v^^>^ \ x a I B RARY OF THE U NIVLRSITY Of ILLINOIS H743i v.l /r .5^ V/*V^ THE INHABITANTS OF EAETH5 OR, THE FOLLIES OF WOMAN. IN THREE VOLUMES. BY ANTHONY FREDERICK HOLSTETN, AUTHOR OF SIR OWES GLESOOWR ; LOVE, XYSTERY, Sf 3IJSERY; THE ASSASSIN OF ST. GLEMiOY ; THE MISERIES OF AN HEIRESS, S)C. Thoa smiling qneen of ever>' ^^Titer's brenst, Indulgt-nt Fancy 1 from the fruitful bauks Of AvcM^. whence tliy ro«y fingers cull Fash flowers and dews to sprinkle on Ihe Inrf AVhere Shakespeare lies, be present : and with the* L* t Ficticn conic, upon hur vagrant wings, ■Wafti! g ten ihonsand colonrs throngh the air, A\ hich, by tlie ql-^noes of ler n!dgic eye, ihe blend." and shifts at will, through conatleas forms, IJer wild creation ! AKEJfSIDE. '% L. I LONDOX : PRTNTED AT THE rOR A. K. NEWMAN AND CO. fSuccesiors to Lane, Neu-mariy and Co.J LEADENHALL STRFtT. 1811. S-A3 H7V3, V, / P R E F^4 C E, ^^ Again I wleld tlie pen of author- ship, and send forth another offspring to the woild ; but, Jilas ! not hke the progeny of the famed monarch of the clouds, will a Minerva issue from my far less potent head. A very mortal in power, I entail upon my bantlings all the errors of their father ; and dis- play, in my poor descendants, a mot- ley volume of virtue and vice, who' fonned fo^r mere '* inhabitants of earth,'* -are -mcapablt of soaring far bej'ond ^ VOL. I. B their 51 PREFACE. their native sphere of action : yet I still trust that morahty will remain a lead- ing and prominent feature ; and while that adheres to the heart, errors of judgment, frivoht}^ of style, or failure in suj^erior talent, will, I fondly hope, receive from that some mantle of apo- logy^ Thus I have ventured to ob- trude no faultless gallants, nor " wo- men divine;'' since, alasj perfection, fe no shape, will adorn my little world of human beings ; for here ** FoJIy inoiints the throoe, And plays her kleot antics : like a queen, A thousand garbs she wears, a thousand ways She wheels her giddy empire." i\lthough 1 have conbrmx^ni to aii esitablished rule, of selecting one cha- ractt>t PREFACi:. Ill raciLT as the nominative heroine of tlfese volumes, yet will the title of my book anticipate its contents, as at- tempting the memoirs and delineation of manv of the sons and dauo;liters of mortality, and that they are alternate- l}" brought for^vard, according to their immediate connexion with the general plot of the Work. Again, and yet again, I offer my sincere thanks to those who have in so liberal and benevolent a manner nur- tured the feeble efforts of my youthftil pen ; and I trust that tune and expe- rience will prove the effectual correc- tors of my style, language, and imagi- nation, three of the greatest auxilia- ries in that department of literature I B 2 have 5V PREFACE. have embraced, and from the encou- raging generosity of the Pubhc, I am BOW induced to pui-siie. Jicndon^ Marchy 1S11» tan INHABITANTS OF EARTH^ r#^f CHAP. I. A strange dissembling sex we women ire: Well may we »ie», when we ourselves deceive. Disobedience, or the spoiled Beauty, Xn an elegant spacious drawing-room^ in the modernized Gothic edifice of Trent Abbey, situated in the county of Stafford, sat a very fine attractive young woman, blooming in all the brilliance of juvenile beauty, expensively attired in a dress which displayed even the very fantasy of fashion, guided by original taste, and a self-consci- B 3 ousness 6 THE I.NtlAElTANTS OF EARTH. ousness of the loveliness of that person which dared assume any garb that whimsi- cal fancv dictated: a table of curious In- dian \yood stood immediately before her, bearing for her use a portable ivory writ- ing-desk;, inlaid with silver workmanship, of foreign ingenuity ; a half- written letter was thrown aside^ while with her pen she was occupied in tracing a Qice on a wafer, and laughing over, the caricature resem- blance to which she^ in this manner, had given birth. While thus employed, a door of the apartment was thrown open, and a v.gentleman entered, in age perhaps beyond the exact meridian of life, but whose per- son boasted not marked characteristic as peculiarly its own, since it, simply display- ed only those which Nature h^as indiscrimi- nately lavished on numbers of her off- spring : his figure, his air, his manner, was that of the gentleman; and a youth of dissipation had left its furrowed marks on his spacious forehead, while the gathering • frown of paternal displeasure deepened these The inhabitants of earth. 7 these indentures, and irritation lent spark- ling fire to his angry eyes — " Well, Miss- Vincentj how much longer is this most ex- traordinarv conduct to last ?'* '' I have not quite calculated," said the fair Florence, half glancing towards his countenance with infinite nonchalance, and then again looking down on the desk, where lay her puerile empIoymentT " You will then begin your calculations t^o late," returned the incensed father — ** Child, child, you will never secure a- husband such " ''And what then ?" was interrupted withr* quickness — " I shall never be a wife ! — truly I believe you, my dear sir; for no sensible man will have a wish for success; and I can venture to promise never to be- come the wife of an insensible one. So here rests all my matrimonial chances." " Florence, be serious, be rational.'* "That is not in my power ; therefore lay not the sin of disobedience here to the account of voluntary offence : you know B 4 by • T«E INHABITANTS OF EARTH. by experience, my good sir, that all my follies are involuntary." " Yes; I suppose that of not joining the party in the water- excursion to-day, ibr instance, when I expressly wished it?" " No ; I will tell jou exactly how that happened : an universal teazing to go^ teazed me into staying at home/' " The very spirit of contradiction con- fessed ! — But know, young woman, that f will not much longer tolerate this caprici- ous frivolity, this unpardonable defiance of parental authority : I have often, in the most energetic language, declared the ad- vantage, the gratification I should myself ?lerive from it, nay, the absolute necessity there is for your forming, as soon as pos- sible, a matrimonial establishment; and to-day, for instance, you have obstinately thwarted my reasonable expectations, from the mere spirit of caprice." " Now, my dear father, be calm and con- siderate. What Dossible advantage could have accrued from my being enrolled in the THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH, 9^ the party Mrs. Bentinck formed for this aquatic excursion ? For, as to her nephew the major, I have, it is true, amused my- self with hirir, as an entertaining animated flirt; but as a husband Heavens! only picture poor Horace a benedict 1 why^ it would be treason against the very court of Cupid ; for he must then inevitably lose his spirit, his vivacity, his enchanting ver- satility." " Never heed the extinction' of th€f iat- ter, Florence, since his wife would throw a double portion into the wedded lot:" and Mr. Vincenr pronounced this in a- half-subdued tone of anger, as he surveyed his beautiful girl, whose Hebe-smiles, as they dimpled the blooming cheeks they adorned, by gratifying the pride and va- nity of the parent, gained over the weaker and more vulnerable particles of his heart, tx) aid the forgiveness of the thoughtless culprit: then, as if again recollecting him- self into severity, his voice assumed its pristine harshness — '' But enough, quite B 5 enough"' 10 TdK INIIABiTAMS CF EAKTlf. enough of this idle trifling: beware, Miss Vincent, of longer delaying your election, ' of thus childibhiy sporting with every man who addres,ses you with your father's sanc- tion. Must I again repeat the sorrowing tidings, that, at my death, you wiH be left a destitute dependent orphan ? is it neces- sary once more to remind you, that my estates are entailed on the male issue of the Vincent family ? the next inheritor will, in consequence, be a very distant re- lation : thus, only during my life, all the luxuries of existence are yours. But ha- bits of expence are too natural to me to be renounced; the extravagance of my ous lady Walsham herself, could have com- mandeemblance to her mother unremarked^ when, in the zenith of all her bridal attractions, he had known the dear exuberance of fondest pas- sion. Memory conjured into regeneration from the depths of time, those transitory joys which a sincere, but ffteting attach- ment, had inspired; while Mr. Vincent had, from experience, learned to number them as the happiest of his life, and mourn- ed the inconstancy of-his own nature, which had marred their continuance. Florence, VOL. I. D the 50 THE INHABITANTS OF EAKTH. the young and beauteous Florence, as she burst upon him, the living memento of those days of impassioned tenderness, com- municated an indescribable sensation to his heart, that awakened those softer feelinos he had believed his long-alienated child could never have had power to affect. The affection of Mi^s Vincent for her mother was indeed but a passing love ; lady Emily was not calculated to inspire that radical esteem, respect, and veneration, which can alone permanently secure the precious tears of ceaseless regret from the filial mourner. The tears of her daughter were unafifected, unfeigned; but they were the produce of a transitory ebullition; and, long ere twelve months had told their cir- cuit, no anguished emotion heaved her bo- som, her eyes no longer glistened with the soft tribute of sorrowing Nature, when the casual mention of her deceased parent re- vived on memory her recent loss. A severe lit of gout had confined Mr. Vincent, for the greater part of the win- ter. THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 5 I ter, to his room ; the late scene of death had, for a time, subdued the spirits of his daughter, and attuned them to a more seri- ous, more reflective cast, than their ante- cedent bias. It was at this period she be- came the voluntary nurse of the invalid ; feeling, but not affection, was awakened for the sufferings of her father; and his heart gratefully breathed a blessing on the head of that child, for care^ attention, and kindness, to which he acknowledcjed he had no rightful claim, since neglect and indif- ference had, from him^ been the portion of her nursery years. When spring had burst the frozen shell of winter, Florence beheld no charms in the rural beauties of a countrv rejrion — she sighed for London and its gay varie- ties; but this regret lasted not long after the perfect convalescence of Mr. Vincent, and Trent Abbey once more became the seat of splendid festivity. Free permission %vas extended to invite whatever friends inclination prompted to partake the hos- J5 ^ pitulity IfBRARV «« * ^fr It was manner that gave the little anec- dote of Hector and his fidelity full effect; but, reader, that manner is not to be con- veyed on paper, therefore might the tale weary rather than amuse: imagine then a very wonderful instance of sagacity, affec- tion, and courage, in one of the canine spe- cies,*and value poor Hector accordingly. • ' This THE INHABITANTS OP EARTH. 8 I This narrative, embeltished by flowery ftescription, occupied the space that inter- vened to the summons for dinner, to which the Newfoundland hero followed lord Les- lie; and stationing himself beneath his chair, was unconscious of the attention his master had drawn upon him, by those ta- lents of elocution which gratitude had ex- cited. E 5 CHAP^ 82 . THE INHABITANTS Of fiARTft« CHAP. VII. Lest men suspect your tale untrue. Keep probability in view: The writer leaping o'er those bounds. The credit of his book confounds. Gay, Henrietta, Some days after this party, as our heroipe was sitting over the tea-table with Mrs. Dacre, her nieces, and Ellen Bertie, she was agreeably surprised by the entrance of Mr. Morley, the rector of the living of B , who had been, for some weeks, absent from his clerical situation, and his return had been earlier than expected. Florence received him with unfeigned pleasure, for he was among the very few • to THE INHABITANTS OF EAKTH. S3 to whom she conducted hefself with con- sistent urbanity and decorum. The first salutation passed; as the venenble man yet retained her hand, he adftSd-^—'' And now suffer me, after the fa?mon of my own antediluvian day, to congrati^late you on the marriage of your cotisin, Mr. Ji^ait- *' Maitiand !lMi||y Maitjand married I'* re-echoed Florence; " indeed, my dear sir, this must be some mistake; it cannot j^^ — it is quite impossible \ — Who could have raised so strange and sudden a re- port ?•* " My right reverend friend the bishop of , who himself performed the ce- remony yesterday by special license, gave me his authority for its actual existence." *' Cracious Heavens l'^* exclaimed the really-astonished Florence — " And who then is the bride ?" *' Mademoiselle d'Estrade." *• What! the mysterious foreigner!'* interrjjpted Miss Dacre ; '' that poor little 7. 6. monster S4 TRE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. ■monster of deformity !** and there was somewhat of even more than her usual ar- rogance in the speaker's tone — " Do you not remember, Matilda, she never was called any thing in our coterie but the Zilliput spt/ ?'* Matilda, who had more policy, if not good breeding, than to thus contemptu- ously speak of a recently -formed family connexion to one of its branches, and who, although, equally with her sister, she had raised an ambitious hope to the em- bryo viscount, had the art to conceal her disappointed views, and carelessly replied, she had not the least remembrance of the lady in question. " Pardon me," resumed Florence, again fuming to Mr. Morley, " that I still am incredulous:*' and after a pause, she .sud- denly exclaimed — " It is quite impossible! no inducement on earth could have influ- enced Sidney Maitland to have *' The sentence of the speaker was arrested byller eyes glancing on the figure of Ellen Bertie ; THE INHABITANTS OF EARTIT. 85 Bertie ; her face was turned from the view of those within the roont, as she affected to be attentively engaged in sur\^eying some object without the window where she stood ; but the trembling of her form, as it seemed to rest far support against the back of a chair, awakened our heroine to the recollection of her former suspicions,, that the heart of Ellen had acknowledged partiality for the suddenly-declared bride- groom. Ever acting by the promptitude of momentary feeling, she embraced the opportunity of her father's entrance and welcome of Mr. Morley, to rise and ap- proach her friend, when, linking her arm within her own^ she offered a pretence for quitting the room. Ellen traced in the manner of Florence, a proof that her secret was discovered ; she pressed her hand without the utterance of a syllable, while delicacy repelled the ob^ servations of the latter. In mutual silence they reached the dressing-room of Miss Vincent; Ellen threw herself into a chair; her 86 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. her cheeks, her lips were pallid, and the shivering thrill of an agitated frame evin- ced no slight emotion. Apprehensive she ^vas faint, Florence threw up the sash of the window nearest her; Ellen observed the action, and struggled to speak ; her voice was languid and uncertain, but her words were firm — '' You are wrong, my friend ; my recollection is perfect, my senses do not, in the slightest degree, re- cede — I have, at this moment, their full command; the weakness of ^ infatuated attachment to an undeserving object, will, I trust, never overwhelm me: the strange^- the unexpected intelligence, has electrified me, it is true ; I have felt it, I now feet most deeply its power; but let certainty decide the painful conflict : gQ, my dear friend, learn, by every indubitable proof possible, that this Gvent Ipe true, that the new-made husband be indjeed our Sidiiey Maitland. By dpubt alo^i^ {, am agpni^ed, for then my heart still clings to a belief p^ the reality af that imag^ of excelieflce it has THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 87 has enshrined ; but once convince me that he I have so loved is false, deceptive, and ungenerous, and the period of his mar- riage shall be that of liberty, nay, joy to her who has escaped chains forged by un- worthy artifice/' ' Florence hesitated not to comply with this request, from a perfect experience of her friend's character; there was in it a heroism as distinct from the tender visions of romance, as it sometimes was from ra- tionality ; it was a kind of artificial forti- tudcj of wild creation, destitute of that mild resignation which should characterize feminine stability. But even this support failed to the unhappy girl ; when the rela- tive of Maitland was no longer a witness to her emotion^ love conquered even the imperious despotism that nerved the proud tenement it had usurped, and a burst of tear^ proclaimed the weakness of huma- nity. To escape from the presence of Florence was now the only wish of Ellen, as she knew 88 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. knew this affectionate friend, in the warmtFi of zealous resentment, would not hesitate to upbraid Sidney for his unprincipled conduct ; in the ardour of impetuous feel- ing, the unguarded Florence would betray the whole extent of that anguish he had inflicted on the vrctrm of his deceptive professions, and Maitland would then in- deed be convinced of his triumph over her too-credulous heart. It was this idea, and not the raillery of our heroine, that she feared ; well convinced, from a more inti- mate knowledge of her many amiable qua- lities, that she had feelings too generously alive to sympathy for the sorrows of others, to suffer even her favourite propensity to tarnish, in su£h case, the more commend'- able tenderness of her nature. She took advantage of the contents of an inkstand which lay on a table in the room, to pen a few fines to Florence, re- questing her simply to write the result of her further inquiries. She sealed, and placed it on the table ; and putting on her hat THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 89 hat and cloak, which she had, in walking to the Abbey that morning, fortunately left in this very dressing-room, softly stole down the stairs, and proceeded at once across the fields to her own abode, which was not above half a mile distant. But what more could our heroine learn? Mr. Morley could only repeat that the digni- tary who had performed the ceremony had announced to him that Sidney Mait- land, the nephew and heir of lord Shirley, had been united, the preceding morning, to Henrietta d'Estrade, a foreigner, of whose extraction or connexions the bi- shop, though a relation, had professed him- self ignorant, but who, it was imagined, had not been very long in England : that lord Shirley had vainly expostulated with his nephew on forming this marriage, and it was with some difficulty his consent, or rather acquiescence, had been extorted, on finding that Sidney Maitland was inflexibly determined on the union, and agonized at his opposition. With this information Flo^ rence 90 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. rcnce was compelled to be satisfied ; but she was desirous personally to communi- cate it fo her friend, that she might soften the effects of a confirmation of treachery in him she loved, so unlocked for, and so unaccountable. The abrupt departure of Miss Bertie, as well as her too evident emotion, had not escaped the noti^'^e of the Dacres; the elder sarcastically commented on it, while the younger, in a tone apparently the most natural, contrived to display the unfortu- nate preference of Ellen, by expressing regret for the poor girl's disappointment. ^ Florence attempted to destroy the im* pression, by ridiculing the idea, as un- founded ; but still could not succeed. Un- willing, however, to mark it further, she waited the departure of Mr. Morley, and then complaining of a severe headache, avowed herself under the necessity of making an apology for not presiding at the supper-table, taking this opportunity of at once proceeding unremarked to her poor THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. . 