. Fielding's favourite 
 studies — painting and pedigree. Handel lay 
 beside Rossini, on one of Broad wood's capi 
 tVopera ; and on a work-table near the window, 
 stood a glass of water with some lily of the 
 valley in it, which Julia had been copying with 
 a perfection worthy of the pencil of Breughel, 
 " dit de velours." 
 
 But Mr. Quantum considered himself in a 
 hurry, and by no means relished the leisure for 
 examining these curiosities, which the pro- 
 tracted absence of the family afforded him. 
 He took up and laid down every newspaper in 
 turn; ascertained that his new army-list was 
 fifteen months older than that of Mr. Fielding : 
 and to walk off the mortification of this dis- 
 covery, he passed through the large open win- 
 dow into the flower-garden, which, sheltered by 
 impenetrable yew-hedges, and intersected by 
 close-mown grass- walks, gave a luxuriance of 
 shade and sweetness not always attained by 
 modern improvements.
 
 AT HOME. 9 
 
 The sun-dial, in the middle of a distant alley, 
 attracted the impatient Mr. Quantum ; and on 
 reaching it, his suspense was happily termi- 
 nated by the arrival of Mr. Fielding and his 
 daughter, for whom, with incredible alacrity, 
 he opened the iron gate which led from the 
 park. 
 
 " Charming day, sir — sun almost too power- 
 ful — roses and peas in very early this season — 
 Miss Julia looking better than ever — hope she 
 is sufficiently recovered to enjoy dancing now — 
 no doubt there will be some balls in the neigh- 
 bourhood for the officers — fine set of young 
 men. Mr. Fielding, your large drawing-room 
 would hold thirty couple ; and if the globes and 
 green-leather chairs were moved out of the 
 library " 
 
 " I should be sorry to part with my old 
 friends," said Mr. Fielding, with a good-natured 
 smile. 
 
 Mr. Quantum, however, was not to be so 
 easily discouraged — " But no doubt you will 
 visit the officers, my dear sir ; they are nearly
 
 10 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 all arrived. I took the earliest opportunity of 
 informing you. One detachment is to be sta- 
 tioned at Leeds ; another, under the command 
 of Cornet Gubbins " 
 
 " I have not the honour of being acquainted 
 with Cornet Gubbins." 
 
 " Well, at all events, you will visit the field- 
 officers, as a matter of course. Let us see — the 
 Colonel — oh ! I recollect, he is one of the royal 
 family — or a general — or " 
 
 " I believe there has lately been a change in 
 the regiment, for the present colonel is Sir 
 Henry Moreton." 
 
 " Oh, ay ! Sir Henry Moreton — yes, that is 
 the name ; and his wife — she is or was Lady 
 Somebody Something." Mr. Quantum's keen 
 look was even more interrogative than his tone 
 of voice, whilst he made this unqualified asser- 
 tion. 
 
 " She is a daughter of Lord Alton's — my 
 niece, Lady Harriet Moreton :" replied Mr. 
 Fielding, with peculiar emphasis. 
 
 Mr. Quantum possessed just sufficient tact to
 
 AT HOME. 11 
 
 feel that the conversation was in some way 
 disagreeable to Mr. Fielding ; and in hopes of 
 extricating himself from the dilemma which he 
 was conscious existed, though he knew not 
 why, he made, as he conceived, an able retro- 
 grade movement, by diverging to politics ; and 
 after a short pause, continued with his favourite 
 expression. V By the bye, I saw in the papers 
 last week that Lord Alton is to be our new 
 minister — delighted at it, Mr. Fielding, for 
 your sake — no doubt you'll be a bishop by 
 Michaelmas-day;" and he gave a half nod at 
 his own sagacity. 
 
 Mr. Fielding looked graver than ever ; said 
 something of doubt as to Lord Alton's accepting 
 any place in the administration, and turning to 
 Julia, remarked that the jasmine had grown so 
 much over the library- window, that its beau- 
 tiful Gothic frame was scarcely visible. By 
 this, they had reached its smooth, broad flag- 
 stone, and were just in time to receive the two 
 Misses Weldon and Mr. Warburton, who had 
 ridden to the rectory on nearly the same mis-
 
 12 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 sion as that of Mr. Quantum, and whose en- 
 trance now formed a seasonable interruption to 
 the very conversation which the latter had gone 
 so far to seek. 
 
 The news of Fairton was much more conge- 
 nial to these two young ladies than it had been 
 to Mr. Quantum's late auditors ; and while Mr. 
 Warburton withdrew with Mr. Fielding to 
 examine a new work upon butterflies, the 
 Misses Weldon hastily dispatched the unin- 
 teresting part of the conversation that related 
 to their parents' health, by informing Julia that 
 " Sir James had quite lost his gout, but not his 
 peevishness, and that Ma' was just the same as 
 she always was ;" and then drawing their chairs 
 close to that of Miss Fielding, on each side, 
 exclaimed, in a tone between impatience and 
 cajolery, " Now, dear Julia, that the old ones 
 are off, we want to ask both your advice and 
 assistance." 
 
 Mr. Quantum glided into one angle of the 
 Gothic window, and affected to look out at the 
 flower garden.
 
 AT HOME. 13 
 
 " My assistance, Miss Weldon?" exclaimed 
 Julia, in surprise. 
 
 "Oh, yes!" rejoined both her visitors at 
 once ; and they then continued their harangue 
 in fugue. 
 
 " You know, my dear, papa is such a cross 
 old soul we never can get him to do anything 
 like other people." 
 
 " And ever since that fuzzy Miss Hackerley 
 told him that Captain Leatherhead was son to 
 the coachmaker, he declares he will never visit 
 the officers again." 
 
 " And mamma says, if we affront the six- 
 tieth, they'll cut us dead in town." 
 
 " And you know we might as well spend 
 next winter at Hull, as to be in London with- 
 out knowing at least some of the dragoons, and 
 all the guards." 
 
 " And it was entirely General Derrick that 
 got Mrs. Bawler and her three fat daughters 
 into Almack's." 
 
 " And Lady Harriet Moreton is tip- top 
 fashion, and might make our fortune."
 
 14 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 " And now, would you believe it ? papa de- 
 clares he will not call even upon Sir Henry 
 Moreton?" And here the young ladies concluded 
 their harangue as they had commenced, en duo, 
 by exclaiming together, " And now, Julia, 
 what shall we do V 
 
 " Why indeed, Anna," answered Miss Field- 
 ing, laughing, " I think you must — for once — 
 give up visiting at Broomhill barracks." 
 
 " Oh ! impossible ! ridiculous ! quite out of 
 the question. No, my dear Julia, on the con- 
 trary — we must visit Lady Harriet, and that 
 immediately." 
 
 " I thought her Ladyship was not to arrive 
 till Tuesday ?" said Mr. Quantum in his gen- 
 tlest voice, at the same time stepping briskly 
 forward a pace and a half, as if to join the 
 coterie. 
 
 " Oh! Mr. Quantum, are you there?" said 
 the eldest Miss Weldon, throwing back her 
 head with an air of condescending civility. 
 "Well, tell us who are come — you of course 
 know all about it."
 
 AT HOME. 15 
 
 And now Caesar was himself again! Mr. 
 Quantum emerged still more from the recess 
 of the window — nay, his courage was suffi- 
 ciently reanimated to admit of his sliding cor- 
 nerwise upon — not into one of the fore-doomed 
 green-leather arm-chairs ; and Miss Weldon's 
 curiosity seeming to gather strength from the 
 food it fed on, he proceeded, with infinite deli- 
 beration, to give a full account of the whole 60th 
 regiment of dragoons ; nor, in his zeal to satisfy 
 her laudable wish for information, did he per- 
 ceive, till too late, that he had heaped Pelion 
 upon Ossa, and adopted the system of Chinese 
 calculation ; for, with admirable precision, worthy 
 of an M. P., he had added the old Army List to 
 the roll-call furnished by his new friend the 
 surgeon at Broomhill, thereby throwing the 
 ranks of his Majesty's cavalry into much greater 
 confusion than Bonaparte himself could have 
 done. 
 
 Meantime, Anna Weldon, with much better 
 generalship, steadily pursued her attack upon 
 Miss Fielding.
 
 16 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 " In short, Julia, it's a decided thing: coute 
 qui co&te, we must become intimate with 
 Lady Harriet Moreton. I have a presentiment 
 that she will be one of my dearest friends.'' 
 
 " Why, Anna, you seem quite entitee of this 
 Lady Harriet." 
 
 " But the question is only, how are we to 
 manage an introduction to her ? that's what we 
 are come to ask your advice about." 
 
 " You know," replied Julia, " my old maxim, 
 that the straightest line is always the shortest. 
 If Lady Harriet Moreton is so very desirable 
 an acquaintance for you to make; and if, as 
 you say, Lady Weldon is so anxious you should 
 make it, I am sure there is hardly a doubt 
 that Sir James will comply with your request ; 
 for I think, though he is a little passionate, he 
 is excessively good-natured." 
 
 " Oh ! he is always good-natured to you, be- 
 cause you are such a favourite with him. I wish 
 you had seen him this morning, when mamma 
 talked of having a hussar all dressed in green 
 behind our barouche. But what do you think ?
 
 AT HOME. 17 
 
 when we had almost got him into good-humour 
 about Lady Harriet Moreton, that eternal 
 Miss Hackerley came in and hummed and 
 haughed so about her, that papa flew off in a 
 tangent, and swore that there must be some- 
 thing in the wind about her — and that " 
 
 " Why? did Miss Hackerley say anything 
 against her V 
 
 " Oh no ! She took a pretty sharp hint I 
 gave her, by pinching her under the table — 
 nasty, ugly, old maid as she is ; and as to whe- 
 ther Lady Harriet Moreton is one of the Saints 
 or not, mamma says it don't signify a farthing, 
 for so long as she is at all visitable, she will do 
 to present us at St. James's." 
 
 " Indeed I must say, that I am certain no- 
 thing can be said against her character, for my 
 dearest father had a letter to-day from my uncle, 
 asking him to call upon her and Sir Henry 
 Moreton. You know she is my uncle's daugh- 
 ter." 
 
 " Lord Alton's daughter ! — Your own cousin ! 
 What ! she was Lady Harriet Fielding? Oh !
 
 18 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 delightful — charming — the very thing — that is 
 excellent— now I'll tell you ." 
 
 But the young Lady's communications were 
 interrupted by the return of Mr. Fielding and 
 Mr. Warburton ; and whilst the latter paid his 
 respects (as he justly termed them) to Julia ; 
 and whilst Mr. Fielding soothed the anxieties 
 of poor Mr. Quantum, by presenting him with 
 some of the earliest productions of his garden, 
 the two sisters apparently arranged their future 
 plans by masonic signals, for in a few moments 
 they jumped up simultaneously, and calling to 
 Mr. Warburton in no suppressed tone of voice, 
 impatiently inquired whether he would escort 
 them home, or whether he was obliged to 
 return to Posy Lodge ? 
 
 *' A vos ordres" replied the antiquated beau, 
 gallantly raising to his lips the middle finger of 
 his only ungloved hand ; and then withdrawing 
 it with a circular motion, intended to include 
 Julia in the compliment. He would have 
 bowed — but that he was too fat ; he would have 
 sighed, perchance — but his rubicund cheeks
 
 AT HOME. 19 
 
 and dimpling mouth were eminently an ti- senti- 
 mental. Mr. Warburton knew accurately what 
 his own peculiar privileges in society actually 
 were, and he very wisely never committed him- 
 self beyond them ; and as the present was nei- 
 ther the scene nor the audience adapted for a 
 display of connoisseurship either in virtu or 
 gastronomy, he quietly followed the belles who 
 had thus confided themselves to his guardian- 
 ship ; and as he deliberately placed himself on 
 horseback, methodically taking up each of his 
 white reins separately — then pulling the flaps 
 of his coat from under him, raising his hat a 
 little up behind and a little at one side — and 
 lastly, bidding a long farewell to his saddle, to 
 poise himself in his patent stirrups, his at- 
 tention was too much absorbed, to notice the 
 peculiar expression of Anna Weldon's counte- 
 nance, as, patting her horse's crest, she laugh- 
 ingly exclaimed, " Good bye, Julia — remember 
 me to your relations." 
 
 Mr. Quantum speedily followed these eques- 
 trians ; a huge cucumber peeping out of each
 
 20 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 pocket — and a small bundle of asparagus serving 
 as a nosegay — whilst Julia gaily carolling a 
 Spanish tiranna, returned to her usual occupa- 
 tions, and in a short time forgot — not only her 
 relationship to Lady Harrie^Moreton, but even 
 her vicinity to his Majesty's 60th regiment of 
 dragoons.
 
 AT HOME. 21 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE DINNER. 
 
 But I remember, when the fight was done 
 Came there a certain lord, neat, trimly drest ; 
 Fresh as a bridegroom — still he smiled and talk'd. 
 With many holiday and lady terms 
 He questiori'd me — and but for these vile guns 
 He would himself have been a soldier. 
 
 Henbt IV. 
 
 The success of the Misses Weldon's machi- 
 nations, whatever they might have been, was 
 soon ascertained, as in less than a fortnight a 
 folio invitation- card arrived at the rectory, re- 
 questing the honour of Mr. and Miss Fielding's 
 company to dinner at Weldon House ; and into 
 the envelope, Anna had slipped a little pink 
 note, recommending Julia to be careful of her
 
 22 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 toilet, as she " would meet all the officers," — 
 with three clashes under the last sentence. 
 
 Julia and her father were at breakfast when 
 this despatch arrived, and she threw it over to 
 him with a serio-comic air of mock gravity. 
 
 " Is my Julia then particularly ambitious to 
 captivate all the officers V inquired Mr. Field- 
 ing with a radiant smile, expressing more of 
 pleasure than anxiety. 
 
 " No ; one half of the regiment would satisfy 
 all my views of conquest ; or rather, I have no 
 wish on the subject, except to know Lady Har- 
 riet Moreton." 
 
 " Lady Harriet Moreton!" exclaimed Mr. 
 Fielding, in a tone of surprise, and the expres- 
 sion of his countenance became visibly altered. 
 " And what can induce you, my child, to wish 
 for her acquaintance V 
 
 " Only, my dear father, because I have 
 heard so much of her Ladyship." 
 
 " Heard? — what?" — and Julia was startled 
 by the earnestness of Mr. Fielding's manner. 
 
 " Why, Anna Weldon says, she is a wo-
 
 AT HOME. 23 
 
 man of tip- top fashion — and Mr. Quantum 
 says — " 
 
 " Pshaw ! did you only hear of her from 
 that gossiping doctor, and that giggling Anna 
 Weldon ?" 
 
 " How could I hear of her but from them, 
 my dearest father I — for though I know she is 
 my cousin, I have hardly ever heard you men- 
 tion her. What is she like?" 
 
 " Very like that picture ;" and Mr. Fielding 
 cast a melancholy glance towards a portrait of 
 Julia's mother. " At least she resembled it as 
 a child, and I have not seen her since." 
 
 " Is she indeed like that picture !" said Julia, 
 and her eyes filled with tears as she thought of 
 her mother, whom she still in some degree 
 remembered. 
 
 " There is certainly a strong family like- 
 ness," said Mr. Fielding, speaking rather to his 
 own thoughts than to Julia. " Would to hea- 
 ven their characters resembled each other !" — he 
 rose as he said this, and took some turns across 
 the room. This mention of his wife, however
 
 24 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 casual, had touched a chord which thrilled in 
 his inmost soul. The poignancy of regret threw 
 a passing sadness on his clammy brow, and trem- 
 bled in the drooping corners of his mouth ; but 
 the gloom was transient : another moment, and a 
 ray from heaven seemed to lighten on the sup- 
 pliant's head, and the sorrows of the man were 
 forgotten in the Christian's hopes. 
 
 " Julia, my love," continued Mr. Fielding, 
 calmly resuming his seat, " I have a deep and 
 almost painful interest in Lady Harriet More- 
 ton. Her mother, you know, was your aunt — 
 the sister of the departed angel who to us is — 
 ■ not lost, but gone before.' Lady Harriet, like 
 yourself, is her father's only care. Judge if 
 Lord Alton is not anxious about her ;" and 
 taking a letter from his pocket, he read the 
 following detached sentences. 
 
 " Will you, my dear Fielding, be her friend, 
 her protector, as well as parent? — I will not 
 recall the memory of the past — I will not in- 
 voke the shades of those we both have loved. 
 But I will call on you as a minister of that reli-
 
 AT HOME. 25 
 
 gion, whose paths are peace, to stretch forth 
 an arm strong enough to save a faltering fel- 
 low-creature from destruction. Harriet, I 
 
 fondly flatter myself, has suffered less from her 
 own errors, than from the envy of others. To 
 doubt her innocence, would bring despair ; but 
 yet I cannot shut my eyes to the fatal truth, 
 that, whether deservedly or not, her conduct has 
 
 not escaped reproach. There is a moment 
 
 when public opinion trembles in the balance, 
 and vibrates to every breath of censure or of 
 praise. In such a moment, many an incipient 
 spark of virtue has been extinguished by the 
 cold whispers of unfeeling doubt. Should such 
 assail my dear imprudent child — save her, 
 Fielding, save her, I conjure you, from the pelt- 
 ing of the pitiless storm ; shelter her, protect 
 her — if not for her mother's sake — save her for 
 mine." 
 
 Mr. Fielding continued the perusal of this 
 
 letter in silence ; and Julia thought with mixed 
 
 emotions on these expressions of Lord Alton's 
 
 feelings towards his daughter, as compared with 
 
 VOL. I. b
 
 26 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 the frivolous observations made on her by Miss 
 Weldon. She remembered, as if in a dream, 
 having heard Mrs. Fielding- speak of Lady 
 Alton in terms that left on her infant mind a 
 faint impression of dislike. She recollected, too, 
 a very fine lady highly rouged, whom she was 
 desired to call aunt, having come with a little 
 girl some years older than herself, to see her 
 mother a few days before she left England, 
 never to return. This could have been no 
 other than Lady Alton and her daughter. Then 
 she had seen Lady Harriet Moreton? — " Tis 
 very odd," thought she, " that till now I have 
 hardly ever heard my father mention her !" 
 The recollections connected with her name were 
 unaccountably painful, and she looked forward 
 almost with dread to the chance of again being 
 thrown into her society. 
 
 But all Julia's meditations were insufficient 
 to discover a solution of the apparent mystery 
 which had impeded her father's acquaintance 
 with Lady Harriet Moreton, whilst his inti- 
 macy with Lord Alton was, as she knew, un-
 
 AT HOME. 27 
 
 bounded. The fact was, that she was unac- 
 quainted with the circumstances of her father's 
 earlier life ; and, till this day, no recent event had 
 occurred to bring- this reflection to her mind. 
 
 Mr. Fielding's father had been the late Lord 
 Alton's only brother ; and the ties both of affec- 
 tion and consanguinity which united them in 
 the closest bonds of friendship, seemed to have 
 been perpetuated in their children ; as, although 
 the present Lord Alton was many years younge* 
 than Mr. Fielding, they always had lived to- 
 gether in a degree of intimacy almost fraternal ; 
 till, unfortunately, the very similarity of their 
 tastes, in leading them to form an attachment 
 to the same lady, occasioned a temporary in- 
 terruption of their intercourse. Mr. Fielding 
 was the favoured lover ; and in a moment of 
 pique, Lord Alton transferred his attentions 
 to her sister, whom he married on a short 
 acquaintance. 
 
 This union was unfortunate. Lady Alton 
 was vain, unfeeling, arrogant, and capricious ; 
 and whilst her sister, in the retirement of Fair-
 
 28 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 ton Rectory, conferred and enjoyed domestic 
 bliss beyond the common lot of mortality, — the 
 Countess, with all that rank, splendour, and 
 beauty could bestow, poisoned the cup of happi- 
 ness that was within her reach, and made him 
 miserable whom all the world besides delighted 
 to honour. 
 
 Whilst either of these ladies lived, though 
 no open rupture between the two families gra- 
 tified the public ear, all private intercourse be- 
 tween them was suspended. But Lady Alton 
 dying previous to Mr. Fielding's return from 
 the Continent, a correspondence by letter was 
 renewed between the cousins, alike gratifying 
 to both, and their kindred minds soon found that 
 their mutual regard had merely been dormant — 
 not destroyed. 
 
 This correspondence soon became confiden- 
 tial on both sides ; but though Mr. Fielding 
 had met Lord Alton occasionally in London 
 and its neighbourhood, he had not seen Lady 
 Harriet since the day when she had accompa- 
 nied the Countess to take a last farewell of her
 
 AT HOME. 29 
 
 dying parent ; and as Lord Alton had never so 
 far overcome his feelings, as to visit the rectory, 
 where Julia had latterly been stationary, the 
 Earl and his niece were equally strangers to 
 each other. 
 
 The idea of meeting Lady Harriet Moreton 
 engrossed Julia's mind, nearly as much as it 
 seemed to have done that of Anna Weldon; 
 but the expectation was one fraught rather with 
 pain than pleasure. Of what strange materials 
 is the human heart composed ! Sometimes the 
 mists of futurity rise to our view in visionary 
 gloom, as if to notify approaching ill. Some- 
 times the heart bounds forward to grasp the 
 fleeting present, as if in it we traced the sha- 
 dow of some scene gone by. Is memory or 
 prescience then our guide ? Have we pre-ex- 
 isted in some other sphere ? or, is it only that, 
 at those moments, our guardian angel flutters in 
 sad anticipation round us, spreading his dark 
 wings over our soul, as if at once to warn and 
 guard us from impending danger ? 
 
 At length the day arrived on which Julia
 
 30 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 and her father were summoned to Weld on 
 House. Some professional duties having obliged 
 Mr. Fielding to visit unexpectedly a distant 
 part of his parish, Julia in vain entreated per- 
 mission to send her excuse ; but the Rector was 
 peremptory in his commands that she should go 
 without him ; for Lady Weldon and her daugh- 
 ters had seemed so particularly solicitous for 
 her company, that Mr. Fielding, with sensitive 
 delicacy, feared her absence might be miscon- 
 strued ; and he therefore insisted on Julia's 
 placing herself, as she had often done before, 
 under the guardianship of Lady Ellesmere, who 
 was to meet her there; and he further pro- 
 mised, if possible, to join his daughter in the 
 evening. 
 
 It was with no small pleasure that Julia 
 heard, on entering Lady Weldon's drawing- 
 room, that Lady Harriet Moreton was not yet 
 arrived from London ; and before Anna Wel- 
 don had confided to her half her regrets on the 
 occasion, the arrival of "all the officers" sus- 
 pended their conversation ; and Julia, unnoticed
 
 AT HOME. 31 
 
 by either her friends or the hostess, retired to 
 a distant seat beside the governess. 
 
 And now the noise of spurs, and swords, and 
 spatterdashes, and tasselled epaulets, and var- 
 nished helmets, rendered even the names of the 
 cavaliers nearly inaudible, although the com- 
 manding-officer went through the ceremony of 
 repeating them in turn to Sir James, as the 
 English ambassador does to the French king at 
 the Tuileries ; whilst each gentleman, being 
 " presented and away," knocked his boots into 
 the third position, turned on his heel from Sir 
 James to Lady Weldon, moved his chin on 
 the upper circle of his black stock, nearly a de- 
 gree and a half towards his left ear ; and then 
 filed off to a convenient distance, in the happy 
 consciousness that his contribution to the day's 
 entertainment was thereby amply fulfilled. 
 
 The room was nearly full ; and Lady Weldon 
 had more than once proclaimed her wonder at 
 Lord and Lady Ellesmere being so late ; when 
 at last the door opened, and the thick-set, 
 strong-built, perfumed little figure of Mr. War-
 
 32 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 burton presented itself, as the substitute for the 
 Earl's whole family* 
 
 " He was quite shocked at being so late — 
 hoped dinner had not been kept waiting — never 
 would forgive himself if even one dish was 
 spoiled — had driven round from Posy Lodge to 
 Ellesmere Park, intending to accompany her 
 La'ship hither; but just at the moment they 
 were all stepping into the carriage, Lady Elles- 
 mere received an express from her son, saying 
 that he was just arrived from Paris, and was on 
 the road to Ellesmere — waited till the last in- 
 stant in hopes of bringing Lord Calvert with 
 them, accompanied by his friend Mr. Fitz- 
 osborne — sorry, instead, to be the bearer of Lord 
 and Lady Ellesmere's apologies — certain the 
 two travellers would have been delighted at 
 this early opportunity of paying their respects 
 to Sir James and Lady Weldon, and offering 
 their hommages aux demoiselles — left Lady 
 Ellesmere quite in a pleasing flurry at the idea 
 of Lord Calvert's return," &c. &c. &c. 
 
 " Cela passe outre" exclaimed the dragoon,
 
 AT HOME. 33 
 
 with whom Miss Weldon had for some time 
 been flirting. " Such tender solicitude is not 
 common with maternals in this age of improve* 
 ment." 
 
 Julia turned to look at the speaker, and was 
 not a little amused at the perfectly naive ex- 
 pression which Sir Henry Moreton had con* 
 trived to throw into his countenance ; for it was 
 him who thus eulogised the absent Countess. 
 
 He was carelessly leaning back in his chair ; 
 his broad shoulders and expansive chest dis* 
 playing to the utmost advantage his peculiarly 
 rich and costly uniform. His black hair and 
 well-cultivated whiskers gave a martial appear* 
 ance to his face, which seemed not exactly in 
 unison either with the expression of his coun* 
 tenance or the outline of his features ; for his 
 nose was short, rather too broad for beauty, 
 and too flat for sense, but its point had that 
 bend upwards that indicates satire. His lips, 
 thick and prominent, usually distended in smiles 
 that disclosed a beautiful range of teeth; but 
 sometimes, too, the lips were so closely com-
 
 34 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 pressed, that the teeth themselves seemed 
 clenched. His forehead, broad, smooth, and 
 fair, was bounded by dark and bushy eye- 
 brows ; and whatever wrinkles had dared to in- 
 trude, had collected themselves round the out- 
 ward corners of his eyes, giving, as occasion 
 might require, additional hilarity to his ready 
 laugh, or keener scrutiny to his penetrating 
 glance. 
 
 Dinner being announced, Sir Henry More- 
 ton was commanded by his host to resign the 
 daughter for the mother ; and he accordingly 
 proceeded to assist Lady Weldon in the distri- 
 bution of the upper dish with that nonchalance 
 that always distinguishes a professed carver. 
 All bills of fare now pretty nearly resemble 
 each other, and everybody expects the regular 
 routine of vol-au-vents, Jilets, and galantines, 
 as much as our forefathers calculated on boiled 
 turkeys and roast pigs. But nevertheless, Sir 
 James Weldon seemed anxious to obtain Mr. 
 Warburton's approbation of his dinner, and re- 
 peatedly addressed to him some remark as to
 
 AT HOME. 35 
 
 the freshness of his salmon, or regret that his 
 venison was not in season. 
 
 "Why, my dear Sir James," replied Mr. 
 Warburton, as he dismissed his last morsel of 
 matelote d'anguilles, " as you say, venison is no 
 bad thing when it is in prime season ; it is posi- 
 tively the only plat de resistance a gentleman 
 can eat. But upon the whole, I rather doubt 
 whether chevreuil is not better." 
 
 " Perhaps it is, if one could ever get it 
 dressed without vinegar," said Major Crosbie, 
 who was not sorry to seize this opportunity of 
 showing that he too was a traveller. 
 
 " Nay, I think, Crosbie, the marinade is 
 the best part of it," exclaimed Sir Henry 
 Moreton. 
 
 " I'll answer for it, a good South Down is 
 worth all the chevreuils in the world," replied 
 Sir James, in a tone of impatience. 
 
 " What think you, Mr. Warburton, of our 
 pre-salt mutton at Paris V 
 
 "Ah! c'est la viande par excellence! But, 
 Sir Henry, give me leave to ask, have you
 
 36 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 crossed the Alps 1 Have you been to Rome 
 to eat wild boar V 
 
 " Alas, no ! I never got beyond the Chamois 
 and the valley of Chamouni." 
 
 Mr. Warburton's respect for Sir Henry sen- 
 sibly diminished ; it however revived again 
 before dinner was concluded, owing to his over- 
 hearing the gallant Colonel talking well on the 
 horrors of effervescing champaign, as compared 
 with still champaign ; and the friendly feeling 
 was at last fully restored by Sir Henry's correct 
 enumeration of the thirty-six ingredients neces- 
 sary to form a salad. Nor did Mr. Warburton 
 wait to discuss more than two-thirds of the 
 dishes that lay in his more immediate neigh- 
 bourhood, before he imparted to Sir Henry, 
 with all the apparent frankness of unreserved 
 confidence, Ascbambault's receipt for sauce 
 aux lanyues en papillotes, withholding nothing 
 from his friend but the principal ingredient — 
 the champignons. 
 
 Meantime, Miss Weldon had been eminently 
 unsuccessful in her attempts to draw the other
 
 AT HOME. 37 
 
 beaux into either conversation or acquaintance. 
 Major Crosbie was placed between her and a 
 blue-stocking lady of the neighbourhood, whose 
 unremitting interrogations respecting the author 
 of De Vere left him little leisure to pay his 
 devoirs either to Miss Weldon or the sahni 
 that was opposite to him. And on the other 
 side of her was unfortunately placed the only 
 shy captain in the regiment. With almost 
 jealous looks of wonder did she therefore be- 
 hold her sister, who, seated at the other end of 
 the table, had succeeded in at last extracting 
 a few monosyllables, and even something like 
 a colloquy from her satellite. 
 
 M Are you fond of dancing, Captain Bris- 
 bane V 
 
 " We don't dance," was his reply. 
 
 " What ! not even at Almack's V* rejoined 
 Anna, anxious to show that she was at least 
 acquainted with that cabalistic name. 
 
 The Captain turned his head slowly round, 
 his stiff stock remaining stationary ; and, gra- 
 dually raising his sleepy eyelids, he seemed to
 
 38 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 intend a survey of his fair querist, from the 
 level of her plate to the pinnacle of the rose- 
 bush that grew out of her topmost curl. The 
 investigation apparently was as conclusive as 
 that of a minister when a memorial is in ques- 
 tion : " We have taken your case into conside- 
 ration :" of course the answer was concise, and 
 in the negative. 
 
 "No, do you?" 
 
 " I hope to dance a great deal at Almack's 
 next spring. Sister and I are not come out 
 yet, but we are to be presented the first draw- 
 ing-room after Christmas." 
 
 Another survey followed this remark ; but as 
 Captain Brisbane again took the trouble of 
 raising his eyes, they met those of the Honour- 
 able Mr. Jessop, apparently wandering in the 
 same direction; and the smile that followed, 
 was to be explained by his gracious accept- 
 ance of that gentleman's challenge to a glass of 
 hock. 
 
 " Quite a treat," slowly articulated the Cap- 
 tain, as he replaced his glass in its cooler.
 
 AT HOME. 39 
 
 f" Sans par eil" rejoined Mr. Jessop, to whom 
 the remark was addressed. 
 
 " Papa is famous for his wines ; I really be- 
 lieve he has as many different kinds as sister 
 and I have bracelets. He ! he! he!" 
 
 "Any home-made?" and Captain Brisbane 
 condescended to look at the very pretty arm 
 which shone in whiteness even through the 
 dingy gigot and countless gewgaws that dis- 
 figured it. 
 
 "Oh yes ! sister and I do a quantity of 
 bead- work. Sometimes we sit at it from morn- 
 ing till night. Mr. Warburton says we should 
 make good Catholics, we are so fond of counting 
 our beads. He ! he ! he ! Oh ! I declare this 
 snap is broken !" and the obedient bracelet 
 fell at Captain Brisbane's feet. But, O tem- 
 poral 6 mores! he stooped not, moved not, 
 and Lady Weldon just then rising to adjourn 
 to the drawing-room, the honour of restoring 
 the gem to its owner devolved upon the under- 
 butleT. 
 
 Hitherto it had appeared that the peculiar
 
 40 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 solicitude which both Lady "Weldon and her 
 daughters had at first expressed for Julia's 
 company, had latterly somehow totally escaped 
 their memory, as she had been left entirely to 
 the care of Sir James, who was never so pleased 
 or so good-humoured as when his " blush-rose," 
 as he called Julia, was beside him. Seeing that 
 her kind host was equally neglected by his visit- 
 ors and his family, she had particularly exerted 
 herself to amuse him ; and so much did he en- 
 gross her attention, that she totally forgot how 
 many of " the officers " had asked her to drink 
 wine, or even that the Honourable Mr. Jessop 
 had once spoken to her across the table, to 
 relever a bon-mot of hers that Sir James could 
 not comprehend. All these interesting circum- 
 stances were, however, in time, recalled to her 
 memory ; for a lady's drawing-room is not the 
 land where all things are forgotten ; and the 
 Misses Weldon lost not a moment in dragging 
 their " dear Julia " into a corner, in order to 
 have an opportunity of " talking over all the 
 officers*"
 
 AT HOME. 41 
 
 Lady Weldon meanwhile undertook the task 
 of entertaining the seniors of the party, although 
 it was not one for which she was well qualified. 
 As a spinster, she had been considered rich ; as 
 a matron, she was reckoned proud ; but alas ! 
 with the best intentions in the world, she had 
 never yet been characterised as fashionable. 
 
 " 'Tis not in mortals to command success." 
 But she did more. She deserved it ; for with 
 a perseverance and self-denial that in a better 
 cause might have gained a martyr's crown, she 
 did every thing which she was told was genteel, 
 and abstained from doing every thing she natu- 
 rally liked ; offering, in hourly sacrifice, her taste, 
 her habits, her comforts, and almost her hap- 
 piness, at the shrine of that wayward goddess 
 Fashion ; who, like the prophet of the East, is 
 only known by sound to the uninitiated. 
 
 For instance : No person could enjoy more 
 robust health than Lady Weldon did. But she 
 had once dined where the fine lady of the man- 
 sion gloried in her petite santt ; and now Lady 
 Weldon's corpulent frame and expansive cheeks
 
 42 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 were, in humble imitation, stretched at full 
 
 length on a chaise longue, whilst in a subdued 
 
 tone she occasionally joined languishingly in 
 
 the conversation of her guests. 
 
 " I thought we were to have had Lady 
 
 Harriet Moreton here to-day V* said Mrs. 
 
 Colon, the blue-stocking lady. 
 
 " I knew she would not leave her father 
 
 just now; for my sister writes me word from 
 
 town, that Lord Alton is certainly to be the 
 
 new minister." 
 
 This speech was delivered in a dictatorial 
 
 voice by Mrs. Masham, a lady who, like the 
 dolphin, owed all her lustre to reflected light ; 
 for her sister had the supreme good fortune to 
 be married to a paralytic old bishop, who was 
 regular in his attendance in the House of 
 Lords. Of course, therefore, Mrs. Masham 
 had always the first intelligence on politics. 
 She had also once received from London a gown 
 oiseau de paradis, three weeks before that 
 colour had entirely disappeared from Kensing- 
 ton Gardens. And though in literature she
 
 AT HOME. 43 
 
 yielded the palm to the blue-stocking lady 
 above mentioned, yet she frequently contrived 
 to anticipate even her in a new novel, and 
 always knew "from the best authority," not only 
 the real name of the author, but also those of 
 his fictitious personages. 
 
 " I am glad to hear you say so, Mrs. Ma- 
 sham," drawled out Lady Weldon, " for the 
 sake of our friend Mr. Fielding. Julia, my 
 love, take care you don't get cold by sitting so 
 near that door." 
 
 *t And how will Mr. Fielding manage with 
 the Moretons V inquired Miss Hackerley, 
 speaking low, looking wise, and thrusting out 
 her chin. 
 
 " Of course he will be attentive to them," 
 replied Lady Weldon, speaking in the same 
 under- tone, but equally expressively. " We 
 asked Julia here to-day on purpose to meet her 
 cousin." 
 
