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and as being more soothing to the afflicted state of my own mind. What were my feelings, after my Boynton friends had left York, on the following evening, as I was walking alone in my aunt's garden, every object being tranquil and at rest, and the sun just sinking below the horizon, when the bells of a neighbouring steeple, half of them muffled, suddenly began what is called a dumb peal; the dying tones of which, to my afflicted spirit, seemed like the requiem of departed hope!

CHAPTER 13.

The Author visits the new baronet and his lady....Their late hours....Reprehensible conduct....Her determination to leave them....Hastened by the cruel and unjustifiable treatment of her brother.... The Nostel vision vanished.... Her brother goes into orders.....Takes a small curacy. Purchases a few fields....History of the eventful life of the Author's kind preceptress until its close....Vicissitudes ·experienced by her family.

....

I FOUND my mother very composed and resigned, and my brother in his usual spirits, by no means justly appreciating the extent of his loss. He had still no pleasure in literary pursuits, and much less in biblical investigation; and having now lost the friend, from the hope of whose patronage, he had been induced to consent to go into the Church, he wished to engage in some other employment. But unfortunately, whither could he turn himself? he was wholly unfit for

any of the learned professions, he had no habits of application, and knew nothing of any kind of business. Nor was this the only misfortune; he had a visionary turn of mind, which continually led him to engage in new schemes, and to expect success without the means, or even perhaps, withont the least probability of obtaining it; and what was almost equally misleading, he had a species of humour in his conversation, which made his company sought after in the convivial circles of the town where we lived, as it had before done at Cambridge, and introduced him to a set of acquaintance, who were neither desirable nor improving.

I had now a pressing invitation from the mistress of Nostel, to visit herself and the new baronet; which she desired I would do immediately, particularly alleging, that her very imperfect knowledge of the English language, would make her much at a loss in returning the visits of the neighbouring families: I went accordingly, and as they were not then removed thither, but were still at Badsworth, (at a house in the neighbourhood, belonging to the late lord Rockingham; where their excellent father had lately established them,) I was spared the pain of revisiting the scene of my former happiness in circumstances so miserably altered. It was chiefly on my brother's account, that I so readily accepted the invitation, the new baronet being profuse in his expressions of regard for him, and in his offers of service; and although I did not much depend on these promises, yet I felt that it would not have been

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right to have supplied him with an apology, by my refusal, for not fulfilling them.

I was received in the most flattering manner; and although their very late, irregular hours, breakfasting at twelve or one, and dining at seven or eight, were very uncomfortable, and notwithstanding we sometimes made morning calls after the families we visited, had already dined, and were guilty of many other eccentricities, yet we went on pretty well upon the whole, for the first few weeks, and kept up a tolerable character in the neighbourhood; due allowance being made for two young people, just come into possession of a large fortune; and more especially for the lady, as a foreigner, unacquainted with English manners and customs.

The first thing that seriously disturbed my mind, was their very unkind treatment of an old widow gentlewoman in reduced circumstances, who had formerly been connected with the family; whom they had invited to live with them, and whom they considered as being wholly dependant on their pleasure or caprice. She was a person of weak judgment, and having in her youth, been very beautiful, was not free from vanity; but she was perfectly well-meaning, good-tempered, and extremely desirous to oblige. It would hardly be credited, were I to enumerate the various devices practised to insult and torment her. The baronet had an electrical machine, and was continually making experiments, of which she was frequently the subject. She had a foolish antipathy to mice, and when he had

obtained a few of these wretched little victims for his air pump, she was in agonies, lest he should set them at liberty, as he threatened, for her discomfiture and terror. Nor was his lady, although in a different way, less tyrannical and unfeeling. Frequently did I venture to remonstrate on this subject, and particularly on the hardship of obliging the poor old lady to sit up till two or three o'clock in the morning, so contrary to all her former habits, and eventually ruinous to her health." I keep her out of charity," was the unfeeling reply, "and have a right to expect that she should conform to my pleasure." This was an afflicting developement of character, and another trait, not long after, completed the picture.

Before I went to Badsworth, a young person had been invited to stay with them, who was the daughter of a gentleman-farmer in the neighbourhood. She was shewy and good-looking in her person, pleasant and agreeable in her conversation and manner, and the lady of the mansion professed for her the warmest friendship. She loaded her with presents, consisting principally of trinkets, which she insisted upon her wearing, and which her person became very well, although the style of dress was wholly unsuitable to her station. It was not to be expected that this metamorphose should pass without censure; envy and jealousy were excited, and the mention of her name was accompanied by a smile of ridicule on the part of many, who, had they been in similar circumstances, would have acted precisely

in the same manner. She had left the house a few days before I went there; and I was continually assailed by exaggerated accounts of her absurd appearance, and improper conduct, from the very persons who had themselves led her into these improprieties; accompanied also by insinuations, perfectly false indeed, but which, had they obtained credit, would have been lastingly injurious to her character.

One day, when the lady had been amusing herself at the expense of her injured friend, my patience being quite exhausted-I said to her, "If, madam, you were aware that this mode of dress would render Miss ridiculous, I

wonder that you should supply her with ornaments so improper, and encourage her to wear them."-" My dear," she replied, in her broken English, "I tell you one truth, I do it express for the ridicule."-" If that, madam, be the construction which your ladyship's young friends are to put upon your favours, they would be abundantly better without them," relinquishing at the same moment, her arm on which I had leaned, as we were walking backwards and forwards in the dining-room. She appeared confused, was profuse in her professions of regard to me, declaring that the like with respect to myself, could never happen; but from that moment, we perfectly understood each other, (for she was not deficient in acuteness of perception) and my determination was fixed, to leave the family as soon as I could do it, with decency and propriety; and it so happened, that what I had resolved upon as a