91 poor suffering friend : indeed our heroine felt herself doubly called upon to support the unfortunate girl, for she considered herself in a degree responsible for the present state of her affections, having been long anxious to promote a connexion be- tween her cousin and this favourite com- panion ; she had consequently sedulously sought to throw them in the way of each other, and experienced a great pleasure in repeating to her father the praises and lavish encomiums Sidney had bestowed on Ellen Bertie, and this, we must confess, from the reprehensible motive of contra- diction, since he had been one t)f the many Mr. Vincent had sought to secure as a son-in-law, and whom Florence had, from a mere spirit of amusement, rather than any dislike or objection to the individual, repelled, by her satiric folly, and repre- hensible caprice. CHAP. $2 THE INHABITAIJTS OF EARTIT. fH i-i - T , , ■ _ i , 1 , fan, i c«»~v^-r- sii^ CHAP. viri. " What means this ghaitly look ? What meRRi that detp.fetch'd groan ? Why does despair St^re through thy haggard eyes ?" The friendly Expedition, The clock struck ten, as our heroine crossed the lawn ; but as \i was a fine summer's evening, and there was a road through the Vincent grounds, immediately communi- cating to the field contiguous to the cot- tage ornce of Mrs. Bertie, Florence at first felt no alarm at the lateness of the hour. Twenty minutes had brought her without the precincts of her own domain, and she prepared to pass the stile that the field presented to bar her further progress: this THE INHABITANTS OP EARTH. 93 this effected, she stopped a moment to disengage her muslin mantle from its en- tanglement in a briar of the hedge; and having completed her release, as she raised her head, in walking rapidly forward to redeem the lost time^ she beheld a man cross her path, wrapped in a watchman's Christmas-cloak ; a dark-coloured cravat was tied so as to envelop the lower part of his face, while over the upper a hat was slouched nearly to meet the handkerchief, intimating altogether an earnest desire for disguise, that excited suspicions by no means favourable to the object, and conse- quently gave birth to terror. The loneliness of this field, the stillness of the spot, and the little habit our hero- ine was in of walking alone at so late an hour, or indeed any time of the day, being always accustomed to one attendant at least, combined to excite her timidity; and imagination yielding to momentary fears, represented him as some desperate robber, planning injury, if not destruc- tion. 94 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. tion, to the passing traveller ; when the inspirer of these apprehensions, with a heavy groan, fell at full length on the ground, a few paces from her. Humanity, and a kind of instinctive ter- ror, now warred as to her flying the spot, or approaching the sufferer; but, on se- cond reflection, she deemed it best to speed to the cottage, and acquainting its inhabitants with the circumstance, solicit assistance for the apparent unfortunate. A second groan, however, more deep and anguished, stayed her steps — " God of Heaven !" articulated the unknown, " is there no power can rescue me from this horrid overwhelming despair ? is there no pitying hand to burst asunder the bonds of misery which envelop me?'' The voice struck familiar on the ear of Florence, but her increased alarm over- came the feeble power of recollection, as to whom it proclaimed. Imprudence had ever been a trait in the character of our heroine ; perhaps she exhibited it now, though THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 93 though clad in an amiable garb, as, taking out her purse from her pocket, with the promptitude of an ever-active generosity, she, half hesitating from tremor, said — '• If poverty, poor unfortunate, be the misery of which you complain, for a time, at least, this may mitigate your sorrows." The figure started up — he darted to- w^ardsher; and as, alarmed at the sudden action, she sprang forward, and would have fled, he caught her firmly in his arms. Our heroine shrieked, with accents of ter- ror; the unknown half released his hold, yet still grasped her hands, as he wildly pronounced — *' Florence Vincent ! good God, what, at this moment, brings you hither? — Tell me, am I discovered? Speak! speak! — But think not it will avail; for, if they drag me back, still will I again break their chains; perjured as I am, I yet will not bow further the slave of fate ! I will fly to the remotest deserts of the earth, before these arms shall receive Henrietta d'Estrade as my bride, before that inscru- 6 table 96 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. table woman shall be pressed to this heart in connubial love !" " MaitJand !" exclaimed Florence^ as she shrunk from those wild and haggard looks which the moonlight gave full to her view^ as his eyes were no longer shaded by the now-removed hat — *' Maitland !" she repeated^ '' you alarm, you shock, you confound me ! — But/' she added, while a sudden thrill of joy accompanied the im- pression to which his words had given birth, " you are then not the husband of this foreigner ?" With the mournful cadence of desj>air, he replied — *' Would to God I could con- firm that belief! but the world has already proclaimed it. The rites of our separate religion have both combined to unite us in the bands of wedlock, by a double ce- remony of pledging our mutual faith, and yesterday forged the hateful, the accursed chains! — But think not that Sidney is false to love, nor that a demon has had power to turn my affections from angel worth; still. The inhabitants of earth. 97 ^till, and for ever, is Ellen Bertie the dear- est object of my afTections; and while an- other claims my hand, my heart is un- changeably hers/* " But if this be realiy the case, if incon- stancy has not actuated the breach of your warm professions of attachment to my friend, what is the strange, the extraordi- nary cause which has produced this incom- prehensible conduct?" Maitland shuddered ; he pressed his hand to his forehead, and in a deepened, but less bewildered tone, pronounced — ^^ The cause, the dreadful, dreadful cause — Alas ! this desolate, sinking heart, to that owes a weight of endless misery !" '' But explain, explain, my dear Sidney, at least reveal the actuating circumstance which may plead in extenuation x)f your conduct to my young friend.*' *' No, no; revealment must not be: even Ellen will be a stranger to the cause for ever." '-' Answer me at least one question. Has vol: I. p there ^8 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. there been any arbitrary exertion of au- thority on the part of your iinclej lord ShirJey, to induce this marriage ^'* " No; the whole bent of his influence has been exerted against it : he is^ alike with youi^elf, in ignorance of the motive that compelled me to form this dreadful, drendful union ; the secret rests wholly within my own bosom, and that of her who is my wife:" and Sidney shuddered over the close of the sentence. " But why then are you here?" *' To seek one last view of her I so fond- ly love; to breathe a last farewell. I have written a few wretched, incoherent lines, to beg one parting intercourse ; and I wan- dered around the cottage, in the hope of meefing a servant who would deliver the letter direct to my beloved Ellen, without the knowledge of her mother; fori fear j she would not admit of her daughter see- ing me, who appear to have acted so un- worthy a part^ by plighting vows of affec- tion, and acquiring the certainty of their reciprocity. THE INBABITANTS OF EARTH. 99 reciprocity, without having come forw'ard in the authorized expectation of the offer of my hand ; but, on the contrary, having deserted the object of many months' assi- duous attentions for another, without the possibility of tendering one mitigating circumstance to soften this apparently base and unfeeling procedure. Oh, Florence 1 question rae no more, lest you drive me mad !'' Sidney paused ; he covered his face with a handkerchief, to conceal the gush of tear^ that momentarily softened the wilder agony of his soul. He extended the letter to the distressed Florence ; his voice was broken, with sobs of almost feminine weakness — " Take it, my friend ; your heart, I know, feels for those siiflerings whose source von cannot divine: give these few lines to Ellen ; and oh ! in pity aid my last request of one sad and mournful interview I This .altered countenance, these hollow sleep- less eyes, this exhausted, harassed franne, shall tell the tale of suffering that has rent F '2 nn 1^0 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. my heart, ere I could induce it to become the victim of calamitous circumstance : these cannot deceive — my well-beloved "will feel they cannot; and pity shall soften the condemnation of her wretched lover." The mind of our heroine was as much bewildered as deeply affected by the very evident anguish of her cousin ; she had not resolution to add to his sufTerinsrs, bv re- fusing this earnestly-solicited request, rjor had she sufficient prudence at once to dis- cern its impropriety; she therefore iHider- fook the office, by promising to meet him before seven the following morning, in the same spot, and endeavour if possible to in- duce Ellen Bertie to accompany her ; but, if not, to be herself faithful to the appoint- ment, j^ It was nov^ too late to think of going that evening to^he cottage, as Mrs. Bertie, be- ing an invalid, kept very early hours ;Cand Maitland therefore saw her safe within her own grounds, when they separated till the morrQW. Florence THE INHABITANTS OF EARTI?. 1CI~J Florence always acted first and thoughC afterwards, or rather thought and action , were seldom, if ever, intimate companions in her mind ; yet as she walked homewards, she began to consider that she had done wrong, in promising to influence her friend to see the husband of another clandestinely, when he was still the professed lover; but she had given her word to the poor suffer- ing Sidney ; acute feeling preponderated over colder prudence; and she rose by sun- rise the next morning, to execute her com* mission. CHAP. 103 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTK. CHAP. IX. Thou bendcst o'er the lover's pray'/ The tearless eye of scorn. Ca?40en», The Farewell, The embassy of our heroine proved un- successful : once convinced that Sidney Maitland was indeed the husband of ano- ther^ Miss Bertie suffered no weak wander- ing inclination to usurp the dominion of her reason ; she persisted in refusing to see the being who had appeared thus lightly to regard those professional engagements of affection which bound him to her by every tie of honour and feeling ; he had avowed that^ even to her, he could attempt no vin- dication ; that the cause would still be un- revealcd ; TRE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. luJ revealed ; nor indeed could she conceive any sufficiently w'ei,i{hty to have autho- rized his desertion in so unexplained a manner. or respectable family, of fortune and connexions not elevated, yet moderately good, moving in the first society of her native county Staflbrdshire, of polished manners and refined education, Ellen Ber- tie was altogether in a situation to con-^ ceive none but honourable addresses could have been meditated by Sidney Maitland ;- and although the world might have deemed a connexion with the heir of Shirley a highly advantageous union for her, still no smile of ridicule, no expression of cen- sure, could attach to him by a marriage with herself; it might have been deemed an elevation on her side, but it could not have reflected a degradation on his. He had quitted her with even enthusiastic ex- pressions of love ; and he had contrived, to intimate that he only left her to pay the respect to his truly parental uncle of soli- F 4 citing 104 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTff. citing hi^ sanction, ere he came forward an avowed candidate for her hand. Many weeks had passed since this last interview, so precious to Ellen^ over whose remembrance she had hung with a fond and firm hope in the future^ since of lord^ Shirley's consent it was evident that Mait- land had no doubt. The fifth week had conimenced since his departure from Staf- fordshire ; still Ellen saw not, heard not of her so recently-devoted Sidney ; and the intelligence which then first reached her, was the direful news conveyed by Mr. Morley, of the marriage of lord Shirley's heir with the foreigner d'Estrade. In mute despair, the wretched Sidney re- ceived the final resolution of Ellen Bertie, never again voluntarily to meet him, and her perfect contempt for, as well as incre- dulity of, his present professions: his letter was returned unopened, with a request that he would never again address her in lan<2;uage which, as a husband, his wife should now alone claim. Florence THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH, 105' Florence dared not soften the reply of her friend to her cousin ; she could not but respect the firmness of that propriety which dictated it, and therefore saw the necessity of its delivery, however cruelly felt by the object. For many minutes, Maitland' appeared lost, even to himself; the fevered hand of the preceding night was cold as the icy chill of death, when it now pressed that of our heroine; his voice was mournful, yet composed, for iii its tone there was a sad- dened steadiness — " My thanks Florence, are sincerely yours, for the interest you* have evinced towards my unhappy self. Did she I love know all, had she witnessed my unfeigned sufferings, she too might have evinced more of tender sympathy, and less of proud indifference. My heart seems turned cold to all ; its sufferings have frozen it to marble, tiil it can feel no more. Reason dictates the answer of Ellen, lorce inspired the wish of Sidney; yet she is^ right. I dare not upbraid, but tell her F 5' th^ 106 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. that England no more beholds me, unless the grave shall envelop her who bears my name ; then, and then only, can 1 return — Flight is my last refuge. Yet more, dear compassionate friend ; tell her that Hen- rietta is as much the object of my invete- rate detestation, as she herself still is of my devoted love. Mutual hatred has ruled the unnatural compact of our disastrous marriage ; nor has either hesitated to avow it to the other.'* With a brother's chaste embrace, Sidney threw his arms around the weeping Flo- rence ; he pressed her hands affectionately within his own, then looked towards the cottage of his Ellen— he staggered back, the word " farewell !'