 " Why, Lord bless me," resumed Miss Hack- 
 erley, " when I was in London three years ago, 
 Lady Harriet Moreton was hardly noticed."
 
 44 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 " Oh ! I beg your pardon," rejoined Mrs. 
 Masham, " I speak from the best authority. I 
 know she is a delightful person. My sister 
 writes me word, that she and the Bishop are 
 very fond of her ; indeed Lady Harriet asked 
 my sister for an introduction to us." 
 
 " Pshaw !" exclaimed the downright plain- 
 spoken Mrs. Colon. " We all know she was 
 on the point of being divorced from her first 
 husband." 
 
 " Yes, indeed," valiantly retorted the per- 
 severing Miss Hackerley. " And only that 
 General Warder died just in time " 
 
 " Miss Hackerley," interrupted Lady Wei- 
 don, " I must tell you, that if Lady Harriet 
 was a little gay in her manners in her first hus- 
 band's life, she had every excuse, for he was 
 a sick, ugly old man." 
 
 " A good excuse indeed for a wife being 
 gay," observed Mrs. Colon, with a sneer. " But 
 why did she marry him, if she did not like 
 
 him r 
 
 " For a very good reason, my dear madam ;
 
 AT HOME. 45 
 
 Lord Alton's estates are all entailed on the 
 heir to the title ; and besides, it is possible 
 Lord Alton may marry again." 
 
 " So, because her father was comparatively 
 young, excessively agreeable, and his estates 
 very considerable, she was obliged to marry, at 
 eighteen, a sick, ugly old man. Well, Mrs. 
 Masham, you must find a better reason," con- 
 tinued Mrs. Colon. 
 
 " General Warder was very rich and very 
 magnificent ; and though Lady Harriet's for- 
 tune was large, her ideas even went beyond it." 
 
 " Ah! c'est une autre affaire que cela. I am, 
 however, only surprised at Lord Alton having 
 objected to this match, or at the world having 
 sneered at it. And if, as I suppose, the old 
 General was kind and generous to his young 
 wife, why, as you say, Lady Weldon, it was no 
 wonder she was gay." 
 
 " Gay !" vociferated Miss Hackerley, almost 
 in a scream. " Gay ! why I have heard — I won't 
 vouch for the truth, but I have been told — 
 not that I would take away her character
 
 46 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 however, now you know that she is married to 
 this Sir Henry More ton, we shall see how she 
 conducts herself." 
 
 " Well, ladies, I can only tell you from the 
 very best authority," rejoined Mrs. Masham, 
 that Lady Harriet Moreton is now quite the 
 fashion. She was the reigning favourite in 
 the very highest society all spring," continued 
 she, with considerable emphasis ; " and my 
 sister writes me word, that she has been so 
 ever since she and Sir Henry returned from 
 Switzerland." 
 
 " She was not so when they went to Switzer- 
 land," remarked Miss Hackerley. " However, 
 we shall see whether Lady Ellesmere will visit 
 her." 
 
 " Of course," replied Lady Weldon. u You 
 know Lord Calvert has carried his election, 
 and Lord Alton may be of great use to him." 
 
 " Well ! I shall be greatly surprised if ever 
 I meet Lady Harriet Moreton at Ellesmere 
 Park." 
 
 Mrs. Colon was very fond of what she called
 
 AT HOME. 47 
 
 discussion, (her husband called it contradiction,) 
 and she replied, " And I shall be greatly sur- 
 prised if I do not meet Lady Harriet there. 
 Lady Ellesmere, Miss Hackerley, has sufficient 
 respectability to be able to share her good re- 
 putation with others not so well off. And I 
 have often heard say, that it is a cruel thing to 
 drive any young woman to desperation by ap- 
 pearing to doubt her innocence, so long as there 
 is a possibility of disbelieving her guilt." 
 
 " Well, I am sure I would not for the world 
 suspect any person's character." 
 
 " No, I never heard you discredit a tale of 
 scandal in my life." 
 
 " And if everybody visits Lady Harriet, 
 you, Miss Hackerley, will of course attend her 
 Ladyship's parties." 
 
 " I knew, Mrs. Colon," observed Lady Wel- 
 don, " that you would agree with me. Lady 
 Ellesmere, I am sure, will visit Lady Harriet, 
 both for the sake of Lord Calvert and her 
 daughters." 
 
 11 There I differ with you entirely, Lady
 
 48 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 Weldon ; Lady Ellesmere is one of the proudest 
 
 women in Christendom, and " 
 
 But now the welcome sounds of clattering 
 spurs proclaimed, as in olden time, the approach 
 of heroes. In an instant, the two Misses Wel- 
 don escaped from their " dear" Julia, and were 
 to be seen placed negligently back to back on the 
 ottoman in the middle of the room. Bochsa's 
 last selection of favourite airs from La Didone 
 lay scattered beside them, as manifestoes of 
 their accomplishments ; but due care was taken 
 that neither the loose music nor the multitu- 
 dinous cushions should appear to occupy all the 
 seats ; and this precaution was not unwise, for 
 in a few minutes Sir Henry Moreton placed 
 himself and his coffee-cup beside the eldest 
 Miss Weldon, allowing his pendent epaulet to 
 fall remorseless on the fat, fair, unveiled 
 shoulders of the careless Anna, who might 
 almost have supplied the place of those old- 
 fashioned, stuffed, high-backed settees, that 
 were discarded when our grandmothers laid 
 aside hoops and fountains.
 
 AT HOME. 49 
 
 Anna was not, however, long left thus neg- 
 lected. It is true, almost " all the officers" 
 clustered together in groups, sipping their cof- 
 fee without cream, and occasionally uttering 
 to each other a few inaudible monosyllables. 
 Major Crosbie looked interesting, as he leaned 
 over the back of Lady Weldon's couch ; but 
 he said nothing ; and the Honourable Mr. Jes- 
 sop picked his teeth, as he turned over the 
 leaves of an old almanack. But young Squire 
 Colon and dandy Mr. Masham, who were 
 thus completely distanced by the exquisites, 
 had, in their discomfiture, turned to the obliging 
 Anna, and with unusual eagerness urged her 
 to give them some music. She, nothing loth, 
 tried waltz after waltz, and sauteuse after sau- 
 teuse. But, alas ! the immoveable officers were 
 invulnerable in the heel. 
 
 " Orpheus himself would not move these 
 brutes," whispered Mrs. Colon ; who perchance 
 recollected with some degree of malevolence, 
 Major Crosbie's taciturnity. Anna Weldon 
 seemed to agree with her on this subject ; and 
 vol. i. c
 
 52 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 at last, in very earnest, she asked Julia to give 
 up the pleasure of talking to Mr. Warburton, 
 and to take her place at the piano-forte. But 
 she had scarcely played the symphony of J7 
 soave e bel contento > when Mr. Jessop glided 
 towards the instrument, and Sir Henry More- 
 ton begun to nod his head in time to the music ; 
 and before she had finished the first part of the 
 air, he exclaimed, in answer to some ques- 
 tion of Miss Weldon's about a horse, " How 
 delightfully your governess sings !" 
 
 " Our governess ! — You don't mean old Ma- 
 dame Delaporte I" 
 
 " I mean that very pretty girl that is now at 
 the piano-forte." 
 
 "La! she is not our governess! — he! he! 
 he ! what a good joke ! — She is our rector's 
 daughter." 
 
 " Cela metonne, par exemple. I declare I 
 took her for a veritable Italienne." 
 
 " Oh ! no wonder," returned Miss Weldon, 
 with a scornful toss of her head. " Miss Field- 
 ing was seven years on the Continent."
 
 AT HOME. 51 
 
 * u Good heavens! is that Miss Fielding? pray 
 do me the honour to introduce me to her." 
 
 To Miss Weldon's astonishment, Sir Henry 
 was instantly on his feet ; and almost without 
 waiting for the introduction, was the next mo- 
 ment at Julia's side. 
 
 The lethargic Colonel was instantly trans- 
 formed into the man of the world ; and he paid 
 his compliments to Julia with all the ease of a 
 practised cavaliere servente, but yet in such 
 guise, that there was enough of gallantry to ren- 
 der them piquant, and enough ofretenue to make 
 them acceptable. He had instantly guessed 
 that such strains could only proceed from Miss 
 Fielding — might he claim the privilege of a 
 relation, and express his regrets at Mr. Field- 
 ing's absence I He should now be able to an- 
 swer all Lady Harriet's queries about her dear 
 little cousin : for Lady Harriet could only think 
 of her still as a child, but one that was always 
 held up to her as a model. In short, Miss 
 Fielding's carriage was announced, before Sir 
 Henry had invented more than three impromptu 
 
 DIVERSITY OF *US
 
 52 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 quotations from his wife's letters in praise of 
 Julia ; and though he allowed Mr. Jessop to 
 shawl her, the Colonel's arm was offered as a 
 matter of course to support her through the 
 fatigue of taking leave of her "dear" friends, 
 who, on the moment of her departure, fortu- 
 nately recollected how extremely solicitous they 
 had been for the pleasure of her company.
 
 AT HOME. 53 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 LORD CALVERT. 
 
 His form accorded with a mind 
 Lively and ardent — frank and kind. 
 Yet friends who nearest knew the youth, 
 His scorn of wrong — his zeal for truth j 
 And bards who saw his features bold, 
 When kindled by the tales of old, 
 Said — were that youth to manhood grown, 
 Not long should Roderick Dhu's renown 
 Be foremost voiced by mountain fame. 
 
 Lady of the Lake. 
 
 Julia was in that happy season of life when 
 the mind, like the smooth surface of an un- 
 ruffled lake, reflects each passing image, and 
 changes its aspect with every succeeding mo- 
 ment. If imperturbability is not the charac-
 
 54 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 teristic of either, yet each can boast that whilst 
 the darkest cloud is soonest broken, the last 
 ray of sun-shine rests on the placid mirror in 
 lengthened light. 
 
 So it was with Julia's spirits. The disap- 
 pointment in not having been joined by her 
 father, was lost in the anticipated pleasure of 
 returning to him. The transient anxiety she 
 had felt on the subject of meeting Lady Harriet 
 Moreton was postponed, if not entirely dis- 
 pelled. The solicitude of the Misses Weldon 
 to monopolize the attentions of " all the officers" 
 had amused, not mortified her ; and finally, the 
 well-bred, though tardy compliments of Sir 
 Henry Moreton had been doubly gratifying, 
 because wholly unexpected : in brief, she re- 
 turned in high spirits to the rectory. 
 
 The midsummer sun had scarcely sunk be- 
 hind the deep woods of Ellesmere Park ; and 
 whilst his roseate radiance yet tinged the 
 western sky, the moon rose in serener bright- 
 ness from behind the scraggy summit of Broom- 
 hill. It was a beautiful scene ; and as the car-
 
 AT HOME. 55 
 
 riage wound slowly up the steep ascent from 
 the lower gate of Mr. Fielding's park, the gay 
 and active Julia used her utmost powers of en- 
 treaty to prevail on her constant chaperone, 
 " old nurse," to accompany her on foot by the 
 nearer pathway, that in a more direct, yet less 
 accessible track leads through the wood to the 
 house : for a moment, nurse reflected on the 
 narrow turnstiles and almost perpendicular 
 ascent. But Julia tied her own silk scarf so 
 carefully round poor nurse's neck, and reminded 
 her how often they had trodden that path in 
 safety, that the good old lady, as usual, yielded 
 to the entreaties of her "own dear child," as 
 she still called Miss Fielding, and contentedly 
 hobbled on, leaning with perfect reliance and 
 no little weight on Julia's fragile arm. 
 
 The summit was almost gained, and they had 
 sufficiently emerged from the recesses of the 
 wood to catch a glimpse of the bright water 
 under Fairton bridge, when, at a turn of the 
 path, they stopped on a little natural terrace 
 where Julia had fixed a seat, the use of which
 
 56 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 was not then unacceptable to her less agile com- 
 panion. But as they paused for a moment, the 
 moving shadow of a man crossed the moon-beam 
 that shone on the path before them, and the 
 next instant Lord Calvert stood at Julia's side. 
 
 The mutual surprise was so great, that for a 
 few seconds neither spoke : at last, Lord Cal- 
 vert exclaimed, " Dearest Julia, how delighted 
 I am to meet you ! And you are looking so 
 well ! but how came you here l n 
 
 •* Nay, how came you here V* rejoined Julia, 
 laughing : u I suppose your Lordship will cer- 
 tainly vote for the abolition of spring-guns." 
 
 M Is that your mode of congratulation on my 
 having gained my election ? Don't you think, 
 nurse, she treats me very cavalierly on my re- 
 turn ?" And so saying, he playfully drew Julia's 
 arm under one of his, and nurse's under the 
 other ; and without invitation, turned to escort 
 them to the house. 
 
 " In good truth, my Lord," replied the nurse, 
 as well as the steep road would allow her to 
 speak, " if Miss Julia treats you ill when you
 
 AT HOME. 57 
 
 are present, I am sure she often thinks of you 
 when you are absent : for I observe the lily of 
 the valley you gave her is always the first 
 watered; and she was always reading travel- 
 books when you were in foreign parts." 
 
 " Is that true, Julia? — then you don't quite 
 forget your old playfellow ?" and Lord Calvert 
 looked earnestly under her large hat, as he said 
 this ; but even in these two short sentences, his 
 tones varied perceptibly. The first was almost 
 whispered ; and surprise and pleasure marked 
 the interrogatory: a colder feeling seemed to 
 pass over his mind as he said the last ; but in 
 neither were his words accompanied by that 
 frank, joyous, yet affectionate manner, that had 
 characterised their intercourse when they had 
 last met. Julia forgot that three years makes 
 a perceptible difference in young ladies from 
 fourteen to seventeen ; and felt half offended, 
 she knew not why, at her former favourite. 
 Whilst he, as rapidly recurring in thought to 
 those innocent pleasures of childhood which they 
 had enjoyed together, with difficulty suppressed
 
 58 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 a sigh, as he reflected on the change which 
 those three eventful years had made in his 
 habits, his feelings, and perhaps his destinies. 
 
 Julia felt embarrassed, and was the first to 
 break the pause which had ensued. " Talking 
 of old times, I hope you do not think my father 
 is much altered. Of course you have seen him, 
 my Lord ?" 
 
 Lord Calvert answered this query by stating 
 in a careless manner that he had, and at the 
 same time left it to Julia's penetration to dis- 
 cover the motive of his untimely visit. He 
 did not tell her that a principal part of his in- 
 ducement to visit the rectory was the circum- 
 stance of having been left for a few moments 
 alone in the inn at Fairton ; as the companion of 
 his journey, Mr. Fitzosborne, had gone to the 
 barracks of Broomhill, in hopes of seeing Sir 
 Henry and Lady Harriet Moreton. Meanwhile, 
 the brilliant moonlight and lovely scenery had 
 induced his Lordship to prefer taking a stroll 
 through Mr. Fielding's park, to spending the 
 half hour of his absence in counting the panes
 
 AT HOME. 59 
 
 in the bow-window at the Red Lion. Nor did 
 he tell her, that having found Mr. Fielding at 
 home, he had profited by the opportunity of 
 procuring for his friend, Mr. Fitzosborne, a long- 
 wished-for introduction to Lord Alton. Yet 
 such had in truth been the chief, if not the only 
 motives of Lord Calvert's visit to the parsonage. 
 But as he and Julia stopped in the broader 
 light at the entrance of the terrace, and as he 
 marked the perfect symmetry of her form now 
 just opening into womanhood, he thought, or 
 at least inferred, that still other inducements 
 might, perchance, be found for revisiting that 
 scene ; and though he refused her present in- 
 vitation to re-enter the house, he consoled him- 
 self with the determination of ascertaining, 
 ere long, whether Miss Fielding looked as 
 handsome in day-light as she appeared to him 
 that evening. 
 
 Young, gay, and handsome, the heir to a 
 princely fortune, and a rank scarcely less illus- 
 trious, it is not to be supposed that Lord Cal- 
 vert had remained three years on the Continent
 
 GO ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 without finding himself courted, if not duly 
 appreciated, by his associates. Amongst the 
 fair sex he had been the object of professed 
 attachment to many a practised coquette, and of 
 covert machination to many a calculating ma- 
 tron ; whilst to his own he had been not less 
 the mark for speculation. But in this, he little 
 differed from hundreds of his countrymen, who 
 are daily made either dupes or idols. What 
 are the effects of this notoriety on his character I 
 Let others answer who have run the same in- 
 toxicating race, and been, like him, exposed to 
 the dolcezze lusinghieri of foreign adulation. 
 
 When Lord Calvert quitted Oxford for the 
 Continent, he had left it with a cultivated taste, 
 a mind saturated with classic lore, and a heart 
 warmed with all the kindlier feelings of huma- 
 nity : but at the same time he held his talents 
 in abeyance to the wisdom of others, and with 
 the ingenuous modesty of youth, doubted no 
 person's merit but his own. When he first 
 walked the streets of Paris, it was with feelings 
 of timidity almost painful : afraid to express
 
 AT HOME. 61 
 
 even the natural emotions of surprise, and 
 honestly believing that every man's coat was 
 better made than his. By degrees, the dandy 
 catching with cautious aptitude the peculiarities 
 of others, gave way to the adventurous chief, 
 who with bold inspiration invented new extra- 
 vagancies for the imitation of the crowd ; and, 
 before many months had elapsed, he adopted 
 and believed in the opinions of those who (at 
 least as they were reported to him) zealously 
 maintained that he alone " was wisest, discreet- 
 est, best." 
 
 Still Lord Calvert's sound principles and he- 
 reditary pride deterred him from associating 
 with any who were not of that privileged caste, 
 miscalled good society. But this precaution 
 benefited only himself. He was not M one of 
 those faultless monsters whom the world ne'er 
 saw ;" and in that very society his example lent 
 a sanction to much that was reprehensible. 
 For the errors of the upper ranks, accumulating 
 as they fall, roll downwards to the extremest 
 verge of civilised society ; and many an aspiring
 
 62 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 youth has been hurried into crime by simply 
 endeavouring to imitate the negative follies of 
 his superiors. 
 
 In this stage of his apprenticeship to the 
 world, Lord Calverfs natural good taste, 
 though often misapplied, was hy no means un- 
 improved; and the very experiments which 
 he made on the opinions of others, contributed 
 to the correction of his own. 
 
 Many a fashion, of which he was vain of 
 being the acknowledged inventor, fell into dis- 
 use under the shafts of his own criticism. Bat 
 whilst his talents and his imagination were 
 thus (however unworthily) kept in exercise, his 
 heart lay torpid ; for nothing sears the feelings 
 so much as vanity and self-love. 
 
 Meanwhile, he was amused by as many pass- 
 ing flirtations as other young men usually are ; 
 and these were, as usual, divided into the two 
 classes — of those whom he courted for fashion's 
 sake, and those who courted him from the same 
 motive. At last a very clever Italian succeeded 
 in making him desperately in love with her, by
 
 AT HOME. 63 
 
 pretending to idolize him. She dismissed for 
 his sake all his rivals, and soon after jilted him 
 for a London merchant. 
 
 This shock was severe : and finding that the 
 vacuum she left in his heart, or rather in his 
 occupations, could not be supplied by the frivo- 
 lous amusements of foppery, which had already 
 begun to pall, he turned to the study of virtil ; 
 and was again excited, amused, imposed on, 
 and disgusted. 
 
 The poison of flattery brings with it, sooner 
 or later, its own antidote — distrust : Lord Cal- 
 vert had now tried, in the short space of two 
 years, most of those pursuits which are gene- 
 rally deemed the best incentives to happiness. 
 At Venice, his gondola had received its gar- 
 lands from many a shaded balcony. At Rome, 
 there was scarcely a mosaicista or a cicerone, 
 that had not solicited the patronage di sua ec- 
 cellenza. And at Vienna, his fiat was irrever- 
 sible on all subjects connected with taste or 
 literature. Nor did he, in the wide circuit of 
 his travels, find any door closed against him,
 
 64 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 from the saloon of the Marquis de Riviere to 
 the palace of the Russian noble. But was this 
 happiness ? 
 
 By degrees he lost that contented reliance 
 on his own judgment, which, even if it be a 
 delusion, is one of the pleasantest. But in the 
 same proportion as he doubted his own infalli- 
 bility, he learned to distrust the sentiments of 
 his associates; and had this temper of mind 
 long continued, he might have degenerated into 
 a suffering, heartless cynic. About this time, 
 however, he became acquainted with a young 
 man of nearly his own age, who soon contrived 
 to reanimate, in his own favour, some of those 
 feelings of friendship, which Lord Calvert had 
 once spontaneously offered to all. 
 
 His new favourite, Lionel Fitzosborne, suc- 
 ceeded in giving a fresh impetus to his soul ; 
 and while he joined with him in railing at four- 
 fifths of the world, and their pursuits, they 
 mutually agreed that ambition was the only 
 passion worthy the mind of man, and politics 
 the only science deserving his attention.
 
 AT HOME. 65 
 
 A slight tincture of romance, and a consider- 
 able proportion of volatility, were amongst the 
 various ingredients of Lord Calvert's character ; 
 and both these facilitated his adoption of this 
 novel system. He therefore returned to Eng- 
 land, with his now inseparable companion, blast 
 on all the Continent had to offer ; doubtful of 
 every merit, suspicious of every praise, and 
 only anxious for an opportunity of asserting that 
 independence of character, of which he had but 
 lately learnt to be proud. But still, the very 
 zeal with which he adopted the sentiments of 
 his new friend, and the cordial and sincere 
 regard with which he returned his professions 
 of esteem, sufficiently proved that the cold cal- 
 culations of diplomacy were only the external 
 covering of a head still warm to every better 
 impression ; and that if the world in general had 
 lost its power of attraction, that heart might yet 
 still vibrate to closer, and therefore to dearer 
 sympathies.
 
 66 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE SCHEMER. 
 
 And so 'twill be when I am gone, 
 Those tuneful bells will still ring on. 
 
 Old Song. 
 
 When Lord Calvert had taken leave of 
 Miss Fielding, the latter hastened to rejoin her 
 father, to whom she fancied she had much to 
 impart ; for to have dined out without him, was 
 an event in the monotonous history of her life. 
 She playfully described Lord Calvert's sudden 
 appearance, as if he had rode on the moonbeam, 
 and as gaily commented on the tardy reminis- 
 cences of Sir Henry Moreton. Meanwhile, time 
 passed by unnoticed ; and it was late before she 
 retired to the solitude of her own room, and to
 
 AT HOME. 67 
 
 wonder what could have tempted nurse to make 
 that foolish observation to Lord Calvert. 
 
 The joy-bells of Fairton had not ceased their 
 tuneful welcome to Lord Calvert, when the 
 " first and second turn out" bore him and Mr. 
 Fitzosborne with renovated speed towards 
 Ellesmere Park. But who can describe the re- 
 ception the travellers met on their arrival — the 
 proud delight of paternal affection, that chas- 
 tened the habitual dignity of the old Earl as he 
 stood a little aside, looking with glistening eyes 
 on his darling son ; almost afraid to trust his 
 voice, lest it should betray his emotion, and yet 
 seeking to give vent to his happiness by the more 
 than courteous reception of his son's friend — 
 the unrepressed burst of feeling that prolonged 
 his mother's embrace — the varying colour in 
 Lady Matilda's cheek, as almost motionless she 
 awaited her brother's recognition — and the gay 
 sportiveness of Lady Louisa, that stole not un- 
 welcome the premature caress ? At that instant 
 of natural and pleasurable emotion, Lord Cal- 
 vert felt the links of domestic affection again
 
 68 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 close round his heart. The chain had been 
 lengthened till it was almost broken. It had 
 swayed in the gust of every passion ; yet still, 
 though weakened, it was yet entire. Alas ! that 
 it should be the general lot of man to survive 
 the better feelings of our nature ; and to find 
 that none grow with our growth, and strengthen 
 with our strength, but those most likely to 
 undermine our happiness ! 
 
 Mr. Fitzosborne was by no means an unin- 
 terested spectator of this scene, although no 
 change of countenance denoted sympathy. His 
 feelings, naturally of the strongest kind, were 
 yet so habitually under control, that they were 
 like the attendant spirits waiting on another 
 Prospero ; never obtruding unbidden on their 
 master, yet obedient to his slightest call ; and 
 while ready to assume to others any form he 
 pleased, yet still remaining invisible to mortal 
 ken, except when commanded to promote his 
 revels, or aid the " insubstantial pageant." 
 
 Some writers have defined friendship to be 
 self-love once removed ; and have asserted the
 
 AT HOME. 69 
 
 necessity of certain resemblances in character, 
 which elicit the reciprocal sympathies we dig- 
 nify with that name. It would, however, have 
 been difficult to trace the points of resemblance 
 between Lord Calvert and his friend, at least in 
 disposition — in situation they were not very dis- 
 similar : for Lionel's father, Lord Tralee, was 
 still alive ; and there existed between him and 
 his parent, if possible, still more resemblance 
 than could be found between Earl Ellesmere 
 and Lord Calvert. 
 
 The originals of the following letters are still 
 extant, and illustrate this assertion : — 
 
 The Hon. Mr. Fitzosborne to 
 Lord Tralee. 
 
 "I am sorry, my dear father, that circum- 
 stances prevented my writing to you sooner. 
 I hope you got my hurried letter from Paris, 
 stating that I had seen our ambassador; and 
 that he perfectly agreed with you on the great 
 advantage it would be to us to gain Lord 
 Calvert, as the Ellesmere interest is so ex-
 
 70 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 tended. I also hinted to him the cadetship for 
 Thomas, in case we bring the stipulated quan- 
 tity of votes. All pecuniary matters are finally 
 arranged. 
 
 " As to Lord Calvert, I begin to fear he is 
 not quite so tractable as I had hoped. He is as 
 volatile as we could wish ; and, with the most 
 desirable inconsistency, prides himself on being 
 peculiarly resolute. He is vain too ; and here 
 are flatterers enough to persuade him of his own 
 superexcellence. In short, though we have 
 not been here a week yet, I can perceive that 
 he is considered a little god in this neighbour- 
 hood ; and tant mieux, if his godship allows us 
 to wield his thunderbolts. But there is the 
 difficulty : Lord Calvert can only be guided, by 
 being convinced that he is still ungoverned; 
 and unfortunately he has taken some lessons 
 abroad that have wofully awakened his dis- 
 trusts. I am quite sure I could deter him from 
 doing anything ; but I am not so certain of 
 having it in my power to direct his actions : 
 however, difficulty but enhances the pleasures
 
 AT HOME. 71 
 
 of victory, and I have set my mind on being his 
 Lordship's spiritual director. 
 
 " Lord Ellesmere is the most impracticable 
 old man I ever met with ; and I really do not 
 think he would consent to his son being made 
 President of the Council, if the dignity was to 
 be purchased by the bribery of one of his black- 
 smiths. I do not think him at all a good 
 example for Calvert, and therefore mean to 
 get him away from this as soon as possible ; at 
 the same time, 
 
 I rather tell thee what is to be fear'd, 
 Than what I fear ; for always I am Caesar. 
 
 " Lady Ellesmere is quite an original, or 
 rather an admirable copy of wives as they were 
 in the time of Griselda : with strong prejudices, 
 warm feelings, and cool temper, she is a great 
 deal more perpendicular than the old tower at 
 Ballyfoyle. Tell my mother she will never do 
 in London : for though she has rank written in 
 every angle of her contour, she never will have 
 fashion.
 
 72 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 " I don't forget your hint about Lord Cal- 
 vert's sisters ; and certainly I agree with you in 
 thinking it a speculation not to be overlooked. 
 But I think it right, my dear father, to tell you, 
 that I cannot marry under twenty thousand. 
 Au reste, I have as yet seen nothing to dislike 
 in the girls ; they share between them most of 
 the charms, and no doubt many of the faults of 
 their sex. The youngest, whom I rather prefer, 
 has " heaven in her eye, grace in her steps ;" 
 and Lady Matilda has, " in every gesture, dig- 
 nity and love." Nevertheless, I don't like to 
 act precipitately, without being certain of the 
 amount of their fortunes ; and even if the inqui- 
 ries on that subject, which I have set on foot, 
 turn out favourably, I think I shall leave this 
 soon ; for this house is far too regular for any- 
 thing like a flirtation. London, after all, is the 
 only place to filer a courtship that is merely 
 carried on from calculation ; and in very truth, I 
 am almost tired of morality and Madeira: in 
 a word, (" tell it not in Gath") — but they keep 
 a woman cook ! — I am sure I need not add, that
 
 AT HOME. 73 
 
 their wines are as strong-bodied as their coach, 
 their roasts as massive as their plate ; and that 
 they go to church twice on a Sunday ! 
 
 " A-propos to church. I had almost forgotten 
 to tell you of a prize that is likely to fall in my 
 way. Lord Calvert has promised to procure 
 me a letter of introduction to Lord Alton, from 
 a near relation of his, who is rector here; and 
 this is a much better line of introduction than 
 Lady Harriet Moreton ; for Lord Alton, I am 
 told, is such an old-fashioned man, that he might 
 not perhaps relish his daughter's recommenda- 
 tion of me under existing circumstances. I saw 
 our friend in Cleveland Row for a moment, as 
 I passed through town. There is every hope of 
 Lord Alton's coming in. Lady Harriet has been 
 for some time urging her father to coalesce, and 
 I suppose she has succeeded ; for I understand 
 she joined Sir Henry at the barracks yester- 
 day. If Lord Calvert does not soon intro- 
 duce me to Mr. Fielding the rector, I mean to 
 get Lady Harriet to do so ; for I understand 
 he has great influence with Lord Alton, and, 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 74 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 perhaps, that would be a better channel than 
 the other for the commissionership. This fa- 
 mily are for ever talking of Mr. Fielding" and 
 his daughter. I can collect that he too is 
 a difficult man ; but of course not so much so 
 as Lord Ellesmere ; for Mr. Fielding has been 
 across the Alps. I am much mistaken if there 
 is not some design for Lord Calvert's marrying 
 Miss Fielding, who is Lord Alton's niece : this 
 connexion would considerably strengthen the 
 Ellesmere interest, and of course make Lord 
 Calvert the more valuable. 
 
 " Love to Maria and Jenny. Is Betsy grow- 
 ing tall ? How do they like Colinet's quadrilles ? 
 I am just going to ride tete-a-tete with the old 
 Earl on purpose to sift him a little. The 
 rest of the party are gone to Sir James 
 Weldon's. After this proof of self-denial, I 
 flatter myself, it is scarcely necessary to sub- 
 join that I am 
 
 " Your Lordship's obedient and dutiful 
 
 " Lionel Fitzosborne."
 
 AT HOME. 75 
 
 The answer to this letter did not arrive for 
 some days ; it ran as follows : — 
 
 Dear Lionel, 
 
 " I have received yours of the 7th, and will 
 attend to your hints about Lord A. and the 
 c-m-s-ship. 
 
 "Your discrimination of character is excel- 
 lent. But do not commit yourself on paper, even 
 to me. In writing, I always recommend ini- 
 tials ; mere speaking is not so dangerous, as it 
 is no pledge without witnesses. 
 
 "As I hope you will soon be enlisted in the 
 corps diplomatique, let me recommend a few 
 hints for your consideration. 
 
 " Be not diffuse in your style. Never turn 
 over leaf in a letter if it can possibly be avoid- 
 ed : it is always assumed that men in office have 
 no leisure. Write on large paper to a minis- 
 ter, and on note-paper to his secretary ; the first 
 looks respectful, the second confidential. 
 
 " Above all things, don't draw your similes 
 from Ballyfoyle. Ireland should never be quoted
 
 76 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 on this side the Channel, except in Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 " This reminds me of Nurse M'Clane. Her 
 husband was again here for money ; I gave 
 him ten pounds on your account ; they are very 
 troublesome and importunate. 
 
 " I understand your hint about money. You 
 have executed my commissions well, and I 
 therefore send you the enclosed cheque. It 
 is entered on the books as secret service 
 money. 
 
 " Your affectionate 
 
 " Better never make your full signature 
 common." 
 
 Lord Tralee's frequent admonitions to his son 
 were by no means thrown away upon him ; and in 
 addition to the advantages of both precept and 
 example, Nature in many respects had admi- 
 rably qualified Lionel Fitzosborne for a pro- 
 ficiency in those arts most frequently recom- 
 mended to his attention. To a singularly hand-
 
 AT HOME. 77 
 
 some figure, she had added the most insinuating 
 voice ; it was in truth 
 
 > Harmony's refined part 
 
 Stealing, whilst it seem'd to languish, 
 Full upon the list'ner's heart. 
 
 The outline of his physiognomy was eminently 
 beautiful; but the expression of his counte- 
 nance was grave almost to melancholy. His 
 complexion had that degree of pallidness which 
 gave additional interest to his general appear- 
 ance ; yet it seemed the result rather of study 
 than of delicacy, as the brilliancy of his almost 
 dazzling eyes, and the contrast of his dark 
 and curling hair, dispelled every idea of lan- 
 guor or disease. 
 
 Thus formed to captivate, with a figure com- 
 manding from its height, and manners irresist- 
 ible from their refinement, it was impossible 
 for him to be overlooked in any society ; and 
 whilst he possessed that subtle penetration that 
 rendered him intuitively acquainted with the 
 characters of almost all with whom he associ-
 
 78 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 ated, he equally possessed that happy art of not 
 only attracting the attention of others, but 
 of obtaining their applause. Such was Lionel 
 Fitzosborne : and when he proposed to Lord 
 Ellesmere to accompany him in his ride to 
 Fair ton, the old Earl felt gratified at the pre- 
 ference of his society, and involuntarily ex- 
 pressed his admiration of " so young a man 
 having escaped the contagion of the age, and 
 returned even from Italy with undiminished 
 respect for his seniors." 
 
 Lord Ellesmere having proposed to his com- 
 panion that they should call at the rectory on 
 neir return from Broomhill Barracks, Mr. 
 Fitzosborne with truth assured him, that no 
 arrangement would better suit his wishes ; and 
 the conversation naturally turned on the two 
 families they intended visiting. 
 
 " I called on Sir Henry Moreton on my 
 way down," said Lionel carelessly ; " but un- 
 fortunately he was then at Sir James Wel- 
 don's." 
 
 " Then you, of course, are acquainted
 
 AT HOME. 79 
 
 with Lady Harriet?" inquired Lord Elles- 
 mere. 
 
 " Oh ! I have known her many years — almost 
 from my childhood." 
 
 As Fitzosborne said this, he turned with a 
 winning smile to Lord Ellesmere, while his dark 
 eye flashed as it rested on the unsuspicious 
 countenance of the venerable old man. Was 
 the radiance of that smile designed to baffle 
 scrutiny? or was that kindling glance sent 
 to penetrate beneath the placid surface, and 
 trace if even an incipient doubt was there ? 
 
 " Now, do tell me in confidence, Mr. Fitz- 
 osborne," continued the Earl, with guileless 
 curiosity, " what sort of a person is Lady Har- 
 riet Moreton ?" 
 
 " She is a great favourite of mine," rejoined 
 Lionel, laughing. " And so she ought to be, 
 for her acquaintance was particularly sought 
 out for me by my father." 
 
 u Excellent young man !" no doubt thought 
 Lord Ellesmere ; for he was not probably then 
 aware that in days gone by — days of compara-
 
 80 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 tive innocence to Lionel, his wily father had, 
 from cold, unfeeling, calculating policy, ex- 
 posed his son to all the flattering blandishments 
 of a lovely but a dangerous woman, merely be- 
 cause that woman was the daughter of a states- 
 man whom he could not otherwise approach. 
 