* faltered on his deathy jips, and he veiled his eyes with his hand, as if to conceal the abode of his well-be- loved from his view, ere he had resolution to tear himself away from its precincts. It was a trait in the character of Flo- rence, to lose all sense of the ofTence in the consequent affliction of the offender; 6 the THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 107 the dishonourable conduct of Maitland, even levelled against her dearest friend, became extinguished in the recollection of that deep and anguished suffering which had overwhelmed this inexplicable man. As a brother she had long regarded Sidney; she had both esteemed and admired him as a pleasing and animated companion : in- deed, had she not highly approved him, she would never have sought to aid and encourage an attachment between him and Ellen Bertie, for whom her affection was unbounded : tears of regret coursed down her cheeks, as she thought on the disas- trous fate of these unfortunate lovers; and perhaps there were not two other beings in creation for whom Florence could have felt thus warmly on a subject which had always been the theme of her ridicule ; for on love she had never seriously re- flected. Yes; that Florence, who, in all the coquetish wiles of triumphant beauty, eould unhesitatingly laugh, sport with, and torture the feelings of her own enslaved J 6 admirers^ 108 TFIE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. admirers, by conduct the most unjustifiably provoking and inconsiderate, wept for the lover of another: and such is too often the inconsistency of woman's enigm.atical heart. As she re-entered the gate of the lodge, our heroine encountered major Bentinck just alighting from his horse, to fulfil a breakfa&t-engagement at the Abbey, whicK had been given hfm by Mr. Vincent the preceding day, unknown to Florence; and Horace having resiorned the horse to his servant, they walked on together. What intuitive impulse is that which renders us so anxious to conceal the ten- derest tribute of sensibility ? why is it that the most genuine proof of an amiable heart is conceived an unworthy weakness, and that even feminine excellence strug- gles to repress the tears of sensibility ? — Yet have I seen a child weeping over the death of a favourite cherished bird, the object of juvenile attachment, retreat from observation, and seem to dread the smile of THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 109 of ridicule, the imputation of folly, for evincinj( its own susceptibility of tender- ness in the first bud of youth ! — Florence as hastily effaced the tears of sympathetic regret for her unfortunate relative, on the first view of Horace; but her smile was saddened, her laughing eyes had ceased their gaiety. A man ^vhose whole soul is absorbed in an individual attachment, never thinks of, never beholds the object of his idolatry, without every idea pointing to love; every thing around takes the complexion of this passion ; and the melancholy expression of Florence's countenance, so unlike her usual appearance, seemed to Bentinck as of necessity to have its origin in this sen- timent ; while jealousy was not slow in magnifying the impression. At any other lime, our heroine would have been amused in thus exciting the ap- prehensions of a suspicious lover ; but coquetry was, with her, only the conco- mitant 110 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. mitant of exuberant spirits, of thoughtless unchecked vivacity ; the latter damped, the stimulus to this entertainment failed; and she felt more inclined to be angered than flattered at the forced laugh of the jealous soidierj while, in affected badi- nage, he attempted to convey the new- raised idea, and yet conceal its painful effect. For the first time in her life, Florence was serious in her manner of contradicting a jealous surmise ; and Bentinek was, for that reason, the more convinced of there being ground for his suspicion. With the ready aptitude of a victim to this self-tor- menting passion, he thought her earnest disavowal of his conjecture proceeded from a fear of discovery, which evinced more actual attachment than all her former open- declarations of approbation and interest for any of his riviils, which she had often assumed merely to torment him, when, in fact, she was equally indifferent to all. The THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. I 1 1 The change of her manner, so sudden and so great, he thought must have some powerful cause ; and love was, to Horace, the most potent in its eflects. CHAP. 112 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH, CHAP. X, Trust not to that — • Rage is the shortest passion of our souls ; Like narrow brooks, that rise with sudden show'rs. It swells in haste,.and falls again as soon ; Still, as it ebbs, the softer thoughts flow in. And the deceiver, Love, supplies the place. Otwat,- TAe truant Lover. Further tete-d-tiie conversation was inter- rupted by the appearance of lord Leslie- leaning on the arm of Mr. Vincent, the latter having encountered his lordship in a morning ramble, and persuaded him to join the breakfast-party at the Abbey. Never had Miss Vincent been so< silent in society; a depression hung over her spirits: THE INHABITANTS. OF FARIH. 113 spirits she scarcely made an effort to sub- due. Lord Leslie took his seat on her right hand, as she presided at the breakfast-table; and Bentinck was on the other side of her, next to Matilda Dacre. But if poor Florence was reserved and depressed, never had the major been more loquacious or spirited, so much altogether the man of gallantry. Matilda, however, arid not our heroine, was now its object. Florence beheld this with surprise, if not more; she could have been entertained, nay, have laughed at and enjoyed his sud- den transfer of attention, had shebelieved her own coquetry had given rise to it; but conscious that she really had acted with candour and propriety, she viewed with discontent and resentment that inconstancy in another she herself had too often dis- played. She was unhappy, and Bentinck was gay ; she was destitute of inclination to trifle, and he was all levity and folly : there v.os an unkindness in the lightness of his present manner^ in this disregard of herself. I I i THE INHABITANTS OT EARTH. herself, at a moment when he had but just avowed that her distress was fully observed. The spirits of poor Florence were at no zenith for retaliation ; in truth, she was ra- ther hurt than angered ; for all the softer, more amiable feelings of her disposition, had been that morning awakened. As she sat mechanically dispensing the tea, she became suddenly sensible of the stedfast survey of lord Leslie; and even Florence, with all her habitude to the admiring stare of fashionable hundreds in a crowded pub- lic assembly, felt her colour deepen at the very peculiar and analyzing look of him whom the undiscriminating members of hant ton had styled an uncultured '' savage;" because, as a very admired and reigning belle of the last season had affirmed, he looked untamed, genuinely said all he thought, animadverted strangely on every one's failings, had not one Hishionable idea, and was different from all the civi» lized world of St. James's. Miss Vincent bad, however, sufficient understanding to judge THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 115 Judge for herself, and not to be blindly led by an opinion that had become popular, and grained a herd of proselytes, merely because she who first circulated it was her- self an object of too great celebrity not to give consequence and validity to all she uttered : and it is thus that, in the higher world, a character is too often bestowed on an individual, when the inscription is both erroneous and preposterous. Florence was inclined to believe the ec- centricities of Ferdinand affected, if she could have discovered a motive for their exercise; and his natural understanding, which now and then broke through them, like the sun piercing a misiing rain, ap- peared too excellent to admit the conclu- sion that they had been adopted, as many follies are, from the sole wish of distinc- tion, upon any ground. Puzzled by her own surmises, she therefore left iheir ana- lysis to time, that great solver of enigmas. From the wide-spreading metropolis of our isle, down through each lesser place of public H6 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. public resort, there is always to be seeiT, dining every season, an oracle for the fe- male, and an oracle for the male world, in the line of hant ton. The selected idol belle is allowed to decide authoritatively on dress, on theatrical merit, on musical composition, on a popular novel or a local poem, and on the rightful comparative pretensions of all the beaux in her sphere. The man of first-rate ton and intrigue, is, of course, the other oracle : he pronoun- ces on female beauty, operatical singings finest studs, best bred pointers, rival princes, the manager's dirge and contract, victory, or any other mania of the day which may arise : and woe be to those young adventurers in life's gay and mazy circle, who have not received the suffrage of these important personages ! — Merit availeth not in the region of fashion — interest^ patronage, are the toll of that bridge which supports us over the waters of pleasure to the throne of celebrity. Lord Leslie, it may be said, was too in- dependent THR INHABITANTS OF EARTH. lit dependent in worldly consequence, both from rank and wealthy to need either in- terest or patronage ; but he had, by re- fusing homage to the charms of lady Ann Spencer, offended this renowned oracle of that winter when he first appeared in town; and she experienced retaliating sa- tisfaction in depriving him of all personal pretensions to admiration or attention, save those he owed to that birth and for- tune of which she could not divest him. But the opinion of hef ladyship, or indeed that of society in general, appeared wholly indifferent to lord Leslie; and while at times displaying the most solid judgment, and the acute penetration of a more ad vanced age, he would, at others, suffer his understanding to be wholly lost in an at- tachment to those boyish spores, and juve- nile amusements, which had better become his earlier years; for he seemed to part from the pursuits of chijdhood with reluc- tance, nay, regret. At an age when most youths with avidity feel themselves privi- leged i 18 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. leged to enter as members of the grent world, as partakers of its pleasures^ lord Leslie approached it with an indolence to seek them, and a dissatisfactionj when courted, to embrace them ; yet his. spirits were great, free, and unfettered by one cloud of affliction ; his laugh was uncour- teous, frequently unlicensed; he appeared even to affect this, merely to evince his perfect disregard of what might be thought of him, and a determined resolution to amuse himself in society in whatever way he deemed best, heedless of the contempt, the anger, and reproof that could assail him from the indiscriminating crowd : he w\is always at his ease, the most degage creature of every party ; there was gene- rally a degree of happy cheerfulness en- throned on his open brow, and a mischie- vous smile, too playful for malevolent intent, yet so archly intelh'gent, that it breathed a full consciousness of the absur- dity of his own character; and there was so much of candour in the pointed satire, or TQE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 119 or the whimsically personal allusion, min- gled with an untutored, spontaneous ele- gance of appearance, idea, and manner, that gaye, at times, to P'lorence's mind, no unapt illustration of Nature's graceful, un- cultured ** savage ;" while his contradic- tory appearance, at others, left her doubt- ful where properly to class him. His in- tellect occasionally dispbyed itself with even briJliant force; bur, like th^ flashes of lightning which issue momentarily from an overpowered atmosphere, and, by their evanescent lustre, only render darkness doubly visible, so lord Leslie, by the sud- den illumination of matured and refined genius, but rendered the successive indul- gence in boyish mirth the more remark- able. We have, however, wandered most un- justifiably from the blush of our heroine at the marked survev of his lordship, to this singular young nobleman himself, and must now return to the original subject. Lord Leslie had remarked that blush, and 120 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. and immediately added — " Forgive me. Miss Vinrent^ if I have annoyed you ; but you have heard I am a strange and un- tamed being.** '' Gentlemen seldom accuse our sex o^ being annm/ed by admiration/* said Mrs. Dacre, with marked emphasis. '^ Miss Vincent, my dear madam, is too much accustomed to admiration, to mis- take for it mere investigation/* was the replv of Ferdinand — " A physiognomist ought to look before he jud^i^es.** *' Yes/' returned Florence ; " and the trial of a physiognomist is, like that of a judge without a jury, too apt to depend on individual partiality of opinion, or ca- price. But the verdict, my lord ; I pray you, the verdict : I may surely be permit- ted to inquire the result of that investiga- tion so candidly avowed to have been made ?'* " Can you bear the language of truth, fair lady ?" *' What, my lord ! yourself at a loss to determine THE INHABITANTS OF EARTff. 121 determine that important trait of charac- ter ! — -Ah, poor Lavater ! what a disciple hast thou given us ! — But tell me, shall I speak as the defendant or the plaintiff? for truly I think I may style myself both." " Rather become a cardinal virtue, and personify Justice balancing the scales be- tween the two, and thus give the rightful answer/* returned Leslie. *' Well then, I would rather be punished with a new-created penance, than pursued by a worn-out pleasure, which implies, that I like dear novel truth.'* *' And proves also/' rejoined Ferdinand, with an arch mischievous look towards his friend Bentinck, " that youj Miss Vincent, would never like any thing in creation that was not inconsistent." Florence coloured ; the inference at this moment provoked her. Leslie continued — " And you blush at fotly^ yet embrace it in your evcrv ac- tion !" "^ ' ' '' A blush, my lord^ we are told, is the VOL. i. G symbo} 1^2 THE INHABITANTS OF KARTH. symbol of partiality ; therefore, to blush at folly is perhaps the most striking proof J love it/* said our heroine, affecting not to conceive the equivocal remark of Leslie in its double meaning. The party rose from the breakfast-table as she spoke, but neither of the gentlemen Vfere inclined to take an early leave. As Florence moved her seat, the chair of lord I,eslie again was its neighbour : our hero- ine felt inclined to be rational ; she forgot the intimation of her father in regard to this young nobleman, and never less anxi- ous to shine, she was more pleasing, from being divested of that strained exertion to excel, which so often defeats its own inte- rest. While Bentinck still continued the assiduous flirt of the voluble Matilda, lord Leslie had entered into a long and by no means uninteresting conversation with our heroine, who was astonished to find her own faults and frivolities freely commented upon by his lordship, yet in so playful a gaiete de cveur, that she felt far more in- diued fME INHABITANTS OF EARTIT. !23 dined to be entertained than angered; for most sincerely she laughed at her own por- trait, as he whimsically drew it with all its motley imperfections. Yet his eyes spoke something of admiration that his lips did not confirm. Florence smiled as she ob- served it, arid further saw it was remarked by Bentinck, who, to her infinite gratifica- tion, she beheld fretfully tearing a card in pieces, which he had unconsciously taken from the table, while watching herself and Leslie in a reflecting mirror, as, with his back turned to them, he affected to be wboUy absorbed in listening to the con- versation of Matilda Dacre. Florence had insensibly beconae ani- mated; she was now yet more inspirited; and untying a cluster of exotic flowers that a domestic had just brought in for her ar- rangement in some Egyptian vases, she threw the whole quantity over a table, and called upon lord Leslie to assist her in the employment. « 2 Ferdinand 124 THE IKHABITANTS OF EARTlf. Ferdinand now reassumed his mischie- vous air, caught up a few of the most beautiful, then twining and intertwining the stems, notwithstanding the assurances of Florence that he would utterly spoil her choice bonqueij contrived to form them into a wild kind of wreath, and throwing it round the neck of Hector, proclaimed him the laurelled hero of Greece, while, with boyish mirth, he surveyed his work. But the luckless ornament, like most of the decorations of fame, had some unfortunate thorns mingled with the flowery mead, which were productive of more pain tfcan pleasure to the canine favourite ; and anxi- ous, at all events, to disencumber himself of a votive offering, to which his sagacity did not point as valuable, but rather a troublesome, unpleasant appendage, he essayed, by many an antic gesture, to throw off the incumbrance; and at length not succeeding, he rolled himself, in an agony of distress, in the train of Florence's ever-coslly THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 1?5 ever-costly dress, the delicate texture of which unresistingly yielded to the rough attack, but still without aiding the efforts of Hector in his own release. Half in ter- ror at the wild grimaces of the animal, and half provoked at the uncivil, uncourteous laugh of lord Leslie^ who was rather in- clined to be amused with the circumstance than to relieve her distress, she felt grati- fied when Bentinck, hastily advancing, ef- fected her escape from the entanglement of Hector's new style of collar in her gown; and she then, half angrily half layghingly, inquired of Ferdinand, what could have instigated him to behave so barbarously ? '' A whim of the moment," was rejoin- ed ; " I wished to see an exemplification of Hayley's Serena, in the mild, the gentle, the timid, unassuming Florence. But, in truth, I thought the zone would yield : however, no matter; a little female anger heightens the complexion and aniinates the eyes; nay, even a Kate has had her G 3 admirers:** 126 T«E INHABITANTS OF EARTH. admirers:" and then> without a single apo- logy for his conduct, hastily took up his hat, and with a general bow, quitted the room. CHAP. THE INHABITAKTS OF EARTH. 1'27 CHAP. XI. How short the anser of a lover's mir.d! How weak a succour, disappoii\ted pride ! Colli eit, Thus woman— Not kast an actress when she least siKpects j Yet Nature oft peeps out, and mars the plot; Each lesson lost, each poor pretence forgot. Full oft, with energy that scorns controul, At once lights up the features of the soul. Rogers. Youth, Love J and Folly. " What contemptible absurdity!'' exclaimed v^ Bentinck, in a pettish ebullition of resent- ment, that could display itself in no other manner than by attacking the folly of his lordship ; nor had Horace now the power € 4 to I 28 THE INHABITANTS OP EARTH. to \vholIy conceal the passionate fire of his irritable disposition. •' A kind panegyric on an absent friend/* said Florence, who had now rallied her spirits, and determined to proba that heart which had dared an effcJrt to turn towards another. ^ The major coloured at the cold rebuke; friendship at this moment, with him, played indeed but the second voice to outraged love : yet Horace execrated the jealousy that bowed the nobler feelings of his breast, while in vain he struggled for emancipa- tion from its odious toils; for there is In fact no passion which so completely sub- jugates dignity of character, even in the most estimable. Horace mentally acknow- ledged his error, and was anxious to re- trieve it, as he replied — '' It was not the character of my friend which I thus con- demned, for that I highly regard ; but it was merely the assumed sport of the passing instant. Lord Leslie had, by his preceding conversation^ evinced he was equal to somewhat THE INHABITANTS OP EARTH. 129 somewhat more than childish puerile mis- chief/' " What then, you heard his conversa- tion? NoWj how could that have happened? I thought we were quite tete-d-iete, sans auditors, sans spectators. But, my dear Matilda, why will you allow the major to be thus uncivilized, in avowing he really listened to the discourse of a gentleman when a lady was at his side, all the agree- able and all the entertaining ? — A soldier, and not play the flirt better ! un militaire, and surrender your character to the term gallantry, in its double signification \" *' Nay, have mercy on the deserter/' said Miss Dacre ; " although the poor knight has dropped the colours of his dul- cinea, it was but, a stratagem of Cupid's war. He who sighs,^ and turns away. May live to sigh another day ; But he that in love's strife is slain ^ Will never fail to sigh again," '' Ah V* rejoined Florence, *^ Hudibras- 6 5 tic 130 THE INHABITANTS OP EARTH. tie sighs just suit me — I never breathed any other in my life." *' Love is sometimes exhibited in tears as well as sighs/' replied Horace, fixing his darklv-iealous eves full on the counte- nance of Florence, as he made this allusion to the sorrows of the morning. '' Perhaps so," she carelessly returned, enjoying, from a motive of revenge, the txjo visible distress his countenance pro- claimed. Then taking up one of the mo- dern lutes, she sang, in the sweetest man- Tier possible, the beautiful little composi- tion of, " Said a smile to a tear" Florence was no proficient on any in- strument ; with natural talents to acquire either, the versatility of her disposition had caused her to wander from the harp to^ the piano, from the piano to the lyre, fron* the lyre, by regular degnwlation/ even to the trifling tamfeurinje'jAbtit the patent lute of our.fashkMiisfT'being merely calcu- lated to display a graceful attitude and a jin€ arm, together with the happy effect of reviving THfi INiyABlTAj;t%OP''EARTH. 131 reviving our ideas of Imlian heroines in seraphic-breathing romaDceSj at the trou- ble of little tuition and »}ess talent, was just the iristrufneftt for a conscious beauty, more especially when Nature had given a voice too sweet and melodiously-expres- sive fo offend the most fastidious amateur, since ta^te and harmony supplied the place of e'xecufio'n. The softg coneluded, Miss Vincent gaily fose, and eondertlning her own carelessness in having left the lute in an opened win- dow, where the damp had injured the sound, she turned the lock of a door com- municating to the musi-c-room, with an iilffention of consignitig the instrument to ifs proper situation. Bentinck eagerly Seized the opportunity to follow, under the pretence of .assisting her. The melody »f the few pt»ecedmg minutes had resist- l^f^sly hushed the ffiore angry passions; and as he tenderly pressed the hand which resigned it to him, he repeated — '* The lute is indeed the instrument of love." c6 '^And 13^ THE INHABITANTS OP EARTff. " And of harmony also, I have heard/' said Florence, laughing. *^ Let it indeed be so," rejoined Ben- tinck, " and suffer those witching smiles to seal my pardon ; say at least, my Flo- rence, we are friends." Miss Vincent did not speak, yet her countenance was to Horace an eloquent volume; but whether his was a right read- ing, we cannot pretend to determine : his arm, however, half encircled her waist, as, perhaps with more affected than real reluc- tance, she sought to extricate herself from the retainer. "Beloved, adored Florence!'* exclaim- ed the ever-impassioned lover, " how is it that I idolize even your very faults? how is it that in you alone, of all women, co- quetry becomes fascination ?'* " Well, but that is very uncivil of you to tell me 1 have faults,*' said our heroine, in the ridiculous tone of a spoiled child. " My friend Leslie is only privileged to do that,** rejoined Bentinck ; and he laid a particular THE INHAEITANTS OP EARTH. 133 ar particular stress on the term friend, as if to stay the jealousy that again half arose at the recollection of his lordship. " Oh ! he is quite welcome to discover them!" replied Florence, in a tone of more nature than she had ever before dis- played to Bcntinck. The speaking exultation of his eyes, the joyous flush of his illumined countenance, told to our heroine the manner in which her recent declaration had been taken ; but in fact the speech had no intentional meaning similar to that which was attached to it by. the major : yet there was a wild fluttering at her heart, that succeeded to the increasing warmth of the look, the lan- guage, and the manner of Horace, and which rendered her strangely embarrassed; there -was something altogether so new in her present feelings, she scarcely could divine whether they were painful or pleas- ing : the flippant badinage was fled, not to be commanded ; and her eyes turned, dis- tressed and overpowered, from the ardent admiration 131 TIIK INHABI-fANtS OP EARTff. admiration of his. Thiis^ if Leslie did not compliment her on the triumph of temper, Bentinck thought, fondly thought, he traced that of love in the new-born Con- fusion of the blooming Florence. B\it Miss Vincent, resolving to conquer a tre- mor for which she could not account, the next mrnute started from him, with a play- fulness ill affected; and wa« in the view ©f the inhabitants of the n^xt room, be- fore Horace could prevent her ftighl. Although the t etc- d tele ^stL% xhws abrupt- ly iKterrupted, Horace stfU lingered, in the hope of an mvifa^tfon to pass the ferfi^in- ^er of the day at the Abbey ; btU hi^ e^i- pectation was disappornt^d---Mr. Vincent was now fully absorbed m aftofher pro- spect of aggrandizement for his daughfcr. Bentinck, however,- oACe d^feiffed a^ a- mti- h^-law, was now only to be detained M a kind of convenient l^ver, to bring fo^'ward a more advantageous- one, by the dextrous stimuhis of jealousy ; axid the politic f^- titer thought, by leaving' bis daught-ei*, in 6 this THE INHABITAJiTS OP EARTH. 135 this instance, to the free indulgence of her own disposition, she would favour his plans, without being herself conscious how far she was in the road o( that filial obedience she had hitherto amused herself by violating, from caprice alone. Poor Horace was, therefore, compelled to take his leave long before the dinner-hour, and returned to mess, to be quizzed there on his failure of appetite, his absence, and thoughtfulness, with all the correspondent symptoms of love's bewitching fever. . The Dacres had, in the course of the moi^ning, gone to visit a friend a few miles distant from Trent Abbey ; and on the de- parture of the major, Mr. Vincent took his gun, to threaten devastation to the winged tenants of his manor ; while Florence was left to solitude and love, yes, actual love, that worst of punishments which can befal a coquette. How grievous to vanity, to pride, to feel that* the heart, which has thrown its fetters around Sk myriad of cap- tivesj 136 THE INHABITA-NTS OF EARTH. fives, now draws back the lengthened chain, firmly linked upon its own ! *' Why surely/' thought Florence, as she threw herself into a seat in her dressing- room, " surely I cannot be so ridiculous as really to feel a very decided partiality for the attentions of Bentinck ? To be in love with a jealous tyrant, who would not let me speak, look, or, if possible, be looked at by any eyes but his own ! Heavens ! to be the slave of such an odious man f — But then, on the contrary, how humiliating is the idea of not being capable of inspiring these doubts and fears that keep alive a lover's flame I To have a being who does •not heed with whom I dance, xonverse, or flirt, oh ! how dull, vapid, and insipid \ — Jealousy, on the other hand, is such an everlasting source of amusement and inte- rest, it would preserve one's husband from sinking into cold torpidity, or arrogant se- curity. Husband ! gracious Heavens ! could I have identified Bentinck as a husband? Why, THE INHABITAKTS OF EARTFr. 137 Why, my father must, of course, think he had terrified me into obedience by the bugbear porerty, like a child complying with the humours of his nurse, lest threat- ened Neptun© should carry him oflf to his marine abode, for being rebellious to sage authority I" Thus reflected, if reflection this folly might be styled, the young and beauteous heroine of our memoir; and the result of her meditations ended in a firm determina- tion not to be in love; and to prove it, a further resolution to treat the unfortunate Horace a thousand times worse than ever: then drawing her chair towards a toilet, and seating herself before the mirror, she attentively contemplated her own counlte- nance, and thought her dress particularly becoming ; for Bentinck had said, she never had looked half so lovely : but, ia^ the midst of her sudden partiality for the Turkish robe, the luckless rent met her view, and threw her into all the pettish fevered anger of a too much indulged temper* 138 THK INHABITANTS OP EARTH. temper. In vain her abigail presented dress after dress for her dinner attire, Flo- rence found fault with all, and condemned poor Barnard for she knew not what ; then threw from her the varied trinkets that lay on the toilet, careless of injuring th« deli* cate baubles; and in the end taking off the luckless robe, desired Barnard to have the mischief repaired in time for her to appear in it at dinner. In vain the obsequious "waiting- woman ofTered her remonstrance; the darned gown would not be fit for a lady to wear; and she was certain hers had never been seen in such a shocking thing, and could never put it on, if the mischief were ever so neatly repaired; and as to being ready by the dinner-hour, it was quite impossible for the work to be done by that time. Florence, now become still more pro- voked by an opposition to which she had never been accustomed, was peremptory, and in a fit of truly puerile passion de- clared, possible or impossible, it must be done THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 139 done by the hour specified ; thought Bar- nard intolerably impertinent, and wonder- ed how she had so long suffered so idle a creature to remain in her service. Barnard, who knew well to bow to the humour of her young mistress with the slavish humility of a sycophant dependant, and which mode of conduct she had always practised, ventured to expostulate no fur- ther on the subject, but offered another dress, in the forlorn hope of diverting this new whim. Florence looked at it, blushed, and then turned pale; she silently re- ceived the gown, and in a softened tone, desired the abigail to leave the room. Alas ! this very dress reminded her not of her own lover, but that of her friend ! the Maltese ornaments which decorated it had been a gift of Sidney Maitland but a few weeks since : her thoughts were now, there- fore, directed to a far different channel. Never had Florence felt so humiliated at herself; the crimson of shame dyed her cheeks, at the sense of her own unkindness towards^ 140 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTIf. towards, and neglect of her lqn<;-regarded companion; but contrition paled the flash \vith its most painful effect—" Poor Ellen !" she exclaimed^ *' how unwcrthy am I of the name of your friend ! I am no longer only thoughtless, unreflecting, and frntful, but caprice has rendered me despicable and selfish ! — Bentinck," she added, and at that moment of self reproach, with since- rity, *' I hate you; for it is you whq have made me forget the claims of friendship, pity, and humanity !" The first dress that now met her hand was readily accepted, the hat and cloak were soon adjusted, and Florence was de- scending the stairs to proceed to the abode of Mrs. Bertie, when she was stopped by a servant delivering a letter from Ellen her- self, which was hastily opened^ and it was found to contain these few lines: — *' My dear friend will not impute to any unkindness or disregard, j the i THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 141 the wish that prompts me to avoid her pre- sence for one short week; during that time, it is my earnest request that you, my ^.rar Florence, will not seek to see me, nor -^x:- pect me at the Abbey. If you deem it necessarjj that I should be acquainted '.vii i aay of the conversation which passed this morning, inform me of it by letter; and when next we meet, let us consign the theme to lasting oblivion, as, by that time, I trust that, even in thought, it will not disturb the serenity of ** Your obliged and affectionate '^ Ellen." This letter was a kind of relief to the conscience of our heroine, since it evinccvl her absence from iMiss Bertie had been ra- ther desired than regretted. An answer was promptly dispatched ; and the return of the Dacres again obliged Florence to descend from her dressing-room. Cards of invitation were in the evening received for an entertainment at Bromley Park, 142 THE INHABITANTS OP EARTH. Park, to celebrate the day when lord Leslie would reach the important age of twenty- one — an sera generally anticipated with such ardent hope and joyous ecstacy, yet but that epoch which may turn the young and elate heir from happy pupilage to in- dependent woe; for then a thousand har- pies of destruction gather around their prey ; at this momentous period, the guar- dian chain that bound him within the do- main of prudence, is loosed, and syco- phantic, interested, and abandoned com- panions, gather around, and extend the most fatal temptations, to lure the inex- perienced and the sanguine youth, who, high in the first flush of independance and unrestrained wealth, rushes with fond ex- pectancy on the deceptive-loving world ; nor contemplates that gulf which may yawn to envelop him in the last abyss of vice and profligacy. Yes; parents, relations, friends, all concur to deck this event in the party-coloured vest of varied festivity ; fashion sanctions, nay, demands the gay orgies THK INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 14.5 orgies of this most important natal anni- vei*sary; and serious thought, if perchance it would obtrude, is hunted from the mind by the overwhelming chaos of wild irra- tional amusement : even the singular mis- anthropic earl of Trelawney complied with this general custom ; and that same pride which had professedly induced him to marry, to perpetuate the ancient race of Leslie, stimulated him now to grant hk heir all the customary eclat of worldly con- sequence. CHAP, H4 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH- CHAP, xir. For still I try'd each ficWe art. Importunate and vain ; And while his passion touch'd my heart, I triumph'd in his pain. Goldsmith. ** Here Vanity assumes her pert grimaee ; The mind still turns where shifting fashion draws, *■ Nor weighs the solid worth of self-appfause." ' ''■ The Coquette's Resolve, If we were regularly'to detail the frivolous conduct pursued by Florence to major Bentinck, during many successive weeks, we fear we should depreciate her too effec- tuallv in the estimation of our readers, to render them interested in her future fate : but THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 145 but if jealousy degrades into the most un- justifiable and contemptible weakness, the creatures of man's imperious race, so coque- try plays a similarly despotic part in th^t of woman. To teaze and torment, we fear, h considered but the meet privilege of beauty ; and Horace, with the absurd in- consistency of a too personally-enslaved lover, flattered, and consequently fostered, those very foibles that threatened his own peace. He was not, he could not be blind io the excess of vanity that reigned trium- phant in the bosom of our heroine; but he sought to render that vanitv subser\ lent to his own success* for he believed, b^- evincing the full devotedness of that at- tachment she had inspired, to gain access to her heart through its weaker portal. Thus it is that men, naturally the most im- perious in other matters, are the greatest slaves in love. For a time, Bentinck had struggled with the chains that fettered him ; but the moment which had given to his ar- dent imaofinalion the impression that the VOL. I. H 'attachnTiCnt i46 THE IKflABIfANTS OF EAUTff. attachment was mutual, had subdued it nn- resi^tingly : it was then he yielded to the full influence of its sway, and bowed hrs lofty spiri-t, with an unworthy subservience, to the caprices, the whims, and the follies of its mistress, with all the mad idolatry of posiiion. Florence but too readily disco- vered her triumph, and v/irh ungenerous ^x'.iItatioD, marked her heightened influ- ence. Mistaken Bentinck ! those follies you nought to flatter into allies to your own cause, became but nurtured and armed enemies, who too fatally knew their own power ! * , Our heroine, not insensible to her own faults, however unwilling to amend them, conceived poor Horace most effectually lost in the depths of ]o\e, when he could blindly recognize them as attractions: be- lieving she might, at any time, throw the olive branch, if entwined with the myrtle, a Vvi be secure of its acceptance, she be- came careless and indifferent ta please him already THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 147 already gained ; she thought now fearlessly to trifle and luxuriate in all the delusive witcheries of that coquetry, which, as a wife, she might be no longer at liberty to indulire. Horace was a convenient lover she could throw ofl^ and recall at pleasure, a. dermer resource, perhaps to save her from the mortifying appellation of Mrs. Florence Vincent, the ci-dcvant beauty, who had outrun her day of admiration, and was at last justly left in single blessed- ness, to weep the frequent no, and mourn occasion past away ; exhibiting, through each varied stage of life, a temper spoiled by indulgence and a misguided education: ,slVft* mis^ht hereafter exist but as a living memento of " the follies of ziowmi." Yet, however error marked the course of the capricious mistress, a.