 " I have always heard that Lady Harriet 
 Moreton was a very captivating creature," re- 
 sumed the Earl with earnestness. " But you 
 know there have been many contradictory re- 
 ports concerning her ; and I want you to tell 
 me in very truth, do you think Lady Ellesmere 
 may, or ought to visit her?" 
 
 " Since you ask me in confidence," almost 
 whispered Lionel, leaning forward to be close 
 to Lord Ellesmere's ear, " I must confess that 
 her conduct was very imprudent in her first 
 husband's time ; and though he certainly treated 
 her infamously, yet I am sure, my dear Lord, 
 you agree with me in thinking a woman should 
 never give room for scandal, even from impru- 
 dence." 
 " I wish all young men thought as you do,
 
 AT HOME. 81 
 
 Mr. Fitzosborne. But perhaps her conduct 
 was only imprudent ; and if so, she is to be 
 pitied at least as much as blamed." 
 
 " As for my opinion, Lord Ellesmere, I al- 
 ways thought that it was her consciousness of 
 innocence that made her so unguarded." 
 
 " Poor thing!" ejaculated the Earl; "but 
 how has she conducted herself since she married 
 Sir Henry ? You mix so much more in the 
 world than I do, that " 
 
 " But your Lordship will in half an hour be 
 a much better judge than I can possibly be. I 
 am not so intimate with Sir Henry as I was 
 with General Warder; but as far as appear- 
 ances go, I never saw a happier couple than 
 she and Sir Henry." 
 
 " Mr. Fielding tells me," resumed the Earl, 
 u that Lord Alton's whole heart is fixed on his 
 daughter. You know Mr. Fielding is heir to 
 Lord Alton's title ; and besides, Mrs. Fielding 
 and Lady Harriet's mother were sisters." 
 
 " Is Mr. Fielding very intimate with Lord 
 Alton r inquired Fitzosborne, adding, in a tone
 
 82 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 of indifference, " See, Lord Ellesmere, what a 
 beautiful picture that herd of deer would make 
 with those old oaks in the back-ground !" 
 
 Lord Ellesmere was proud of his oaks, 
 which he thought the finest in England ; but 
 imperceptibly, he scarcely knew how, he found 
 himself again talking, not of them, but of Mr. 
 Fielding. 
 
 " I believe Mr. Fielding has more influence 
 with Lord Alton than any other individual has." 
 
 " Then, of course, out of friendship for Mr. 
 Fielding, your Lordship is anxious that Lord 
 Alton should come in V 
 
 " I should be exceedingly sorry to see Lord 
 Alton prime minister, if I thought his patron- 
 age would rest on any basis but that of the 
 public good." 
 
 " Perhaps Mr. Fielding's political principles 
 do not accord with those of his Lordship? 
 Sometimes those little differences are not in- 
 compatible with private friendship." 
 
 " I can scarcely claim the honour of being 
 acquainted with Lord Alton ; but from all I
 
 AT HOME. 83 
 
 have heard of him, I really believe his princi- 
 ples are the same as those of Mr. Fielding — 
 the true principles which ought to influence 
 every individual who can claim a birth-right 
 in the English Constitution." 
 
 " Then of course, if Lord Alton comes in, 
 he will have the incalculable advantage of your 
 Lordship's support V 
 
 " Not for one measure — not for one moment 
 longer than my conviction lasts of both his 
 capability and his disinterestedness." Lionel 
 stared, and smiled, and listened to every word, 
 " The English Constitution, sir, is a beautiful 
 edifice — alike the intrenchment and the trophy 
 of English liberty. But it is only cemented 
 by the masterly equilibrium of its respective 
 parts ; and the minister who attempts to throw 
 extraneous weight on any, must infallibly en- 
 danger the whole." 
 
 Poor Lord Ellesmere had opened on an end- 
 less theme. He talked of Magna Charta, 
 whilst his auditor thought of the leaning tower 
 of Pisa. And perchance neither the recollec-
 
 84 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 tions of the one nor the calculations of the other 
 would have come to an end till now, had not 
 both been happily terminated by their arrival 
 at Broomhill Barracks.
 
 AT HOME. 85 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A WOMAN OF FASHION, 
 
 That thou art blamed shall not be thy defeat, 
 For slander's mark was ever yet the fair. 
 
 Shakspeare's Sonnet. 
 
 Lord Ellesmere left his companion at 
 the entrance to the barrack-yard; Mr. Fitz- 
 osborne having there met his two friends, Cap- 
 tain Brisbane and Mr. Jessop, who were 
 smoking their cigars at the great gates, in that 
 happy state of listless inactivity which is pecu- 
 liarly characteristic of country-quarters. 
 
 The Earl having passed up a narrow, but
 
 86 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 lightsome staircase, was ushered into an apart- 
 ment, which at one glance convinced him that 
 even a barrack-room may be made to assume 
 the tone of its temporary inhabitants. Nothing 
 could be plainer than the materials of its fur- 
 niture — nothing more studied than its selection 
 and arrangement. An affectation of simplicity, 
 and even homeliness, was perceptible through- 
 out ; but this very affectation betrayed at once 
 luxury and taste — congenial alike to the habits, 
 manners, and pursuits of a professed votary of 
 fashion. 
 
 The walls of the room were unpapered ; but 
 the chastened brown of the distemper with 
 which they were coloured, heightened the effect 
 of some chefs-d'auvres both of prints and draw- 
 ings, which, in their dazzling frames, hung 
 round them in apparent disorder, but in reality 
 with the most judicious care, that each should 
 shine in its own appropriate light. If the floor 
 was carpeted with common baize, and the win- 
 dows hung with still commoner muslin, the one 
 was covered with an almost countless variety
 
 AT HOME. 87 
 
 of seats and tables 5 and the others were shaded 
 by a profusion of the choicest and sweetest 
 flowers. Here, a camp-stool was placed in 
 somewhat ostentatious comparison with a fau* 
 teuil loaded with the softest cushions. In an- 
 other part of the room, a many-coloured, but 
 showy horse-cloth was spread on a deal-table, 
 whose naked and substantial legs were scarcely 
 sufficient to support the weight of gold plate 
 displayed thereon. In short, from the chim- 
 ney-piece, with its unpainted shelf and or- 
 moulu time-piece, to the tiger's skin that lay 
 at the threshold, every object in the room 
 designated that degree of plainness that be- 
 longed to a barrack, and that degree of refine- 
 ment which is inseparable from an elegant 
 woman. She brings with her an atmosphere 
 peculiarly her own ; and it is immaterial in what 
 situation its genial influence is found : in every 
 land, in every home, that influence is irresist- 
 ible. 
 
 On Lord Ellesmere's entrance, he found Sir 
 Henry Moreton standing at a window engaged
 
 88 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 in conversation with another gentleman, and 
 Lady Harriet seated at a table at the opposite 
 end of the room. She was busily employed 
 copying music : near her, was an officious 
 little officer, on the alert to mend her pens, ring 
 her bijou hand- bell, or do any other such little 
 service as her Ladyship condescended to accept. 
 Major Crosbie was also in waiting ; but he had 
 chosen the easier part, and paid his tribute of 
 attention by leisurely and silently turning over 
 the leaves of a huge album, where carica- 
 tures, and elegies, and advertisements, and 
 bons-mots, and proof-prints, and original com- 
 positions, promised recreation to every variety 
 of intellect. 
 
 At first, Lady Harriet scarcely raised her 
 eyes from her music-book ; but after Sir Henry, 
 with all the ceremony of the vieille cour, for- 
 mally presented her new visitor to her Lady- 
 ship, she turned those shaded eyes full upon 
 Lord Ellesmere, and he could not help inter- 
 nally acknowledging that he had seldom seen 
 any half so beautiful.
 
 AT HOME. 89 
 
 It was probably to those eyes that Lady 
 Harriet Moreton owed that reputation for 
 beauty, which, in fact, was nothing more than 
 a universal acknowledgment of her powers of 
 attraction, and these were in truth undeniable. 
 But except in her eyes, there was nothing par- 
 ticularly remarkable in her appearance : for 
 grace, however perceptible, is always inde- 
 finable. 
 
 In figure, Lady Harriet Moreton was rather 
 below the middle size ; and though her lip was 
 fresh, and her teeth were brilliant, yet a fasti- 
 dious critic might have said her complexion 
 was too sallow, except when enlivened by rouge. 
 Critics, however, were not often found, at least 
 when those fascinating eyes were near to beam 
 on them. And whilst her flatterers declared 
 that her feet and fingers were models of per- 
 fection, even her enemies, if such she had, de- 
 clared her to be always the best-dressed woman 
 in Europe, 
 
 Perhaps the good old Earl was not exactly the 
 judge that Lady Harriet would have selected
 
 90 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 to pass sentence, either on her costume or her 
 beauty. But even he was not proof against 
 the witchery of the combination, whatever it 
 might have been ; and before ten minutes had 
 elapsed, he found himself almost unconsciously 
 considering how much his wife and daughters 
 would be delighted with this new acquaint- 
 ance. 
 
 There is a spell no tongue may speak, 
 No hand may trace, no heart may dare ; 
 
 A charm we scarcely wish to break ; 
 A power all feel, but none declare. 
 
 Meanwhile, Sir Henry Moreton failed not to 
 make likewise a favourable impression on Lord 
 Ellesmere. His manners combined somewhat 
 of the frankness of his profession, with much of 
 a courtier's refinement. He could talk of 
 county politics with the Earl, as learnedly as 
 he discussed gastronomy with Mr. Warburton, 
 or Abernethy's lectures with Lady Weldon; 
 and when Mr. Fitzosborne joined the party, he 
 found his Lordship unfeignedly delighted with
 
 AT HOME. 91 
 
 the acquisition to the neighbourhood of the 
 Colonel and his Lady. 
 
 Thus favourably impressed with both, Lord 
 Ellesmere noticed with pleasure the gay and 
 unembarrassed salutation with which Lady 
 Harriet greeted Lionel ; and the no less friendly 
 warmth with which Sir Henry welcomed him 
 by a protracted shake of the hand, with the 
 apparent cordiality of a blunt honest soldier. 
 " Ah! I see Fitzosborne 's right; I never 
 met a happier couple than these seem to 
 be." 
 
 So thought Lord Ellesmere. His Lordship's 
 fort was not penetration ; and besides, he never 
 had read Lavater : so he neither perceived 
 the fixedness with which Sir Henry's teeth 
 were clenched, at the moment that he grasped 
 Fitzosborne's hand; nor the momentary con- 
 traction of his bushy eyebrows, as he glanced 
 past him towards Lady Harriet. All this was 
 lost upon Lord Ellesmere ; and he took his 
 leave, fully convinced of the connubial happi- 
 ness enjoyed by this " worthy pair."
 
 92 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 " Pity anything should ever have been whis- 
 pered against Lady Harriet, for she is certainly 
 a charming woman." A smile of benevolence 
 played on the Earl's countenance when he 
 made this observation, as they turned their 
 horses towards Fairton Bridge. 
 
 " Very true," rejoined Fitzosborne ; " and it 
 is possible the tale of scandal may have been 
 owing as much to her merits as her faults." 
 
 Lord Ellesmere, unlike many of his cotem- 
 poraries, was obstinate only in his political 
 character : in private life he was always willing 
 to be pleased ; and on this occasion he found a 
 new reason for esteeming his youthful compa- 
 nion, who appeared to be equally lenient in 
 judging the conduct of others, as he seemed 
 irreproachable in his own. But still Lady Har- 
 riet Moreton was uppermost in his thoughts. 
 
 " I trace a strong resemblance," continued 
 he, " between her and Julia Fielding, particu- 
 larly in their eyes; Julia, however, is a great 
 many years younger than Lady Harriet. She 
 is much taller too, and fairer ; and I think Julia
 
 AT HOME. 93 
 
 is even more elegant, though unquestionably 
 by no means so fashioned." 
 
 " Somewhat a dangerous neighbour, I should 
 think," rejoined Lionel, smiling : but as it is 
 the fashion of the present day for young men 
 rather to seek than to avoid danger, this re- 
 flection but made Lionel proportionably more 
 anxious to arrive at Mr. Fielding's ; and whilst 
 Lord Ellesmere stopped at every turn of the 
 approach, to point out the beautiful views that 
 successively presented themselves, his impatient 
 companion gave loud assent to his reiterated 
 praise, and inward malediction to the tedious- 
 ness of the ride. 
 
 On their entrance, the grey-headed butler, 
 who had been in the habit of admitting Lord 
 Ellesmere for half a century, left the two gen- 
 tlemen to find their way alone to the library, 
 whilst he, with pleased alacrity, went to inform 
 Mr. Fielding of their arrival. 
 
 " Now you shall see my paragon," observed 
 Lord Ellesmere, as he opened the well-known 
 door ; and the next instant he exclaimed to his
 
 94 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 son, " Eh, Calvert ! what, are you here 1 I 
 thought you were gone with your mother to 
 Lady Weldon's." 
 
 Lord Calvert laughed. Fitzosborne thought 
 he almost coloured : he however stammered 
 something in reply to his father, about his 
 having promised to meet his mother and sisters 
 at the rectory ; and then leisurely continued his 
 occupation of sorting music. It was never- 
 theless evident that, although the couch on 
 which he sat was covered with a sufficiency of 
 music to employ hours to assort, his exertions 
 in its arrangement, however strenuous, were 
 but recent ; for his glove lay on the table beside 
 Julia, with a half-finished sketch of the same 
 flower she was copying — " herself the fairest 
 flower :" for never was youth and innocence 
 clad in a fairer form. 
 
 She was seated at her favourite employment 
 in the recess of the large Gothic window. The 
 day was hot ; and possibly to that circumstance 
 might be attributed the dazzling brilliancy of 
 her complexion. A single ray of light had
 
 AT HOME. 95 
 
 found its way through the screen of tangled 
 jasmine, and, resting on her auburn hair, threw 
 the shadow of its ringlets on her mantling cheek, 
 whilst her open forehead and rosy mouth needed 
 no accidental illumination. 
 
 So thought Fitzosborne ; at least, so his pro- 
 tracted gaze seemed to imply. But his address 
 betrayed no emotion ; his countenance was as 
 unmoved as mere politeness would prescribe; 
 and if his voice was soft, as its harmonious 
 accents broke upon the ear, when were its tones 
 other than mellifluous ? — when were his man- 
 ners other than attractive ? 
 
 In a few moments they were joined by Mr. 
 Fielding; and Lionel saw, not unmoved, his 
 strong resemblance to Lord Alton. But even 
 this recommendation to Fitzosborne was unne- 
 cessary ; his respect was sufficiently ensured, 
 by the imposing figure of the venerable clergy- 
 man. 
 
 " We are just returned from visiting your 
 niece, Fielding," said Lord Ellesmere : " Lady 
 Harriet Moreton seems a delightful woman."
 
 96 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 "I am almost sorry you have anticipated 
 me," replied Mr. Fielding. " Julia and I 
 called, but she was not then arrived ; to-mor- 
 row we mean to repeat our visit." 
 
 " Then do take me with you," gaily inter- 
 rupted Lord Calvert: " it is not fair that 
 I should be the only one of the party un- 
 acquainted with my father's delightful wo- 
 man" 
 
 " Assuredly, Calvert, you are usually not 
 slow in cultivating the acquaintance of pretty 
 women," said Fitzosborne ; and he unconsciously 
 glanced towards Julia. 
 
 " Well, trust me," replied the Earl, " Lady 
 Harriet is one of the loveliest I know ; I must 
 not tell Miss Julia how strong their resem- 
 blance is." 
 
 " The more reason for my visiting her," re- 
 joined Lord Calvert ; " and I shall, therefore, 
 introduce myself to her Ladyship within this 
 hour. Fitzosborne, I'll tell her you sent me. 
 And here, bellissima mia" continued he, turn- 
 ing to Julia, and catching up his hat and
 
 AT HOME. 97 
 
 gloves, "pray take care of my embryo draw- 
 ing : when may I come again for another les- 
 
 son 
 
 ?» 
 
 Mr. Fielding stared ; Julia blushed as she 
 half drew up in offended dignity, and half 
 laughed at his infectious gaiety. But he 
 stopped not to see at which point the balance 
 would rest, and clearing with one spring the 
 ponderous fauteuil that stood between him and 
 the door, he exclaimed, " A rivederla" and 
 was in a moment out of hearing. 
 
 Lord Ellesmere, whose ideas of etiquette 
 differed in many respects from those of his 
 son, began an elaborate apology for Lord Cal- 
 vert's rudeness ; whilst Fitzosborne, in a whis- 
 per, expressed his surprise, that any thing 
 could tempt his friend to such an abrupt de- 
 parture. Julia was silent ; but a placid smile 
 played over her countenance, as her father 
 replied in the tone of almost parental affection, 
 " My dear Lord, how can you wish him to be 
 altered in any thing ? When he called on me as 
 he passed through Fairton the other evening, I 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 98 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 could not help thinking how little Lord Calvert 
 had been spoilt by the world." 
 
 It was now Fitzosborne's turn to smile, but 
 nobody could imagine that he did so, on hear- 
 ing this observation; for, at that moment, he was 
 telling Julia of the newest invention in pen- 
 cils, and no person could address her with other 
 than a smiling countenance. Meanwhile, Lord 
 Ellesmere was inquiring why Mr. Fielding and 
 Julia had allowed nearly a fortnight to pass 
 without visiting Ellesmere. This was soon 
 explained by accidental circumstances ; but so 
 strange did this unwonted absence appear to all 
 the Earl's family, that not only had Lord Cal- 
 vert returned daily to the rectory to inquire the 
 cause, but the Countess and her daughters had 
 that morning transmitted through him an ear- 
 nest entreaty that Julia and her father would 
 spend some days at the Park, in welcome of 
 Lord Calvert's return ; a promise which Lionel 
 now gladly heard reiterated. 
 
 A host must be very uninteresting or a guest 
 exceedingly dull, if the respective merits of
 
 AT HOME. 99 
 
 each are not discussed the moment their re- 
 lative situation ceases; and accordingly Mr. 
 and Miss Fielding afforded ample subject of 
 conversation to Lord Ellesmere and his com- 
 panion during their ride ; the Earl entered 
 warmly into a comparison between Julia and 
 Lady Harriet Moreton, still, however, giving 
 the preference to the former, whilst Lionel 
 more than insinuated his superior admiration of 
 her cousin. 
 
 They had scarcely emerged from the shade 
 of Mr. Fielding's woods when they espied a 
 cavalcade crossing Fairton bridge on the road 
 towards Ellesmere. Lady Harriet Moreton 
 was easily distinguished even from a distance, 
 by her manege seat on horseback ; and in assi- 
 duous attendance at her bridle bells, rode the 
 gay, the volatile Lord Calvert. 
 
 The two equestrian parties soon joined into 
 one, and the Earl scarcely knew whether to 
 laugh at or to resent the unceremonious manner 
 in which his son rallied him, on having at pre- 
 sent gained the vantage-ground.
 
 100 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 " You see Lord Calvert is rather undisci- 
 plined," said the Earl, almost in apology to Sir 
 Henry, who was riding with some other officers 
 a little in the rear. 
 
 " Oh, my Lord ! we have just discovered 
 that Lord Calvert is an old acquaintance. It 
 seems we passed a day together at Martigny, 
 shut up in a Swiss shower of rain." 
 
 " And a shower of rain in the Alps is not to 
 be braved with impunity. But I was not aware 
 of my son ever having had the honour of meet- 
 ing you." 
 
 " Oh ! that is easily accounted for. You 
 know it is very much the fashion abroad to 
 travel without the trouble and parade of one's 
 own equipage ; and, in fact, Lady Harriet and 
 I were travelling incognito, and we did not 
 happen to hear Lord Calvert's name till after 
 we had left Martigny. A-propos, Mr. Fitz- 
 
 osborne " and Sir Henry reined back his 
 
 horse a little, perhaps as well to avoid answering 
 interrogations as to have an opportunity of 
 making them " a-propos, what is become of
 
 AT HOME. 101 
 
 Lord Calvert's pretty travelling companion?" 
 and the conversation was continued sotto 
 voce. 
 
 By this time, they were arrived at the turn 
 of the river where the roads to Ellesmere and 
 Weldon House divide, and at this point they 
 met Lady Ellesmere and her daughters, who 
 were just returning from their morning's drive. 
 Lord Calvert, whose movements were any 
 thing but deliberate, in a few minutes out- 
 stripped the rest of the party, and before they 
 had overtaken him, he had told his mother 
 that Lady Harriet Moreton was delightful — 
 that he had promised that ■ they, 7 meaning the 
 Countess and her daughters, should go to Lady 
 Harriet's apartments in a day or two, to hear 
 the regimental band, which was reckoned finer 
 than that of the corps de garde ; and before 
 poor Lady Ellesmere had let down her eye- 
 brows from the utmost altitude of surprise, she 
 found herself recovering from the obtuse angle 
 into which her figure had declined in acknow- 
 ledgment of the Earl's introduction to the fair 
 stranger.
 
 102 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 The whole matter was soon arranged, ap- 
 parently to the satisfaction of all parties, though, 
 on retrospection, nobody recollected exactly 
 how it happened. 
 
 " And now, my Lord," said Lady Harriet, 
 turning to the Earl with one of her sweetest 
 smiles, " you told me so much this morning 
 about my cousin, Julia Fielding, that I am 
 quite impatient to make her acquaintance ; do 
 you think I might take the liberty of asking her 
 to meet Lady Ellesmere ?" 
 
 " I can assure you Mr. Fielding and Julia 
 are no less anxious to be introduced to your 
 Ladyship. Mr. Fitzosborne and I are just 
 returned from hearing them say so/' 
 
 " Then, Fitzosborne, will you take my 
 strange invitation ? it is too informal to be 
 written." 
 
 "Iara always at your Ladyship's commands ; 
 but my friend Calvert knows the road to the 
 rectory better than I do." 
 
 Lionel said this with a provoking air of in- 
 souciance, and a momentary flush suffused 
 Lord Calvert's countenance. He retorted, how-
 
 AT HOME. 103 
 
 ever, by assuring- Lady Harriet that he was 
 not less anxious than Fitzosborne to be enlisted 
 in her service." 
 
 " Well then, Lord Calvert," interrupted Sir 
 Henry, with an air of frankness and bonhomie, 
 which he well knew how and when to assume, 
 " as I have known Miss Fielding even longer 
 than Mr. Fitzosborne has, will you accompany 
 me to the rectory, and we can together de- 
 liver Lady Harriet's message ? I have also one 
 to give to Mr. Fielding from Lord Alton." 
 
 Lord Calvert seemed less pleased at this 
 arrangement than any other of the company. 
 Was it caprice, or some more complicated feel- 
 ing, which at that moment was lord of the 
 ascendant? Fitzosborne watched his changing 
 countenance; but his own remained unmoved; 
 and the good old Earl only noticing his son's 
 acquiescence in Sir Henry's proposal, smiled 
 as he thought of the readiness Lord Calvert 
 seemed to show in returning to her, from whom 
 he had so lately parted. 
 
 There they all separated ; Lionel and Lord
 
 104 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 Ellesmere escorted the Countess and her 
 daughters homewards, whilst Lady Harriet, 
 Major Crosbie, and Captain Brisbane, took the 
 road to Weldon House.
 
 AT HOME. 105 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE LUNCHEON. 
 
 I'm sure by all here present 'tis allow'd 
 Nothing in London takes without a crowd. 
 — — To feast — to mask — assembly, or review, 
 Where our forefathers and foremothers too 
 Went, poor dull souls ! to please and to be pleased, 
 We, more enlighten'd, go to squeeze and to be squeezed. 
 
 Wat. Spencer. 
 
 In every country-house, similarly circum- 
 stanced to that of Sir James Weldon, luncheon 
 is an object of the utmost importance ; it is in 
 fact the only good substitute for a billiard-table, 
 with which it has some valuable properties in 
 common. Like it, luncheon is — 
 A preparation for visitors :
 
 106 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 An inducement to visitors : 
 
 A succedaneum for visitors : 
 
 A consolation to visitors : 
 and above all, 
 
 An employment for visitors. 
 In addition to these undeniable advantages, by 
 the help of reiterated luncheons repeated with 
 every succeeding guest, Lady Weldon followed 
 her physician's prescription, to eat little and 
 often, and was at the same time enabled at 
 dinner de se faire valoir sur sa petite sante, 
 with incredible effect, and but little self-denial. 
 Nor were her daughters less aware of the advan- 
 tages of this important meal. Many a partner 
 at a ball, or a companion in a ride, had they 
 owed less to their own charms than to the merits 
 of a Ptrigord ; and accordingly, the welcome 
 toll of the luncheon-bell generally sounded the 
 knell of departing papillotes, and welcomed 
 their entrance, clad in smiles, and trts bien 
 crtpts. 
 
 The fragments of one of Lady Weldon's best 
 luncheons were rapidly disappearing under the
 
 AT HOME. 107 
 
 vigorous attacks of the unrelenting Miss Hack- 
 erley. In vain the antiquated governess sat 
 staring at her in silent despair, or occasionally 
 threw out hints of the fineness of the day, and 
 the probability of other guests arriving. In 
 vain one of the younger girls, with exaggerated 
 civility, piled plate after plate in malicious 
 anxiety to ascertain how much the insatiable old 
 maid could devour. Miss Hackerley lived four 
 miles off; and she had just " stepped over" for 
 the express purpose of paying her devoirs to 
 Lady Weldon and a galantine simultaneously ; 
 contemplating with equal gratification the re- 
 freshment of a few peaches and a little scandal. 
 Such are the delights of country visiting on a 
 summer morning ! 
 
 Miss Weldon was reclining in an arm-chair, 
 looking sentimental to the utmost of her power ; 
 an open book in her hand, and her eyes wan- 
 dering alternately from it to Miss Hackerley, 
 and from Miss Hackerley to the open window 
 that looked out upon the approach. 
 
 In another part of the room, Lady Weldon
 
 108 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 was infinitely more engrossed by her occupation 
 than her daughter appeared to be. She was 
 dressed with not less care, as her French cap 
 gloried in an unusual quantity of Valenciennes. 
 French ribbons streamed around her in all 
 directions ; and her usual preparation for com- 
 pany, a nervous head-ache, was announced by 
 a due assortment of vinaigrettes and eau-de- 
 luce bottles. Ensconced in a capacious arm- 
 chair, a full-blown double dalia twirling in 
 one hand, whilst a glittering reticule was sus- 
 pended from the other, she listened with equal 
 attention and complacency to certain interesting 
 details, which Mr. Warburton not unwillingly 
 communicated. 
 
 " And who is this young man whom Lord 
 Calvert has brought home with him ? A travel- 
 ling tutor I suppose, or speculating dilettante ?" 
 
 " Excuse me, Lady Weldon, the Honour- 
 able Lionel Fitzosborne, only son to Lord 
 Tralee ; the gentleman you allude to is one of 
 the first matches in England." 
 
 u Dear me ! Mr. Warburton, you don't say
 
 AT HOME. 109 
 
 so? Sir James is so odd— never calls upon any- 
 body. Are you in your gig or on horseback ! 
 Perhaps you would return through Ellesmere 
 Park, it is not above two miles round to Posy 
 Lodge, and you could then do me the very 
 great favour to leave Sir James's name for 
 this young man. We must ask him to dinner ; 
 is he musical V 
 
 " I shall be delighted to do your Ladyship's 
 behests at all times, especially on this occasion, 
 for you know a match is going on with him and 
 one of the Ladies Calvert; at least so report says; 
 but pray don't give me for your authority " 
 
 " Oh ! that is what Lord Calvert brought 
 him down for, is it ? I thought there was some- 
 thing of the kind going on ; however, we may 
 ask him once nevertheless. And which of the 
 young ladies is the bride elect ?" 
 
 " Upon my honour, my dear Lady Weldon, 
 I can't tell ; now don't look as if you did not 
 credit what I say. You know I am very in- 
 timate at Ellesmere Park, and his Lordship 
 might think me unkind."
 
 110 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 " At all events, Mr. Warburton, he must 
 consider you discreet. And do you think our 
 dear, proud, pragmatical Countess will manage 
 her sons match as well as she has got off her 
 daughter ?" 
 
 " You mean with Miss Fielding, I suppose V 
 
 " Cela va sans dire; you know she is the 
 greatest heiress (in expectation at least) in this 
 county. My daughters, to be sure, have thirty 
 thousand pounds a-piece, paid down — settled on 
 them : But then they are not nieces to Lord 
 Alton ; and you know, Mr. Warburton, a girl 
 does not require a dancing-master, if her uncle 
 is prime minister." 
 
 Mr. Warburton looked as if he did not like 
 to hear his favourite Julia Fielding spoken of 
 so slightingly. But if any reproof rose to his 
 mind, it had not time to escape his lips, ere 
 Anna Weldon ran into the room out of breath, 
 exclaiming, " Here they are ! here they are !" 
 and at the same time a chariot drove up to the 
 door. 
 
 " It is only that eternal Mrs. Masham !" ob-
 
 AT HOME. Ill 
 
 served Miss "Weldon, retiring after her peep 
 from behind the window-curtain, at the same 
 time neutralizing her look of disappointment 
 by her tone of indifference. 
 
 And now succeeded the pleasing interlude of 
 receiving a new visitor. Questions were asked 
 and left unanswered. Lady Weldon's head- 
 ache stood the test of half-a-dozen voices speak- 
 ing at once ; chairs were drawn to the luncheon- 
 table, whilst the carriage was drawn into the 
 stable-yard ; and by degrees the conversation 
 subsided into a minute account of the Boyle 
 Farm fete, as read out from a letter received 
 that morning by Mrs. Masham from " the 
 bishop and my sister." 
 
 " ' Six carriages and four provided en cas cles 
 enUvemens /' What a delightful place London 
 must be ! And here I declare is Lady Harriet 
 Moreton too, and all the officers !" 
 
 " Can you tell me, Mr. Warburton, has 
 Lady Ellesmere visited her yet?" whispered 
 Miss Hackerley ; but as there was no time for 
 an answer, she slipped into the back-ground,
 
 112 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 determined in any case to see and hear ; and 
 finally, to act as circumstances might render 
 advisable — for Miss Hackerley, as old maids 
 usually are, was rigorously tenacious on the 
 subject of reputation. 
 
 No two individuals could differ more from 
 each other, than Lady Harriet Moreton differed 
 from herself, as contrasted with what she now 
 appeared in Lady Weldon's drawing-room, to 
 what she had seemed that very morning to 
 Lord Ellesmere. There is a free-masonry about 
 rank and real fashion, that is at once intelligi- 
 ble to every member of the same society. And 
 even though the old Earl's notions of etiquette 
 were rather antiquated, they were still, like last 
 year's kalendar, a court-guide, though somewhat 
 out of date. To him, therefore, Lady Harriet 
 Moreton had no need to assume any artificial 
 character. Her very simplicity of manner was 
 in truth refinement, both of tact and elegance ; 
 and the frequent observation " that she was a 
 delightful woman," which almost unconsciously 
 broke from Lord Ellesmere, sufficiently at-
 
 AT HOME. 113 
 
 tested that she had succeeded in her wish of 
 obtaining his approbation. 
 
 Lady Harriet knew, as well as Miss Hacker- 
 ley did, that her reputation trembled on the 
 beam, and to regain that dimmed jewel was now 
 the first object of her ambition. To be popular, 
 therefore was her aim. But she was aware that 
 the means to be used for the attainment of this 
 end, should be as various as the substances 
 from which the essence was to be distilled. 
 She had been " at home" when Lady Weldon 
 and her daughters first called on her, and a 
 glance at their costume had given her an insight 
 into their characters. She was fully aware 
 that one degree too little of condescension 
 would irritate their pride ; one degree too much 
 of familiarity would lessen their respect; and 
 she therefore came to return their visit, fully 
 prepared to awe them into admiration by the 
 haughtiness of her courtesy. 
 
 With as little loss of time as possible, Mrs. 
 Masham returned to the subject of her sister's 
 letter, offering to read out once more the latest
 
 114 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 news from town. But she had not proceeded 
 far, when Lady Harriet, in the most cordial 
 manner possible, (for Mrs. Masham's physi- 
 ognomy was cordiality itself,) set her right in a 
 few trifling particulars ; adding, as apology, 
 that she had herself been an eye-witness of 
 those wonders. Miraculously did this casual 
 observation increase the respect of her auditors. 
 Miss Hackerley's curiosity was more than ever 
 awakened ; and even Anna Weldon left Cap- 
 tain Brisbane to eat his pine-apple jelly in 
 peace, and drew her chair nearer to Lady Har- 
 riet, to listen whilst she talked of London. 
 
 " I hope we shall often have the pleasure of 
 meeting your Ladyship in town, next spring," 
 drawled out Lady Weldon ; " I mean to take 
 my daughters out in April." 
 
 Lady Harriet made a gracious bow ; it was 
 so civil, that Lady Weldon ventured to add, 
 " London is on so large a scale, that it is pos- 
 sible to have many acquaintances, and but very 
 few associates." 
 
 u My sister writes me word," briskly rejoined
 
 AT HOME. 115 
 
 Mrs. Masham, " that society in town was more 
 exclusive last year than ever. Miss Hackerley 
 gave aloud " Hem," and moved her chair back- 
 wards. 
 
 "We are all in sets in town," observed Lady 
 Harriet; " d-propos, I had the pleasure of 
 meeting your sister very often in Hyde Park. 
 I think I saw her, too, once at Almack's — no — 
 not at Almack's, but at the Caledonian ball, 
 which you know is held at Almack's rooms; 
 I hope the good old Bishop is better." 
 
 Mrs. Masham by no means approved of the 
 first part of this speech, but there was a tone of 
 kindliness in the latter query, that was quite 
 irresistible. 
 
 " I have sometimes thought," said Lady 
 Weldon, with a half-suppressed sigh, " of 
 taking my daughters to Paris. Society is 
 so much more attainable abroad than in 
 London." 
 
 The moment the word Paris was mentioned, 
 Mr. Warburton considered himself peculiarly 
 addressed. He therefore replied, with his
 
 116 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 usual attention to politeness, " Beg a thousand 
 pardons, Lady Weldon, if I venture to differ 
 from your Ladyship ; but Paris is not the 
 thing for young ladies. If you take 'em there 
 fresh from England, they are too new — if you 
 stop there coming back from Italy, they are 
 fanees " 
 
 "I am sure, mamma," interrupted Anna 
 Weldon, " I should not like to go to Paris at 
 all. There is your friend, Lady Jennyborough, 
 has brought back her five large daughters 
 unmarried, and you know they speak seven 
 languages a-piece." 
 
 Captain Brisbane stared — Lady Harriet 
 smiled — Mr. Warburton whispered, " Cause 
 and effect" — and Mrs. Masham good-humour- 
 edly attempted to turn the conversation. 
 
 " I always understood from my sister, that 
 nothing was so easy as to get married at Paris. 
 I remember she told me that when she was there, 
 (the Bishop and my sister were six weeks at 
 Paris, they lived in the Place Vendome,) a 
 French Count came to a friend of the Bishop's
 
 AT HOME. 117 
 
 to ask him to carry a proposal from him to 
 marry Mrs. Altamont, for he had never heard 
 or seen any thing of her husband ; and when 
 was told that Colonel Altamont was then in 
 Paris, he said, ' Either of Mrs. Altamont's 
 daughters would suit equally as well as her- 
 self,' so I cannot conceive how Lady Jenny- 
 borough so mismanaged the matter." 
 
 " Now, Lady Harriet, may I ask your opi- 
 nion : Do you think Paris is as difficult as 
 London I" 
 
 " I believe the society in both, entirely de- 
 pends on the first introduction ; but Paris has 
 this disadvantage, that its English company is 
 always fluctuating. I have heard many people 
 say, that all their exertions in one year will not 
 insure their situation in the society of the next. 
 But I think it is just possible to become one of 
 us in London, provided certain conditions are 
 fulfilled." 
 