^ a friend, Flo- rence was still sincere, tender, and afTcv:- tionate ; poor Ellen was not again forgot- ten ; and the expiration of the week o( re- quired absence beheld her at ihe cotlnge of Mrs. Bertie. But her da u filter was no H 2 lo ri'^cr J4S THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. longer there ; she had set off three hours previous for ErightoHj and had left a letter for Florence, simply intimating that she regretted the sudden arrangement of her journey had precluded her from taking leave at the Abbey, but that her mother would explain the cause. In fact^ Mrs. Bertie had little to explain, except that two intimate and valued friends, in passing through Staffordshire from the north, had spent a day at the cottage, and given so pressing an invitation to Ellen to pass a few weeks with them at Brighton, whither they were then on their route, that she felt anxious to accept the proposal; but some- what, it must be owned, against the wishes of Mrs. Bertie, to whom even this short separation was painful : she had, however, not negatived the desire of Ellen, and the excursion was consequently embraced. Mrs. Bertie, however, had concealed un- til now thai she was not a little hurt at the evident anxiety of her daughter to join a ^ay party to a place of public amusement, so THE IK HABITANTS OF EARtil. 119 «o very unlike her usual attention, when she must, in consequence, leave her mo- ther alone, at a time when her health was much impaired. But Florence thought she discerned the real motive, for which Mrs. Bertie knew not there existed any ground: our heroine concluded that Ellen was ap- prehensive lest her mother should discover the extent of her attachment to the myste- rious husband of Henrietta d'Estrade: she doubtless considered that the solitude to which the ill health of Mrs. Bertie at this period compelled them, was most calcu- lated to nourish and foster an unhappy hopeless love, it liow became her pride 2lb well as principles to surmount; she per- haps fancied there was more of heroic firmness in "forcibly tearing herself from scenes yet too dear to memory, and risk- ing the present displeasure of her mother, than eventually to torture^ that maternal bosom with the discovery that an only and beloved child was a victim to the remedi- less misery of a reprehensible and culpable n 3. attachment. 150 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. atfachnient, founded on error, and existing in defiance of reason. Ellen Bertie was not of a disposition to act a simply ra- tional part ; and by at once revealing the source of her conduct to her mother,, and candidly avowing a resolution to exert every effort to subdue a now-dangerous inclination of affection, gain a friend and adviser in the dearest of relations ; no^ Ellen must play the heroine in principle and in action : the propriety of common custom did not embrace sufficient of ele- vation to satisfy her mind; she aimed at being great rather than good ; she consi- dered the latter, without the union of the former, a sort of pusillanimous rationality, that could not engage her attention and pursuit. Such was the opinion of Florence on the subject of Miss Bertie's so abruptly quitting her mother, at a time when it perhaps would have been far more reasoih- ^hhj amiable, had she resigned her mfnd to filial attention, and as a first consideration, devoted .ji^i^^ THE INHABITANTS OF EARTi!. f 5 f devoted herself to the care of an invalid parent, rather than giving an attachment to a faithless lover the importance of con- ceiving it more praise worthy and exalted to attempt the subversion of this misplaced regard, by flying to scenes of gaiety, from which her heart sincerely revolted ; and if Florence, from a long and intimate know- ledge of the disposition of her friend, judged aright, surely the conduct of Ellen, in this instance, mav also be numbered among " the follies of woman." Miss Vincent returned home, discontent- ed and displeased with the coldly-worded farewell lines of her friend ; and she hated the very idea of being in love yet more, irt the conviction of its having: rendered Ellen Bertie so forgetful of a tender and affec- tionate mother, so wholly indifferent to her friend ; for Florence thought that Miss Bertie deemed it heroic even to write thus coldly, from the circumstance of her being a relative of Sidney Maitland. But while thus time had passed, and con- H 4 tiniif^dr Ij2 the iNHABITANTS OF EART^t. tinued to pass rapidly on, lord Leslie re- iTiained an almost diurnal visitor at Trent Abbey : he was always a ready attendant on Miss Vincent, in her parties, both :ibroad and at home: and her society ever' appeared \o him a resistless magnet of at- traction ; sometimes gravely teaching her chess, at others playing Corinella, and with bovish mischief suddenly throwing the shuttlecock out of the window: then again rallying her most unmercifully on her re- prehensible conduct, lathing her faults with a severity that, on reflection, asto* nished her, for the temerity of him who, so recently a stranger, yet presumed thus openly to condemn and arraign her ; stilly even at the moment, anger was impossible^ for his strictures evinced so much of truth, point, and playful candour, that they were rather calculated to amuse than irritate, if they answered no better purpose. His sa- tire was that of gay and happy youth, not of premature misanthropy; he loved to indulge himself in a laugh at the ridicu- lous; TflE rNHABITANTS OP EARTH. 153^' lous; but this was neither to display his wit nor his observation, for vanity he had none; too good-humoured to be splene- tic, he was too high in the buoyant flush' of juvenile spirits, to be a grave or wary censor; and the quaint conceit of the cri- tique often excited* the smiles of his audi- tor as much as its subject. His understand- ing was too natively penetrating, to ren- der«him an easy dupe to the meretricious pleasures of dissipation ; for while, all can- dour and sincerity himseFf, he could dis- cern the stratageiDs of the hypocrite, or" the wiles of the syren ; and no decepxively- brilliant garb, however alluring, could array- vice with one charm for him ; he had per- haps his errors and his foibles; but they were, to use a borrowed simile, as spots oiv^' the sun, which its own brightness renderedi- the more visible. h:5> chap. •154 THE INHABITANTS OF EAKT£I. CHAP. XIII. ** And is it thus, in courtly life (he cries;. That man to man acts a betrayer's part ? And dares he thus the gifts of Heaven pervert. Each social instinct and sublime desire ? Hail, poverty ! if honour, wealth, and art, Jf what the gr^t pursue and learn'd admire. Thus dissipate and quench the soul's ethereal fire." Political Frinichliip. And here it may perhaps be proper to trace the source of the strange sentiments and conduct of the earl his father; bivt they, in fact, took their rise from events in his life, when, as he himself expressed it, he had figured on its boards as only Edward Leslie. He was the eldest son of a respec- table TiTE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. f5^ txible clergyman, who evinced more of vir- tue in his practice than ability to dissemi- nate theoretical doctrines; for he lived so bright an example of Chrlstkin excellence in the sacred character, as might have shamed its more learned professors. At his death, a property of ten thousand pounds descended to Edward, who, a per- fect novitiate among the haunts of men, repaired to London, and w-as received with professions of the most cordial interest and' affectionate friendship by a late fellow-stu- dent, who had recently embarked in the mercantile line: he painted to Leslie, in lively colours, the benefits arising from commercial intercourse, and was anxious- to enrol him as a partner in the firm of his house; but Leslie's wishes and his talents were wide as the poles from the pursuit of trade; yet he readily acceded to the second proposition of this kind friend, who offered to receive his ten thousand pounds, which'* committing on his behalf to the funds of the house, would secure to the lender his. u G proportion; 156 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. proportion of profits, \vithoiit any troublcr or the appearance of his name as a part- ner. Edward considered this offer as a strong proof of the interest his friend felt in his behalf; and as this flourishing house, he was assured, cleared above double the usual per centage of the public funds, he, 'svithout a moment's hesitation, committed bis all to this his first and dearest friend. Three months only had our novitiate basked in the resplendent sun of what, to him, was ample independance, when bank- ruptcy overwhelmed the house in whose concerns he had committed his whole pro- perty; and th.e disappearance of his liberal friend, with not only this trust of confiding simplicity, but so much more of cash col- lected by various means for that purpose, that the poor defrauded Edward received, as a creditor, only two thousand from his ten. With this remnant of his fortune, which he had that morning been paid, he was taking a solitary dinner at a chophouse in the city, better suited to his finances than his THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 157 his inclinations, when he was accosted by a man who had once held a commission in his own county militia. Happy to meet with a human being he had known in those days of peace and content, when, as a boy, he had been permitted to wield the majors sword, or decorate himself, and march over the lawn with his sash or gorget, he re- ceived the extended hand of recognition "with a new sensation of pleasure. They took their meal together ; and after they had emptied their single bottle of humble port, without either expressing a wish for its renewal, major Ellis, with a melancholy smile, invited him to take coffee with his family at Kensington. Glad to get rid of reflection, he readily consented ; and as they passeti a stand of coaches, hailed one, upon -which the words^ " Kcnsigton stage," invited their entrance. On stopping, the coachman having libe- rated them, they ascended the steps of a small house; and knocking at the door, it was opened by a rough-looking man, who 3 clapping 158 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTTF. clapping the major on the shoulder, ex- claimed — *' Welcome home, sir! These here ladies wanted to fob us ofT with say- ing as how you was gone to get a friend to help you ; but says 1 '* '' Do vour duty, Mr. Higgins; I do not wish to hear your observations,*' replied the major. *' You wiH find my family irr that room, Mr. Leslie, and \ will followi immediately." Greal was the distress and astonishment of Leslie in seeing the house thus beset with bailifTs, which the greeting of Mr. Hi^ffins announced; while Mrs; Ellis and her two daughters exhibited a scene of misery from which his heart recoiled. He approached the former, and tenderly taking her hand, inquired the cause of a sorrow so nnlooked for, of present appearances, and the arrest of the major, which had so im*- mediately followed their arrival. Amid sobs and tears, the afflicted fair one explained, that, disappointed of a sum of money, for the payment of which> h« stood THE INIIABITANTo OF EARTfl. 159 Stood pledged, he had that morning gone into the city, in the forlorn hope of meet- ing a friend expected from the country, who would have assisted him in the pre- sent emeroencv : but as he had returned without him, she concluded he had been disappointed in his expectations, and hence the scene which had followed. At this moment major Ellis entered the apartment, and with a m.elancholy smile, taking the hand of his wife, exclaimed — " Exert your fortitude, dear Jane; the die is cast, and your husband this night sleeps in a prison.** " Not if I can prevent it," cried the liberal-hearted Edward — " What shall I do to assist you ? You know mv entire igno- rance of these matters, therefore direct mc; for what little is in my po\^£r, the distresses of yourself and family may com- mand,*' *• Twelve hundred pounds, my dear Les- lie, is a large draught upon your friendship; true, it is but a temporary loan, yet per- b haps 160 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. haps it may inconvenien<:e you to transfer rt to my necessities for a month : at the end of tfia-t period, I expect to be fully released Aom all my embarrassments. But the demand is too great, and I must recon- Chle these dear connexions to the calls of justice — It is but a short separation.'* " The separation shall never take place — I can command that sum instantly ; and» the return, if it be within three months,, will not, I assure you, aifect my conveiih- ence.*' The agitated females wept their thanks, and the reprieved major Ellis was happy enough to see the baiJiiTs dismissed by a 'cheque on the bank of for the twelve hundred pounds. The now-happy party sat down to their coffee and cake, with lighter hearts than either had felt for many weeks. Leslie accepted the offer oi" a bed for that night, but, the next morning., re- turned early to town, after having promised his friend to dine with him on the follow- ing Moiiday. TFIE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. IGl As poor Leslie had made the discovery that a man cannot appear as a gentleman in the metropolis, and indulge in alJ those comforts of life to which he had been ac- customed, upon the interest of his now- limited fortune, he at length determined to purchase a small farm in the country^ and by living within his means, once more aim at attaining the haven of his wishes — independance. A neat cottage, with a small portion of land annexed, soon offered it- self to his wishes; and the bargain being struck for eighteen hundred pounds, to be paid down, matters were instantly agreed upon, and he pledged himself for tlie money in four months to be forthcoming: the writings were in a few days signed and sealed, and the philosophic Leslie looked forward to his future rural life at least with content. On Monday, he recollected his engagement with major Ellis; and as the now state of his finances admitted of no better conveyance, be stepped into a stage- coach once more, and reached Kensington a few 16^ THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. a few minuter before the appointed hour. The door was opened by an old lame man> who inquired if his name was Leslie? On- being answered in the affirmative, he put into his hands the following letter: — " DEAR LESLIE, " Untoward circum- sfnnces have compelled me tc^ serve yon a scurvy trick ; but, in truth, ' necessity has no law;' and yon will be ready to add, conscience neither, when vou have heard all. But the fact is^ that imprudence and unlicensed extravagance had so consider- ably reduced my slender finances, that ab- solute ruin and a prison for life appeared all that was left me, when accident threw in my way just such another open-hearted greenhorn as yourself, who lent me the money for which I was at that moment under feaV of arrest. With this sum gained by his credulity, I was returning home to my really-distressed family, when I stum- bled THE TNIIAPITANTS OF nAKTII. 16^ h]ci] by accident on you at the City Chop- house : my invitation was certainly not a disinterested one, though I did not mean to pilfer your purse to so large an amount as was afterwards the case; but knowing that your fortune was a very comfortable one for a bachelor/ and seeing you so deeply affected by appearances at Ken- sington, I thought a cool twelve hundred >vould wonderfully assist in my scheme for emigration, and therefore suffered vou to arrange with Higgins and his gang, reserv- ing that sum which was already in my pockety for traffic in some other quarter of the globe. '' I have been thus candid, to convince you that all steps you may incline to take, either for securing me or your money, are alike ineffectual; long ere this reaches your hand, I shall have bade a last adieu to England. The old man who will deliver you this, is the owner of my late house at Kensington ; be knpws nothing of me, and 164 THE INHABITAVTS OF EARTH. and consequently will be unable to answer any inquiries you may be inclined to make. Adicn. ** Rcmeiriber me, " James Elj is." After the perusal of this letter, we can no longer style Leslie the '' philosophic;" for rage certainly burst the bonds of jus- ticCj when he abused the unfortunate lame man as an accomplice in the plot to ruin him. Half frantic with the certainty of a misfortune he had no way anticipated, he immediately repaired to the house of Mr. Simmons, the late owner of his cottage> and placing the letter of Ellis in his hands, candidly confessed his inability to fulfil his engagement, and ended by requesting that the agreement might be cancelled. The incredulous smile of Mr. Simmons astonished him ; he coolly replied, that he was perfectly satisfied with his bargain, though it was now apparent that was not huk. THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 165 his case; that the scheme might answer extremely well with some, but that he was not to be thus evaded. Protestations were vain ; and at the end of the four months, totally unable to dis- charge his obligation or to dispose of his farm, the unfortunate Leslie found himself within the walls of a prison. Here he had languished for some months, when memory placed before him another whom he still called friend ; and to Mr. Emerson he ad- dressed a letter, stating his present situa- tion, and requesting his aid to liberate him; pledging himself, if possible, tore- store the sum advanced in the course of two years : and having dispatched this let- ter,* he waited in anxious suspense its re- sult. * He avas one morning informed that a lady requested admission to his apartment : much astonished at the unexpected circum- stance, he requested she might be admitted, when Mrs. Emerson made her appearance. The confusion of poor Leslie was great; but 166 THE IN[!ABITANTS OF tARTH. but this momentary embarrassment was soon relieved by the friendly interest his fair visitor exhibited on his behalf. She announced herself as deputed by her hus- band, who was unavoidably called out of town at this unlucky moment, to assure him of his readiness to afford him effectual assistance, and to make every arrangement for that purpose without delay. The grate- ful heart of Leslie bounded with emotions which did honour to human nature; but Mrs. Emerson checked his endeavours to express them; she assured him they were too painful to herself to be acceptable, and therefore begged they may be no more recollected ; and after a visit of consider- able length, she at last bade him adieu. Several successive interviews appeared necessary for the adjustment of the preli- minaries ; and Leslie began to wonder that Emerson should have committed such a transaction to the hands of his young and beautiful wife. But the farce soon drew to a close — the lady, in unequivocal terms, proposed THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 167 proposed an elopemen- as the price of his liberation. She talked of a long-concealed attachment^ of her vain attempts to era- dicate it ; of the wretchedness of wedded life, where ]o\e formed not the cement; and lastlv, proved to him her possession of a large independance, to support them in affluence on the Continent. The astonished Edward shrunk from the shameless wife with horror; to a woman ^o lost he conceived remonstrance unavail- ing, and therefore contented himself with assuring her, that to injure so benevolent ^ friend as Emerson, in so tender a point, was what both heart and soul revolted from ; and cokily recommended her not only to reUirn to a sense of what she owed her husband and herself, but earnestly re- quested she would no more expose either to animadversion bv a^ain condescending to visit a poor prisoner. Disappointed in her attempt, Mrs. Emer- son then proceeded to assure him that his opinion 168 THE INHABITANTS OP EARTH. opinion of her hojwurable husband was ill founded, and that cii*cii instances alone could have compelled the communication of an agreement which, she now confessed, had been entered into between them from a mutual wish for emancipation ; he, to obtain a divorce, which would enable him to marry his ward, and she from a desire to shake off matrimony altoo^ether. Our unsophisticated Edward shuddered at these pictures in real life; he thanked Mrs. Emerson for the honour she had done him, but as his affections could not be commanded, he begged leave to relinquish the former offers he had accepted under far different impressions; and consequent- ly was left to ruminate at leisure upon those effects which had flowed from his ad- herence to the paths of rectitude and ho- nour. However Conscience accorded her plaudits to the track he had chosen, still the dreary prospect of a prison for an un- certain term, exhibited to his mind's eye but TfTE INHABITANTS 0"F EARTff. 169 but a melancholy perspective, which each succeeding hour decked in yet more gloo- my colouring. One day that he sat wrapt in pensive ab- straction, he was suddenly aroused by the entrance of Mr. Bently, a distant con- nexion of his family, with whom he had spent a part of the preceding summer un- der the same roof, at the house of a mutual acquaintance; half sick of the worlds he scarcely felt a sensation of pleasure, when he was cordially shaken by the hand, and greeted with strongest professions of friend- ly interest. Soon, however, ashamed of his reserve to iiim who had sought only to suc- cour him, h% or.ce- more slowly unfolded himself from the taciturnity he had adopt- ed, and to the cnriimise rating ear of sooth- ing sympathy, he delineated his sorrows and their source. Bently professed his extreme gratifica- tion at the smallness of the sum for which he stood committed, and retirir.g for a feu- hours, returned only to rclea-e from the VOL. I. ^ house* i/O THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. Iiouse of bondage his dear and valued re- lative. The heart of Leslie beat responsive to the voice, of friendship ; he cordially shook the extended hand of Bentley ; and toge- ther they repaired to a neighbouring cof- fee- house, where they passed a cheerful, if not a happy evening. The next day they' - had arranged to spend together; and on nhe third, our late prisoner had consented to acconipany his friend into Gloucester- shire, v;here a lawsuit of the latter required •his presence. In the course of their journey, the con- ^'ersation, more than once, turned upon the subject of the cause which vvai.now at issue; .^hcn Eently, by indirect and circuitous nr.eans, at length ventured to hint that he hoped his dear cousin recollected the par- ticulars of a conversation at which he had been present during the period they had passed together some months since in Der- byshire, as it was a matter of considerable consequence to him that he should do so ; * but THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. iT i hut that, even if it had escaped his me- mory, he could himself give him so accu- rate an account, as could not fail to revive it. Our novice professed total ignorance of the whole affair, while Bently proceeded to the detail of particulars. Again and again did Leslie express, with rwi've sur- prise, a failure of memory, so uncommon with him, as not a sinjrle trace of ihc re- peated conversation lived in remenVorancc; when Bently, in a half ano^ry tone, ex- claimed — '' Well, that is not very material, as I am convinced of your reliance 03i niy veracity. The conversation I allude to r/xVr * take place; and as you are subpoenaed on this trial by my lawyers, I have liberated you for the purpose of attendance. I ex- pect, I desire, in fact I will receive no re- imbursenent for wiiat I have done on the score of money matters; but with regard to this triding uffair on hand, all that is re- quired of you is to make oath of all I have repeated ; and your corioborating attesta- tion of the circumstance will confirm the I 2 ftatement 172 THE INBABTTANTS OF EARTTT. Statement already made, and produce a fa- vourable issue to my cause." " Such an issue," replied Edward, " would be highly satisfactory to me, from the inte- rest I must feel in your concerns; but as I really cannot trace a single sentence of the asserted conversation, you will not expect me to assert upon oath a matter which finds no place in memory." Bently, however, did expect it; he did more, he condescended to the most abject supplications to the astonished and petri- fied youth" he offered him a considerable share in those spoils to be secured by bear- ing false witness, and laboured to convince him that no possible detection could take place,' as it was by no means an uncom- mon circumstance. With horror inexpressible, he spurned the offered bribe ; and with indignation expressed in strongest terms, quitted the . presence of that man who, but a few hours before, he had conceived his disinterested benefactor and friend. Freed, however, from THE IMIAEIT.^NTS OF EARTH. 175 from a prison, he began to think of the means of repaying the unworthy Bently for the advance he had made for that pur- pose, as he revolted from the idea of re- mainins indebted to that man he at once despised and abhorred. Jews and money- lenders rejected with derision the promises of our honest ignoramus, who had neither house, land, or post-obit bond to offer; and half frantic with the forlorn prospect rea- son and common sense opposed to the flights of imagination, his intentions, by persevering industry and economy, to ob- tain it, or his reliance on opposite contin- gencies; for although he was fully com- mitted for the appearance of the money at the specified time, for the silly bargain he had made with regard to the farm, and in case of failure, the forfeiture of the depo- sit-money, yet the law did not deem it so confirmedly his property, as, under such circumstances, to enable him at once to dispose of it. Almost rendered desperate by the pres- I 3 sure 174 THE INHABITANTS OP EARTH, sure of circumstance, in one of bis usual wanderings he encountered a man whose only fault ivas said to be his addiction to play. A resource here appeared to offer itself for the relief of one under his ap- palling circumstances; and without the he^ sitation of a moment, he hinted to him his situation, and the sudden wish he felt to commit himself to the blind guidance of Fortune. His companion smiled at the term ; he assured him Foriiine, blind as she was ad- mitted to be, was not so lavish of her fa- vours as was .generally impressed; but that, as he was a man in desperate circumstances, if he implicitly submitted to his directions, the golden shower would soon envelop him : in short, that as death had broken in upon their fraternity, and snatched fron> the band a veteran \n the service, and de- tection had recently banished another, that the personal recommendations of gentle- manly manners, plausible appearance, anil high connexions^ were all in his favour, Leslie THE INITABITANTS OF EAItTfT. 1 / ^"^ Leslie might enrol himself in their list, and he would undertake for his initiation iif the mysteries of the gaming-table: tw;- well- feathered pigeons were already in their toils, and he would instruct him in the art of as- sisting to pluck them. Sickened with such successive instances of human depravity, our young novitiate became misanthropic ; he fled the haunts of men, and shut himself up for a seasoiT in retired seclusion. Necessity, however, once more drew him forth;' and an affair of love, of purest, tenderest love, in which all his hopes of happiness were buried,^ drove him at length a voluntary exile from his native shore; and on the Continent he was for a length of time lost to our view^ until he suddenly again burst forth like a second earl of Westmoreland, although, with him, not the thirteenth, as was the case with the former, but the fifth removed in succession to the peerage of Trelawney. But circumstance and the misfortunes of life soon united materially to change the I 4r original i76 THE INHABITANTS OF EABTH. original character of our young noble; hh temper became soured, his mind a ruin, and hi, affections thrown bark upon him- self; from mistaken impressions, his know- ledge of human nature had scared those refinements of feeling to which he had once been but too sensitively alive; yet his heart was not callous, nor had it ever been corrupted in any degree by the vicis- situdes of his own life.' His habits wer^ now certainly eccentric ; his suspicions al- ways on the alert, and equally careless of the censure or plaudits of the multitude^ Avhom he despised, he lived but for his son, to whose education he had devoted himself; and although he had failed to imbue his mind with j.ealous suspicion, yet it had certainly become tinctured with cau- tious fear and dread of imposition, while his daughter imbibed but too readily the d rker shades of worldly policy. CHAP. THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 177 CHAP. XIV. Ah ! little think the gay licentious proucf^ Whom pleasure, pomp, and affluence surround; They who their thoughtless hours in giddy mirth^ And wanton, often cruel, riot, waste ; Ah ! little thinlc they, while they dance along, How many feel this very moment death. And all the sad variety of pain ! ■ how many drink the cup Of baleful grief,, or eat the bitter breai Of misery U- TuoMSDy-,. The Chidd of Poverty. The attention o^ Florence was, in an early day of the following month, arrested bv a message from the wife of the porter of the lodge, on behalf of an indigent and dis- L 5 tressed J78 THE I^NHADITANTS OF EARTH. tressed stranger^ whose situation having^ excited her own compassion, she wished to extend the aid solicited into more able hands, and had therefore made the appeal mentioned ; as, amid all the faults and fol- lies of Miss Vincent, the neighbouring poor, even to an extensive circle, had been- in the habit of receiving constant succour from her hand : this had been, it is true^ indiscriminately lavished ; and although wc must acknowledge that a few unworthy . objects had appeared at different times amid the group, yet much oftener had the oppressed child of misery been rescued from want, and cherished by the hand of our really kind-hearted heroine; although her charity had not been marked with that distinction which such acts demand. But while her thoughtless, gay> and vivacious temperament led her rather to seek the haunts of pleasure than the realms of po- verty, yet the pursuits of the former were frequently relinquished for the claims of the latter; and when the petitions of dis- 5 • tress THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. IT0^ tress really reached her, the ready boom was promptly granted; and relief, under" every possible form, issued from the coffer of affluence, which, from early infancy, had been open to her wishes, and but too often, even to her caprices. Encouraged, therefore, by past success, Mrs. Hanson felt confident in her present appeal ; she gained immediate admission at the Abbevv and at once entered upon her simple tale' of woe. The present petitioner was a young fo-- reigner, of the name of Agnes Dursley,- who had been most cruelly and unjustly ill treated by a very near relation of her own, but whose disposition was represented as mercenary and arbitrary in no cammon^ degree. This woman, of the name of Wil- liams, was at the head of a smill seminary' in a neighbouring town ; and had engaged, at the recommendation of a xMrs. Mills in^ London, to whom she had written expressly for that purpose, the identical young wo- man now ar the lodge, as her sole assistant;^ i.G but: 180 TtiE inha-bita5;ts of earth. but as the terms stipulated for were very inconsiderable, it had been understood that if, upon her arrival, any objection on her side should arise, Mrs. Williams was, in that case, to defray the expences attendant upon her return. It however so happened, that, in the interval of time which must necessarily have arisen between the adjust- ment of the agreement and the arrival of the intended preceptress a more economi- cal arrangement had been made with ano- ther o-f less pretensions : the unfeeling go- rerness had taken advantage of the una- voidable delay of a day, to render her en- gagement void ; and not only refused to admit her for even one night beneath her roof, but had also denied to her urgent necessities the loan of a sinole o^uinea. The benevolent Hanson, then a visitor J^ her more opulent relative, beheld with indignation the triumph of power over the distressed and unfortunate foreigner; she heard her plead the rights of humanity, she heard her implore, with streaming ' e}'es> THE ISnABfTAKTS OF EARTIT. 