 " And pray, Lady Harriet, what are those 
 conditions?" eagerly demanded the two Misses 
 Weldon at once.
 
 118 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 " First, I consider an apprenticeship of at 
 least fourteen years " 
 
 " La ! I expect to be married before then, 
 he ! he ! he !" exclaimed the vivacious Anna. 
 
 " Then, Lady Weldon, you must buy a 
 house in a good situation, for we never con- 
 sider the inhabitants of a hired house as resi- 
 dents ; and we never admit into our set any 
 persons that are not residents, except foreigners 
 or Irish beauties." 
 
 " I believe Sir James intends to buy a house, 
 for we think nothing of expense." 
 
 " Oh, of course ! you know good dinners, 
 good balls, good horses, good dresses, good 
 looks, and even good fortunes, go for nothing ; 
 the difficulty is a small party of about two or 
 three hundred, with nothing but good com- 
 pany." 
 
 "I am sure I feel quite grateful to your 
 Ladyship for the kind interest you take in us. 
 And now tell me, is there no way of getting 
 into this good company ?" 
 
 " It is difficult, but I do not say it is impos-
 
 AT HOME. 119 
 
 sible. In the first place, you must get a clever 
 sponsor ; some poor dowager, who will take 
 the responsibility of spending your money and 
 regulating your visiting list. I believe the 
 Dowager Duchess of Durham is to be had, now 
 that Miss Green is married." 
 
 " And would she present us at court ?" 
 
 " Yes, on certain terms." 
 
 " And get us to Almack's ?" 
 
 " No ; I am afraid that is beyond her. Not 
 that Almack's either is quite unattainable, but 
 it is managed in a different way. Your eldest 
 daughter, Lady Weldon, is the proper height ; 
 but, if I recollect right, we last year decided 
 on not having too many blondes. However, 
 all that business is settled more in reference to 
 beaux than belles. An elder son of an old 
 family sometimes gets tickets for very ugly 
 sisters, though he would not think of asking 
 any for either a governor or a maternal." 
 
 " And I am afraid, Lady Harriet, there is 
 little use in going to London unless we go to 
 Almack's. Are there any other requisites for 
 being in good company V
 
 120 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 11 So many, that several people are occa- 
 sionally seen in good company without being 
 considered good company themselves. But I 
 should tire you to death if I told you all our 
 caprices ; and," added she, rising, " I have 
 almost forgotten one purport of my visit : your 
 friend, Lady Ellesmere, has promised to come 
 to me on Thursday, to hear the regimental 
 band, and I am anxious to prevail on you all 
 to come to meet her." As she said this, Lady 
 Harriet looked on each side, as if to include 
 Mrs. Masham and Mr. Warburton, with both 
 of whom she was already acquainted. 
 
 Meantime, at this mention of the Countess, 
 Miss Hackerley's little gray eyes had grown 
 rounder and rounder, and she was the first to 
 return Lady Harriet's invitation, by an assent- 
 ing curtsey. Nor was the curtsey nor the 
 stare diminished, when Lady Harriet added, 
 " Sir Henry Moreton was actually on his road 
 hither, to make his own request to Sir James 
 Weldon, for the honour of his company like- 
 wise ; but Lord Calvert insisted on his turn- 
 ing back with him, to see my uncle Fielding,"
 
 AT HOME. 121 
 
 So saying, Lady Harriet took her departure, 
 leaving, as Sir Peter Teazle did, her character 
 behind her. 
 
 Anna Weldon declared " she was very kind." 
 — Miss Weldon thought her " very fashion- 
 able.' 1 — Miss Hackerley, appropriating her in- 
 vitation to herself, said she was " very civil." — 
 Mrs. Masham described her as " very agree- 
 able." — Lady Weldon confessed she was "very 
 sensible." — And Mr. Warburton asserted that 
 she was " very beautiful." But all, though 
 with different modifications, concurred with 
 Lord Ellesmere in his original opinion, that 
 " Lady Harriet Moreton was a very delightful 
 woman." 
 
 VOL.
 
 122 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FIRST LOVE. 
 
 All joys upon him ! for he is my friend. 
 Wonder not that I call a man so young my friend 
 His worth is great. 
 
 Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 
 If Lady Harriet Moreton thus occupied the 
 thoughts and tongues of the party she had met 
 at Weldon House, she was no less the subject 
 of conversation with the inhabitants of Elles- 
 mere Park. 
 
 " A very unceremonious introduction in- 
 deed," observed Lady Ellesmere, in measured
 
 AT HOME. 123 
 
 tones, as she and her daughters sat in daily 
 state, waiting after dinner the return of the 
 gentlemen to the drawing-room. There was 
 no need to specify to whom she alluded, as 
 she spoke to the meditations of both her au- 
 ditors. 
 
 "And yet dear papa seemed quite pleased 
 both with her and her invitation." 
 
 " Oh ! strange as the invitation was, I really 
 could not refuse it — I was taken quite un- 
 awares. And, indeed, I saw by my Lord's 
 face that he rather wished us to go. And yet I 
 must say I never met with such a thing before. 
 To be sure, how fashions do alter !" 
 
 " Dear mamma, won't it be quite delight- 
 ful !" exclaimed Lady Louisa, who had not yet 
 spoken. " Only think, Matilda, of our getting 
 leave to go to the barracks at last. Is the 
 parade a room, I wonder V 
 
 " I hope that dearest Julia will be there : she 
 will be so pleased with the band." 
 
 " Matilda, you must make a conquest of 
 some person or other — no matter who. That
 
 124 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 tall officer with black eyes, whom we saw at 
 church, for instance." 
 
 " Fie, Louisa ! how you do go on !" and 
 Lady Matilda coloured, as she drew up, partly 
 from modesty and partly from pride. 
 
 " Fie, Louisa ! how can you think of officers 
 at church !" exclaimed Lady Ellesmere, who 
 had not for some years been to St. James's 
 chapel. 
 
 " Nay, Matilda, it is only for your sake that 
 I am so much on the qui-vive. You know how 
 Anna Weldon the other day laughed at the 
 young lady who was past twenty, and said she 
 had never had an offer. I think verily she 
 intended the remark for the benefit of your 
 Ladyship." 
 
 Very fortunately, Lady Ellesmere did not 
 hear this last observation. Her thoughts had 
 again wandered to Lady Harriet Moreton, 
 and she accordingly said — " I wonder that a 
 daughter of Lord Alton's should understand 
 ceremony so little, for he is reckoned the best- 
 bred man of the day. She seems quite a woman
 
 AT HOME. 125 
 
 of the world, too. Well, I suppose etiquette 
 is changed since the days of Queen Charlotte. 
 I am sorry, though, they don't wear hoops 
 now." 
 
 This consolatory reflection on the changes of 
 fashion somewhat reconciled Lady Ellesmere 
 to the want of form with which she had been 
 met by Lady Harriet ; and as her inspiration 
 was always gathered from her husband's eye, 
 she soon found, by the Earl's manner, that he 
 was pleased with his new acquaintance, and 
 of course the Countess was prepared to be so 
 likewise. 
 
 Nothing was more uniform than the mode 
 of living at Ellesmere Park. In summer, the 
 low phaeton regularly came to the door, to re- 
 ceive the Earl and Countess for their evening 
 drive. The fat coachman and sleek ponies had, 
 for some dozen years, never been six minutes 
 behind the appointed time; and the butler, 
 with his liveried satellites, calculated to half a 
 second when my Lord, and my Lady, and the 
 massive coffee-pot, and the long-waisted tea-
 
 126 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 urn, were to make their entrance together into 
 the drawing-room. For to taste coffee in the 
 dining-room, or, still worse, on the dinner- 
 cloth, would have been considered as little less 
 than sacrilege by the majority of the family. 
 
 This monotony of life little suited the habits 
 of Lord Calvert, or the taste of Fitzosborne, 
 though its very singularity rendered it at first 
 not an unpleasant variety to either. This 
 evening in particular, the vivacity of Lady 
 Louisa became infectious; and though the young 
 ladies and their attendant beaux took the same 
 walk, and returned by the same portal which 
 they had passed every day since Lionel's arrival, 
 even he found amusement in the exhilarating 
 tones and vivacious laugh of the gay and youth- 
 ful Louisa. 
 
 At first, an unusual feeling of reserve seemed 
 to influence Lord Calvert's manner towards* 
 Fitzosborne. Lionel, with his usual aptitude, 
 perceived the change almost before his friend 
 was conscious of the sentiment from which it 
 arose. But it was not his present purpose to
 
 AT HOME. 127 
 
 receive Lord Calvert's confidence, even had it 
 been offered to him. His own feelings had 
 within the last few hours undergone a similar 
 alteration, and he wanted time to analyse them ; 
 and to form his future plans. But his medita- 
 tions were never more connectedly pursued 
 than when apparently he was devoted to the 
 occurrences of the passing moment ; then, like 
 the power that 
 
 Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm, 
 
 he, with a master's hand, could equally excite 
 and guide the passions of others ; extracting 
 from their involuntary development unerring 
 calculations as to the most effectual means of 
 gratifying his own. 
 
 Probably few young men have arrived at the 
 age of five-and-twenty without having viewed 
 in fancy's eye some visionary form of perfec- 
 tion, to which in youthful devotion they have 
 offered the incense of an unsophisticated heart. 
 The cold realities of life seldom verify this 
 dream of love. But though the fairy mists may
 
 128 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 disperse with opening day, their evanescent 
 brightness long leaves a track of light upon the 
 memory ; and should we in after years catch 
 but a passing reflection of its beam, we again 
 worship the regretted image, even in its sem- 
 blance. 
 
 Fitzosborne's mind was not one to which such 
 blissful visions were unknown. It is true that 
 the ignis fatuus of his smile often gleamed like 
 a death-fire when all was cold within. But 
 time had been when the warm and genuine feel- 
 ings of humanity played with lambent glories 
 round his heart, and shed their genial influence 
 on his character. At eighteen, he was gene- 
 rous, romantic, imaginative, and enterprising ; 
 full of conscious talent, and of all the aspiring 
 hopes that conscious talent brings. At that 
 age, with strong passions, unbounded ambition, 
 but unsteady principles; with worldly honours as 
 his prize, eternal happiness his stake, he was 
 placed within the sphere — nay, almost under 
 the tuition of Lord Alton's daughter ; and this, 
 his first step in life, was decided upon by his
 
 AT HOME. 129 
 
 father, upon the profoundest calculations of 
 political expediency. 
 
 When Fitzosborne was first introduced to 
 Lady Harriet, she was the wife of General 
 Warder, and in all the zenith of her beauty 
 and her splendour. Notwithstanding her being 
 five years older than Lionel, she was unques- 
 tionably the most fascinating woman he had 
 ever seen ; and the universal homage which he 
 witnessed as paid to her charms served only 
 to confirm his own admiration of them. The 
 consequences might easily have been foreseen. 
 He soon loved her with a fervour which is never 
 felt but once. His attachment partook of the 
 natural qualities of his mind, and was com- 
 pounded of enthusiasm and romance : so much 
 so, that he would willingly have sacrificed the 
 gratification of his own passion rather than 
 have resigned one thought of her ideal per- 
 fection. 
 
 At first, the na'ivettof his attachment amused 
 her ; it then gratified, and lastly, tired her. But 
 in every stage its remedy was in her own
 
 130 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 power; for in ceasing to respect the object of 
 his love, the idol was dethroned, and his adora- 
 tion at an end for ever. 
 
 . Yet Lady Harriet's influence gave an inde- 
 lible impress to Lionel's character. Under the 
 specious names of friend and counsellor, she 
 long guided every thought and instigated every 
 action. The world, with all its follies and all 
 its vices, all its dangers and its lures, was ably 
 but prematurely unfolded to his view. He too 
 soon learned, like those with whom he associ- 
 ated, to sneer at inexperience and to disbelieve 
 in innocence. Man seemed but a prey for man ; 
 and those very energies that might have proved 
 a blessing, to him as well as others, turned in- 
 ward like inverted flames, and burned but for 
 himself alone. 
 
 But in thus learning to discredit the exist- 
 ence of all virtue, he yet regretted the beau 
 ideal of his youthful imagination ; and some- 
 times almost wished to be the inhabitant of 
 some other sphere, where that merit might 
 really find existence, which in this world he con-
 
 AT HOME. 131 
 
 siclered as chimerical. Sometimes, too, in his 
 solitary reveries, he would still picture to his 
 mind a fairy form, bright in beauty as in inno- 
 cence : but the vision ever came to him in the 
 semblance of Lady Harriet, as he had first 
 beheld her. It spoke to him in her thrilling 
 voice ; it looked on him with her dazzling eyes ; 
 it seemed to glide past him, encircled with 
 all her graces and all her charms. But when 
 this dear, this brilliant vision pressed too closely 
 on his heart, he would thrill with all the recol- 
 lections it recalled, and with the almost sick- 
 ening conviction that it brought of woman's 
 power and woman's worthlessness. 
 
 Such was his creed — such his sentiments; 
 and often in his travels with Lord Calvert, 
 when a casual allusion to home and England 
 led to the mention of Julia Fielding's name, he 
 had listened with the smile of incredulity, or 
 sneer of contempt, to his praises of a virtue 
 which Lionel disbelieved, and of a beauty to 
 which he was more than indifferent. 
 
 The same Julia Fielding he found the fre-
 
 132 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 quent theme at Ellesmere Park ; he heard of 
 her talents till the subject almost wearied him ; 
 and the first feeling except that of annoyance 
 which her name excited, was of pleased sur- 
 prise at learning that this same " cynosure of 
 neighbouring eyes," was niece to the very man 
 he had been taught to look up to as the polar 
 star of England. 
 
 This at once afforded him a solution to the 
 mystery which had astonished him. He had 
 been aware, almost from the moment of his 
 arrival at Ellesmere Park, that Miss Field- 
 ing was Lord Calvert's destined bride ; at 
 least, that such was the wish of all his family. 
 That the Earl's pride should condescend to 
 seek alliance with Mr. Fielding's daughter, 
 merely for the sake of her merit, or her talents, 
 or her beauty, was, he considered, almost incre- 
 dible. But Lord Alton's niece, the daughter 
 of his heir presumptive, was an object worthy 
 the attention of any family ; and Fitzosborne, 
 having duly weighed the political advantages 
 of this new clue to his Lordship's interest,
 
 AT HOME. 133 
 
 tacitly assented to his friend's marriage to one 
 who united the actual good of family and for- 
 tune, to the insubstantial advantages of beauty 
 and accomplishments. 
 
 But when Lord Ellesmere, in his admiration 
 of Lady Harriet Moreton, first remarked her 
 resemblance to her cousin, the name of Julia 
 Fielding broke on the astonished ear of Lionel, 
 as if the cabalistic word, which cast a spell upon 
 his existence, had that moment been pronounced. 
 His impatience to behold one, whom now he 
 fancied he had seen in his morning dreams or 
 midnight vigils, could scarcely be repressed ; 
 and when Julia herself stood before him, ra- 
 diant in beauty and in innocence — when her 
 dark eyes turned on him with a beam that 
 lightened up shades of hours gone by — when 
 the rosy smile he had loved to watch, again 
 played round a mouth which a cherub might 
 have owned, — a complicated feeling, between 
 joy and sorrow, hope and fear, weighed upon 
 his heart ; and he almost wished to doubt again 
 of woman's purity.
 
 134 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 It was not, then, without design that Fitzos- 
 borne was himself the person who in their even- 
 ing walk first turned the conversation on the 
 now untiring strain of Julia Fielding's merits. 
 To any mind but his, the honest warmth with 
 which Lord Calvert's sisters talked of their 
 young friend, would have seemed the result of 
 genuine friendship ; but on his principles, no 
 such feeling could exist ; and whilst he consi- 
 dered their praises but as artifices calculated to 
 lead their brother to a measure they for selfish 
 reasons wished, he contrived to elicit from them 
 whatever information was most necessary for 
 his own satisfaction. 
 
 In such conversation, the evening passed with 
 unusual gaiety. Even the tedious ceremony of 
 tea and coffee was concluded, without Fitzos- 
 borne feeling his wonted inclination to yawn. 
 Nay more, so little narcotic was the dose, that 
 he even lay awake some hours, considering, as 
 calmly as he would have calculated the value of 
 Colombian bonds, first, whether it would be at 
 all worth his while to marry ; and if it was,
 
 AT HOME. 135 
 
 which would be the best plan — to marry his 
 friend's sister, or his destined bride ; and so 
 perfectly was he master of his thoughts, that in 
 these cogitations he omitted no probable con- 
 tingency in favour of either of the ladies : 
 amongst which, the possible death of his dear 
 friend himself was by no means forgotten.
 
 136 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A MORNING VISIT. 
 
 Stella and Flavia every hour 
 
 Unnumber'd hearts surprise ; 
 la Stella's soul lies all her power, 
 
 And Flavia's in her eyes. 
 
 Mrs. Pilkingtox, 
 
 The time was past, if ever such had been, 
 when Lionel Fitzosborne could feel or fancy he 
 was in love at first sight ; and he now particu- 
 larly gloried on what he flattered himself was 
 the coolness with which, for some successive 
 days, he weighed the respective merits of those 
 whom he termed the rival candidates for the 
 honour of his hand. But, meanwhile, he was
 
 AT HOME. 137 
 
 little conscious of the impression which Julia 
 Fielding had made already on his fancy. Her 
 image haunted him in his sleep ; and her name 
 was the first word he was conscious of pronoun- 
 cing as he awoke. But, on the morning when 
 he expected again to meet her, after he had 
 spent an unusual time in arranging his well- 
 disciplined mustachios, and in sedulously part- 
 ing his hair from the furthest point of his head 
 to his forehead, he suddenly perceived that his 
 too faithful mirror reflected the smile of con- 
 tempt into which his features involuntarily 
 relaxed, when he first became sensible of the 
 wandering of his thoughts ; and he burst into a 
 fit of laughing at himself, when he recollected 
 that they had diverged from the right road of 
 political calculation, even so far as to the silken 
 eye-lashes of Julia Fielding. 
 
 If any person had prophesied to Lionel that 
 he should ever condescend again to bestow a 
 passing recollection on the beauty or merit of 
 any woman, independent of other contingent 
 recommendations, he probably would have con-
 
 138 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 tradicted them in as positive a manner as his 
 imperturbable politeness could have permitted. 
 Yet this had now unexpectedly occurred ; 
 and, what was still more provoking, the more 
 he thought of this extraordinary circumstance, 
 the more minute and indelible became his re- 
 miniscences of all that Julia had said, or done, 
 or looked, during the few moments he had 
 already passed in her company. 
 
 But whatever might have been the vacilla- 
 tion of his thoughts, his calm, mild, impressive 
 manner was the same as usual when he entered 
 the breakfast-room. Lady Louisa was trying 
 on a new hat, and really looked beautiful, as, 
 blushing at her own naivete, she gaily turned 
 round to ask his opinion of what to her seemed 
 an outrce fashion. — Lord Calvert was carefully 
 turning over the leaves of a grand-jury book, 
 and humming one of the airs in II Crociato, 
 which Lionel remembered to have seen in Mr. 
 Fielding's library ; and Lady Matilda stood at 
 the open window, as if in majesty serene, seem- 
 ingly engrossed by her own reflections.
 
 AT HOME. 139 
 
 Of all the individuals with whom Lionel 
 Fitzosborne had ever associated, Lady Matilda 
 Calvert was, perhaps, the one for whom his va- 
 rious merits had least attraction. Acute as was 
 his faculty for discriminating character, he had 
 not yet satisfactorily ascertained whether her 
 apparent indifference to him arose from habitual 
 coldness, or mere womanly affectation. Some- 
 times he imagined it proceeded from pride ; 
 and once he fancied he perceived a degree of 
 scrutiny in her glance, to which he was unused. 
 The first motives were the only ones he would 
 have forgiven ; and though it is more than pro- 
 bable that had they met any where but in the 
 retirement of Ellesmere, her coldness would 
 have escaped his notice ; yet there it more 
 than once attracted his attention, and never 
 had it previously been so apparent to him as 
 now, when her almost haughty manners were 
 contrasted with the gay cordiality both of Lady 
 Louisa and Lord Calvert. 
 
 Before Lionel had time to reply to Lady 
 Louisa's artless challenge for admiration of her
 
 140 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 hat, Lord Calvert started up, and taking hold of 
 his coat-button, exclaimed, in a tone of raillery, 
 " Remember, Mr. Fitzosborne, I don't act the 
 part of special messenger to-day ; I hereby, 
 and in due form, enter my protest against 
 that honourable distinction." 
 
 " ' Thou canst not say I did it,' Calvert, if 
 you allude to the message you conveyed to the 
 rectory the other day ; and even if I did con- 
 tribute to your return thither, I am k sure the end 
 would sanctify the means." 
 
 " Lady Harriet Moreton, I acknowledge, is 
 irresistible," said Lord Calvert, colouring ; 
 " but, at least, let me have the merit of offering 
 my own services." 
 
 " Well, the only punishment I ask is, that 
 in return you should send me as often as you 
 please, in your place, to Miss Fielding : re- 
 member, I ' hereby,' as you say, accept that 
 penance." 
 
 "It is very different going voluntarily to 
 being sent any where." 
 
 "There you are right, Calvert; but never-
 
 AT HOME. 141 
 
 theless, if you are to receive orders, it is lucky 
 they are so easily obeyed." Fitzosborne said 
 this with peculiar emphasis, but almost in a 
 whisper. Lady Louisa heard it not ; and as Lord 
 Calvert turned abruptly away, she continued 
 the conversation. 
 
 " You never told me, Mr. Fitzosborne, in 
 all our conversations about my dearest Julia, 
 what you thought of her ; is she not beauti- 
 ful ?" 
 
 " Very;" and Mr. Fitzosborne took up the 
 newspaper. 
 
 " Literal and concise," returned Lady Louisa: 
 " I shall certainly tell her how very much you 
 admire her." 
 
 1 ' I fear, Louisa, that Miss Fielding is too much 
 used to admiration, and too indifferent to it, to be 
 much affected even by praise such as Mr. Fitz- 
 osborne's." As Lady Matilda said this, Lionel 
 noticed that same indescribable expression, 
 between dignity and doubt, which had before 
 attracted his observation ; but he replied to 
 Lady Louisa with his usual benignant smile.
 
 142 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 u You know, my dear Lady Louisa, I only 
 saw her for a moment the other morning; I 
 forget whether her eyes are brown or blue; 
 however, I will be more attentive to-day. But, 
 pardon me, your capote is a shade too far for- 
 ward : Lady Ellesmere, am I not right V 
 
 Lady Louisa, with one toss of her head, 
 threw her bonnet back, till, gipsey fashion, it 
 fell on her shoulders ; and then, with a serio- 
 comic air, inquired " if that was le supreme 
 bon ton V Just then, Lord Ellesmere's entrance 
 suspended the discussion, and the substantial 
 breakfast commenced. 
 
 No puils d'amour — no confitures a la va- 
 nille — no patis aux truffes — gave excuse for 
 matin epicureanism. The toast, and its wiry 
 toast-rack — the muffins — the cold French rolls 
 — the scalding-hot chocolate — the Moka coffee 
 — the gunpowder tea — all were presented to the 
 assembled party in equal perfection and similar 
 order, to that which had covered the identical 
 narrow table fifty years ago : nor, with the ex- 
 ception of alternate baskets of fruit, or piles of
 
 AT HOME. 143 
 
 buttered toast, as summer or winter prescribed, 
 would much alteration be expected for fifty 
 years to come. 
 
 However, the breakfast, such as it was, was 
 finished at last, although some of the party 
 thought it almost interminable ; and now, with 
 various feelings, they all prepared for their 
 expedition to Broomhill Barracks. As the car- 
 riages drove round the broad gravel in front 
 of the countless steps at the hall-door, the cal- 
 culations began respecting the disposition of 
 their inmates. 
 
 " Does your Lordship intend to go round by 
 the rectory?" inquired Fitzosborne, with the 
 most provoking quietude of manner. 
 
 " Oh ! Calvert, that is quite unnecessary ; 
 I have promised to call for Julia, and to bring 
 her home with me," hastily rejoined Lady 
 Ellesmere, with due attention to decorum. 
 
 u I had never the least intention of going so 
 far out of my way," replied Lord Calvert, 
 coolly ; and, taking Louisa by the hand, they 
 both got into his curricle, and drove off.
 
 144 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 Lionel looked as if he was entirely at Lady 
 Ellesmere's command : he was too polite to take 
 possession of his dennet alone, and too proud to 
 give Lady Matilda the opportunity of refusing a 
 seat in it ; whilst Lady Ellesmere was equally, 
 too, punctilious to suppose such a possibility as 
 her daughter's going with Mr. Fitzosborne ; 
 bidding him, therefore, a gracious farewell, till 
 they met at the barracks, she, accompanied by 
 Lady Matilda in the barouche and the Earl on 
 horseback, drove round by Mr. Fielding's, leav- 
 ing Lionel to follow Lord Calvert alone, and to 
 laugh at her Ladyship's prudery. 
 
 Gay as Lady Louisa had been in the morn- 
 ing, her spirits rose almost to exuberance as she 
 approached the scene of pleasure ; and when, as 
 they slowly wound round the hill, on the top of 
 which the barracks were situated, the sounds of 
 martial music reached her ear at intervals, she 
 could scarcely repress her almost infantine de- 
 light ; whilst her brother, pleased to see his 
 beloved sister so happy, soon caught the reflec- 
 tion of her gaiety, although he almost wondered
 
 AT HOME. 145 
 
 at, and almost envied, her facility of enjoy- 
 ment. 
 
 But Lady Louisa was scarcely sixteen, and 
 more inexperienced in what are inaptly called 
 the gaieties of the world than even her age 
 bespoke. She never yet had known a sorrow 
 or caused a grief; innocent and unambitious, 
 her mind was endued with that aptitude of 
 happiness which is in itself a blessing; and 
 while she looked round the narrow circle of her 
 acquaintance, she believed all her associates 
 to be kind, and all her dependants happy. 
 
 Such is often the prospect of youth, as, 
 cradled in the rainbow of hope, it sees the whole 
 horizon of life through a golden prism. Those 
 rays are one by one dispersed. But what can 
 compensate for the loss of those fading hues, 
 which alone throw celestial radiance on our 
 path, and join this earth to heaven ? 
 
 Quick beat her fluttering heart, as, jumping 
 from her brother's curricle, almost before either 
 he or Lionel were at hand to help her, Louisa 
 Calvert found herself in that square of Broom- 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 146 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 hill barracks that is especially designated " the 
 Parade." The day was brilliant without being 
 oppressive, and she beheld all the splendour of 
 martial revelry displayed to her delighted view; 
 nor did she, in the first moment of her enthusi- 
 asm, decide whether the uniform of the band 
 or that of their officers was most beautiful. 
 
 The Countess had not calculated on the possi- 
 bility of Lord Calvert's entering the barrack 
 gate without her being at hand to chaperon 
 her daughter, or assuredly she would not have 
 entrusted her to his care. But neither he nor 
 the volatile Louisa had once recollected her 
 sage admonitions on the subject ; and as Fitz- 
 osborne only ridiculed them, he rather ac- 
 celerated than delayed their entrance to Lady 
 Harriet's apartments. But what an unex- 
 pected scene there awaited them ! 
 
 Lady Harriet had invited all the ladies of 
 the neighbourhood, who had previously visited 
 her, which, as soon as this party was known, 
 nearly included the whole number of residents : 
 even Miss Hackerley had recollected the pas-
 
 AT HOME. 147 
 
 tor's last sermon on redeeming time, and now- 
 stood foremost in the throng assiduously com- 
 plaisant. But amongst the earliest of those 
 who had obeyed her Ladyship's summons, were 
 Lady Weldon and her daughters, who had 
 even arrived some half hour before they were 
 expected. 
 
 These young ladies were zealously prac- 
 tising, under Lady Harriet's auspices, the new 
 amusement of tableaux vivans, of which they 
 had then first heard. The scene they had 
 chosen to represent was from their younger 
 sister's prints of the History of England, (for 
 they were too prudent to venture far into 
 the fields of literature,) and Queen Eleanor 
 extracting the poison from her husband's arm 
 was the novel subject they had selected. 
 
 Major Crosbie, as Edward the Third, was 
 placed, like another usurper, on a tottering 
 throne, which he affected to despise, at the 
 same time looking pompous with all his might. 
 Miss Weldon having thrown aside her bonnet, 
 d la capricieuse, looked somewhat classical by
 
 148 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 the judicious draping of her shawl, which fell 
 in good folds as she knelt, not unwilling, at the 
 Major's feet, and affected to raise his arm to 
 her lips. Anna Weldon acted lady in waiting 
 in tne back-ground ; and a young officer, as 
 page, held a dragoon's helmet, which not inaptly 
 represented that of the supposed monarch. 
 
 On the whole, the grouping was not ill ima- 
 gined. But the fair sisters were too much 
 used to look round for admiration to be able to 
 keep their immutability many seconds. From 
 the force of habit, they began first to cast their 
 eyes slowly around them ; they then looked 
 interesting at every gaping cornet that met 
 their view, and lastly, a smile of winning lan- 
 guishment succeeded. In vain Lady Weldon, 
 observing the entrance of Lord Calvert and 
 Fitzosborne, endeavoured to recall the waning 
 admiration of the spectators, as, raising a spy- 
 glass and massive chain, she repeated bravos 
 innumerable. The contrast between the smirk- 
 ing misses and the imperturbable Major was 
 irresistibly ludicrous ; and though Lady Harriet
 
 AT HOME. 149 
 
 cared little for any ridicule that might fall upon 
 her guests, she knew exactly the point at which 
 the derision might extend to her party, and at 
 that point, therefore, after one arch glance, that 
 spoke volumes to Fitzosborne, she put a timely 
 end to the caricature, by advancing to receive 
 her newly arrived visitors. 
 
 Lord Calvert paid her Ladyship some com- 
 pliment on the arrangement of the scene, to 
 which she carelessly replied ; then, turning to 
 Lionel with a bewitching smile, she continued, 
 " Tell me, Fitz, what have you been doing? 
 I have expected you here these last two days. 
 I have along message for you from my father ;' ; 
 then, deliberately passing her arm through his, 
 they walked towards a distant part of the 
 room. 
 
 " I did not know Fitzosborne was acquainted 
 with Lord Alton," thought Lord Calvert; but 
 though he recollected the letter of introduction 
 he had procured for his friend from Mr. Field- 
 ing, he scarcely considered the subject worth 
 further observation.
 
 150 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 Meantime, the indefatigable Lady "Weldon, 
 totally forgetting the delicacy of her consti- 
 tution, bustled up to Lord Calvert, and en- 
 deavoured to extract some praises for her 
 daughters, after due compliments on his return. 
 
 " And I sincerely wish you joy, my dear 
 Lady Louisa," added she, with a significant 
 squeeze of the hand. 
 
 " Indeed it has made us all very happy," 
 replied the innocent girl, who thought only of 
 her brother's arrival, whilst Lady "Weldon 
 alluded to Mr. Fitzosborne. 
 
 " So, then, it is all settled ; they have been 
 in a wonderful hurry, considering she is so 
 young. He is certainly handsome ; but I dare 
 say he is not so rich as I've heard. I wonder 
 how much he gets down with her." 
 
 Such were the mental reflections of the ex- 
 perienced matron : meanwhile her two daugh- 
 ters seized both Lady Louisa's hands, and in- 
 undated her with questions. 
 
 " Didn't that little Jew, as Lady Harriet 
 calls it, go off admirably ? What did your bro-
 
 AT HOME. 151 
 
 ther think of us? What were the people saying 
 near you? Didn't you think Captain Brisbane 
 looked very particularly at Anna? I must in- 
 sist on his criticising me, though ;" and with 
 this diffident resolution the young lady turned 
 away in pursuit of her intended victim. 
 
 Lord and Lady Ellesmere now entered the 
 room, accompanied by Lady Matilda, and Mr. 
 and Miss Fielding, and in a moment Lady 
 Harriet was at their side. A somewhat hectic 
 flush tinged her cheeks as she turned from 
 Fitzosborne, and her eyes, always dazzling, 
 now seemed almost to flash fire. But their 
 expression waned as she turned to her guests, 
 and her address to each was what each felt to 
 be most fascinating. To Lady Ellesmere, whose 
 family pride was portrayed even in her up- 
 right carriage, the Earl of Alton's daughter 
 was at once modest and dignified, as if she felt 
 herself honoured by the visit of the aristocratic 
 Countess, precisely in the same degree as she 
 could do honour in return. Lady Matilda and 
 Lord Ellesmere received the unpresuming
 
 152 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 courtesy of one frankly solicitous to obtain 
 their regard. But in her greeting to Mr. 
 Fielding and Julia, a softness, beyond the 
 mere finish of politeness, stole their reluctant 
 suffrage. The halo of feeling clouded for an 
 instant the illumination of beauty ; a tear 
 dimmed the eye that looked still lovelier in the 
 liquid lustre; and as she offered both her 
 hands to her uncle and his daughter, the half- 
 parted lips seemed less to give a welcome than 
 to ask a blessing. The appeal was as instanta- 
 neous as it was irresistible; and, in the same 
 mute but intelligible language, Mr. Fielding's 
 warm pressure of the flexible little hand ratified 
 the compact of regard, and Julia's radiant coun- 
 tenance reflected back a smile as bewitching, 
 but less timid than her own. 
 
 Yet all this had passed before Lady Weldon, 
 who had now re-assumed the drawl interesting, 
 had reached the middle of the room on her way 
 to offer her languishing compliments to Lady 
 Ellesmere ; nor was there one person in the 
 room, unless Fitzosborne were he, who could
 
 AT HOME. 153 
 
 have traced these various shades of feeling be- 
 yond the one which was singly presented to 
 the individual to whom it was especially ad- 
 dressed. 
 
 Lady Harriet's manners exhibited the high- 
 est possible specimen of elegance; like the 
 polished pebble, which, however beautiful in the 
 exterior, is usually opaque as well as cold ; and 
 perhaps in both, it requires the perfection of 
 art to give even an appearance of warmth or 
 transparency. 
 
 But in the motley group that now sur- 
 rounded Lady Harriet, there was one mind 
 congenial to her own ; for from her, Fitzos- 
 borne had learned some of those lessons in 
 which he was now almost her superior. Be- 
 neath his eye, even hers might quail, and not a 
 meteor ray could glance across the heaven of 
 her brow that did not open to his view the 
 storm in which it rose. 
 
 Scarcely had Julia touched the extremest 
 verge of that circle whose magic power she 
 was destined so soon to prove, when that innate
 
 154 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 consciousness which belongs to incipient love 
 told Lionel she was near : and following Lady 
 Harriet with his eyes, he watched with the 
 most eager interest her first introduction to her 
 uncle and Miss Fielding. There, as they stood 
 together, he compared the cousins' beauty — 
 tracing a resemblance in every charm, whilst 
 he contrasted the different expression of their 
 countenances with a feeling painful, from its 
 own intensity. But no change of feature be- 
 trayed even his attention to the passing scene, 
 and he smiled and talked with unconstrained 
 politeness, and seemed 
 
 Not e'en the shadow of the thing he was. 
 