181 eyes, the protection of her roof for only a few days; she heard her in vain proclaim- ing the expenditure of her last guinea, from the certainty of having reached her future asylum, and with all the eloquence of terror and of misery, petition for the means to sustain existence until she could hear from her London friend, her good and exceihent Mrs. Mills; the governess ■was alike deaf to all, for they included the certain risk of what was dearer to her than the welfare or even the life of the young female before her; for mercy, the divinest attribute of Heaven, had no place in her callous bosom; while that of her more^ humble visitor throbbed with suppressed sympathy for the weeping girL She boldly undertook her cause; but the result may easily be anticipated — Miss Dursley was thrown upon the protection of her advo- cate ; and after a scene of severe alterca- tion, the now still-more-wretched foreigner having witnessed herself the means of an apparently irreconcileable disagreement between 182 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH-. between the annl and the niece, was ii> vited by the fcnner to accompany her \tt an instant departure for her lowly cot at the gate of Trent Abbey. The poor girl gratefully accepted the offered succour; and weighed down by the recent implea^ sant scene of which &he had been the iir- nocent cause, together with the severe dis- appointment she had experienced in the loss of the sffuation she had looked to for recruiting her beggared purse, nay more, for securing the means of independance, that dearest boon of indulgent Heaven, she had sunk into a state of hopeless des- spondence, which her kind friend had en^^ deavoured in vain to arouse her from. The virtues of Miss Vincent were expa- tiated upon ; the theme of her beauty, her accomplishments,, her benevolence, was^ exhausted ; still was the weeping stranger unmoved, uninterested in the detail. They had reached the lodge, and Mrs. Hanson having professed, in return to the reiterated acknowledgments of gratitude W'hichi THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 183 which flowed from the lips of her compa- nion, that the greatest proof which could be given would be her partaking of the frugal contents of the three-cornered ciip- boardj which consisted of cold beef, bread, and a bottle of old October, from the Abbev, which she had placed upon a table before her, then carried into effect the resolution she had before formed for her benefit, by paving the way for an in- troduction to her dear young lady ; and leaving herMo profit by her counsel, she, without further delay,, set off herself for the Abbey. The requested interview immediately took place; Mrs. Hanson's tale had more than rested on the ear of Florence — it had reached her heart, and she felt alreiidy con- vinced that the unfortunate foreigner me- rited her attention ; but when the eager narrator added a florid description of her beauty, her elegance, her innocence, and her gratitude, curiosity, or perhaps a move laudable ip*centive, induced her to request that 184 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH* that the stranger might immediately be in- trod need in person. The delighted Hanson lost not a mo- ment in the execution of her commission r with a light heart and as Tight a step, she retraced her way to the lodge ; and hurry- ing on the bonnet and cloak of her asto- nished guest, bade her lean on her arm, if she felt tired ; and as they w^nt along to* wards the Abbey, it would be quite time enough to tell her the particulars which led to her admission there. The quiescent Agnes obeyed ; for, great- ly exhausted by mental suffering, the powers ©f her mind had sustained almost a total sus- pension, and she became a passive machin-e in the hands of her new friend. Soon,, howeve* ,, was she aroused to a sense of ex- isting circumstance, when she discovered that all respecting her history which had Gome within the knowledge of Mrs. Han- son, was already in the possession of at lea^.t one inhabitant of the Abbey. She felt the awkwardness of appearing before strangers THE INHABITANTS OF EAniH. 1^5 Strangers under present influence; her eyes red and swollen with tears, her tra- vellins: dress soiled and divested of its orl- ginal neatness, her mind agitated and dis- ordered by recent events, with the full con- sciousness of the unceremonious obtrusion of her lamentable story upon the ear of her who, from never having herself felt the heavy pressure of such calamities, would, she erroneously concluded, deem her at best a bold and. confident mendicant. Trembling beneath these united fears, she entreated the liberty of postponing the dreaded intervfew until the morning; but Mrs. Hanson was not to be checked in the full tide of joyful expectation, and Agnes saw the necessity of acquiescence. The free circulation of air, however, speedily removed those traces of sorrow which were lately so legibly written ; the exercise had restored a small portion of her native bloom ; and when the folding-doors had closed upon her entrance at the Abbey, she felt somewhat more assured at meeting its 186 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH". its mistress, than she ccnild have supposed possible but half an hour before. In a few minutes she received ihe cordial greetini^s of the dreaded Miss Vincent : youth and beauty were not those appalling repellants vvhich imagination had conjured up to terrify her; suspicion lurked not near the graceful Florence ; ever ready to rest se- curely upon the decision of her own judg- mentj and equally prone to pronounce on first appearance, the native personal re- commendations of Agnes carried their full weight to the mind of Miss Vincent; and she was perfecflv satisfied, at the first mo- ment her eyes rested on the blushing coun- tenance of the fair foreigner, that she had encountered only undeserved misfortunes, and was prepared favourably to receive whatever account she was inclined to offer as their source ; nor, for even an instant, pondered on the possible deception which might have been invented to throw the beautiful stranger upon her protection and bounty ; such an impression never entered her THE INIlAPiTANTS OF EARTIf. 187 her sanguine mind: and as she surveyed the b-Iushing girl before her^ imagination realized the heroine of her little romance as all that was estimable, all tliat, as a fu- ture Companion, she could wish to find*. Thp manners of Florence, that native- ur- banity which seldom is seen' and not felt, were now successfully exerted : the droop- ing foreigner soon felt her courage reno- vated ; she was conscious of the delicacy observed towards her, in the suppression of that curiosity which it was impossible to suppose did not exist; and as early as de- corum would permit, begged permission to relate those circumstances which had united to place her in her present depen- dent state. The rising s>gh, the starting tear, bore testimony to the auditor of her truth and her worth ; she commiserated that humiliation to which the recital ac- knowledged her bowed, and would readily have suppressed every desire she felt, to save those pangs she conceived it would inflict; but Miss Dursley negatived f\^e permitted ISS THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH, permitted silence, and with timid faltering voice expressed her conviction of the ne- cessity of the proposed communication. Florence bowed in silence, and the fo- reigner thus commenced her narrative: — '' I am by birth, madam, a Portuguese, as were likewise my parents, who both died before I was eleven years of age; when I became the adopted daughter of my mo- thers voungest sister, resident a few miles distant from the German Sp?., and the wi- dow of an Englishman. Of my family and connexions I know but little, except that they were once of high consideration in Portugal; but had, by means of political influence and court intrigue, become in- volved in disgrace, and eventually in beg- gary. But the history of the sorrows of my aunt bore, I was taught to understand,, but little resemblance to those of my par- rents, for they were wholly of a private nature ; yet she never adverted to her na- tive country without shuddering ; and whenever even the recollection of it re- * curred TfiE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 189 burred to her mind, it would blanch her cheek with horror, and even agitate her whole frame: and having often witnessed this extreme and painful emotion, it de- terred me from imposing it by any of those inquiries which wonKl otherwise na- turally have arisen respecting my Portu- guese relatives. Still the whole sum of her affliction seemed rather to rest on the past events of her own life, than to have originated, or even been augmented, by the fate of my parents, of whom she never spoke with any peculiar warmth of regard; she certainly sincerely mourned her hus- band, but there was rather a gloomy de- spondence than pious resignation express- ed in the deportment of the sorrowing wi- dow ; her mind was, at ^imes, distracted, unsettled : and she often sent me from her, as if she dreaded my witnessing those men- tal agonies which still I not unfrequently observed overwhelmed her; but again she would recall me, and lavish on me much of what might have been conceived even maternal 190 THE INHABITANTS OF EAIlTH. maternal affeclion. Living in perfect se* elusion, our wants scarcely exceeded the necessaries of life: but although, I think, not more than seven years my senior, her mind was richly cultured with all the ac- quirements of an extensive education ; and to me she strove to im.part a share of her knowledge, carefully attending to the more useful as well as elegant branches of tui- tion ; but this was only at those periods when her mind was most composed. '' From my first being received beneath the roof and protection of my aunt, I was invariably called, both by herself and our domestics, by her name ; and we passed by the English appellation of Mrs and Miss Dursley. With the language of the coun- try we resided in she was perfectly fami- liar; but having taken indefatigable pains to instruct me in that of England, we were soon in the habit of speaking no other when toirether. The sufiferings of a sur- charged bosom concealed within its own folds, at length produced the effect 1 dreaded — TBE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 191 •6:readecl — they preyed successfully upon the spring of life; and she at length fell a victim to the ravages of consumption." The voice of x*\f:nes faltered, her eyes overflowed ^vith the tears of grateful affec- tion, and the break in her narrative took its rise in too sacred a source to be inter- rupted by her sympathetic auditor. '' It were a vain altcmpf," at length con- tinued Agnes, " to paint my sorrows, my sense of my own helpless and forlorn situa- tion ;" and again sne paused. •' And was there no bein«: to whose care and attention this kind friend could be- queath you? — But doubtless there was, and this individual was in England?" The Portuguese struggled to subdue that grief which impeded articulation to the an- swer of Miss Vincent's qiierv — '' Yes, to one friend she did most stronoly recom- mend me, a banker in London, of the name of Ba^lev, whom she mentioned as at once the friend and agent of my late father; and that, in a cabinet in her chamber, I should 192 THE INHABITANTS OP EARTH, should find a sufficient sum of money to defray present attendant expences, and bear myself and servant to England. To fill the latter situation, she enjoined me to retain one who had been more particu- larly my own, and who was affectionately attached to me; but, alas! from poor Be- nedicta strange and cruel events have un- fortunately separated me! — On the day preceding my aunt's death, she delivered me a letter, which, on her actual demise, I was, without loss of time, to have conveyed as directed : the name of the addressed was d'Estrade.'' Florence started — '' D'Estrade ! Henri- eUa d'Estrade !'* she involuntarily repeated, naturally struck with the union of name and country. "- Yes, madam,*' she returned, while sur- prise at the interrogation marked her fea- tures ; " yes, madam, by that appellation I have frequently heard my aunt mention her. But do you know her .^ or can you tell me where to seek her ? for the receipt of THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 193 bf the letter has never been, as was desired, acknowledged to me ; and I am therefore led to doubt if it has ever reached her, as my .aunt professed herself by no means sure of the correctness of the address." Miss Vincent hesitated, and at length added — " Be good enough to wave an im- mediate reply to your question, and if I do not trespass too, far on you, inform me in the interim of all you know or have ever heard of the person you have men- tioned; for to me it is a matter of some interest." " I have no personal knowledge of her whatever," returned Miss Dursley, " and am in fact as ignorant of her or her con- nexions, as I am of those of my own im- mediate family. It is true, I have often, very often, heard my lamented aunt pro- nounce the name with a wild and even agonized emotion that has terrified me ; yet I also remember that she spoke of her as a once dear and bosom friend, and shed YOL. I. K the 194 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTR* the sadest tears, as she told she had been the companion of her early years." " Mrs. Dursley then held her character in much esteem ?" '' I certainly drew that conclusion," re- plied Agnes — '' it was the most natural ; and under this impression, it is doubly painful that I have no means to discover her present abode ; for she is the only be- ing upon earth to whom 1 feel I have any right to turn with the confidence of suc- cour and assistance ; for, as the adopted daughter of her early friend, she surely would not regard me with indifference." "I trust not," replied Florence, musing; " and if she be really the lady I allude to, which is surely more than probable, from the union of two names, coupled with that of the country to which they attach, she has amply the means both to befriend and protect you ; for she is recently married into one of the most respectable families in England. Her present name is Mait- land. THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 195 land, and her husband k heir to lord Shirley/' *' Maitland !" re-echoed Agnes, and a confused recollection seemed to pass over her mind. Florence surveyed her in turn with sur- prise — '^ The r^me of Maitland seems to rest on your ear with some interest : are you then acquainted with its possessor. Miss Dursley ?" " No ; but, in a frightful delirium that attached to a fever under which my aunt suffered soon after I lived with her, I per- fectly remember with what nervous strength she invoked that name; and calling upon him to forgive her, exclaimed, in wildest accents, that his mad ungoverned love for her had undone him.'* " Perhaps then,'' said Florence, " he was the man she mourned.^" "■'' Oh no!" returned Agnes; ^' no, it was always evident that the whole bent of her affections were devoted to her deceased jc 2 husband — If 6 THE IKHABITANTS OF EARTff. husband — he was the sole object of hef* love ; and this she had ever professed.** " Where was the letter directed which Mrs. Dursley delivered to your care for Henrietta d'Estrade?" " At the convent of St. JagOj in the environs of Lisbon.'* " And to this letter you have as yet re- ceived no answer?'* " None ; and I now resign all hope re- specting it_, as I conclude she must have left Portugal before it could have reached that place, from the report you make me of her being so recently in England. Since, therefore, this is probably the case, I must immediately seek her, and make known my friendless situation. But, alas ! I have not now the means of reaching her but by let- ter, from the reduced state of my finances.*' Florence hesitated not a moment in her offers of pecuniary aid. The grateful Por- tuguese acknowledged, in warmest terms, her sense of the obligation ; but, ere she incurred TrrE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 197 Incurred further debts of kindness, begged permission to give the sequel of her little history, in order to remove any possibly unfavourable impression which her present circumstances might have created, from her unceremonious dismissal from the house of Mrs. Williams. An engagement, how- ever, which Miss Vincent had already ob- truded on, prevented her from listening to the remainder of the story which waited her attention ; therefore, recommending Agnes to return with Mrs. Hanson to the lodge, she signified that, on the morrow, she could command that leisure she wished to afford its recital : but Florence had, with her accustomed thoughtlessness, for- gotten that that morrow was to be cfe- voted to the festivities of Bromley Park^ and a second must arrive ere she should be at liberty to turn her attention to the nar- rative of the Portuguese. Miss Vincent was, however, sincerely interested for the forlorn Agnes; and independent of her liaving excited compassionate feelings in k3 th9 198 THE INHABITAKTS OF EARTH. the bosom of one at once both willing ani able to assist her^ the mention of Henrietta d'Estrade was calculated to induce Florence still further to investigate the history of Aliss Dursley, since she hoped it might tend to elucidate somewhat respecting that fatal foreigner who had been so strangely united to Sidney Maitland, and might pos- sibly cast a light on the motives of his at present inexplicable conduct, in that sin^ gular and ill-starred marriage which had wrecked the happiness of the credulous and attached Ellen Bertie, who certainly- had been most cruelly and ungenerously deserted. Maitland was now in his thirty-first year, ai>age when he could not even claim the poor excuse of extreme youth in extenua- tion of the capricious transfer of aflTectioii that might almost have been said to be actually plighted to the friend of our he- roine; he was in fact a serious and some* what reserved character, while even in his gayest moments. Florence now recalled THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 199 to memory the shade of gloom she had seen intrude on his hilarity ; but it ^vas like the passing cloud of a dispersed storm, \vhose strength seemed to have been pre- viously spent. He had travelled much on the Continent, but he never seemed to re- fer to the lime passed there without pain and reluctance, which was succeeded by absence, and almost melancholy. There was a pleasing intelligence of feature, but seldom much of animation,, in his counte- nance ; nor could the depth of Iiis under- standing be known to more than his im- mediately intimate associates, since, in ge- neral society, he was rather silent than otherwise; and this appeared to arise, not from any enwrapt pride of character, but a disinclination to make the effort to shine; rather perhaps from a habitual depression of spirits, than natural indolence of mind. Among the ladies of his own country at least, Florence and Ellen were those who most engrossed his conversation, and ap- peared to be, to him, the only objects o£ K 4 interest SOQ THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH* interest in the female world ; until fiirther knowledge of each seemed to rivet him more decidedly the admirer of the latter; to which had succeeded those attentions of the apparent lover, that had finally most successfully secured the affections of his credulous and forsaken mistress. The en^atrement which drew Florence from the young Portuguese, was a small dinner-party at the house of Mrs. Ben- tinck, situated about three miles from Litchfield. This lady was, however, by no means anxious for the success of her ne- phew's addresses to Miss Vincent, and lat* terly less intercourse had taken place be- tween her and the inhabitants of Trent -Abbey: but the intimacy had been so gra- dually dropped, that no offence could be taken, and the most perfect courtesy yet continued to be maintained ; for Mrs, Bentinck was well aware that her influence over the mind of her nephew was light and impotent indeed^ when opposed to his passionate attachment to the lovely Flo' rence. THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 501 rence. But with pain, dread, and appre- hension, she perceived that personal he?.nty 'was the ignis fatuus which would lure him ipio forming the most important of human en^ajrements : and for a man of his iealous disposition, she justly considered Florerje Vincent a dangerous wife ; that coqi.etry which, in a wild and volatile girl, appeared but as playful sport, would, in married life, assume the complexion, if it did not actu- ally become culpable levity. She had deemed it an indispensible duty to repre- sent this to the major; but, as she feared, her remonstrances had no effect; and the only hope of Mrs. Bentinck now was, that Miss Vincent might herself negative his proposals, and thus eflTeetually prevent so ill advised a connexron, from which little ofdomestic happiness could be reasonably expected to accrue. Lord Leslie was the only one of the Park inhabitants present at the already-mention- ed dinner-party ; and one other neighboiir- K 3 ing- 202 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. ing family, with captain Warner, completed the invited group. On the entrance of Florence, she found Mrs. Bentinck deeply engaged in turning over the leaves of a bogk filled with em- blematical engravings, from which she meant to select a few for the ornamental decoration of a fanciful cabinet, which rested on the table—'*^ Cupid attempting to secure a winged heart !'* exclaimed the old lady — ^^ Alas ! poor urchin ! the heart of a modern belle does not answer as ap- propriate to thy motto — ' If I lose you, I wn lost/ Nay, if an antique, who has re- linquished all claim upon the mischievous deity, dare venture a play upon the term, I would correct the mistake, and say the loss would be a gain,'* " A blind bargain perhaps, my dear ma- dam,'* rejoined Florence; '' the random shaft of a coxcomb Cupid, and the fleet- ing heart of a coquette/' " It would be then even a matter of re- gret," THE INHABITANTS OF EAKTff. SO 3 gret/' replied Mrs. Bentinck, with some- what more gravity, " to separate a well- matched pair, if we were sure the coquette would only attract the coxcomb ; but the danger is, tha^ by a discharge from a masked battery, these sort of random shafts you speak of may inflict a serious wound on what may be too estimable to suit the whimsical taste of a mere flutterer." " True, madam ; for behold a triurtiph of the little deity, as it is here exemplified, by his enchaining alike an owl and a goose, with the inscription — ' / entrap both the ivise and the foolish.* It would indeed be a wild-goose chase to attempt securing you. Miss Vincent," said Lord Leslie. '' Yes, my lord ; and Cupid's victim would indeed prove himself an owl by at- tempting it; presuming to take him not, as in ancient day, the attendant of Minerva, but as a modern representation of what I fear Mrs. Bentinck would denominate him, if so easily ensnared." *' Beware/' returned Leslie, " of this se- K 6 verity ; 204 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. verity; tread softly on the threshold of love, lest you wake him; for witness hiia here decked in malicious gaiety, linking even a fox ; thus proudly exhibiting that lie can catch the most cunning,*' And his. lordship suffered a provoking smile to play over his features, as he marked the rising colour of Florence at the entrance of major Bentinck. " We are in the midst of the loves, the muses, and the graces/' said Matilda Dacre, alluding to the emblematical drawings scat- tered around them, " therefore approach with respectful deference." *' If thev were confined to these sense- less scraps of paper," he replied, " I should feel perfect security in my own safety; but when they have received the vital spark of life, and appear, as they now do, in pror- fvii personce, I tremble indeed at the ren- counter." " Ah ! but fear not, since kind Cttpid is nigh," said Leslie, raising another engrav- ing from the table, " and even presents to your THE INHABITAKTS OF EARTH. 2^5 your acceptance the blushing rose de bon csperance." " It is but a fragile symbol of hope,"^ rejoined Florence, laughing. " And yet/' said Mrs. Bentinck^ " even this fragile symbol I have seen the subject of a Cupid treasure, thoughtless of its thorns, and wonder to behold it wither with the variable atmosphere of a day. Ah ! if that little word to-morroiij cotild be engraven on all the gifts of love, it might tend to remind us of their universal similitude to the rose, which four-and- twentj ours may render valueless, and the cherished emblem of one day be lost in the estimation of the next !'* '' Then, like Basil's to-morrow " said Bentinck, " I trust it will never arrive.", *' An expiring Cupid presenting heart's^ ease would be the happiest gift^ 1 believe/' rejoined Florence. *' And thus,*' returned Horace, " m fcc'fr- ful anticipation, you would annihilate the very existence of an idol, at whose shrine you 206 THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. yoH mi when I mention this, let me add, that these are her principal^ if not her only foibles; and yoUj at least, see her divested of that art which, in most women, shelters the worst traits of disposition, and permits to be visible only the* most amiable; and even the latter are but too often assumed-. With iMiss Vincent, on the contrary, a dif- ferent method is pursued; and her really 'estimable T'lTE INHABITANTS OF EART«. 2f3 f'Stimable virtues are thrown intirely in the shade, by that perverse folly which has sup- ped the finer particles of her nature. But vet, amid all, she loves you; I am con- vinced of it; and that attachment, properly fostered, may, indeed, I think, will have strength to overpower the dream of co- quetry ; it will not, if I judge aright^ allow her to give a trifiino neViBtrANTS OF EARTff; ^ihire, greet his friend as the husband of hfi^ loi'ig-loved Florence. But, with the depar-- ture of Leslie, the courage of Horace fled; and he even trembled at the temerity of the step he had promised the very nex* day to execute. Bur, conscious that he could write with more firmness and resolu- tion than he couH command, in the pre- sence of one so ardently, so devotedly the mistress of bis future happiness or misery^ he determined on the former method of conveying his sentiments, and at once call upon Florence to dec'rde on the irtost im- portant of worldly e\ents in this sublunary life. The letter was, after much alteration and realteration, and many hours of reconsi- deration, dispatched, towards the close of the following evening, to Trent Abbey ; and let those who have experienced the tortwes of suspense under similar circum^ stance, compassionate the agitation of its writer, during the tedious interval that must necessarily elapse ere an answer could be THE INHABITANTS OP EARTH. 9^ be rationally expected : and as poor Ben- tinck had not selected a reasonable mistress, he was but in justice bound to arm himself with a double portion of patience on this- momentous occasion. I. o CHAP. 5S6 THE INHABITANTS OP EARTif. CHAP. XVL " For something still there lies Ih Heav'n's dark volume, which I read through mists.'*^ The Liverpool Packet, The wind blew fair and fresh, as the impa- tient captain of a Liverpool packet, bound far Dublin, summoned the lingering pas- sengers to bid a last adieu to their friends on shore, as he reminded them of the ne- cessity of instant embarkation. One, how- ever, who belonged not to the little group,, had already entered the vessel; for in his fate no one appeared interested, no friendly voice bade him farewell, no friendly hand gave the last pressure of regard, nor were the eyes of either individual of the party yet THB INHABITANTS OF EARTfT. 297 yet on shore directed towards bim. The wretched Sidney Maitland, the new-made husband, lay extended on the deck; a plank supported' an arm, on the hand of which his head rested in a reclining posture; nor did he, even when the other passengers crowd- ed on board, seem to heed that curious and inquiring gaze which was rivetted orhhira. The cable was slipt, the anchor weighed, the sails unfurled, when the rough voice of a sailor from the shore arrested their atten- tion, by repeatedly calling to them to stop, as another passenger wished to get on board. This appeal to the captain's purse was not to be resisted : the newly-arrived claimant spoke not, but suffered his honest friend the tar to conclude, in brief language, the terms of admission. No birth was vacant; but, if the stranger chose to come on board, he was welcome, for the stipulated sum. The reply to this was a move towards the ship ; a piece of monev was placed in the hand of the sailor, who thankfully received it, while his arm was tendered by way of support §28 THE INHABITANTS OP EARTEf. support to the donor, as he stept on boarcf, whose figure, scarcely more than four feet in height, was wrapt in a large great- coat, lined and trimmed with fur, displaying huge capes of the same — a dress which might have proclaimed the wearer a female, if our youths of fashion had not adopted this feminine apparel, to shield the delicate forms of modern men; but a hat, which Ephraim's self might hxive deemed strictly decorous and appropriate to his sect, form- ed a wayward contradiction to the tonish curricle-coat : the head was bent down- wards, the arms were folded, and in silence the most profound the figure was seated. Many were the attempts which, by curio^ sity, were excited to draw its object into conversation ; but, as they all proved vain, it was at length concluded that the deaf and dumb could alone have resisted the artillery planted. But the elegance of the fashion, and the newness of the garb, an- nounced no pauper; and each, therefore, sought to discover the features of a face whicb THE INnABrTANTS OF EARTPf. ^C5 ^vnith nii^hf, in some degree, satisfy the insatiable ciiriositv raised : biit the stormy clouds which had", fcr son^e previous mo- ments, been gaihering together in a clus- tering mass, now sending forth those large humid drops, the usur.! harbingers of a thunder storm, soon put this propensity to flight ; and the passengers h?.srily bo ginning to retreat below, at length left this singular being alone, seated on the edge of the vessel. The captain was busily enforcmg his or- ders to his nten, the deck was a fearful scene of nautical exclamation, and the active sailors prepared for the threatened storm, which the sudden rise of the wind directed rapidly towards them : some mi- nutes had thus elapsed, when captain Mor- ris discovered the lost, abstracted posture oFMaitland, as, heedless of the falling rain or pelting hail, he continued immoveable as a statue; this observation was followed by advice to follow the steps of his fellow- passengers. A pettish negative, which evinced 1^30. THE INHABTTAxNTS OF FARTH. evlnccci more anger at the disturbance of his reverie, than gratitude for the atten- tion of honest captain Morris, convinced the latter that his admonition had not been well received ; and he bestowed not ano- ther thought on the^ungraciou3 Sidney. A few minutes more elapsed, when that part of the deck where still sat the appa- rently deaf and dumb object oi^ curiosity, and the meditative unobservant Maitland, was now scarcely visited, save by a pass- ing sailor busied in his own vocation. The warmly-clad voyager arose, and without raising the slouched hat, bent the eves be- neath it, wiih a suspicious scrutinizing glance around ; then silently approaching behind the unhappy Maitland, grasped his arm with the left hand, while, as he started up from the intruder, with the intention of shaking him off from his hold, the right pointed, with emphatic movement, to the gold ring Vt'hich encircled the wedding- finger of that hand which had dared detain him. A shivering horror breathed its in- fluence TF!E INHAPITANTS OF FAHTH. S3 1 fliience to the verv soul of Sidnev ; his eyes were averted, as from some appalling agonizing object ; and vvreiJtint!; his arm from her convulsed hold, he pressed his hands against his ihrobbing forehead. With an air of arrogant exultation, the mysterious bride threw from her the con- cealing hat ; and even a passing sailor felt his steps arrested by astonishment, at the unequalled loveliness of the countenance t^at accidentally met his view; for beauty sat enthroned thereon, in her aiost certain empire. '*' Maitland," she exclaimed, in a lone of towering command^ " behold thy \vife ! and if my face finds no reflection in thy mind, let this deformed, mis-shapen ^gWTQy strike conviction of Henrietta's self!" and, with proud disdain, she threw back the wrapping-cover which had envC' loped her distorted form. '' Woman ! to my sight, of all creation, the most appalling !• dreadful, dreadful be- ing! inscrutable Henrietta ! no longer haunt the S32 THF. INII'AniTAKTS OF EARTfT: the steps of thy most wretched victim!—^ Avvav ! in mercy away !" " Ne\er!" she iittereclj in wild deter- mined accent, " never!'* *' Have I nor," he resumed, " given you fortune ? have I net conferred on vou the cherished and highly-respected name of my ancestral house? What would you more; that you thus torture m.e in pursuit ?" '' One avaricious thought this bosom never knew ; and had ambition swayed,. I might, in Portugal, have borne a mightier name than that which Sidney Mail land coidd bestow : and as to your heart," she added, while bitterest contempt swelled her nether lip, as it paused on the term, ** I would trample on the despised, the de- tested gift, if it were offered to mine ac- ceptance ! Still you have become my hus- band, nor can you invalidate that sacred bond which has made us one. From your caresses I would shrink with aversion as deep as yoit could reeoiJ from mine; still will I accompany THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH. 533 tacconipany you wherever you roam, still will I proclaim myself your -wife, and de- mand a husband's protection. Mark von clouds; see how they meet, yet clash ; and the very attraction which draws them to- gether gives birth to the destructive bolt — Such is our fate. Reflection may to you unravel the similitude, but it will fail to annihilate it. In hate I gave my hand, in hate you pied;;ed me yours, and decep- tion sullied not the contracti'* •END OF VOL. I. Lane, DarliB'», cpJ Co, LeadcnhalUStrect. WORKS ^linm at t^e ^iaeitia='IPre03» IVuh the Reviewers'" Opinion, LOVE, MYSTERY, AND MISERY^ BY ANTHONY FREDERICK HOLSTEIN. 2 vols. i2mo. 8s. For the delineation of the characters in this Novel, the Au- thor is entitled to some praise. The counterfeit naivete and simplicitv of Agatha are vi'ell hit off in the beginning. The character of Lester is new and amusing j and a considerable portion of Fancy is displayed throughnit the work. Monthly Re'vieav, August, i8io. THE REFORMIST ! ! A SERIO-COMIC POLITICAL NOVEL. 2 vols. i2mo. 8S. The hero of this tale, which is not altogether to be despised, staits like Mr. Wildgoose, the spiritual Quixotte, from the bosom of the country, a red hot methodist, to reform mankind in the metropolis. He soon discovers the errors and foilies of this vvay, and becomes abruptly an atheist, a modern reformer, and a patriot. In the iransition he loses his beloved mistres?, who is married rather cd ily to a thoughtless, but goodnatured, and on the who'e amiable peer, but is fin.dly reformed him- self, and leiCoed from committing the act of suicide, by a daughter of one of the elect, but without her fither's vices and hypocrisy} and with her he retires to his paternal inheri- tance, and ii.'es respcct-b e and happy. Tne satn-e on the methodists is sevete, and we are will ng to hope overcharged; but considerable tdcnts are displa>ei in t!ie execution of the woik, talents which -seem qualified for better undr.rtak.uigs j and some of the characters are remarka- bly well dcllueaicd. British Critic, October y \%io. /