 Meantime, Sir Henry Moreton had shown a 
 tact scarcely less perfect, though of different 
 character. Whatever were Lady Ellesmere's 
 prejudices, her follies, if such they were, lay 
 broadly displayed on the very surface of her 
 figure. The virtues of her heart and the 
 qualities of her mind lay deeper ; the first were 
 carelessly exposed to the world's gaze, the last
 
 AT HOME. 155 
 
 were cherished for her friends alone. And 
 after all, it is only with folly that the world has 
 to do ; such a world, at least, as Sir Henry 
 Moreton lived for. It was, therefore, by no 
 means difficult to him to win the favour of the 
 stately Countess, by merely paying her the re- 
 spect she courted ; and having informed her that 
 the band only waited her orders, she graciously 
 accepted his offered arm to lead the way to 
 the terrace, where the promenade commenced. 
 And now, as all were actors, all were 
 pleased. Lady Louisa had, on the moment 
 of her mother's entrance, sprung forward to 
 join Julia and her sister ; and Lord Calvert 
 certainly had not availed himself of that favour- 
 able opportunity to disengage himself from her 
 arm. Not that he appeared peculiarly solici- 
 tous to enter into conversation with Miss 
 Fielding ; as, on the contrary, he only gazed on 
 her in silence during Lady Harriet's introduc- 
 tion. But her Ladyship had scarcely turned 
 away when he whispered closely in her ear, 
 " Julia, you have forgotten your bouquet — take
 
 166 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 mine ; but stop — I cannot part with this." So 
 saying, he separated the bunch of lily of the 
 valley from the rest, and carefully replaced it 
 in the button-hole of his coat. Julia took (he 
 rose he offered her with a blush that rivalled 
 it in hue ; and if she smiled, it was concealed 
 by the flower whose perfume she was inhaling. 
 
 " Is that an emblem of silence?" thought 
 Lionel, as he approached the party at the mo- 
 ment Lady Ellesmere had begun her stately 
 march. But his attention seemed wholly en- 
 grossed by Lady Matilda, to whom he offered 
 himself as cavalier ; and Lord Calvert, as a 
 matter of course, took Julia's arm under his, 
 and followed the cortege. 
 
 Which of " all the officers" would have had 
 the gallantry to escort Lady Louisa must now 
 ever remain doubtful ; for, before any of the 
 gallant knights had made up their minds to the 
 enterprise, the two Misses Weldon linked them- 
 selves under either arm. The eldest had seen 
 with mixed pain and pleasure that Major Cros- 
 bie had selected Lady Weldon as a fit subject
 
 AT HOME. 157 
 
 for his taciturn courtesies ; and Anna, who, 
 while she talked and laughed with any person 
 who would listen to her, had taken the oppor- 
 tunity of narrowly watching all Captain Bris- 
 bane's motions, saw with unmitigated regret, 
 that he, with the utmost sang-froid, merely 
 stepped back as many inches as allowed room 
 for the French hats to pass by him. Nor did 
 she flatter herself with the most distant hope 
 that even her papa's old wines would induce 
 any other of His Majesty's 60th regiment of 
 dragoons to take compassion on her. 
 
 Lady Louisa, therefore, was her only re- 
 source ; for as she stood in no particular need 
 of either assistance or advice from her " dear 
 Julia," she never thought of her, even had she 
 been disengaged; and consequently, with in- 
 finite zeal, she now appended herself to her 
 equally " dear Lady Louisa," who happened 
 to be the person of highest rank within her 
 reach. 
 
 It has been acknowledged, time out of mind, 
 that nothing is more delightful than a good
 
 158 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 military band. It is at once soothing and exhi- 
 larating ; and whether it is heard in the field of 
 battle or the ball-room, whether its mingled 
 tones swell in the soldier's triumph or moan in 
 his funeral, it possesses a power over the feel- 
 ings that the finest orchestra scarcely com- 
 mands. Lady Harriet Moreton, therefore, 
 judged wisely in deeming that the enjoyment 
 of such a band as that regiment boasted, would 
 be a kind of attraction which the prudery of 
 few ladies in that neighbourhood could resist. 
 Her party, therefore, was crowded even be- 
 yond her own calculations, and infinitely ex- 
 ceeded those of Miss Hackerley, who, panting 
 with eagerness to enjoy all that was going 
 forward, now came on the parade, vigorously 
 drawing after her the complacent Mr. War- 
 burton, who, though by no means vain of his 
 dame de compagnie> was much too polite to 
 remonstrate, and contented himself with look- 
 ing unutterable things. 
 
 The Ellesmere party was the object to which 
 Miss Hackerley directed her steeple chase ; and
 
 AT HOME* 159 
 
 stumbling, elbowing, and apologizing, she at 
 last arrived within hearing of them ; when, 
 scarcely waiting for a pause, either in the music 
 or their conversation, she began an endless 
 string of exclamations. " The day was so 
 charming — and the band so exquisite — and 
 Lady Harriet so agreeable — and, Miss Fielding, 
 you look so delightful," continued she, address- 
 ing Julia as a last resource, finding no other 
 person at leisure to listen to her. 
 
 "That is just what I would have said, if I 
 dared," whispered Lord Calvert. 
 
 " And, my Lord, you made such a terrible 
 long journey since I last saw you at Ellesmere," 
 resumed Miss Hackerley, in her most conside- 
 rate tone. 
 
 " Mais oui! Every person is obliged to travel 
 now : it is epidemic. Do you remember any 
 thing of Italy, Julia?" 
 
 " Yes, I recollect some of its beautiful 
 scenery, and that I was delighted with its 
 music." 
 
 "And what did you find most delightful in
 
 160 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 Italy, my Lord?" inquired the persevering Miss 
 Hackerley. 
 
 " The hope of return" — and something closely 
 resembling a sigh accompanied this observation ; 
 but Lord Calvert was but little addicted to 
 sighing, and turning gaily to Julia, he added 
 — " For as to music, I think that last overture 
 was played better than I have heard it done 
 at San Carlos ; and as to scenery, what could 
 surpass this view?" — and as he said this, he 
 pointed to the rectory. 
 
 The terrace on which they stood, commanded 
 an extensive prospect on every side. In front, 
 a long reach of the river was visible as it pur- 
 sued its fretful way down a narrow glen at the 
 foot of Mr. Fielding's woods, bubbling and 
 frothing over many a stone, — whilst below 
 Fairton bridge, broad, smooth, and expansive, 
 it rolled slowly on towards Ellesmere. On the 
 other side of the hill, a wild heathy common 
 stretched on the eye, till it gradually blended in 
 the haze of distance with corn-fields, and pas- 
 tures, and hedge-rows, and hamlets innume-
 
 AT HOME. 161 
 
 rable ; and, still farther off, a single ray of light 
 caught the slender spire of a church that glit- 
 tered in the eye of heaven from amidst 
 
 yon town, 
 The western sun's now shining on. 
 
 " This is assuredly a beautiful scene," ex- 
 claimed Julia, her countenance beaming with 
 heartfelt happiness. 
 
 " You don't compare it with Martigny?" 
 whispered Fitzosborne, but in so low a voice 
 as to be heard by none but Lord Calvert. 
 
 u I should infinitely prefer this, if I had my 
 choice," replied the latter rather sternly. 
 
 * If you had your choice! ay, but 'not on 
 compulsion, Hal — not on compulsion,' " — and as 
 Fitzosborne said this, a sardonic smile of con- 
 tempt played round his lip, whilst fire itself 
 seemed to gleam in his eye. 
 
 Lord Calvert started — nay, he almost shud- 
 dered. He tried to laugh as he found no ready 
 answer, and in a few seconds he walked to the 
 other side of the parade, under the pretence of 
 speaking to Mr. Jessop.
 
 162 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 Lady Matilda was still leaning on Lionel's 
 arm ; but as soon as Lord Calvert quitted Julia's 
 side, he offered the one that was disengaged 
 to her, saying something of being allowed to 
 replace her truant cavalier. " He loves but 
 rides away" — added he, looking steadily in 
 Miss Fielding's face. Julia coloured, and, angry 
 at herself for doing so, she blushed still more. 
 
 " Has Calvert had time to tell you any of 
 his adventures, Lady Matilda?" inquired Fitz- 
 osborne, in a louder key than he had yet spoken. 
 She replied in the negative, and he continued 
 in a tone of raillery — 
 
 " Oh! do ask him about his pretty little 
 inamorata La Contessa Montalvina. But 
 don't tell him I bid you do so, or he will never 
 forgive me." 
 
 " You know travellers at home are seldom 
 listened to, and still seldomer believed ; so I sup- 
 pose my brother does not mean to publish his 
 adventures till he gets at least as far from us 
 as Persia, or the north pole. 
 
 " But do, pray, Mr. Fitzosborne, tell me about 
 this Contessa," interrupted Lady Louisa laugh-
 
 AT HOME. 163 
 
 ing ; " I want sadly to plague him a little, for 
 he has been quizzing me so much about Mr. 
 Jessop's black eyes." 
 
 " Bellissima Contessima mia," replied Lionel 
 gaily, " I have nothing to tell, but that La 
 Montalvina was a most captivating Italian lady, 
 and desperately smitten with Lord Calvert." 
 
 " And he?" — eagerly inquired Lady Louisa. 
 
 " Cela va sans dire. — Miss Fielding, do listen 
 to that little boy who has just taken up the 
 octave flute. He plays divinely, and I know 
 you are a perfect judge of music." 
 
 Julia affected to follow his advice, and secretly 
 thanked him for the opportune diversion of 
 attention. But her thoughts were by no means 
 under control. She wondered whether it was 
 Lord Calvert who told Mr. Fitzosborne she 
 was a good judge of music ; then she wondered 
 whether the Contessa Montalvina was musical ; 
 and then so many " wonders" succeeded each 
 other in her mind, that she only knew the ex- 
 quisite flute-playing was at an end, by being 
 summoned to follow Lady Ellesmere into the
 
 164 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 banqueting, quasi mess-room, where Sir Henry 
 Moreton's savoir vivre was displayed even to 
 the satisfaction of the fastidious Mr. Warburton. 
 
 In this movement, the ladies accidentally 
 changed their escorts. Major Crosbie having 
 been especially introduced to Lady Matilda, 
 by Lord Ellesmere, with all the ceremony of 
 Sir Charles Grandison's days, felt himself bound 
 to be her conductor. Miss Weldon, almost 
 forcibly monopolized Lord Calvert ; Julia found 
 herself left to the care of Mr. Fitzosborne ; and 
 Lady Louisa, nothing loth, accepted the guar- 
 dianship of the black-eyed Mr. Jessop : and 
 here the supremacy of military rank was strongly 
 marked ; for though Mr. Jessop was second 
 son to one of the oldest earls in the peerage, 
 he was content to give precedence to every 
 untitled officer whose commission was superior 
 to his own. 
 
 Lady Harriet Moreton had hitherto made 
 but little display ; and if any person had en- 
 deavoured to define exactly what made her 
 manners so attractive as they were universally
 
 AT HOME. 165 
 
 acknowledged to be, they would have been 
 puzzled to select any one quality peculiarly 
 to praise. 
 
 Perhaps it was precisely that well-regulated 
 but undefined harmony that gave such powerful 
 effect to a variety of little nameless graces, 
 which separately almost eluded observation, 
 but conjointly produced a seductive refinement 
 that was generally resistless. She possessed 
 sufficient beauty, accomplishment, and talent, 
 to excite admiration for each, if such had been 
 her choice : but this day her object was to be- 
 come popular in its literal sense ; and she well 
 knew that to be so, it was more necessary to 
 exhibit the beauty, accomplishment, and talent 
 of others than to display her own. 
 
 The result was, that whilst the person she 
 individually addressed, believed none was ever 
 " good, or fair, or wise as she," — she obtruded 
 not herself on the attention of any beyond those, 
 who at the moment felt themselves flattered 
 by her selection. Her own sex scarcely could 
 accuse her of being a flirt, for she spoke almost
 
 166 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 in whispers, and her manners were chiefly re- 
 markable for their quiet unobtrusiveness ; whilst 
 the other sex seldomer discovered faults in 
 one who, to use Lord Ellesmere's expression, 
 was " certainly a charming woman." 
 
 Lady Weldon had taken infinite pains to 
 analyse Lady Harriet's dress and deportment ; 
 for besides her being of unquestioned supremacy 
 in fashion, she was likewise the latest arrival 
 from town. The dimensions of her hat were 
 accurately calculated, and she had privately 
 taken down the name of Madame Oudaille, her 
 Ladyship's dress-maker, without properly com- 
 prehending that she had not yet come to London. 
 It even suggested itself once to her mind, that 
 Vair dtgage was something newer than that of 
 la petite sante, but her decision on this point 
 was suspended when she heard Lady Harriet 
 use the plea of a head-ach, in excuse for not 
 accepting Lord Calvert as a partner in a 
 quadrille, which, to the infinite delight of the 
 youngest part of the company, succeeded to 
 the dejeuner.
 
 AT HOME. 167 
 
 In the dance, Fitzosborne continued to be 
 Julia's cavalier. They stood opposite to Lord 
 Calvert and Miss Weldon ; and if the dancing 
 of the two travellers were justly and equally 
 to be admired, assuredly the contrast between 
 the ladies was quite as remarkable. 
 
 " What a beautiful girl Miss Fielding is !" — 
 ejaculated Mr. Jessop, as he led his partner 
 Lady Louisa to a seat ; " pity she is not brought 
 out in town." 
 
 " Cependant, our country cousin has Vair 
 bieti distingue" observed Sir Henry Moreton, 
 who was standing a little behind Lady Louisa, 
 and by no means wished to lose the opportunity 
 of claiming relationship to Miss Fielding. 
 
 " I think her every thing that is delightful," 
 replied Lady Louisa with vivacity. 
 
 " Yet, believe me," rejoined Lady Weldon 
 in her usual suppressed voice, " if your Lady- 
 ship only knew what London girls are, you 
 would see a great contrast between them and 
 our poor dear Julia, — don't you agree with me, 
 Mr. Jessop T
 
 168 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 " Perfectly," — replied the laconic Dragoon, 
 with immutable gravity. 
 
 Before Lady Louisa could interfere in Julia's 
 vindication, she perceived that Lady Harriet 
 Moreton had laid aside both her head-ach and 
 her hat, and had commenced a waltz with Lord 
 Calvert. Lady Ellesmere's daughters had not 
 even witnessed this dance before, and surely 
 never could they have seen it to greater per- 
 fection; for Lord Calvert's animation, contrasted 
 with Lady Harriet's quiet grace, extorted praise 
 even from the astonished Countess. 
 
 But this favourable impression of waltzing, 
 rather faded under the ponderous swings of the 
 two Misses Weldon. Captain Brisbane, who, 
 he scarcely knew how, had fallen to Anna's 
 share, was not duly solicitous to show off his 
 partner to advantage. By some mismanage- 
 ment, his arm, which, as all waltzers know, 
 should have rested in the latitude of her arti- 
 ficial waist, listlessly fell down some degrees 
 lower, and there the enormous white glove was 
 seen to grasp, in muscular strength, all the
 
 AT HOME. 169 
 
 petticoats and pelissons that came within its 
 reach, as if the apathetic beau required every 
 extraneous support, to enable him to bear the 
 unwonted fatigue. His sleepy eyes were seldom 
 raised from the floor; and his immoveable 
 countenance showed no responsive animation, 
 although the indefatigable Anna smiled and 
 twirled a toute outrance. 
 
 Sir Henry Moreton was more successful with 
 her sister ; he really danced well, and his portly 
 figure was so effectual a counterpoise to that 
 of Miss Weldon, that he actually contrived to 
 keep time in his own movements, notwith- 
 standing that his partner only hit the right step 
 every third turn. 
 
 Fitzosborne, having previously gone through 
 the ceremony of asking both the Ladies Calvert 
 to take a turn, earnestly, but vainly, urged Julia 
 to do the same. She had learned waltzing 
 abroad ; and as a child, had been peculiarly 
 remarkable for her excellence in that dance. 
 But she now positively refused to join in it ; 
 vol. I. H
 
 170 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 alleging-, what was nearly true, that she had 
 never practised it since she had returned from 
 the Continent. The name of Italy served 
 Fitzosborne as an excuse to lead the conver- 
 sation to all of music and of song which that 
 name entails ; and so delightful was his voice, 
 and so interesting his observations, that Julia 
 was surprised, and sorry to be summoned by 
 Lady Ellesmere to accompany her home. 
 
 As the Countess and her daughters were 
 passing towards the door, notwithstanding Sir 
 Henry Moreton's reiterated request that they 
 should not go so soon, Fitzosborne, with Julia 
 on his arm, passed close to where Lord Calvert 
 was standing talking to Lady Harriet. Taking 
 Julia cordially by the hand, she thanked her 
 in the most affectionate manner for her visit ; 
 and then turning to Lionel, invited him to stay 
 longer, as the dancing had scarcely commenced. 
 He excused himself, however, on the plea 
 of escorting Lady Ellesmere : then turning to 
 Lord Calvert, whispered, " and you, I suppose, 
 are under orders too ?"
 
 AT HOME. 171 
 
 u Yes, to dance II Turco in Italia with 
 Lady Harriet." 
 
 So saying-, he coldly bowed to Julia. Fitz- 
 osborne smiled ; and thus the two friends parted. 
 Lionel accompanying the Earl and the ladies 
 to Ellesmere Park ; and Lord Calvert taking 
 his place in attendance on Lady Harriet.
 
 172 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LOVE THOUGHTS. 
 
 Thou know'st how guiltless first I met thy flame, 
 When love approach'd me under friendship's name 
 My fancy form'd thee of angelic kind, 
 Some emanation of th' all-beauteous mind ; 
 Those smiling eyes, attempering every ray, 
 Shone sweetly lambent with celestial day ! 
 Guiltless I gazed. — 
 
 Pope. 
 
 If Lionel Fitzosborne possessed one talent 
 in greater perfection than another, it was that 
 of probing the thoughts of those with whom he 
 associated. It was now, however, his business 
 to probe his own ; and deep were his medita-
 
 AT HOME. 173 
 
 tions, as, silent and alone, he mechanically fol- 
 lowed the carriage which contained her, who, 
 unconsciously to herself, had become the arbi- 
 tress of his destiny. 
 
 The moon had risen with unusual splendour 
 from behind the hill they had just quitted. 
 The glimmering lights that were beginning to 
 sparkle from the windows of Lady Harriet's 
 rooms seemed lurid, in contrast to the silvery 
 lustre that caught the tufted woods of Mr. 
 Fielding's park, and spread in broad and tran- 
 quil brilliancy beneath the arches of Fairton 
 Bridge ; whilst the river, scarcely murmuring 
 in its course, seemed pleased to bear the lovely 
 image towards the shadowing bowers of Elles- 
 mere Park. A fitful fancy suddenly seized on 
 Lionel's imagination : he thought he saw, in 
 the chastened beam, the unearthly spirit of her 
 he loved passing onwards to other halls than 
 his, whilst the red torches that now glowed 
 more fiercely from the hill, seemed like watch- 
 fires on some beacon-height, foretelling strife 
 and woe.
 
 174 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 "And be it so !" exclaimed he, almost aloud. 
 " Her spirit may breathe through the halls of 
 Ellesmere ; her image may wander through his 
 proud demesnes : but alive, I will never see 
 her Calvert's bride." 
 
 This very articulation of his thoughts served 
 to confirm and arrange his plans ; and ere the 
 carriages turned through the massive gates that 
 gave entrance to the park, his countenance was 
 as serene, and his mind as composed, as if the 
 hours had passed — * 
 
 In holiest meditation wrapt. 
 
 Meanwhile, for the first time in her life, 
 Julia returned to Ellesmere with a feeling 
 almost of melancholy. Her visits there had 
 ever, hitherto, been made with unmixed sen- 
 sations of pleasure, whilst all her recollections 
 of sorrow were associated with other scenes. 
 
 Her mother, having spent several winters 
 abroad, had died at Nice, of a consumption, 
 when Julia was only seven years old ; and as 
 Mr. Fielding's affliction at her loss was too
 
 AT HOME. 175 
 
 deep to admit of his immediate return to that 
 spot which formerly had witnessed almost unin- 
 terrupted happiness, he prolonged his stay on 
 the Continent after her death, for nearly three 
 years : during which time, his little Julia had 
 learned almost intuitively many of those accom- 
 plishments that in England are purchased too 
 often by the tears of infancy. 
 
 At the age of ten, in contradiction to all 
 modern plans of education, Julia bade adieu to 
 Italy, and retired to the secluded groves of 
 Fairton, unpolluted by those scenes of brilliant 
 dissipation into which many girls of that age 
 are purposely initiated ; but, at the same time, 
 she returned perfected in the accomplishments 
 of music and foreign languages, for which such 
 daily sacrifices are made of all that in the eye 
 of reason seems most valuable. 
 
 Lady Ellesmere, with all the kindly feelings 
 that peculiarly, nay exclusively, belong to the 
 character of an English matron, received, on 
 Mr. Fielding's return, the little motherless 
 stranger with almost maternal affection; and
 
 176 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 though he would never comply with the urgent 
 request of the Countess to resign his darling 
 solely to her charge, yet she soon became iden- 
 tified with her own children. Miss Fielding's 
 little muslin bed in the nursery at Ellesmere, 
 was as often occupied as its prototype at the 
 rectory ; and whilst she read aloud the Italian 
 classics in what was to her the most accus- 
 tomed language, her foreign idiom was in turn 
 corrected by her little friends and playmates — 
 the Ladies Calvert : and as both families grew 
 up, Mr. Fielding took equal pains in the in- 
 struction of each in the more serious studies 
 of English literature, whilst the same masters 
 attended both in the other branches of female 
 education. 
 
 Thus Italy, though by no means entirely 
 effaced from Julia's memory, dwelt on it like 
 the reflection of its own changeful sky : its 
 brilliancy sometimes bursting in unclouded 
 splendour, and sometimes darkened by the re- 
 membrance of her mother's death and her 
 father's sorrow ; whilst Ellesmere always rose
 
 AT HOME. 177 
 
 to her mind with its magnificent woods and 
 verdant pastures, as the cool retreat to which 
 the traveller returns with gratitude, and where 
 he is most sure to find a solace for every 
 toil. 
 
 All this Fitzosborne knew. He knew, too, 
 for deeply had he sounded the hearts of those 
 whose happiness seemed fluttering in his grasp — 
 he knew that the mutual preference between 
 Julia and Lord Calvert, which in those early 
 years of intimacy had merely assumed the 
 frankness of fraternal affection, had manifestly 
 increased, at least on his part, with their riper 
 years. Whenever Lord Calvert had returned 
 to Ellesmere in his Oxford vacations, he had 
 found the companion of his childhood gradually 
 improving in beauty, and in those elegant ac- 
 complishments in which her natural talents so 
 eminently qualified her to excel : still, how- 
 ever, her extreme youth (as she was but four- 
 teen when Lord Calvert went abroad) pre- 
 vented any thing like a serious attachment 
 having been formed between them. Yet,
 
 178 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 nevertheless, the old Earl was too well aware 
 of all the advantages possessed by Miss Field- 
 ing, not to be desirous to see him select for a 
 wife a lovely girl whose character and dispo- 
 sitions had already endeared her to all his 
 family, and whose connexions and wealth fully 
 equalled even Lord Ellesmere's expectations 
 for his son. 
 
 This, and much more, Fitzosborne already 
 knew. But to the innocent and unpresuming 
 Julia, no such calculations had ever occurred. 
 When she had first met Lord Calvert on the 
 evening of her return from Weldon House, 
 she believed and hoped that the simple friend- 
 ship of their early years was to be again re- 
 newed ; and she rejoiced at his return, as freely 
 and as frankly as she would have welcomed a 
 beloved brother. 
 
 But when Lord Calvert returned day after 
 day to the rectory, and at each recurring visit 
 betrayed more and more his preference of her 
 society, a faint consciousness fluttered at her 
 heart, that the admiration he scarcely endea-
 
 AT HOME. 1/9 
 
 voured to conceal, exceeded the mere friendly 
 partiality he had formerly professed. 
 
 Of her own feelings, she stopped not to in- 
 quire. But her " bosom's lord sat lightly on its 
 throne ;" and, full of hope which she blushed 
 to feel, and hardly dared to cherish, she gladly 
 accompanied Lady Ellesmere to Lady Harriet 
 Moreton's, scarcely conscious that in all the 
 crowd she went to meet, there was but one 
 whose presence she desired. 
 
 Quick as the lightning which her glance 
 resembled, she perceived, on entering Lady 
 Harriet's room, that the faded flower, which 
 many a day before she had given to Lord Cal- 
 vert, still held its place in his bouquet ; and 
 long before he had reached the spot on which 
 she stood, his impatient glance had been met 
 and rewarded by a rosy smile. 
 
 Tacit as this communication was, it needed 
 not interpretation; and with a joyous heart 
 she had accepted his proffered arm, and cal- 
 culated, almost unconsciously, on being his 
 selected partner for the whole day. Con-
 
 180 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 trary, however, to these unavowed expecta- 
 tions, she perceived that he had voluntarily 
 abandoned her to Fitzosborne's care ; and 
 though she had felt, or fancied, that in what- 
 ever part of the room Lord Calvert stood, 
 still his eager gaze pursued her, yet it had 
 not escaped her notice that, after Fitzosborne 
 joined them, Lord Calvert had scarcely spoken 
 to her for the remainder of the evening. 
 
 Disappointment and chagrin, unwonted in- 
 mates of her guileless bosom, now weighed in- 
 voluntarily on her spirits; and on the plea of 
 fatigue, she retired early to her room, but not 
 to sleep. In a thousand varied forms, she 
 recalled to her mind all Lord Calvert's looks 
 and words on that portentous day. She recol- 
 lected that once, at the barracks, she had ob- 
 served him watching her as she was talking to 
 Fitzosborne, with an expression of gravity on 
 his countenance far different from those looks 
 of approbation which from him she always hi- 
 therto had been used to. 
 
 " Have I been in any way inattentive to
 
 AT HOME. 181 
 
 him r thought she, as she laid her head upon 
 her pillow. " Perhaps I was too much en- 
 grossed by all the anecdotes that Mr. Fitzos- 
 borne told me of Italy and his travels. As 
 he is Calvert's friend, I quite forgot he was 
 such a stranger to me. Dear Calvert ! if you 
 knew my heart, I am sure you would find that 
 my regard for you is exactly the same as either 
 Matilda's or Louisa's." 
 
 With this consolatory and no doubt well- 
 founded reflection, the artless Julia soon lulled 
 herself to sleep. But what were the medi- 
 tations of Fitzosborne ? 
 
 It is said that in other climes the alba- 
 tross is sometimes seen to wave its black pi- 
 nions in the cloudless sky. The horizon is 
 bright — the air is still. But no sooner does 
 this dark bird of fate cross the wide canopy 
 of heaven, than the fairest flowers fade, and 
 hope itself is blighted. The spell is un- 
 known, but its power is felt in the wither- 
 ing storm ; and many a gallant vessel, as it
 
 182 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 swam down the placid stream, has been wrecked 
 on some hidden shoal, and owed its ruin (as 
 is thought) to the strange, mysterious alba- 
 tross.
 
 AT HOME. 183 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 MACHINATION. 
 
 How vainly, through infinite trouble and strife, 
 
 The many their labours employ, 
 Since all that is truly delightful in life, 
 
 Is what all, if they please, may enjoy. 
 
 Old Song. 
 
 The slumbers of Julia Fielding were as re- 
 freshing and undisturbed as if her horoscope was 
 unmarked by any lurking danger ; and, the next 
 morning, Lady Louisa had stood for many 
 minutes at her bedside ere she awoke ; a few 
 more, however, sufficed for her toilet ; and
 
 184 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 then, blithe as the summer breeze they courted, 
 the two friends commenced their usual ramble. 
 
 The flower-gardens and aviary were of course 
 first visited, and many were the thanks the old 
 gray-headed gardener received for the care he 
 had taken of Julia's parterre. " Bless her 
 sweet face, I'd tend any thing that ever was 
 her'n," ejaculated he as they turned from him 
 down the long walk that led to the orangery — 
 the square fish-ponds — the broad raised terraces 
 — the labyrinth — the herbary — the orchard ; all 
 were quickly traversed ; nor did either of the 
 two friends surmise that Messrs. Brown, or 
 Repton, or any of their fraternity, could ever 
 improve scenes that were hallowed to their 
 memory by many a day of happiness. 
 
 " Now, shall we go and see old Joan at the 
 dairy-farm V inquired Lady Louisa, to whose 
 elastic spirits the fresh morning air gave reno- 
 vated elasticity. 
 
 " Con placer" replied Julia ; and off they 
 started, sometimes running lest they should be 
 too late for breakfast, sometimes stopping to
 
 AT HOME. 185 
 
 pull the daisies and meadow-flowers, and not un- 
 frequently humming the waltzes they had heard 
 the day before, and accelerating their pace by 
 odd measures danced in time to their own 
 singing. 
 
 Scarcely had they reached the stile that 
 separates the farm from the pleasure-ground, 
 when they heard Lord Calvert's voice shout- 
 ing loud and gaily after them ; he soon over- 
 took them, though somewhat out of breath with 
 his race, and, as soon as he could speak, he 
 gave each a vigorous scolding for her child- 
 ishness in walking so fast on such a hot morn- 
 ing, although his own pace by no means implied 
 a doubt as to the wholesomeness of the exercise, 
 and having linked their arms in his, he almost 
 dragged them forward. 
 
 And now Julia was soon convinced that her 
 supposition of having offended him was quite 
 erroneous. If she had before felt, though 
 scarcely acknowledged even to herself, that an 
 indescribable change had taken place in Lord 
 Calvert's manners towards her since his return
 
 186 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 from abroad, — if she had regretted, that whilst 
 to others he was still apparently the same gay, 
 exhilarating companion, the same cordial, zea- 
 lous friend he had ever been, his behaviour to 
 to her had evidently altered, vacillating occa- 
 sionally between a greater and a less degree of 
 cordiality than formerly, but never, as she 
 conceived, resembling the confidential, kind, 
 unpresuming intercourse that heretofore had 
 subsisted between them, — if such reflections 
 had contributed to her chagrin, the painful 
 feeling was soon dispelled ; for on that morning 
 his gay, happy laugh was the same as when they 
 last had trodden that path together ; and she 
 even felt still more assured of being as much a 
 favourite as ever, when he reminded her, that 
 " nothing could be so old-fashioned as the large 
 cottage bonnet she then had on, nor any thing 
 so preposterous as her walking out even to the 
 dairy-farm without having a Cachemire sus- 
 pended on her arm." 
 
 Old Joan was, as usual, delighted to receive 
 them, and it is uncertain how long they would
 
 AT HOME. 18? 
 
 have remained listening to her stories of" how 
 my young Lord used to ride all the donkies, 
 and how Miss Julia used to coax her for the 
 little white calves," had not the breakfast-bell 
 summoned them to the house. But it so hap- 
 pened (no doubt from the perversity of human 
 nature), that though unquestionably there was 
 now a much more reasonable excuse for haste, 
 their return was effected at a much slower 
 pace than that at which they had set out, and 
 they found the whole party assembled in the 
 breakfast-parlour when they entered. 
 
 Lord and Lady Ellesmere received the apo- 
 logies of the truant party with a complacent 
 smile, which would scarcely have been be- 
 stowed on any three other individuals who had 
 so far broken through the prescribed rules of 
 Ellesmere as to have been five seconds beyond 
 any appointed hour. 
 
 Mr. Fitzosborne was apparently so intent on 
 perusing his share of the contents of the post- 
 bag, that he scarcely noticed their entrance. To 
 his correspondence, succeeded the perusal of
 
 188 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 the newspapers, by which he seemed not less 
 engrossed, till Lord Calvert interrupted him by 
 inquiring, whether he had met with any news ? 
 
 " None in the Chronicle that is of public 
 interest; but I see, Calvert, our friend the 
 Countess Montalvina is arrived in London ;" 
 and he read aloud the following paragraph : — 
 
 " Yesterday the ambassador arrived 
 
 at the magnificent house in Portman Square 
 which has been for some time in preparation for 
 his Excellency, who is accompanied by his sister, 
 the beautiful and accomplished Countess Mon- 
 talvina." 
 
 " Fitzosborne, as he laid down the paper, 
 cast a sidelong glance at Lord Calvert, beneath 
 which the latter almost quailed. The look was 
 instantaneous, and the malignant smile which 
 at the same time faintly curled the corners of 
 Fitzosborne's mouth as instantaneously sub^ 
 sided ; for one — and only one had equally cast 
 a scrutinizing glance on him. As Lionel was 
 in the act of withdrawing his eyes from Lord 
 Calvert, those of Lady Matilda unexpectedly
 
 AT HOME, 189 
 
 met his. Her calm, stedfast, penetrating gaze 
 had an expression from which Lionel involun- 
 tarily shrunk. But no change of countenance 
 betrayed his secret thoughts : his eyes met 
 those of Lady Matilda as steadily as hers had 
 rested upon him. The beautiful mouth again 
 curled in a smile ; but now it was one of in- 
 effable benignity, and, with that voice of insinu- 
 ating softness that few had yet been found able 
 to withstand, he offered her Ladyship the news- 
 paper, which she seemed to look for. 
 
 " Is there any news of a change in the mi- 
 nistry ?" inquired the good old Earl, by whom 
 all this had been unnoticed. 
 
 " Not in the papers," replied Fitzosborne ; 
 " but I have received some letters that speak 
 confidently of a change in the Cabinet. You, 
 however, Mr. Fielding, should be the best 
 authority on this point, for Lord Alton is spoken 
 of as our new minister." 
 
 " I am a bad politician," replied the Rector; 
 " but I doubt the probability of his taking office 
 immediately ; for here is a letter from him,
 
 190 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 urging me to meet him at Alton Forest in a 
 few days." 
 
 "And if you go, Mr. Fielding, won't you 
 leave Julia with us V eagerly rejoined Lady 
 Louisa. Julia blushed as she turned towards 
 her father, who smiled assent to the Countess's 
 eager corroboration of her daughter's request. 
 Lionel did not seem to notice this arrange- 
 ment, and continued his interrogatories to Lord 
 Calvert. 
 
 " Have you got any intelligence from Paris, 
 Calvert? I thought I saw a foreign letter 
 directed to you in a hand I knew. Is our 
 ambassador there still ?" 
 
 Lord Calvert coloured, and said something 
 about his correspondence not relating to poli- 
 tics. 
 
 " But, my dear Lord," continued his perse- 
 cuting friend, "you forget that you have car- 
 ried your election, and are now a sworn poli- 
 tician." 
 
 " I am heartily glad, my dear sir," observed 
 the Earl, with pomposity, " to perceive that
 
 AT HOME. 191 
 
 you agree with me in thinking politics should 
 be considered as a subject of vital importance. 
 I have no idea of any person accepting the 
 responsibility of representing any of his fellow- 
 subjects in Parliament without considering him- 
 self solemnly bound to guard their interests and 
 promote their Avelfare." 
 
 " I believe, however," rejoined Mr. Field- 
 ing, laughing, " that some of our present mem- 
 bers confine their ideas of duty to frankiug let- 
 ters and giving election dinners." 
 
 "In my opinion," quietly added Lord Cal- 
 vert, " politics, in its proper acceptation, is the 
 only study worthy the attention of a man of 
 sense." 
 
 " Ay, Oswald," returned the proud father, 
 " there spoke the hereditary attachment of the 
 Calverts to King, Lords, and Commons." 
 
 " And," good-humouredly continued Mr. 
 Fielding, " so equally balanced is that old- 
 fashioned attachment to all three, that T ve- 
 rily believe your Lordship would have been 
 either a Hampden or an Albemarle if your
 
 192 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 services had been required as those of either 
 were." 
 
 Fitzosborne rather dreaded from experience 
 a recurrence to old Magna Charta, and there- 
 fore hastily inquired whether Lord Calvert had 
 made up his mind as to which party he would 
 join. 
 
 " No party, Calvert, no party," hastily inter- 
 rupted the Earl. " Never consider politics as 
 a profession. Be independent in your princi- 
 ples as you are in your circumstances ; but never 
 condescend to be a party-man." 
 
 " You remind me," said Fitzosborne, laugh- 
 ing, " of the Irish petitioner, who sagely re- 
 marked, that whoever was a friend to all parties 
 was the enemy of all." 
 
 " 1 believe, Fitzosborne," replied Lord Cal- 
 vert, " that you and I agree, that party in public 
 life resembles some private friendships — a mere 
 compact between knaves and fools, begun in 
 self-interest and continued in hypocrisy." 
 
 " I do quite agree with you, Calvert," re- 
 turned Fitzosborne, with an air of proud and
 
 AT HOME. 193 
 
 noble enthusiasm. " And I honour that man, 
 who, like Lord Ellesmere, acknowledges inde- 
 pendence for his idol, and scorns to be led 
 tamely even by his friends." 
 
 Here the conversation turned into a warm 
 debate on politics ; in which Lionel dexterously 
 contrived to lead Lord Ellesmere into a full 
 discussion equally of his own principles, and of 
 his views for his son. And though his Lordship's 
 estimate of the absolute duties which he as- 
 serted every member of Parliament was bound to 
 fulfil towards his constituents, widely differed 
 from that of the Tralee school ; yet his Lord- 
 ship's exhortations to his son, not to be an " idle 
 and unprofitable member," sufficiently answer- 
 ed Fitzosborne's purpose, and apparently con- 
 firmed his own previous advice to Lord Cal- 
 vert ; whilst, at the same time, it afforded him 
 abundant opportunity to descant on the virtue 
 of independence. He seemed to coincide in 
 all the Earl's expressed opinions, and endea- 
 voured to impress upon Mr. Fielding's mind, 
 VOL. I. i
 
 194 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 due notions of his own correct views and bril- 
 liant talents. 
 
 This conversation lasted much longer than 
 suited Lord Calvert's taste ; and towards its 
 close, he remained silent and abstracted : at last, 
 suddenly starting from his reverie, he saun- 
 tered into the library, where Lady Louisa and 
 Miss Fielding were practising one of Meyer's 
 most beautiful cavatinas. 
 
 But not even their linked sweetness could at 
 first win him from that pensiveness, which was 
 the more remarkable, as being uncongenial to 
 his natural character. He stood leaning with 
 his back to the high old-fashioned window in 
 silent musing, till Lady Matilda, stealing up to 
 him, affectionately laid her hand on his, and 
 seeming to read his thoughts, whispered in a 
 soothing tone, " Surely, Oswald, you never 
 heard sweeter tones, even in Italy." 
 
 "In Italy, Matilda? — and why should the 
 memory of Italy intrude on such a scene as 
 this l" Then seeming to recall his thoughts, he
 
 AT HOME. 195 
 
 added, in a careless manner, " I think Louisa's 
 voice is astonishingly improved." 
 
 "If she is, her improvement is solely owing 
 to Julia. But, my dearest brother, forgive me, 
 if I say I think you too are altered since we all 
 last met here." 
 
 " Improved, I hope," said Lord Calvert ; 
 " though I am afraid under other instruction." 
 
 " No, Oswald ; I do not think you are im- 
 proved. When we were last here together, 
 you were the gayest of the gay." 
 
 " Thank you, Matilda ; thank you heartily 
 for your compliment." He tried to smile, but 
 the gay expression passed, as, taking her cor- 
 dially by the hand, he added, in a mournful 
 tone, " Thank God, Matilda, I can still believe 
 you, at least, sincere." 
 
 " And if I am sincere, why not be equally so 
 with me I Do not think me inquisitive, Oswald, 
 but I sometimes almost fancy that you look 
 unhappy." 
 
 " Matilda, I have had my grievances, as well 
 as other men: but, indeed, dear girl, I am not
 
 196 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 unhappy. No man can be, who, like me, feels 
 his own independence, and stands at the start- 
 ing-post of a glorious race." 
 
 His eyes sparkled as he said this, and reno- 
 vated spirit seemed to brighten all his counte- 
 nance. 
 
 " Yes, Calvert, you should be happy; for 
 all that constitutes happiness, seems within 
 your reach." 
 
 u But with some minds, Matilda, even happi- 
 ness would lose its character, if no choice were 
 left as to its means. I, for one, must carve my 
 own destiny, or Paradise itself would satiate 
 with sweets." 
 
 Just then, a beautiful cadence, sung by Miss 
 Fielding, arrested their conversation ; and the 
 enthusiastic " bravo," which, after a moment's 
 pause, burst from Lord Calvert's lips, seemed a 
 faint testimonial of that delight which his eyes 
 more animatedly confessed. 
 
 But the " bravo" was echoed by a voice more 
 soft, and the delight was reflected by eyes still 
 more impassioned. Fitzosborne had entered
 
 AT HOME. 197 
 
 the room unperceived, and now approached the 
 piano-forte, to give utterance to the best- worded 
 compliments, expressed in the most insinuating 
 tone, and so well constructed, that neither of 
 the ladies could object to her own share of 
 praise. 
 
 Julia made no reply : but Lady Louisa kept 
 up the ball of conversation, till it made many a 
 rebound of flattery and gaiety ; and at last, 
 perceiving that both Julia and Lady Matilda 
 had quitted the room, she also recollected a 
 task of work assigned to her by Lady Elles- 
 mere, and left the two gentlemen alone. 
 
 " Well, Fitzosborne, what do you think now 
 of Miss Fielding — does not she sing delight- 
 fully V 
 
 Lord Calvert said this with a flushing cheek 
 and hurried voice ; but his eyes rested on the 
 immoveable countenance of his companion, as 
 if he fain would read his very soul. 
 
 " She sings as well as almost any professor I 
 ever heard ; her voice is something like Piza- 
 roni's," calmly replied Lionel.
 
 198 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 " I told you she was a nice person," re- 
 turned Lord Calvert, with ill-assumed indif- 
 ference. 
 
 "She seems perfectly amiable ;" and Lionel 
 looked steadily in his face as he spoke ; "I 
 never saw a more docile character than hers." 
 
 " Docile ! — what do you mean ?'-' 
 
 " Mean by docile ! You cannot misunderstand 
 my words. I mean, that Miss Fielding seems 
 to have no will of her own, but to be entirely 
 under the guidance of her father and your 
 family ; and of this, Calvert, I give you joy." 
 
 " Give me joy ! — explain yourself, Fitzos- 
 borne." 
 
 " Come, Calvert, you are not acting frankly 
 with me: you know I could not be here an 
 hour without perceiving that there is a family 
 compact for you to marry Miss Fielding ; and 
 as it seems neither you nor she are left a 
 choice, I am glad for your sake that she sings 
 well, and for hers that she is of such a docile 
 disposition." 
 
 As Lionel said this, he approached Lord
 
 AT HOME. 199 
 
 Calvert, and continued the conversation in a 
 cool determined manner, but at the same time 
 in the suppressed tone of confidence. 
 
 " You are mistaken, Fitzosborne," replied 
 his companion, with some agitation: " I know 
 of no compact such as you allude to ; and in 
 any case, I flatter myself that both Miss Field- 
 ing and I will choose for ourselves." 
 
 " You may, Calvert ; for I know the inde- 
 pendence of your character : if you suffer your- 
 self to be driven into matrimony, even though 
 the whip were made with golden rods, I shall 
 henceforward give up all my faith in man's 
 professions." 
 
 u Trust me, I am not likely to be so driven. 
 No ! though Julia Fielding is one of the most 
 beautiful girls I ever beheld, I would not even 
 accept her for my wife, unless I felt convinced 
 that the choice of both was free as air." 
 
 " The choice of both ! take my advice — satisfy 
 yourself as to your own determination, leave 
 hers to chance." 
 
 " And why?— do you think there is any
 
 200 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 chance of Julia preferring any other person V 
 Lord Calvert's cheek glowed, and his eyes 
 beamed fire, as with the most intense interest 
 they rested on Fitzosborne's colourless visage. 
 
 " Prefer any other person to your Lordship ! 
 no — that is impossible." 
 
 " Why do you think so, Lionel ?" and in his 
 eagerness, Lord Calvert scarcely breathed. 
 
 " Because she has no option." The words 
 fell cold on Lord Calvert's heart. " Poor 
 thing, I almost pity her ;" continued Fitzos- 
 borne, after a moment's pause. 
 
 " You are certainly very flattering." And 
 Lord Calvert's high-wrought feelings sheltered 
 themselves under an unusual assumption of 
 haughtiness. 
 
 " Calvert ! if you are offended at my honesty, 
 I have done. You asked me my opinion 
 frankly, and frankly I have told it to you. If 
 you choose voluntarily to tighten the noose 
 that is suspended over your head, be it so; 
 ' thou canst not say 'twas I that did it.' " 
 
 Lord Calvert shook his friend's hand with a
 
 AT HOME. 201 
 
 cordiality that might have melted any other 
 heart, but his agitation prevented his speaking ; 
 and Lionel continued. 
 
 " I said I pitied Miss Fielding, and so I do : 
 not for being elected your bride, by the unani- 
 mous voice of both your family and hers ; but 
 simply because that choice was not spontane- 
 ously her own." 
 
 " And how do you know, Lionel, that I 
 may not be her choice V* said Lord Calvert, 
 hesitatingly. 
 
 " The poor girl at present has no alternative, 
 but either marrying your Lordship or quar- 
 relling with all the friends of her childhood. 
 You see such an understood thing is your mar- 
 riage in the neighbourhood, that no other suitor 
 approaches Miss Fielding: at least, my Lord, 
 you may feel assured, that though she may not 
 have a preference for you, you have no rival." 
 
 ** And do you think, Fitzosborne, I could 
 ever be satisfied by so cold, so heartless a 
 return V 
 
 " But, my dear Calvert, you must submit
 
 202 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 to your fate. If your family have decided on 
 your marrying Miss Fielding, and if you have 
 determined to be a good boy, and do as you 
 are bid, you may think yourself luckier than 
 most men, if your fair wife has even a negative 
 preference for you." 
 
 " Never, Lionel ! never would I marry any 
 woman on those terms — still less Julia Field- 
 
 kg." 
 
 " And how can you satisfy yourself that she 
 ever accepts you on any other V 
 
 " By leaving her to the unbiassed decision 
 of her own mind. If I thought she could de- 
 cidedly and without constraint prefer me to all 
 other men " 
 
 " But that could never be ascertained till 
 other men were presented to her choice; and 
 that is impossible, as you and she are at present 
 circumstanced." 
 
 " Lionel, you are my friend — the only 
 confidant of my thoughts. Will you ascer- 
 tain her actual feelings for me ? I know I ask 
 a favour."
 
 AT HOME. 203 
 
 " What ! do you want me to make love to 
 Julia Fielding?" and Lionel laughed, to hide 
 his own emotion. 
 
 " No, Fitzosborne, not that exactly. I 
 would not ask you to assume a part that would 
 be as uncongenial to your disposition as to my 
 own. But after what you have said — after 
 you have pointed facts to my view, which I 
 had never before observed " 
 
 " And if the girl takes a fancy to me ?" 
 
 " Then I shall thank you — doubly thank 
 you, for having saved me from the horror of 
 being her husband, and not her choice." 
 
 At that moment, Lord Ellesmere and Mr. 
 Fielding entered the room, and put an end 
 to the conversation. Fitzosborne threw him- 
 self upon the couch, and calmly took up a 
 book, in which his attention seemed soon en- 
 tirely engrossed ; whilst Lord Calvert, with 
 almost unrepressed agitation, strolled out into 
 the park, in the vain hope of calming his irri- 
 tated feelings.
 
 204 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE PEER AND HIS DAUGHTER, 
 
 Some feelings are to mortals given, 
 With less of earth in them than heaven ; 
 And if there he a human tear 
 From passion's dross refined and clear, 
 'Tis that which pious fathers shed 
 Upon a duteous daughter's head. 
 
 Lady of tue Lake. 
 
 The intelligence that Julia would remain at 
 Ellesmere during her father's visit to Lord 
 Alton was received with unmixed pleasure by 
 the Earl and Countess, as well as by their 
 daughters ; not so with poor Lord Calvert. 
 Fitzosborne was present when Lady Louisa in 
 the joy of her heart communicated to her bro-
 
 AT HOME. 205 
 
 ther, what she termed, the good news, and 
 Lionel's only commentary was a smile of irony ; 
 such as it was, however, it had its due effect, 
 and Lord Calvert, for the first time in his life, 
 reflected almost with regret on Julia's pro- 
 tracted visit. 
 
 Again the bitter lessons he had learned in his 
 travels shed their baneful influence on his soul. 
 To his distempered mind even Julia herself, 
 who was the very personification of purity, ap- 
 peared but as another of those Italian sibyls, 
 whose winning spells are wrought in the laby- 
 rinths of deceit ; and whilst with a vanity almost 
 pardonable, he attributed the prolongation of 
 her stay at Ellesmere to his presence there, he 
 rejected the supposititious compliments with a 
 bitterness of feeling scarcely less painful to him- 
 self, than unjust to her who so unconsciously 
 excited it. 
 
 On Lord Calvert's first going abroad, the 
 image of Julia Fielding had been the beau ictial 
 of his reveries : memory presented to his mind 
 the embryo beauty, whose expansion he had so
 
 206 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 delightedly watched, and imagination dressed its 
 idol in transcendent loveliness ; whilst the over- 
 flowing partiality of both his sisters to the com- 
 panion of their infancy cherished this incipient 
 attachment by details of her superior merits, 
 with which all their letters were filled. 
 
 A thousand little anecdotes of her charity 
 and benevolence, occasional proofs of her ex- 
 cellence in all modern accomplishments, and 
 artless messages of affectionate remembrance 
 thus transmitted to Lord Calvert, served to 
 confirm and justify his early preference; and 
 even when less refined pleasures courted his 
 acceptance, and engaged his occasional pur- 
 suits, the figure of Julia, embellished with 
 every grace that fancy could bestow, floated on 
 his mind as a presiding angel of another sphere. 
 He never listened to a strain of music of peculiar 
 softness, that her flexible voice did not vibrate 
 on his ear: he never saw a romantic land- 
 scape or a splendid spectacle, that he did not 
 involuntarily anticipate Julia's remarks on it, 
 or wish for her companionship in its enjoyment ;
 
 AT HOME. 207 
 
 and of the various little gifts which he from 
 time to time transmitted to Ellesmere, those 
 destined for her were always selected with the 
 greatest solicitude. 
 
 Thus even on the shores of the Mediterranean 
 he flattered himself he could still anticipate or 
 direct her tastes ; and in the most crowded halls 
 of foreign splendour, her beauty rose to his view, 
 peerless in all the blushing loveliness of youth 
 and innocence. But when the wily Contessa 
 Montalvina succeeded in exciting a violent but 
 transient passion in his heart, the purer image 
 of Julia Fielding faded in the glare of her 
 meretricious charms ; or if ever it arose to his 
 imagination, it was in the form of one of the 
 cold wreaths of snow beheld only in the regions 
 of romance as hovering over distant and vision- 
 ary scenes. From that date, his letters to home 
 had been far less confidential, and his mention 
 of Julia proportionably less frequent. So per- 
 ceptible indeed was the alteration, at least to 
 Lady Matilda, that, with a mixture of pride 
 and delicacy, she had lately abstained from all
 
 208 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 mention of Miss Fielding in her correspondence 
 with her brother ; and Lady Louisa by degrees 
 fell into the same habit, not from tact, but 
 from the inconsiderateness which was habitual 
 to her character. 
 
 Thus, when Lord Calvert had beheld Julia 
 on his first visit to the rectory, her beauty broke 
 on him with all the effect of novelty; and 
 although he persuaded himself that, at first, 
 mere curiosity, and then a want of other occu- 
 pation induced him to return thither daily, yet 
 he soon found that the lovely artless Julia more 
 than realised even the fairy dream of his earlier 
 recollections. Still it was her artlessness more 
 even than her beauty that had captivated him. 
 In her society, if ever he thought of those who 
 were once her rivals, he remembered them but 
 with disgust, and his admiration was now most 
 excited when called forth by qualities diame- 
 trically opposite to those which once held em- 
 pire over him. 
 
 To trace then the faintest similarity be- 
 tween the character of La Contessa Montalvina
 
 AT HOME. 209 
 
 and that of Julia Fielding, was, to destroy 
 his reverence for one, and doubly to renew 
 his detestation of the other ; and when the 
 bitter smile of Lionel pointed out the flattery 
 which owed its origin but to their own dis- 
 torted minds, Lord Calvert shuddered as he 
 anticipated the downfall of his hopes, and the 
 chill of distrust again crept over the heart 
 which had so lately expanded in the sun- shine 
 of happiness. 
 
 Fitzosborne saw that the poison he had so 
 dexterously infused already began to circulate 
 in every vein ; and while Julia and her father 
 parted with tears — his of pure affection — hers 
 of sad presentiment, Lionel, the guiding spirit 
 of the storm, calmly retired to his own apart- 
 ment, and. with perfect self-possession, ad- 
 dressed the following letter to his father : — 
 
 The Hon. Lionel Fitzosborne 
 to Lord Tralee. 
 
 " My Dear Father, 
 " Since I last wrote to you, I am fully con-
 
 210 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 firmed in all the opinions respecting Lord E. 
 which I then expressed. In short, he is equally 
 incorruptible in his political principles, and un- 
 compromising in his religious professions ; and, 
 as proof, I will quote his own words, that ' no 
 earthly consideration would tempt him to co- 
 alesce with, or even tolerate, any popular de- 
 magogue, who would endanger the liberties of 
 the people, by uniting them to sedition, and 
 still less any enterprising minister, who would 
 compromise his king, and sacrifice his country, 
 for his own aggrandisement.' 
 
 " I have heard you, my dear father, often 
 say, that no man is so easily made to contradict 
 himself as he who is exaggerated in the ex- 
 pression of his political creed. But I am sorry 
 to perceive that Lord E. is too uniformly con- 
 sistent to give me much hopes of bringing him 
 over to our views. He is awful on the sub- 
 ject of Magna Charta ; and, what is worse, no 
 man can accuse him either of inattention, or 
 inaptitude to parliamentary business. 
 
 " However, all is not yet lost. Through one
 
 AT HOME. 211 
 
 channel, I consider Lord E. is still vulnerable ; 
 for he is effervescing with family pride, and 
 that feeling-, joined to his frequent boast of 
 consistency, would induce him to befriend any 
 party in the Upper House, to which his son 
 might attach himself in the other. Besides, 
 Lord C. is himself so individually popular with 
 an interminable train of almost feudal ad- 
 herents, who would, from habit, follow him in 
 all his opinions, that I consider him an object 
 of much greater consequence, than either his 
 age or his character would have rendered pro- 
 bable. 
 
 " To him, therefore, we must confine our at- 
 tention. I flatter myself I have not, by any 
 means, spent my time here unprofitably ; but 
 the sisters do not suit me. Do you think we 
 could make out a good family link any other way? 
 Tell Maria and Jenny to practise their music. 
 Lord C. is passionately fond of Italian singing, 
 and will soon leave this. But, between our- 
 selves, I think he is rather steeled against la- 
 dies' charms : if he was to lose a few thousands
 
 212 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 in St* James's Street, perhaps a wife's fortune 
 would reconcile him to the chains of matrimony. 
 I merely throw out hints. You must be the 
 artist to improve them. He is very difficult; 
 but I have never yet been foiled, and , as I said 
 before, my vanity is engaged on his subject. 
 I had almost forgot to say, that I think his 
 marrying Miss Fielding by no means so pro- 
 bable as when I last wrote. She is a pretty 
 girl, and, if her uncle comes in, would be a 
 good match for an v body. I am sure Lord 
 Alton is coming over, for he has just left Rich- 
 mond, and gone down to his castle in West- 
 moreland. A good sign : for we all know what 
 fishing parties, and shooting parties, and riding 
 parties, amongst privy counsellors, mean. Al- 
 beit, though unused to such disports, if I 
 could only hear that the Marquis of A. had an 
 opportune sprained ancle, or even a smart fit 
 of the gout, or that Mr. B. had taken an in- 
 stantaneous predilection for Newmarket, or 
 gone into mourning for the death of a relation 
 nobody ever heard of, I should consider the
 
 AT HOME. 213 
 
 whole ministry arranged. For these innocent 
 deceits give to the experienced observer due 
 intimation of sudden friendships, and incipient 
 quarrels, of which the uninitiated never dream. 
 " Lord Alton is gone to Westmoreland. Mr. 
 Fielding has, this morning, set off after him — 
 Therefore — 
 Lord Alton is prime minister, and Mr. Field- 
 ing a bishop elect — 
 
 " Whilst I remain, 
 "Your Lordship's dutiful, and affectionate Son, 
 
 *' Lionel F." 
 
 Whilst Mr. Fitzosborne was thus indulging 
 speculations, alike congenial to his character, 
 and consonant to his wishes, Mr. Fielding, with 
 far other views, was prosecuting his journey 
 towards Alton Forest. In leaving Julia at 
 Ellesmere Park, he had only conformed to the 
 usual habits of the two families, as, whenever 
 business occasioned his absence from the rec- 
 tory, his beloved daughter had always either 
 remained under the maternal care of the
 
 214 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 Countess, or, with reciprocal kindness, one, if 
 not both, of the young friends had returned to 
 the rectory as companions to Julia. But now, an 
 unaccustomed sadness marked their separation, 
 and he almost repented not having taken her 
 with him to Lord Alton's, although, this time, 
 her name was not mentioned in his Lordship's 
 invitation, and his letter even hinted his wish 
 that their communication should be confi- 
 dential. By degrees, however, these melan- 
 choly feelings faded from the mind of the 
 worthy Rector as he approached the venerable 
 seat of his ancestors, from which he had been 
 for so many years estranged ; the present almost 
 faded from his view, as the circumstances which 
 had caused that estrangement pressed on his 
 recollection. But even those minute and ha- 
 rassing details which memory delights in reca- 
 pitulating, 
 
 To former joys recurring ever, 
 And turning all the past to pain, 
 
 fled beneath the giant efforts of reason and
 
 AT HOME. 215 
 
 resignation, and he recovered sufficient com- 
 mand of his wandering thoughts to think only 
 of those blessings that still remained to him. 
 
 His benevolent disposition excluded not from 
 this list the daughter of that woman whom he 
 could scarcely remember with the common 
 feelings of complacency; and, anxious to find 
 excuse for Lady Harriet Moreton's errors, he 
 retraced all that could be urged in their ex- 
 tenuation, as drawn from the peculiarities of 
 her early fate, and connected with the charac- 
 ters of both her parents. 
 
 In recalling her mother to his mind, it was 
 difficult for him to find one redeeming virtue 
 on which his memory could rest ; whilst in 
 Lord Alton's character the only failing was 
 that of pride : not that vulgar pride, which 
 feeds on flattery, and glories in ostentation, 
 but that overwrought sensibility, which shrinks 
 from censure, and despises guilt. Possessed 
 of a keen penetration, and still keener sus- 
 ceptibility, he probed at once the hearts of 
 his associates ; and whilst the dignified polite-
 
 216 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 ness of his manners exhibited so smooth a sur- 
 face, that no saliant angle rose to rebuff the 
 professions of others' kindness, his own friend- 
 ship was seldom offered spontaneously, and 
 never bestowed except where esteem formed 
 its basis. But proportioned to the deliberation 
 with which he usually contracted intimacy, was 
 the pertinacity with which he adhered to those 
 whom he once had honoured with his regard. 
 
 In one solitary instance, the choice of his 
 wife, Lord Alton had been hurried by the tu- 
 multuousness of passion into an unpremeditated 
 act. But, perhaps, for that very reason he was 
 the more tenacious on the subject. A few — a 
 very few months sufficed to prove how little 
 their characters were assimilated to each other ; 
 but this painful conviction preyed only on his 
 own mind, whilst from others he endeavoured 
 to conceal it with the most jealous watchful- 
 ness. 
 
 Finding that his complaisance but increased 
 her arrogance, and his remonstrances but irri- 
 tated her temper, he gave up all expectation of
 
 AT HOME. 217 
 
 regaining that domestic happiness which had 
 been his early hope, and turned in despair to 
 the turmoil of political life to divert his thoughts 
 from individual misery* 
 
 Lady Alton's vanity soon led her to resent 
 that estrangement of her husband's affections, 
 which his pride led him to conceal from all the 
 world beside ; and whilst their private hours 
 were spent in recrimination on her part, not 
 unmixed with jealousy of his former attach- 
 ment to her sister, (an accusation which he never 
 condescended to repel,) in public he still en- 
 deavoured to hide the unfortunate result of 
 his connexion with a character so uncongenial 
 to his own, by invariably treating his wife with 
 a degree of respect, amounting almost to adu- 
 lation ; and as he was thus the first to offer to 
 Lady Alton all the homage her rank or beauty 
 could command, so the slightest omission of 
 it in others he would have been the last to 
 pardon. 
 
 In his lovely daughter, Lord Alton might 
 have found a solace for his other sorrows. But 
 vol. i. k
 
 218 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 with the puerile feelings of an inferior mind, 
 Lady Alton resisted the interference, and re- 
 pressed the affection, which her husband's heart 
 yearned to offer to her child. His talents, 
 therefore, the legitimate exercise of which 
 might still have made his home delightful, were 
 forced into another channel of display ; and the 
 judgment, to whose dictates a nation bowed, 
 was contumaciously disputed on his own hearth. 
 Thus the early years of the little Harriet 
 were passed, without the benefit of example, 
 in the varied duties of domestic virtue ; nor 
 was Lady Alton, in any other point, capable of 
 being the instructress of her daughter, who 
 equally inherited her mother's beauty, and her 
 father's sense. So long as Lady Harriet ap- 
 peared the lovely infant, or the intelligent 
 child, so long her mother's vanity was gratified, 
 and her indiscriminating affection proportion- 
 ably excited ; but when the opening graces of the 
 girl seemed to promise future rivalry of charms, 
 the unsubstantial partiality decreased; and un- 
 der the pretence of attending to an education
 
 AT HOME. 219 
 
 already radically defective, and of studying 
 accomplishments for which nature marked no 
 peculiar preference, Lady Harriet Fielding 
 was gradually withdrawn from her mother's 
 society, at an age when a mother's eye was 
 most essential ; and her future character, if not 
 her future career, was intrusted to the mer- 
 cenary care of a governess, who, at best, only 
 understood those seductive arts in which her 
 pupil too soon acquired proficiency. 
 
 On Lady Alton's death, another trial awaited 
 Lady Harriet, as she was then suddenly trans- 
 planted from the nursery to the head of her 
 father's princely establishment ; and there it 
 would have seemed she was enthroned, with a 
 world for her footstool. But the actual fate 
 of mortals seldom verifies the calculations of 
 their fellow-men. One speck obscured the 
 otherwise unclouded sun of her horizon — for 
 all Lord Alton's estates were strictly entailed 
 on the heir to his title ; and the possibility of 
 her father marrying again, as he was still com- 
 paratively young, continually haunted her ima-
 
 220 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 gination. To avoid a doubtful evil, she, with 
 the precipitancy of youth, incurred a greater 
 one ; and, in all the pride of beauty at nineteen, 
 accepted General Warder for her husband, 
 whose only recommendation was enormous 
 wealth. 
 
 Still, with all her faults, Lord Alton's most 
 acute sensibilities were centred in his daughter. 
 Proud of her talents and of her beauty, he was 
 painfully sensitive on the subject of her repu- 
 tation ; and while he gloried in the admiration 
 she every where received, he shrunk tremblingly 
 from the slightest breath of calumny, that, in 
 tarnishing her fair fame, could doubly taint his 
 own unsullied honour. Even her present situation 
 in life, was not one that gave him satisfaction : 
 for Sir Henry Moreton was a man, whom of 
 all others he abhorred ; and though, in the 
 eye of the world, he appeared to sanction his 
 daughter's marriage with him, it had, in fact, 
 been the last blow to his own domestic happi- 
 ness.
 
 AT HOME. 221 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A nobleman's castle. 
 
 'Tis not the splendour of the place, 
 The gilded coach — the purse — the mace, 
 And all the pompous train of state, 
 With crowds which at your levee wait, 
 That make you happy — make you great. 
 
 Towards the end of the third day after 
 his leaving Ellesmere, Mr. Fielding's carriage 
 turned up the long and magnificent avenue 
 which led to the castle, where, for centuries, 
 his ancestors had maintained an hospitality and 
 splendour worthy of their exalted rank. 
 
 The noisy, fluttering finery of Weldon House
 
 222 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 was not more dissimilar to the old-fashioned 
 magnificence of Ellesmere, than both these 
 places were to Alton Forest. The castle, seated 
 on a promontory, commanded an extensive view 
 of one of the most beautiful valleys in West- 
 moreland, and of a small, but romantic lake 
 that lay, as it were, enshrined within its bosom. 
 The forest, from which the estate took its name, 
 fringed the borders of this silver mirror, and 
 climbed more than half way up a dark and rug- 
 ged mountain, which at one side jutted boldly 
 into the water, whilst the opposite shore re- 
 velled in all the luxuriance of champaign scenery. 
 The knoll, on which the castle stood, terminated 
 the valley, which was encircled by apparently 
 inaccessible mountains, and only opened towards 
 the south ; and although its gardens and parks 
 and pleasure-grounds were on the most ex- 
 tensive scale, such were the undulations of 
 the ground, that looked upon from a distance 
 they lost all individual character, and seemed 
 but one mass of tangled woods and glens, 
 crowded together in luxuriant vegetation. 
 It was evening, when Mr. Fielding, emerging
 
 AT HOME. 223 
 
 from amongst the hills which for the last day 
 had impeded his journey, found himself driving 
 rapidly along the level margin of the lake : 
 the setting sun caught the towers of the castle, 
 and tinged every angle of its battlements witli 
 its golden hues ; whilst its base, and the rock 
 on which it stood, and the woods that climbed 
 its clefts, lay in the depth of shadow. The 
 mountain and its forest looked darker still, and 
 threw a long irregular image on the lake ; but 
 beyond the extremest verge of this reflection, 
 the yellow sky laughed in the transparent water, 
 whose receding circles carried a softened light 
 to the more distant shore. 
 
 At the moment of Mr. Fielding's arrival, 
 Lord Alton was passing from the dining-room 
 to the vestibule with some gentlemen who 
 were then his guests ; and it was not, perhaps, 
 displeasing to Mr. Fielding, to find in the pre- 
 sence of those strangers, and that of Lord Alton's 
 numerous retinue, an inducement for the sup- 
 pression of those contending feelings which 
 might otherwise have been difficult to restrain.
 
 224 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 Lord Alton's only weakness, if weakness it 
 might be called, was a love of splendour, almost 
 to excess. In all bis different residences, his 
 establishment was on a scale that few noblemen 
 of England now keep up ; but whenever he 
 returned to this, the most ancient seat of his 
 ancestors, his magnificence rivalled almost 
 princely grandeur. 
 
 The late Lady Alton had seldom conde- 
 scended to inhabit so remote a part of England. 
 But during the few short visits which she had 
 been almost compelled to make, the castle had 
 always been the scene of gaiety and dissipa- 
 tion ; and the costly furniture which, on every 
 new sojourn, had been added to or renewed, 
 received, even after her death, additional em- 
 bellishment under the tasteful direction of Lady 
 Harriet Moreton. 
 
 Correct in his own taste, and expensive, as 
 well from principle as habit, Lord Alton con- 
 sidered it almost a duty to disburse amongst 
 his own tenantry a large proportion of the 
 revenues he derived from them ; and on this
 
 AT HOME. 225 
 
 calculation, various improvements were con- 
 tinually carried on at the castle, even during 
 his Lordship's frequent absence. Modern baths, 
 improved conservatories, extended drives, a 
 music-room, a statue- gallery, every ornament 
 that the luxury of modern taste could add to 
 the stability of ancient grandeur, was in turn 
 appended to this magnificent residence ; and 
 the first hours after Mr. Fielding's arrival, were 
 passed by him in unfeigned admiration of im- 
 provement, which, till seen, had appeared almost 
 impossible, and totally unnecessary. 
 
 The internal arrangement of the castle was 
 in uniformity with itself. Servants of every 
 class, and superfluities of every description, 
 anticipated even the wishes of the guests ; 
 whilst the whole arrangement was so metho- 
 dical, and the daily state so habitual to its in- 
 mates, that the slightest innovation would have 
 been immediately perceptible, even to the most 
 indifferent observer. The soft Turkey carpets 
 —the cushioned canopies— the perfumed casso- 
 lettes, even to the wax-lights of his kitchens
 
 226 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 and the Macadamization of his stables, all be- 
 spoke the well-calculated arrangements of a 
 man of refinement ; whilst the lordly proprietor 
 of the whole, too lofty to be elated by any 
 extraneous dignity, and too proud to borrow 
 lustre from the galaxy of splendour by which 
 he was surrounded, seemed to walk in the light 
 of his grandeur, undazzled by its brilliancy, and 
 almost unaware of its effects. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the mild urbanity of 
 Lord Alton's manners. Concentrated in him- 
 self, and innately conscious of his own value, 
 he never condescended to assume those frivo- 
 lous airs of factitious politeness that are some- 
 times adopted to conceal ignorance or propitiate 
 popularity. In his own house, Lord Alton's 
 guests scarcely perceived he was their host — 
 so perfectly independent was their relationship 
 to each other. In all other societies, he was 
 the acknowledged guide ; but that distinction, 
 like the rest of his honours, seemed to be be- 
 stowed on him not from any effort of his own, 
 but from universal suffrage ; and so accustomed
 
 AT HOME. 227 
 
 did he feel to that public homage, that at home 
 his chief endeavour seemed to be to obliterate 
 that supremacy from the minds of his compa- 
 nions. 
 
 Two characters, so similar as were those of 
 Mr. Fielding and his cousin, could scarcely be 
 brought into contact with each other without 
 mutual satisfaction ; for even the little differ- 
 ences, which had from a diversity of fate been 
 contracted by each, served only, like the jutting 
 stones of adjacent buildings, to attach them 
 more closely together. The domestic scenes in 
 which Mr. Fielding lived, had soothed any aspe- 
 rity of temper that, perhaps, had been the origi- 
 nal sin in his character, and which stamped him 
 with the fallibility of human nature ; whilst the 
 exercise of every Christian virtue had cherished 
 and matured all the kindlier feelings of his 
 heart. On the other hand, Lord Alton's inter- 
 course with the most talented amongst his co- 
 temporaries, in perfecting the natural acute- 
 ness of his own understanding, had taught him 
 to prize, as it deserved, the blessing of such a
 
 228 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 friend, whilst his polished elegance enabled 
 him to evade, with dexterous kindness, the few 
 points of disunion which might have subsisted 
 between them. 
 
 The delight of unreserved confidence soon 
 reunited these relatives in stricter bonds of 
 friendship than ever ; and in their mutual com- 
 munications, no subject of interest to either 
 was omitted. With uncontrollable and uncon- 
 cealed emotion, Lord Alton again and again 
 expressed to Mr. Fielding his gratitude for the 
 countenance he had already bestowed on Lady 
 Harriet ; for with him, the calculations of the 
 politician, and the refinement of the courtier, 
 all melted in the thrilling emotions of parental 
 affection. More than once did he rejoice in 
 the prospect of her now receiving from her 
 uncle that support and advice which her father 
 unwillingly acknowledged was essential to her 
 future welfare: and more than once did he 
 recur to the advantages which might be ex- 
 pected from her association with Julia, whose 
 friendship for her cousin he almost conde-
 
 AT HOME. 229 
 
 scended to implore. But whilst these anxious 
 parents, with all the blindness of human error, 
 were thus indulging in schemes of happiness 
 and virtue, the very individuals who were the 
 objects of their anxiety, tottered on the brink 
 of all they most could deprecate. 
 
 Fitzosborne was too wise to risk the success 
 of his well-laid schemes by prematurely hasten- 
 ing their conclusion. For the first day cr two, 
 therefore, he rather chose to absent himself 
 from Lady Ellesmere's drawing-room, and this 
 he did with the more security, as he knew that 
 Lord Calvert and his father were engaged in 
 signing- as manv new leases as he calculated 
 would occupy them as long as he required. 
 About the time when Mr. Fielding's journey 
 towards Alton Forest was near its conclusion, 
 Lionel came to the resolution of calling to his 
 aid the charms and talents of Lady Harriet 
 Moreton, and mounting his horse, he set off at 
 a brisk pace towards Broomhill barracks. But 
 no sooner did he find himself out of sight of 
 Ellesmere House, than, letting the reins almost
 
 230 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 fall on his horse's neck, he pursued his way 
 absorbed in meditation. 
 
 The tangled thickets, the spreading oaks, the 
 smooth, broad, winding river, and all the wood- 
 land scenery of Ellesmere Park, spread not 
 their beauties for his gaze. His eyes, it is 
 true, rested mechanically on their beauties, but 
 the power of internal vision was alone exercised 
 by him, and he passed the porter's lodge almost 
 unconsciously; and slow as his horse's foot 
 could fall, he skirted the park gates, and passed 
 up the shaded road that, following the wind- 
 ings of the fence, leads circuitously to Fairton 
 Bridge, till, at length, the clattering of his 
 horse's hoofs on its pavement, roused him from 
 his deep reverie, and, clapping spurs to his 
 steed, he galloped onwards. But long before 
 he reached Lady Harriet's apartments, he had 
 smoothed all traces of anxiety from his brow, 
 and resumed the usually tranquil expression of 
 his countenance. 
 
 On entering her apartment, he found her as 
 he anticipated — alone ; and, as he likewise anti-
 
 AT HOME. 231 
 
 cipated, her reception of him was more indica- 
 tive of anger than of any other feeling. A 
 silence of some minutes ensued, and the un- 
 moved countenance of Fitzosborne, disengaged 
 as it was from all apparent feeling, even of em- 
 barrassment, was strongly contrasted with the 
 agitated, almost exasperated looks of his fair 
 companion. At last she exclaimed with haughty 
 but forced composure, "I am glad to find, 
 Mr. Fitzosborne, you are still in this country. 
 I thought you had returned to town." 
 
 " You could not surely think, Lady Harriet, 
 that I should go to London without receiving 
 your commands." 
 
 " On the contrary, I concluded you had 
 totally forgotten me. Sir Henry and I " 
 
 " Sir Henry and you ! it is impossible I 
 could ever forget — either." A malicious em- 
 phasis marked these words ; but the deep bow 
 with which they were accompanied, concealed 
 any other expression of the feeling in which 
 they were uttered. 
 
 " I once thought of writing to know if you 
 were still alive."
 
 232 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 " And why was I not so blessed I it would 
 not have been the first time, nor I hope the 
 last." He now fixed his eyes full on Lady 
 Harriet's face, and nothing could be more pro- 
 voking- than the expression of his own counte- 
 nance. No feeling but that of self-conceit 
 was manifest, whilst the smile of satisfied vanity 
 played round his beautiful mouth, and the bit- 
 terness of irony was concealed in the tones of 
 harmony itself. 
 
 " Mr. Fitzosborne, I am not to be trifled 
 with ; none shall injure or even neglect me with 
 impunity;" and her little foot stamped with 
 passion on the ground, and her dark eyes 
 flashed lightning on her beaming cheek. 
 
 " Dear Lady Harriet, be for once consis- 
 tent ! did not you tell me yourself of Sir Henry's 
 jealousy ? though you best know how little I 
 deserved it. Did not you tell me that here, in 
 this particular neighbourhood, you were espe- 
 cially anxious on the subject of the most punc- 
 tilious propriety ?" 
 
 " Talk not to me of proprieties and non- 
 sense," interrupted she: "here, in this par-
 
 AT HOME. 233 
 
 ticular neighbourhood, I am especially anxious 
 to be treated with every possible attention and 
 respect." 
 
 " Respect, Lady Harriet ! you have so often 
 tutored me on that subject, that believe me I 
 can never forget your lessons." 
 
 " But I never told you to shun me as you 
 would a basilisk." 
 
 " Say Circe rather" — and the sigh that ac- 
 companied this sentence, came like the breath 
 of summer with healing on its wings. 
 
 ft And, Lionel, why should you so sedulously 
 have avoided me the other day ? Are your new 
 acquaintances, those Ladies Calvert, so irresist- 
 ible? Is it possible that Lady Weldon speaks 
 truly, and that you are going to marry one of 
 them r 
 
 " By all that's sacred she says false — they are 
 nothing to me ; nay more, if there is a human 
 being in a female form that I could abhor, it 
 would be Lady Matilda Calvert." 
 
 And now the radiance of her eye was more 
 than reflected in the dark flash of his ; and for 
 once the spirit of truth rested on the lip of
 
 234 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 scorn, for the energy of passion had in a mo- 
 ment revealed what hitherto he had denied, 
 even to himself; and the new-born demon of 
 hatred rose at once to his view, confirmed and 
 confessed. 
 
 " Abhor Lady Matilda Calvert ! and for 
 what ?" slowly interrogated Lady Harriet, as 
 if revolving in her own mind the origin of this 
 sudden feeling. 
 
 " Lady Matilda is a cold, dispassionate, scru- 
 tinising being, whom no flattery can bribe, 
 and I doubt if any danger could deter. I see 
 she already dares to question my right of in- 
 fluencing her brother, and either her spirit or 
 mine must yield." 
 
 " Then, marry her, Lionel !" And the bitter 
 laugh with which Lady Harriet accompanied 
 these words, seemed like a vampire's cry. 
 
 " What ! marry for hate ! — your Ladyship 
 goes even beyond me there :" and Fitzosborne 
 shuddered involuntarily. 
 
 " And who is the fool that would marry for 
 love ?" The deep hollow voice of intense feel- 
 ing marked this interrogatory. Lionel looked
 
 AT HOME. 235 
 
 on her trembling lip — her flashing- eye ; that lip 
 that once seemed to him the very harbinger of 
 joy ; that eye, whose beam could have unfolded 
 heaven to his view. How changed were now 
 his feelings ! Pity for a moment struggled with 
 a sentiment of a less gentle kind ; but the form 
 of Julia Fielding rose to his memory, and his 
 heart silently confessed, that even he might be 
 that fool. 
 
 Lady Harriet first recovered herself, and 
 continued. " And tell me, Fitzosborne, how 
 do you get on with Lord Calvert V 9 
 
 " If he had half the obstinacy I give his 
 sister credit for, I should despair of guiding 
 him." 
 
 " I cannot quite understand why he is an 
 object of so much consequence to you. You 
 will never teach me politics, I'm afraid." 
 
 " Nay, do me justice, I am as anxious about 
 him for your father's sake as for my own." 
 
 " As how I has he a great many votes ?" 
 
 " He has; but they are trifles in the scale, 
 compared with the weight which Lord Elles-
 
 236 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 mere's single vote would give to any minis- 
 ter." 
 
 " Oh! I understand! So Lord Tralee wants 
 to recommend himself to whoever may be the 
 new minister, by bringing Lords Ellesmere and 
 Calvert in his train ; and for this purpose you 
 are the coiled serpent placed in their path to 
 entrap them in your maze." 
 
 " Your Ladyship is severe. But as the pub- 
 lic voice calls on Lord Alton as the only man 
 not of the present administration worthy to be 
 our chief — I acknowledge " 
 
 " Come, Fitzosborne, you had better ac- 
 knowledge the whole truth at once. We know 
 each other too well for any dissimulation to be 
 of use to either." 
 
 Again Fitzosborne felt that he was in the pre- 
 sence of one who was a proficient in those arts 
 on which he most prided himself, and this con- 
 viction, in some degree, reinstated his admira- 
 tion of Lady Harriet's talents. 
 
 " Well then, since, as usual, you are my con- 
 fessor, I will whisper — mind, only whisper —
 
 AT HOME. 237 
 
 that I am afraid my father is a little in a di- 
 lemma at present." 
 
 " What ! Lord Tralee has drained the orange 
 and wants to throw away the rind, eh ? he has 
 exhausted the munificence of this ministry, and 
 is therefore anxious to have them turned out ? 
 A good specimen of a politician's gratitude !" 
 
 " I am not certain that my father has at all 
 made up his mind as to which side he will vote 
 with this session — it depends entirely on cir- 
 cumstances." 
 
 '* Yes, we all know that my good friend Tra- 
 lee has so often changed sides, that his vote is 
 scarcely saleable now — like a bad guinea worn 
 out, even his brass has lost the king's counte- 
 nance." 
 
 " How very provoking you are ! and how 
 provoking it is that one cannot be angry at you !" 
 
 " Nay, I only hate circumlocution, and want 
 to come at once to the point — And as to the 
 Calvert V 
 
 " Why, unless you help me, I am afraid 
 Lord Ellesmere and Lady Matilda will, together, 
 destroy all my plans for hira."
 
 238 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 " I declare, Fitz, at all events he has im- 
 proved you decidedly ; I never heard you speak 
 so humbly of your own abilities before." 
 
 Lady Harriet's countenance showed that her 
 displeasure had faded away ; and Lionel, con- 
 scious of his victory, could scarcely conceal the 
 consequent exultation, although it contradicted 
 her Ladyship's eulogium. 
 
 " I really almost despair of Calvert," con- 
 tinued he, in his humblest tone, — " he is too 
 volatile to be guided by precept ; too fastidious 
 to be led by example ; too rich to be impelled 
 by fear : in short, we shall have another perti- 
 nacious Lord Ellesmere, unless you, Lady Har- 
 riet, undertake his education." 
 
 " Eh Men! jen suis contente. But if I am 
 to act La Dame Blanche for the benefit of your 
 future diplomacy, you must explain to me what 
 you want to do with him." 
 
 " I want to make him minister at war, or an 
 ambassador extraordinary, that I may have the 
 honour of being his secretary ; in short, I want 
 your father to be prime minister, and Lord 
 Ellesmere his co-adjutor."
 
 AT HOME. 239 
 
 " And you and your friend to be deputy 
 pillars of the state ! Well, certainly, Fitz, your 
 plans are modest and ingenious ; but I really 
 do not perceive how I can forward them." 
 
 w Reine cles amours ! you must have left your 
 sagacity in London. In the first place, you 
 must, I am sure, have discovered already, that 
 nothing would better please the Ellesmere cote- 
 rie, than that Lord Calvert should marry your 
 Ladyship's pretty cousin, Julia Fielding, and 
 subside at once into a good, quiet, country 
 gentleman." 
 
 " Mais quel menage !" exclaimed Lady Har- 
 riet, with a look of horror. " Really, Lord 
 Calvert is much too handsome and agreeable 
 to be allowed to sink into such irrecoverable 
 bathos — and then adieu, Lionel, to your secre- 
 taryship." 
 
 " Exactly. Now Miss Fielding is, at pre- 
 sent, actually staying at Ellesmere; and it will 
 be quite a charity in you to keep Lord Calvert 
 out of the snare." 
 
 M My dear Lionel, you know you may always
 
 240 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 command my services. But as to my under- 
 taking- that prime starched piece of antiquity, 
 Lady Ellesmere, 'tis quite out of the question. 
 Another sight of her little pinched turban 
 would absolutely give me the tic doulou- 
 reux." 
 
 " But Birnam Wood may be brought to Dun- 
 sinane. If you only bestow half a dozen smiles 
 on him, they will be more than sufficient to keep 
 him out of harm's way till next week, and then, 
 you know, the grousing begins. A jyropos, 
 here is Sir Henry. Colonel, I must make my 
 apologies to you, as I have already done to 
 Lady Harriet, for my having been so long 
 without calling on you. But, really, I have 
 been so beset with Devon cows, and plans for 
 cottages, that I never could emancipate myself 
 till to-day." 
 
 Sir Henry received this compliment in much 
 the same spirit in which it was offered. But 
 Captain Brisbane, who, with other officers, had 
 accompanied Sir Henry, exclaimed, " Eman- 
 cipated yourself! So Miss Fielding's long eye-
 
 AT HOME. 241 
 
 lashes have enthralled you, as well as others?" 
 and the Captain's eyes, though not his head, 
 turned towards Mr. Jessop. 
 
 "She is certainly a very pretty girl," ob- 
 served Major Crosbie to Lady Harriet ; " but 
 I agree with your Ladyship she wants a cer- 
 tain tournure." 
 
 " That is to say, she wants a certain cou- 
 touriere ; eh ! Major ? " rejoined Sir Henry, 
 with infinite affability. 
 
 u Well, Crosbie," said Captain Brisbane, " if 
 you had only listened the other evening to her 
 singing, instead of to Lady Weldon's com- 
 plaining, you would, I suppose, have been as 
 much captivated as poor Jessop here." 
 
 " Par exemple," interrupted Sir Henry, 
 " did you ever see an invalid with so good an 
 appetite as Lady Weldon?" 
 
 " She should positively take a bouillon be- 
 fore dinner," observed Lady Harriet, in the 
 gentlest tone of sympathy. (Lady Weldon 
 had omitted her luncheons on the day of Lady 
 Harriet's breakfast.) 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 242 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 " And apply cold cream to her cheeks after 
 dinner," rejoined Mr. Jessop, with an expres- 
 sive shrug. 
 
 " Do you know, Fitzosborne," said Major 
 Crosbie, " Jessop declares the two Misses Wel- 
 don are les petites Dandides ; for that any man 
 who dances with them must infallibly die of the 
 same." 
 
 " All envy of Miss Weldon's decided pre- 
 ference of you, Crosbie," resumed Sir Henry. 
 " But, Mr. Fitzosborne, as I must exonerate 
 you from the accusation of being caught by 
 our country cousin, allow me to ask, is it the 
 gay Louisa, or the stately Matilda that keeps 
 you in bondage at Ellesmere ? for, the other 
 day, at Mrs. Colon's, Mrs. Masham declared 
 that she knew from the best authority, you 
 were come down on purpose to propose for one 
 or other, if not both." 
 
 " By the bye, Colonel, what sort of a day 
 had you at Colon's V 
 
 "Just what I expected. You know at such 
 a house one always looks for mutton at the
 
 AT HOME. 243 
 
 head, mutton at the foot, and the rest of the 
 sheep in candles." 
 
 " Ay ! She is one of the blue-stockings. The 
 Lord defend me from learned ladies, and ourang- 
 outangs ! I sat next to her at Weldon's ; so 
 I took good care to send my excuse this time." 
 And Major Crosbie shuddered at the recollec- 
 tion of his last visitation. 
 
 " I fancy the Ladies Calvert are a little 
 of the literati too. Every body writes now. 
 All the new novels are said to be by ladies 
 of distinction — some Lady W. or other," 
 observed Lionel, looking steadily at Lady 
 Harriet. 
 
 " Lady Louisa Calvert seems a very pleasant 
 person," remarked Mr. Jessop, in his usual 
 calm tone, as he quietly dusted his spurs, whilst 
 he lounged on the ottoman ; " but I doubt 
 whether Lady Matilda is not quite inaccessible." 
 
 "And Miss Fielding, Jessop? let us hear 
 your decision upon her," inquired Captain 
 Brisbane. 
 
 " You have passed sentence on the Weldons,
 
 244 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 and on the Calverts," rejoined Major Crosbie ; 
 " now, most potent, grave, and reverend Signor, 
 will you allow us to admire la belle Julie ? 
 
 u If she was a little fatter, I think she would 
 <be the most beautiful girl I ever beheld ; at 
 present she looks almost too delicate." 
 
 " The more angelical," replied Sir Henry ; 
 " and assuredly, Jessop, she must have some 
 celestial power to attract your admiration : for I 
 never heard you praise any girl so much be- 
 fore." 
 
 " She is rather too thin," observed Fitzosborne. 
 
 '* And she should never wear yellow ribands," 
 continued Mr. Jessop. " Sonpirs Uouffes or 
 ailes de pigeon are good colours for a blonde ; 
 — don't you think so, Lady Harriet ?" 
 
 " I have not thought quite so much upon 
 the subject as you seem to have done, Mr. 
 Jessop ; but I agree with you that she is not a 
 good dresser." 
 
 Mr. Jessop made no reply ; and the conver- 
 sation digressing to a critique on the last 
 change of uniform, Fitzosborne was, as usual,
 
 AT HOJtfE. 240 
 
 applied to as the best possible authority for 
 taste. The newest cut in shirt collars, and a 
 comparaison between an Anglesea and a Towns- 
 hend, having superseded all thoughts of the 
 fairer part of creation, Lionel at last took his 
 departure, leaving Lady Harriet fully impressed 
 with the belief of his perfect indifference to all 
 the ladies at Eliesrnere, whilst he returned 
 there to watch the slightest variation in Lord 
 Calvert's open countenance, and to conceal, as 
 he best could, his own unbounded admiration 
 of Julia Fielding.
 
 246 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 JEALOUSY. 
 
 What! keep a week away ? Seven days and nights I 
 Eightscore eight hours ? 
 
 Othello. 
 
 The answer which Fitzosborne received from 
 his father to his last letter, confirmed his pre- 
 vious suspicion that all was not going on in the 
 world of politics as Lord Tralee could have 
 desired. His Lordship's communications were 
 too reserved, and his expressions too guarded 
 to give even his son a correct insight into the
 
 AT HOME. 247 
 
 whole truth ; but, by the aid of long experience, 
 Lionel discovered even a greater portion of it 
 than it was his father's intention to confide. 
 
 He perceived that some of Lord Tralee's 
 machinations, or, in the phraseology of politics, 
 his "designs," were on the point of being dis- 
 covered ; and it was evidently of the greatest 
 consequence to him to adopt immediately some 
 judicious, but decisive measure; — in other 
 words, that he should, without loss of time, 
 secure his own personal safety, either by be- 
 traying the secret instructions of the present 
 minister to his enemies, or that he should 
 give up to him the under agent, who, at Lord 
 Tralee's own suggestion, and for Lord Tralee's 
 own emolument, had exceeded those orders, and 
 converted a judicious measure into positive 
 oppression. A victim must be found to ex- 
 piate the wrong which, by some unknown acci- 
 dent, had transpired ; and the only doubt which 
 remained on Lord Tralee's mind was, whether 
 to sacrifice his patron or his slave ; and this 
 alternative rested solely on the balance of
 
 248 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 chances as to whether Lord Alton did, or did 
 not, intend to displace the present minister. 
 
 In politics, as in war, anticipation is the very 
 blossom of time ; and he who knows but to 
 gain it, gathers, in one grasp, all that is worth 
 obtaining. In this view, the information Lionel 
 had sent respecting Lord Alton had been in- 
 valuable to his father, as he thought ; but his 
 thanks conveyed his sense of its value too ex- 
 travagantly ; and Fitzosborne judging from va- 
 rious little circumstances that Lord Tralee was 
 scarcely steady on the pinnacle to which he had 
 so lately climbed, he determined to lose no time 
 in making his own ground good with the Alton 
 party, even though his doing so might entail his 
 desertion of his father. And as no plan seemed 
 more certain of cementing his connexion with 
 Lord Alton than marrying his niece, his de- 
 termination to separate Julia and Lord Calvert 
 was but the more confirmed, whilst even the 
 master passion of his mind thus contributed to 
 strengthen the unrestrained attachment which 
 he had so suddenly conceived for her.
 
 AT HOME. 24U 
 
 To exclude Lord Calvert from Miss Field- 
 ing's society, as much as possible, was bis first 
 object, and witb tbis view he gladly delivered 
 to him an invitation from Sir Henry Moreton 
 to join a fishing-party on the following day ; at 
 the same time, expressing his own regret at not 
 having skill enough to be admitted as a worthy 
 participator in the sport. 
 
 " I never knew you were fond of fishing, 
 Calvert," observed Lord Ellesmere, as he was 
 leaving the room ; " but if you are, I advise you 
 to take Sir Henry to the fall of the river, near 
 the garden." 
 
 " If you go there, Calvert, of course the 
 ladies will follow in your train, " rejoined 
 Lionel. 
 
 " Not to a fishing scene, I hope,'' answered 
 Lord Calvert, with some asperity. 
 
 " Oh ! you do not guess what attractions we 
 may find," gaily replied Lady Louisa. " Julia, I 
 am decidedly for being of the party ; for per- 
 haps we may meet * all the officers,' as Aun<i 
 Weldon calls them ; and you know she told
 
 250 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 you yesterday you had already made a conquest 
 of Mr. Jessop." 
 
 " I hope, Louisa, you told her in return that 
 she had made a conquest of somebody. You 
 know that is all she wanted," said Julia, not 
 without embarrassment. 
 
 " Well, Miss Fielding, allow me to congra- 
 tulate you on your prize," rejoined Lord Cal- 
 vert. Mr. Jessop is a beau par excellence." 
 
 " His merits have hitherto been lost upon 
 me, I own ; but I am always willing to submit 
 to your Lordship's judgment." 
 
 " Calvert, did you hear that? I am afraid, 
 Miss Fielding, you will make him too vain," 
 said Fitzosborne, with more meaning in his 
 eyes than his mere words conveyed. 
 
 "I am much flattered by Miss Fielding's 
 deference to my opinion, though I trust she 
 will in future be decided by her own judg- 
 ment alone." 
 
 " I only confessed my ignorance on the sub- 
 ject of Mr. Jessop's merits," said Julia, in a 
 subdued tone ; for there was something in Lord
 
 AT HOME. 251 
 
 Calvert's manner that wounded her to the 
 
 soul. 
 
 " And where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be 
 wise," replied Fitzosborne carelessly. 
 
 " Have you any message to Sir Henry More- 
 ton, Fitzosborne V inquired Lord Calvert. " I 
 am going to call upon him." And so saying, 
 he rose to leave the room. Lady Louisa play- 
 fully followed him to inquire further particu- 
 lars about the fishing party, and Julia and 
 Fitzosborne were left alone. 
 
 A silence of some minutes ensued. Julia was 
 absorbed in painful thought, and Lionel sat 
 with his eyes intently fixed on her intelligent 
 countenance. 
 
 " Poor Calvert!" exclaimed he at last, in the 
 softest tone of sympathy. " I am half sorry I 
 told him his love was come to London: he has 
 scarcely been like himself since. Don't you per- 
 ceive an alteration in his manner within this day 
 or two, or is it only my fancy, Miss Fielding f 
 
 Julia had indeed perceived a most distress- 
 ing alteration in his manner, for which she had
 
 252 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 vainly endeavoured to assign a cause. It seemed 
 as if Lionel had at once unravelled the mystery ; 
 and a few moments passed in recollecting all 
 the little indescribable incongruities in Lord 
 Calvert's manner, which now Fitzosborne's sug- 
 gestion sufficiently explained. 
 
 " Is the Contessa Montalvina handsome?" 
 inquired Julia, unconscious of the clue this 
 query gave to her inmost thoughts. 
 
 " No, not positively handsome. I should 
 rather say positively not handsome, judging of 
 the specimen of perfect beauty I have lately 
 seen. But she sings divinely : that arietta you 
 sang last night, which Lord Calvert encored, 
 was her chef-d'oeuvre, and your voice reminded 
 me astonishingly of hers." 
 
 That was a fib; for Fitzosborne had never 
 heard La Montalvina sing that particular arietta; 
 but the impromptu sufficiently answered his 
 purpose of destroying the effect of Lord Cal- 
 vert's admiration of Julia's singing, which he 
 had involuntarily expressed the night before 
 somewhat too unguardedly, and which poor
 
 AT HOME. 253 
 
 Julia had since thought of again and again with 
 pleasure : her reflections on this point were now 
 changed. M So! he was thinking all the time 
 of that Contessa Montalvina ! How could I 
 have happened to sing that old song ? it is a 
 frightful tune." This, and much more, she 
 thought in silence : meantime, Fitzosborne's 
 protracted gaze was almost distressing : at last, 
 she sufficiently collected her ideas to turn the 
 conversation on more general subjects. Music 
 was one of the many on which Lionel could 
 talk to admiration : he was sufficiently learned 
 on it to be judicious ; and that winning voice 
 and interesting countenance, which marked his 
 slightest observations, gave indescribable value 
 to even his most casual remark on this most 
 animating theme. 
 
 Julia was at work ; and perhaps her silken 
 eye-lashes never appeared more beautiful than 
 when she was looking down : he, meanwhile, 
 was seated opposite to her ; sometimes, in the 
 enthusiasm of the moment, he leant his arms 
 on the table, and watched every hue of feel-
 
 254 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 ing that passed over her countenance as she 
 spoke : for hers was that varying complexion in 
 which 
 
 The eloquent blood so in her body wrougbt, 
 You could almost have said her body thought. 
 
 At other times, the pen that he mechanically 
 held, traced unconsciously the beautiful outline 
 of her profile, and then the next instant it was 
 obliterated from all but his memory. Again, 
 leaning back on his chair, as the light fell on his 
 own polished brow and manly countenance, 
 he attended only to making his conversation 
 agreeable to Julia, whose thoughts he intui- 
 tively divined, and whose tastes he seemed 
 to express by anticipation as his own ; and in 
 this he in part succeeded : for when had Lionel 
 Fitzosborne failed in obtaining the suffrage of 
 all with whom he associated ? 
 
 " Hours were moments near her ;" and neither 
 Lionel nor Julia were aware how many had 
 passed, till Lady Matilda's entrance interrupted 
 their tite-d-tite. Her presence was always a
 
 AT HOME. 255 
 
 restraint on him; and he soon after retired, 
 anxious to meditate on those hopes, which 
 Julia's complacent manner to him had insensi- 
 bly increased. 
 
 " I am glad that man is gone," observed 
 Lady Matilda. " What can induce my brother 
 to be so partial to him, I cannot imagine." 
 
 " I assure you, Matilda, he has been uncom- 
 monly agreeable for this last half hour ; I never 
 saw him so much so before. Indeed, at first, I 
 almost disliked him, but now I think him very 
 sensible ; and I am sure he is very fond of Lord 
 Calvert." 
 
 " Does he ever talk to you about Oswald ?" 
 And as Lady Matilda said this, her glance 
 was as penetrating as even Lionel's could have 
 been. 
 
 " Yes— no : he only said he was sorry that 
 he had told Lord Calvert the Countess Mont- 
 alvina was arrived." 
 
 ** And why should he be sorry I I am certain — 
 I am positive, Julia, the Countess Montalvina 
 is nothing to my brother : I know he is per- 
 fectly indifferent to her."
 
 256 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 However intimate Julia had always been with 
 Lord Calvert's sister, pride and delicacy had 
 alike forbidden the confession of her own feel- 
 ings in regard to him ; for their intercourse 
 had always been that of generous disinter- 
 ested friendship, and not the puerile confidence 
 of whispering girls. If, in days of happiness, 
 Julia had studiously evaded all allusion to that 
 partiality which on Lord Calvert's part had 
 been almost avowed, her hereditary pride now 
 forbade her acknowledging almost to her own 
 heart, that in her estimation of that partiality 
 she had been in any degree mistaken ; but now 
 there was an earnestness in Lady Matilda's 
 assurance of what Julia most wished to believe, 
 that overcame her fluttered spirits ; and, affected 
 beyond the power of resistance, she covered her 
 burning blushes with her hands, and burst into 
 a flood of tears. 
 
 " Dearest Julia," whispered her kind coun- 
 sellor, as she kissed her fevered forehead, 
 "how can you believe, Julia, that my brother 
 prefers any woman to you? let me for once 
 speak unreservedly on the subject nearest niv
 
 AT HOME. 257 
 
 heart. You know — you must know that you 
 alone are Calvert's choice." 
 
 ** No— no, Matilda, indeed you are mistaken; 
 Lord Calvert has no thought of me but as an 
 old friend ; the companion of his childhood — the 
 playfellow of his sisters." 
 
 " Do not, Julia, be so unjust either to him 
 or to yourself: sometimes, I own, Oswald's con- 
 duct puzzles me ; but of his sentiments I feel 
 assured." 
 
 " Stop ! stop ! Matilda, you are but re- 
 exciting a vanity, which has already brought 
 its own punishment, Lord Calvert is always 
 kind and good-natured to me ; but in this house 
 you know he has no alternative." 
 
 Lady Matilda shook her head in token of 
 dissent ; but their further conversation was in- 
 terrupted, as Lady Ellesmere's hour for driving 
 out was arrived, and her footman had come to 
 summon the young ladies to accompany her. 
 
 Short as this their first confidence had been, 
 the two friends were almost equally engrossed 
 by the recollection of it during the rest of the
 
 258 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 morning. In Julia's breast, the dazzling ray of 
 hope again danced as on a brilliant mirror; 
 and though in her character there was as little 
 of the alloy of vanity as ever fell to woman's 
 share, yet a thousand little imperceptible 
 traits led her mind gradually back to the not 
 unwilling conviction of Lord Calvert's attach- 
 ment. There is a talisman in love that gives 
 an interpretation to the most casual look or 
 action, far different from that which it bears to 
 an uninterested observer ; and with this magic 
 aid, Julia now recalled many a little anec- 
 dote, which, considered collectively, gave weight 
 to those assertions she wished to believe. His 
 minute recollection of many a scene of childish 
 happiness which they had passed together — the 
 proofs he almost involuntarily had given, that 
 even in his most distant sojournings her image 
 had seldom been forgotten — the delight with 
 which more than once he had repeated those 
 passages from his sister's correspondence that 
 conveyed any message Julia had ever sent him, 
 and the gratitude he expressed whenever he
 
 AT HOME. 259 
 
 learned that she had preserved his gifts — these, 
 and the remembrance of many a look too tran- 
 sient to be told — too marked to be mistaken, 
 again renovated the unavowed hopes of the art- 
 less girl ; and, with a fluttering joy, she antici- 
 pated his return, determined no longer to dis- 
 trust or injure him by unmerited suspicions. 
 
 Lady Matilda's meditations were not less un- 
 interrupted, though infinitely more composed : 
 her penetration had already led her to discover, 
 that the smooth surface of Fitzosborne's man- 
 ner was merely an external stratum, beneath 
 which was a stream of fire. His looks had be- 
 trayed to her his admiration of Julia, whilst 
 her own wishes prompted her to insure for her 
 brother, if possible, the prize which seemed so 
 coveted by all ; and, with mistaken kindness, 
 she therefore determined to speak to Lord Cal- 
 vert on the subject, believing, that to be unre- 
 served would best insure success to her kind 
 and disinterested plans. 
 
 The opportunity for doing so did not, how- 
 ever, immediately occur ; for, before dinner, Lord
 
 260 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 Calvert sent for his servant and things to dress, 
 having determined to dine with the officers' 
 mess : and the charms of Lady Harriet More- 
 ton's conversation in the evening, joined to Sir 
 Henry's affability and hospitality, detained him 
 at the Barracks beyond the early hours at 
 which the Ellesmere party usually separated- 
 
 Meantime, the evening at the Park passed 
 with unwonted swiftness: the agitation of Julia's 
 spirits gave new lustre to her eye, and new 
 radiance to her cheek. She was happy ; and 
 with all the innocence of youth, her happiness 
 was manifest in the elasticity of her step, and 
 the playfulness of her smile : whilst Fitzosborne, 
 with equal surprise and admiration, gazed on 
 her brilliant beauty. His creed, like that of 
 Solomon, was, that all is vanity ; and, acting upon 
 this premise, his attentions to Miss Fielding ber 
 came less restrained, as, in the gaiety of the mo- 
 ment, she accepted, rather than repulsed them. 
 His mellow voice joined in the airs which she 
 and Lady Louisa sang together ; and Lord and 
 Lady Ellesmere observed to each other with
 
 AT HOME. 261 
 
 surprise, that intimacy but revealed new talents 
 in the gifted Fitzosborne. 
 
 The next morning", it was late before Lord 
 Calvert joined the breakfast party ; and his 
 looks gave indication that his vigils had not 
 been passed in equal serenity with theirs. 
 Scarcely noticing the party, he abruptly in- 
 quired of Lady Ellesmere how many beds 
 could now be made up at Marley Cottage ; add- 
 ing, that he had promised to give Sir Henry 
 Moreton a week's fishing there, if she and his 
 father had not any other arrangement for its 
 temporary occupation. 
 
 " My dear Oswald, I think, as far as the 
 rooms go, you will find it very comfortable. 
 Old Chamberlane and his wife are there still ; 
 but what will you do in your table arrange- 
 ments V 
 
 " Why, Lady Ellesmere," said the good old 
 Earl, always anxious to contribute to his son's 
 comfort, " don't you think Mrs. Crumpet could 
 fill the caravan with some of the contents of 
 our larder. How long do you think you will 
 stay there, Calvert V
 
 262 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 " I suppose our party will last a week or 
 ten days : I have promised to go to-day with 
 Sir Henry and Lady Harriet to Hurtlemoor 
 on our way ; and by Tuesday or Wednesday 
 we shall get to Marley Cottage." 
 
 " Well, by that time every thing shall be 
 prepared. I will send Mrs. Crumpet herself, 
 the under footman, John Baker, Susan Doyle" — 
 
 " My dear mother, don't think of sending 
 such a tribe. You know I have often told you 
 that Monsieur Laroche is one of the best cooks 
 I know ; he came to me in despair the other 
 day, saying, that ' ses talens seroient fletris' 
 in the idleness of Ellesmere. And as I don't 
 let him lay out my things to dress more than 
 three times a day, he will be delighted to 
 get back to his old metier, dun Cuisinier de 
 voyage." 
 
 " But, my dear Oswald, Sir Henry and 
 Lady Harriet" — 
 
 " Oh ! the whole party is to be a bivouac : 
 he brings his fac-totum — she goes without 
 zfemme-derchambre: any thing like regular- 
 ity would destroy the whole pleasure of the
 
 AT HOiME. 263 
 
 scheme. Fitzosborne, what do you say to it? 
 I sent you Sir Henry's note this morning; I 
 hope Laroche, in his delight, did not forget to 
 give it to you V 
 
 Lionel had received sufficient intimation to 
 enable him to have his answer ready : 
 
 " Nothing in the world I should like better : 
 such a party is the thing of all others I like best ; 
 but unfortunately my holidays are at an end — 
 I must leave this, I am sorry to say, to-morrow, 
 or next day." As he said this, Fitzosborne 
 made one of his best bows to Lady Ellesmere. 
 
 This intelligence had the effect he anticipated : 
 earnest solicitations were pressed upon him to 
 remain even a few days longer ; to all of which 
 he appeared inflexible ; till at last Lord Calvert 
 said, " Fitzosborne, since you will not come 
 to Marley, you must do this — wait for me here, 
 and, coute qu'il coute, I will return this day 
 week ; and the next day I promise to accom- 
 pany you, at least part of your journey." 
 
 ** What, do you leave us so soon, Calvert?" 
 said Lady Matilda, in a tone of disappoint- 
 ment.
 
 264 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 " Yes, I have promised to be in London by 
 the 20th ; and thus I only lose a day or two of 
 your company, Matilda:" — a suppressed sigh 
 accompanied these words. 
 
 Julia recollected the arrival in London of La 
 Contessa Montalvina. Lady Ellesmere thought 
 only of Mrs. Crumpet and tartlets. Fitzosborne 
 looked steadily at Miss Fielding, but said 
 nothing ; but Lady Matilda determined to 
 lose no time in speaking to her brother, and 
 therefore rose to follow him a few minutes 
 after he had left the room. 
 , She found him in the hall, mechanically busy 
 in arranging his fishing-tackle. But his fa- 
 vourite spaniel lay unnoticed at his feet, and 
 his thoughts seemed otherwise engaged than 
 by the occupations of his fingers. Lady Ma- 
 tilda drew her chair close to his, and after 
 helping him to arrange some silken flies, said, 
 " I am very sorry you are going away, Oswald, 
 — very sorry, particularly just now." 
 
 " And why just now, Matilda ?" 
 
 " Because Julia Fielding is here; and I 
 thought—"
 
 AT HOME. 265 
 
 " You thought, Matilda, to shut us both up 
 in a cage together, didn't you ?" — And the tone 
 of bitterness with which Lord Calvert said this, 
 was far unlike that of frauk and honest cheer- 
 fulness, which formerly was habitual to him. 
 
 " I thought, Oswald, that that dear girl was 
 such a favourite of yours, that she would have 
 helped to relieve the ennui I am afraid you 
 feel here." 
 
 " And what does she think, Matilda? — you 
 are such confidants, no doubt you know all her 
 sentiments." And now it was his turn to look 
 with a scrutinizing gaze. Lady Matilda's pride 
 for her friend, was wounded by the cold super- 
 ciliousness of his manner, and she hastily an- 
 swered — 
 
 " I really have not heard her express any 
 thoughts or wishes on the subject." 
 
 " Come, Matilda, confess the truth; la belle 
 Julie, if left to herself, would be perfectly in- 
 different, whether I went or stayed." — And he 
 whistled, as if careless even of her answer. 
 
 " Upon my word, you men are strange crea- 
 VOL. I. M
 
 266 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 tu res," rejoined she, somewhat indignantly, 
 " you never know your own minds a month 
 together." 
 
 " It would be well, if you ladies knew your 
 own as long ; but see, Matilda, there's the 
 curricle, and I am not half ready yet." — So 
 saying, he hastily left her; not being sorry thus 
 to terminate what he almost designated an 
 unpleasant catechism.
 
 AT HOME. 267 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 A STRATAGEM, 
 
 You may remember how the sulky elf, 
 
 For to your worships so he must have seem'd, 
 
 Rode forth, with no compauion but himself. 
 
 RlCCIARDETTO. 
 
 It has been said, that no man ever appeared 
 a hero to his valet-de-chambre ; and this morn- 
 ing poor Lord Calvert verified the observation. 
 His feelings were agitated, and his temper 
 irritated, as, turning from Lady Matilda, he 
 strode up stairs, three steps at a time, and 
 hurried into his own apartment to expedite his 
 departure.
 
 268 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 On opening the door, he beheld Monsieur La- 
 roche vigorously engaged in all the delightful 
 bustle of packing up. The zealous valet had 
 taken off his own blue coat, and had it care- 
 fully suspended on the back of an arm-chair, 
 along with two of his neckcloths, for the pur- 
 pose of being less restrained in his operations, 
 whilst he fearlessly trusted to his three waist- 
 coats and his own labours for being sufficiently 
 warm, even in England, on a sunny day in 
 August : meantime, his talent was fully dis- 
 played, even in the appearance of the room. 
 Every chair was in occupation, either by sup- 
 porting trunks or their contents : the doors of 
 the wardrobes were thrown open ; the drawers 
 pulled out, and laid on the floor; whilst bed, 
 couch, tables, and carpet, were alike strewed 
 with brushes, boot-legs, hat-sticks, stocks, 
 gloves, bottles of blacking, wash-balls, caraffes 
 de jiarfumerie, soap-boxes, flints, fishing-rods, 
 curling-irons, wadding-papers, rolls of shoe and 
 watch ribbons, and all the other et cetera 
 of a gentleman's toilet, not excepting sundry
 
 AT HOME. 269 
 
 little accessories not intended for public inspec- 
 tion. 
 
 The labour we delight in physics pain ; 
 
 and Monsieur Laroche had time to sing a 
 whole refrain of " Dans un delire" in a shrill 
 minor, as he was folding up, with mathematical 
 precision, the sleeves of a pink-striped shirt, 
 when his harmony was interrupted by the ab- 
 rupt entrance of Lord Calvert, who exclaimed, 
 in no gentle voice, as he kicked across the floor 
 as many shoes and boots as might have supplied 
 a yeomanry corps — " Why, what the devil are 
 you doing, Laroche, with all these boots about 
 the room V 
 
 " Soyez tranquille, milord — soyez tranquille ; 
 ils seront tous emballes dans un clin d'ceil." 
 
 " God forbid ! do you think I would be bored 
 by taking such lumber? Make haste, do, and 
 put up the things I ordered — nothing more." 
 
 " Eh ! bien, je ne mettrai done dans la 
 vache, que dix paires de bottes, quinze paires 
 de— " 
 
 " Dix paires ! Vache ! Ass, rather. I tell
 
 270 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 you I am going in the curricle, and the driving- 
 seat will hold — " 
 
 " Bah ! mais la voiture de voyage nous suivra, 
 nest-ce pas ? ou du moins la caleche ?" 
 
 " I tell you, sir, the curricle is at the door ; 
 give John my night-sack and dressing-box, 
 directly." 
 
 " Eh bien, milord ! cela m'est egal. Le 
 beau valet que ce jockey Monsieur John fera ! 
 C'est joliment arrange ! — Bah ! il sait bien son 
 metier sans doute. II peut atteler un cheval, 
 ou meme deux; mais qu'il me coi'ffe moi, Dieu 
 m'en garde ! Mais chacun a son gout. D'abord 
 les usages de ce pays-ci m'etonnent moi ! et nous 
 autres, le gout nous a bien pris d'etre tout-a- 
 fait Anglois. Mais cela passera — cela passera — 
 c'est moi qui le dis — nous verrons, tout cela 
 passera — " 
 
 How much longer the disappointed Mr. La- 
 roche might have soothed his griefs by con- 
 tinuing the soliloquy, is doubtful. Lord Cal- 
 vert had thrown himself unconsciously in the 
 very chair which was already graced by the
 
 AT HOME. 271 
 
 blue coat of his much-affronted valet. His first 
 feeling was that of impatience to be gone ; his 
 next, regret at ever having come within reach 
 of " that cold, heartless Julia Fielding :" then 
 his conscience reproached him for this unjust 
 and ungenerous appreciation of her character. 
 His memory retraced many a blush, and many 
 a smile thus contradicted it ; and the question, 
 " why the devil should I go away?" rose point 
 blank to his mind. Another moment, and the 
 chair was drawn close to the table. The whole 
 shaving apparatus was thrown down, to make 
 room for the portfolio. An apology was to be 
 composed ; and, in order to arrange his ideas, 
 the pen full of ink was deliberately shook over 
 the flaps of Monsieur Laroche's coat. 
 
 " Du moins, monsieur, epargnez mon habit, 
 s'il vous plait," ejaculated the valet, in a tone 
 of utter despair. 
 
 " Va-t-en au diable ! et depechez-vous !" — 
 And Lord Calvert started up, throwing the 
 paper into the fire, and his resolution to the 
 dogs.
 
 272 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 Poor Laroche, snatching up his coat, threw it 
 rather on his head than his shoulders, and for- 
 getting his cravat, bustled out of the room, 
 muttering, as he closed the door, " Jamais je 
 ne l'ai vu ainsi. Dieu veuille que nous ne 
 sommes pas encore amoureux !" 
 
 There was a something in his countenance so 
 expressive of submission and distress, that at 
 once recalled Lord Calvert to himself; and 
 hallooing after him, he repaired all his faults, 
 by telling the faithful creature he might follow 
 in the caleche, and bring whatever he wanted, 
 either for himself or his master ; adding, with a 
 good-humoured smile, " Et tu peux meme ap- 
 porter des casseroles tant que tu voudras. Je 
 t'emmene expres pour montrer & Sir Henry 
 ce que c'est qu'un vrai turban de Poisson. 
 D'abord j'ai beaucoup vante ton savoir-faire." 
 
 " Monsieur, milord, mille graces — je suis in- 
 finiment sensible a toutes vos bontes — j'espere — 
 je me flatte — " Here he was interrupted by 
 the entrance of Lionel Fitzosborne, and leaving 
 the two gentlemen together, he skipped down
 
 AT HOME. 273 
 
 stairs, exclaiming-, " Ah ! le bon enfant ! il est 
 toujours le meme, un peu vif de temps en temps 
 — mais le coeur ! il a le coeur comme quatre." 
 
 Fitzosborne, scarcely waiting for an invitation 
 to sit down, drew his chair close to that of Lord 
 Calvert : an agitation, partly affected and 
 partly genuine, marked his countenance, for 
 the scene he had now to act was one of diffi- 
 culty; he nevertheless was the first to break 
 silence. 
 
 " Calvert, have you any commands to town I 
 I think I shall be off to-morrow." 
 
 " Why, what the devil hurries you away I" 
 inquired Lord Calvert, almost angrily; " I 
 thought you would stay till my return." 
 
 " I think I had better not ; it is wiser of me 
 to go away when I can." 
 
 " I really don't understand you at times, 
 Fitzosborne ; certainly no person wishes to force 
 your inclinations." 
 
 " I am only fearful my inclinations may be 
 too strong for the guidance of my judgment. 
 In short, Calvert, I am come for the very pur-
 
 274 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 pose of consulting you on a very delicate sub- 
 ject." 
 
 " What is it ?" demanded Lord Calvert, in 
 almost breathless eagerness. 
 
 " Why, you will laugh when I tell you. — I 
 am half afraid of falling in love." 
 
 " In love ! with whom?" 
 
 " You desired me to study Miss Fielding's 
 character, but you gave me no amulet against 
 her charms. She is a very beautiful girl, ta- 
 lented and accomplished, and who knows 
 but " 
 
 "Who knows, Fitzosborne, but the Don Gio- 
 vanni of the day may add another to his list of 
 conquests ; is that what your modesty wishes to 
 conceal V 
 
 " Calvert, I really am serious. What Miss 
 Fielding's sentiments are, I am not yet certain 
 of; but I know this, that if I am to be shut up 
 here with her much longer, it is an even chance 
 but I fall in love with her, for I really think 
 her a charming girl." 
 
 M And would it be an unpardonable folly in
 
 AT HOME. 275 
 
 you to fall in love with Miss Fielding V asked 
 Lord Calvert, in a tremulous accent. 
 
 " Unpardonable in me to fall in love with a 
 girl, whom all your family already " 
 
 " Allow me to be the judge of my own 
 concerns, Fitzosborne ; my family shall never 
 choose a wife for me." 
 
 " My dear fellow, you don't know what it is 
 to contend with the wishes of a family so affec- 
 tionate and careful of you," 
 
 " I think I am quite old enough to take care 
 of myself; and if Miss Fielding prefers you, I 
 should be exceedingly sorry to interfere with 
 her inclinations." 
 
 " You think so now, Calvert; but if I was 
 really to make love to Miss Fielding, and she 
 was to prefer me — mind, I don't say she would 
 do so ; and indeed I am very far from thinking, 
 let her inclinations be what they might, that 
 her father would consent to her marrying any 
 body but you." 
 
 " Why, God bless me, how you go on, Fitz- 
 osborne ! I have never proposed for Miss Field- 
 ing in any way,"
 
 276 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 " The world, at least this neighbourhood, will 
 never credit that, whilst I can give no proof of 
 it ; and, on the contrary, I shall be accused of 
 having supplanted my friend. No — no, I had 
 better make the sacrifice at once, and be off, as 
 I said, to-morrow." 
 
 Lionel walked about the room in violent agi- 
 tation. 
 
 " Make no sacrifices for me, Fitzosborne ; 
 whatever my feelings towards Miss Fielding 
 are, or might have been, I have no claims on 
 her — none whatever : let her choose herself 
 between us." 
 
 "Ah! Calvert, you are hurrying me into 
 danger : nobody will believe that I paid my 
 addresses to her with your sanction. If I had 
 your words in writing to refer to hereafter, it 
 might be different ; as it is, perhaps the day 
 will come when even you yourself will forget 
 your present declaration." 
 
 " I can never object to write what I have 
 ever uttered ;" and in a moment of petulance, 
 Lord Calvert again took up the pen. No 
 guardian sylph was there to avert his danger :
 
 AT HOME. 277 
 
 his bosom was a chaos where every contending 
 passion reigned ; and the spirit of evil brooded 
 over him as, scarcely conscious of the import of 
 his actions, he sealed his own destiny in the 
 following words : — 
 
 " Dear Fitzosborne, 
 " I once more repeat, that no engagement 
 whatever subsists between me and Miss Field- 
 ing. I have no claim to her regard, and I only 
 wish she may consider herself as perfectly dis- 
 engaged as I am. 
 
 '* Yours truly, 
 
 " Calvert." 
 
 He forgot in his agitation to date this billet, 
 and throwing it across the table, he exclaimed, 
 11 There, Fitzosborne, will that satisfy your 
 scruples ? I suppose you will acknowledge I am 
 in earnest now. Good bye, au revoir." So 
 saying, he darted down stairs, and, leaping into 
 his curricle, pursued his way to Broomhill Bar- 
 racks.
 
 278 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 Thus every thing seemed to promote Fitz* 
 osborne's schemes ; and success, even beyond 
 his hopes, appeared already within his grasp. 
 Lord Calvert's absence was too favourable an 
 opportunity to be neglected ; and, before many 
 hours passed, he had in some degree usurped 
 his place not only in the music-room, where 
 duets and trios innumerable were discovered 
 in which his assistance was indispensable, but 
 even in the daily rides and drives Mr. Fitzos- 
 borne's society was found equally desirable. 
 The good old Earl, fearful that the retirement 
 of Ellesmere might have been disagreeable to 
 him, was more than ever pleased at his in- 
 creasing gaiety. The Countess pronounced 
 him to be an agreeable and unpresuming young 
 man, to whom no subject, either of literature 
 or politics, seemed unfamiliar. Lady Louisa 
 entertained herself and sometimes her auditors, 
 in carrying on a persiflage with him, which it 
 often afforded him both amusement and occu- 
 pation to parry. And even Lady Matilda's 
 looks no longer offended his pride, or alarmed
 
 AT HOME. 279 
 
 his sagacity, for he felt that he was in possession 
 of an antidote with which he could at any mo- 
 ment neutralize any effort she could make to 
 subvert his designs. Nay, even with a master- 
 stroke of policy, he defied her power, and al- 
 ways took occasion in her presence to be more 
 unreserved in his attentions to Julia, in the 
 hope that he might induce her to speak to 
 Lord Calvert on the subject, knowing that 
 every interference of his family would now but 
 the more effectually confirm his estrangement 
 from the object of their mutual thoughts. 
 
 And how did Julia receive those attentions ? 
 Piqued by Lord Calvert's voluntary and unne- 
 cessary absence — mortified at the innate con- 
 viction she felt that Lionel had discovered her 
 sentiments towards his friend— she, with a 
 pardonable ebullition of somewhat excited va- 
 nity, willingly accepted and almost encouraged 
 those little flatteries which she considered as 
 unmeaning compliments, and which he offered 
 too dextrously to be openly refused. Now 
 painfully distrustful of herself, and anxious to
 
 280 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 correct the future by her experience of the 
 past, if she ever bestowed a second thought on 
 Lionel's manner towards her, it was to recoil in 
 shuddering bashfulness from the recollections 
 of what she termed her former errors. Many a 
 time did she condemn herself for having listened 
 to the suggestions of vanity, and given an over- 
 strained interpretation to some of Lord Cal- 
 vert's looks or actions, which, though infinitely 
 more explicit than those of Lionel, she now 
 looked upon as so vague as to be easily capable 
 of misconstruction ; and if memory occasionally 
 presented to her imagination some even less 
 doubtful testimony of Lord Calvert's regard, 
 she blushing turned away from the painful 
 image, and attributed to mere juvenile friend- 
 ship, or perhaps some more mortifying source, 
 that evanescent approbation on which it had 
 been her chief delight in former times to medi- 
 tate. 
 
 Meanwhile, the hectic cheek and fevered 
 eye, that to others told only of more vivid 
 beauty, escaped not the cool but scrutinizing
 
 AT HOME. 281 
 
 gaze of Lady Matilda Calvert. With the true 
 delicacy of female regard, she sought not for 
 any explanation of those feelings which it was 
 too evident Julia vainly endeavoured to subdue. 
 Yet some few words of renovated kindness, or 
 implied security, occasionally shed a beam of 
 comfort on her agitated spirits, and more than 
 once the considerate kindness of this judicious 
 friend had in some degree composed that 
 flutter of the mind, which so often gives to 
 suspended hope almost the character of con- 
 firmed despair.
 
 282 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE JOURNEY. 
 
 When we go from each pleasure refined 
 
 Which the sense or the soul can receive, 
 With no hope in our wand'rings to find 
 
 One ray of the sun-shine we leave — 
 An adieu should in utterance die, 
 
 Or if written, but faintly appear ; 
 Only heard through the burst of a sigh, 
 
 Only read through the blot of a tear. 
 
 Spencer, 
 
 Nothing is so deceitful as the progress of 
 time. Change of scene or incident gives wings 
 to the passing moment, but throws additional 
 delays on the past ; and when we look back to 
 the period that has fled by us thus rapidly, we 
 scarcely credit its apparently shortened dura-
 
 AT HOME. 283 
 
 tion. But the reverse is the case with a mono- 
 tonous life ; there, day after day rolls slowly 
 on till we start on retrospection at the accumu- 
 lated weeks that have thus glided by unnoticed, 
 and lapsed into eternity in silence and regret. 
 So it was with the hours at Ellesmere. The 
 time of Lord Calvert's absence at Marley Cot- 
 tage was expired, before Fitzosborne could 
 credit the calendar that marked it as of longer 
 duration than he had first intended ; but it had 
 not passed unprofitably to Lionel. With his 
 usual success, he had still further insinuated 
 himself into the regard of most of the family 
 at Ellesmere, and thus added new trophies to 
 the triumph of that silver-tongued polity which 
 it had been the object of his education to per- 
 fect, and the business of his life to pursue. 
 
 At last, a letter from Lord Calvert to his 
 father announced his intention of returning to 
 Ellesmere ; though, as he said, only for some 
 hours, as he was obliged to be in Loudon on a 
 particular day. The same post also brought a 
 few lines to Fitzosborne, leaving it entirely at 
 his option to return with him or not, and plead-
 
 284 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 ing hurry as an excuse for brevity. These 
 despatches were received at breakfast ; and the 
 delight with which the Earl and Countess antici- 
 pated the return of their son, was only equalled 
 by that of the gay and thoughtless Lady Louisa, 
 who as habitually extracted pleasure from every 
 passing incident, as the bee sips honey from 
 every flower. 
 
 The fluctuation of poor Julia's spirits that 
 day, needed no interpretation. A hundred 
 times did she turn away from the window on 
 observing that Fitzosborne's silent but scruti- 
 nizing glance pursued her ; and more than once 
 Lady Matilda's intelligent but melancholy smile 
 called a crimson flush into her cheeks, that ere 
 long subsided into more than usual paleness. 
 
 At last, Lady Louisa burst into the room, 
 exclaiming, " Here he is ! here he is ! I am 
 sure I saw the carriage winding up the hill 
 yonder. See the light on the lamps, or the 
 harness, or something : Don't you see it glit- 
 ter?" 
 
 " No, Louisa ; it is only the sun on the river 
 that you see through the trees."
 
 AT HOME. 285 
 
 A silence of anxious expectation ensued. 
 Fitzosborne approached the window to look 
 over Lady Louisa's shoulder. Julia sat pale 
 and motionless. 
 
 "There! I told you so!" almost screamed 
 Lady Louisa, clapping her hands. u Now don't 
 you see him? Look, Matilda, they have just 
 turned out of the Beech Grove. I am sure he 
 will be at the door in a minute ; and there, I 
 hear mamma coming down stairs — let's run, or 
 we shan't be in time." 
 
 Lady Matilda followed her ; Fitzosborne also 
 left the room, perhaps to compose rather than 
 exhibit his feelings. Julia involuntarily started 
 up ; time was, when she would have been the 
 first to welcome him ; the first whom he had 
 greeted. Alas! it was so no longer. She re- 
 collected this, and instantaneously sunk again 
 upon her chair. She heard the servants hur- 
 rying to the hall ; and then came the distant 
 trampling of the horses — the rumbling of the 
 wheels on the gravel. " T cannot meet him 
 now," exclaimed she, as she rushed out of the 
 room. The first flight of the staircase was
 
 286 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 gained in a moment, and the next, she stopped 
 to listen to his voice, as well as the loud beating 
 of her heart would let her. But she need not 
 have delayed, for the only accents that broke 
 upon her ear were those of the voluble Laroche 
 explaining with some difficulty, that " Milor 
 ave a stay & la Caserne. Miladi l'avoit voulu 
 absolument; Milor found her irresistable, he 
 could not come ; il a fait l'impossible, je n'en 
 doute gueres, Mesdames. Encore he tell a 
 me to emballer every ting ; son depart est 
 arrete pour demain, Monsieur, a neuf heures 
 moins un quart, bien precis : tous les chevaux 
 sont deja commandes. Nous prendrons Mon- 
 sieur Jessop avec nous chemin faisant. Ah ! I 
 ave no time to lose; puis Monsieur Vitsbon, 
 voici un petit mot pour vous de la part de Mi- 
 ladi, qui se porte a merveille. Se is charming." 
 If there is a moment when disappointment 
 falls with an accumulated weight, it is when 
 the heart, with all the elasticity of hope, has 
 risen as it were to meet the blow. Mortifica- 
 tion, displeasure, and doubt, now crushed poor 
 Julias lately excited spirits ; and as she turned
 
 AT HOME. 257 
 
 slowly and sadly into her own room, the tears 
 which pride was insufficient to suppress, stood 
 on the burning cheeks which were scarcely con- 
 scious of their presence. She, however, by the 
 most strenuous efforts, contrived to regain suffi- 
 cient composure to be able to join the family at 
 dinner; but, as the evening passed, and the hour 
 of Lord Calvert's return approached, the ex- 
 ertion became intolerable ; and under the plea 
 of a head-ach, which was scarcely fictitious, she 
 retired to her own apartment. 
 
 She had hardly left the drawing-room when 
 Lord Calvert arrived. His impatience to re- 
 turn had increased with every mile that brought 
 him nearer to Julia Fielding. How would she 
 meet him ? How would she receive him ? If 
 she appeared glad at his return — if she dressed 
 herself for him in her cameos, or any thing he 
 had sent her from abroad, just to show that she 
 had been thinking of him — even if she re- 
 ceived him with that cordial, unembarrassed 
 air she used to greet him with, it would show 
 that at least she was indifferent to Fitzosborne : 
 and if so, why should Lord Calvert leave her I
 
 288 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 Why not remain even after Fitzosborne went, 
 and at once ascertain her sentiments ? 
 
 So great was Lord Calvert's agitation, that 
 when he entered the drawing-room, he could 
 not see clearly whether Julia was one of the 
 company or not ; but after he had shaken hands 
 at least twice round with every body else, he 
 inquired with as much composure as he could 
 assume, " where Miss Fielding was?" 
 
 " Gone to bed," was Lady Ellesmere's la- 
 conic reply ; for at that moment she was de- 
 bating in her own mind, whether Oswald did 
 not look very thin, or whether he was only 
 fatigued with his journey. 
 
 Lord Ellesmere and Lady Louisa made a 
 thousand inquiries, the one about the fish and 
 the other about the party, to all which he con- 
 trived to answer tolerably collectedly ; although, 
 crossing to the other side of the room, to where 
 Lady Matilda was at work, he inquired, in a 
 whisper, whether Miss Fielding had been ill ? 
 
 " She has had a head-ach to-night ; but I 
 assure you we have all been very gay since you 
 went, Oswald."
 
 AT HOME. 289 
 
 Lady Matilda remembered with pique the 
 indifference with which Lord Calvert had last 
 spoken of her beloved Julia; her pride was 
 roused for her friend, and, feeling for her as 
 she would have done for herself, she would not 
 admit, even for her brother's sake, that she 
 could " unsought be won." Lord Calvert made 
 no answer, but soon after, complaining of fa- 
 tigue, he retired to his room, merely settling 
 with Fitzosborne, as he passed him, the hour 
 at which they both should depart the following 
 morning. 
 
 Lord Calvert, sleepless and unhappy, counted 
 every hour that was told by the clock on the 
 large echoing staircase. He listened with rest- 
 less impatience for the sound of any footstep 
 that could give notice of approaching day, and 
 looked as eagerly through his curtains for the 
 first beam of morning, as if returning light was 
 to bring with it renovated happiness. But, 
 with all his watchfulness, he was unable to de- 
 cide upon his future plans. " I must see Julia; 
 the first glance of her countenance will guide 
 me better than all my own reflections." 
 vol. I, n
 
 290 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 If Lord Calvert's thoughts had "murdered 
 sleep," Julia's slumbers had not been more 
 refreshing. Finding that it was impossible 
 longer to defer meeting him, she determined at 
 least that her manner should betray neither 
 anger nor embarrassment. And in order to re- 
 cruit her spirits and confirm her resolution, she 
 had risen early, with the intention of enjoying a 
 quiet, solitary walk. But as she turned from 
 the hall-door, she unexpectedly met Fitzosborne, 
 who, without waiting for an invitation, prepared 
 to accompany her. 
 
 This accidental interview was so favourable 
 to Lionel's wishes — so gratifying to his feelings, 
 that joy danced in his eyes, and the elation of 
 hope played round the corners of his beautiful 
 mouth. But there was something in the ex- 
 pression of his countenance from which Julia 
 involuntarily shrunk; and as there was no pos- 
 sibility of declining his attendance, she resolved 
 to curtail her ramble, and to confine her walk 
 to the broad terrace that spread in front of the 
 house. The morning sun shone bright and 
 exhilarating, as they slowly pursued their walk.
 
 AT HOME. 291 
 
 Julia, embarrassed by his manner, held her head 
 downwards, scarcely daring to meet his eye; 
 whilst the fire of his countenance and the 
 triumph of his step seemed almost to anticipate 
 the declaration of his sentiments. Thug they 
 walked for the long length of the house. At 
 the end of the terrace, Julia, in turning round, 
 unconsciously raised her eyes towards its win- 
 dows, and as instantaneously dropped them, 
 whilst a blush crimsoned even to her polished 
 brow ; for in that moment she had beheld Lord 
 Calvert, who, standing at his window, his 
 arms crossed and his brows contracted, had 
 watched all their movements. Fitzosborne too, 
 following the direction of Miss Fielding's eyes, 
 had caught a casual glimpse of his figure. His 
 walk became more firm, his triumph more per* 
 ceptible. But Lord Calvert staid not to wit- 
 ness it. Hastily retiring from the window, he 
 renewed with increased agitation the prepara- 
 tions for his departure, and was the first who 
 entered the breakfast parlour with feverish im- 
 patience to accelerate the tedious meal. 
 
 The Countess and ber daughters soon found
 
 292 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 him, and were in a few minutes followed by 
 Miss Fielding. A cold and haughty bow was 
 at first the only salutation he vouchsafed to her : 
 and now pride and embarrassment struggled for 
 mastery in her, and Fitzosborne was the only 
 one of the party who seemed perfectly at ease. 
 And as Monsieur Laroche particularly prided 
 himself on the despatch and punctuality of his 
 arrangement, the carriages drove round, as he 
 said, a jwint nomme ; and the unpleasantness of 
 the scene was speedily terminated, by the ab- 
 rupt departure of the two travellers. 
 
 It would have been somewhat embarrassing, 
 and by no means useful to Fitzosborne, to tra- 
 vel tete-a-tete with Lord Calvert ; and to avoid 
 this dilemma, as he was not aware of Mr. Jes- 
 sop's companionship, he had accepted Mr. War- 
 burton's proposal of taking him up with him. 
 He accordingly drove in his dennet round by 
 Posy Lodge, whilst Lord Calvert took up Mr. 
 Jessop at the Barracks, when, resigning his seat 
 to his servant, the four gentlemen arranged 
 themselves in and on Lord Calvert's carriage, 
 leaving their domestics to follow.
 
 AT HOME. 293 
 
 Fitzosborne was to leave this party at the 
 
 town of R , which was within ten miles of 
 
 Lord Tralee's ; and the travellers having agreed 
 to dine with him there, and not to separate till 
 afterwards, they resolved to stroll out whilst the 
 busy hostess prepared her best bill of fare in 
 honour of such distinguished guests. 
 
 On a common, at the outskirts of the town, 
 a fair was going on ; and thither of course they 
 directed their steps, as to the scene most pro- 
 mising amusement. There, groups of farmers 
 were discussing the merits of their respective 
 cattle ; in another part, their wives were zea- 
 lously bargaining for butter or straw hats, as 
 the case might be ; whilst their blooming daugh- 
 ters were exchanging the value of their eggs 
 and chickens for stay-laces, ribands, gilt gin- 
 gerbread, and such other attractive goods as 
 were displayed to infinite advantage on the 
 clean deal tables, that stood under awnings in 
 imitation of a street. 
 
 At the extremity of this crowd, a few tents 
 and booths were erected, most of which boasted 
 the allurements of a drunken fiddler and an ad-
 
 294 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 vertisement of " Whitbread's Entire." Into 
 one of these, some poor Irish hay-makers had 
 been enticed, and were incautiously spending 
 a part of their hard-earned wages, and cheer- 
 ing themselves with roaring rather than singing 
 some of the wild choruses of their country. 
 
 At the door of another tent stood two figures, 
 whom even at a distance it was impossible to 
 mistake for other than " mere Irish," although 
 the poor people themselves were totally un- 
 conscious of there being any thing remark- 
 able in their appearance. The woman had 
 a broad comely countenace, in which frank 
 good-humour was the only expression. Her 
 features and complexion gave evidence that 
 she had seen some forty summers; but her 
 eye-brows were yet black, and a smart turn up- 
 wards in her chin denoted something of merri- 
 ment, and much of activity. Her hair, in which 
 but little gray was perceptible, was strained 
 over a cushion tight up from her forehead, and 
 a high-cauled cap loaded with bright pink 
 ribands surmounted the edifice, the ears, which 
 occasionally met under her chin, being left loose ;
 
 AT HOME. 295 
 
 a very narrow black riband was tied tight 
 round her throat, from which was suspended a 
 tin cross. Her gown, which shone in all the 
 colours of the rainbow, was carefully pinned up 
 behind, and displayed to full perfection a bright 
 green stuff petticoat, which was so stiff by na- 
 ture, and so plaited by art, that it perfectly 
 answered the purposes of a hoop. A clean white 
 apron, and shoes and stockings, which were 
 evidently quite new, completed the costume. 
 At her feet, lay her frieze cloak folded up be- 
 side an immense bag of Irish linen, whilst she 
 was carelessly leaning against a post, with her 
 brawny purple arms folded together, and her 
 quick twinkling eyes surveying every passen- 
 ger in turn as she commented upon them with 
 some archness and infinite vivacity. 
 
 The countenance of her companion was very 
 different, and by no means prepossessing. He 
 was apparently between fifty and sixty ; the 
 whole upper part of his head was bald ; but 
 at each side, his hair, thick and bushy, curled 
 over his ears and into his neck behind ; it was 
 strong in texture, and in colour of that kind of
 
 29G ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 iron-gray, which indicated its having once been 
 black. His forehead and the outline of his 
 nose were particularly handsome ; but there was 
 a sinister expression in his eyes as they scowled 
 from beneath huge shaggy eye-brows, that ex- 
 cited a feeling compounded of fear and distrust. 
 Had he stood erect, his figure would have 
 been tall, but he was then leaning on a black- 
 thorn stick ; his coarse muscular hands at the 
 same time supporting his unshorn chin, and 
 clasping the knotty head of his ponderous 
 bludgeon. His gray coat cut square be- 
 hind, his Cornemara stockings and substantial 
 brogues, declared at once his birth-place. 
 
 "Arrah! Barney, and isn't that himself?" 
 suddenly exclaimed the woman, as the four 
 travellers, linked arm-in-arm, emerged from the 
 crowd, laughing heartily at some pert retort they 
 had just received from a pretty country girl ; 
 then clapping her hands with joy, the next 
 moment she stood directly opposite to Fitz- 
 osborne. 
 
 " Oh musha! that my eyes should light on 
 yez again ! Honour dear, an't it you ?"
 
 AT HOME. 297 
 
 ' " What ! Nurse M'Clane ! What the devil 
 brought you here V 
 
 Didn't Barney and me come over every 
 foot of the way from Ballyfoyle, when we heard 
 your honour was come back from foreign parts ? 
 and sarrow a sight could we get of her after all, 
 and only tould us she was well, the cratur, 
 when they last heard from her." 
 
 M Well, Nurse, I am heartily glad to see 
 you ; here, take this for you and Barney to drink 
 my health. I see him standing yonder." 
 
 Long life to your honour, and it's that we 
 will do to-night before to-morrow. Bless- 
 ings on your sweet face! But may be it's a 
 word now you'd tell me of poor Nancy, the 
 cratur. I don't ax to see her ; but if I could 
 only just make so bould as to hear her step 
 across the floor, isn't it myself that would 
 know the very sound of her foot, and she out of 
 hearing ? Och hone ! but it was a happy time 
 when she was playing in the cabin forenent 
 me !" 
 
 The poor woman put her apron to her eyes 
 to dry her tears, and Fitzosborne took that
 
 298 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES 
 
 » 
 
 favourable opportunity of getting away from 
 her. 
 
 Of course his companions questioned and 
 rallied him on this unexpected attack. He par- 
 ried their attacks as well as he could, by saying, 
 that Mrs, M'Clane was a very consequential 
 person at Ballyfoyle, as she had had the honour 
 of nursing him, and " Nancy the cratur" was 
 a pretty little amourette that he had been in- 
 troduced to on his last visit to Ireland. He 
 laughed and joked on the subject with perfect 
 self-possession ; and his companions allowed it 
 to drop, when they found it carried with it no 
 sting ; for in such cases the amusement of the 
 quizz-ed is in exact proportion to the annoy- 
 ance of the quizz-ee. 
 
 Dinner passed with considerable gaiety ; the 
 hostess did her utmost to please the palates of 
 her guests, and their appetites did ample jus- 
 tice to her culinary skill. The carriages were 
 ordered to come to the door in ten minutes. 
 The bill was called for, the last bottle of 
 burning Madeira was half emptied, and Fitz- 
 osborne secretly congratulated himself on his
 
 AT HOME. 299 
 
 happy deliverance, when the room door opened, 
 and the waiter with infinite bustle ushered in 
 Barney in person, who, after making a most ob- 
 sequious bow to the company, struck his black- 
 thorn stick against the carpet, and remained 
 bolt upright in perfect silence. 
 
 " Well, Barney, what do you want with 
 me ? " inquired Fitzosborne, in no pleasant 
 tone. 
 
 ** It's myself thought you might be wanting 
 me, your honour." 
 
 " No, thank you, friend ; I gave some silver 
 to your wife for you, Barney, and if you like a 
 glass of gin I'll order you one down stairs." 
 And Lionel rang the bell with vehemence. 
 
 " Not at all, your honour, not at all ; it's not 
 Barney M'Clane that would be the spalpeen to 
 come begging for spirits, barring it was a drop 
 of whiskey itself; but I thought, your honour, 
 you might want to ask about, you know who, 
 your honour ; and says Judy to me, 'Step up, 
 Barney,' says she, ' in the name of God, for he'll 
 may-be have something to send him, if it is 
 but the making of a wily coat ;' and so, your
 
 300 ENGLISH FASHIONABLES. 
 
 honour, I just made bould to prisint myself 
 just for to tell you — ■ — " 
 
 There was a leer in Barney's eye, and a curl 
 in the corners of his mouth, that plainly showed 
 how much he thought his auditor in his power. 
 And whilst he continued, as it were, to probe 
 him gradually, his own countenance betrayed 
 all the cool sagacity of the surgeon who feels 
 not the wound he gives. 
 
 " Hang the fellow, I must hear his story out, 
 or I shall never get rid of him," whispered 
 Lionel to his friends, as he signed to Barney to 
 wait for him down stairs. Then taking leave 
 of his companions, he vouchsafed a conference 
 of some ten minutes to the sturdy Hibernian, 
 and jumping gaily into his carriage, turned off 
 towards Lord Tralee's, leaving the three others 
 to pursue their way to London. 
 
 END of vol. I. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 TRINTED BY A. J. VALPV, RED HON COURT, FLEET STREET.

 
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