I do

Richmond, I do not mean Lady Anna! I do not love her. I have never excited her hopes, and she is quite indifferent to me. not therefore allude to her. The angel whom I love resides in this castle, and is the Lady Mary Melville, who was found by my mother on the terrace. Alas! it is from her, who was sent to us by a miracle, and who is formed to bless the heart of her son, that my mother now recoils, as if she would dishonour the place which I offer her in my affections."

"You, Robert!" exclaimed Richmord, whilst surprise was strongly depicted on his countenance: " you wish to make this unfortunate girl your wife! Is it possible, my dear brother? How completely has this unguarded feeling led you to overlook both the possibility and the desirableness of such a step. Forgive me," he added, advancing to the duke, who had turned away from him, "forgive me if I irritate you. Surely it cannot be that the voice of truth is no longer available between us? Let that never be.” he added, with warmer affection; never let opposite opinions cause silence between us. Do not, by turning away from me, Robert, make it more difficult for your dearest friend to be of service to you."

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Robert could resist no longer. Affected by the melody of this beautiful and dear voice, he turned round, and cast his troubled eye upon his brother, whose features were so strongly marked by indications of compassion, that, overcome by the tenderness of his brother's heart, he embraced him, while he saluted him with a thousand endearing appellations.

"Yes, Richmond," he said, "I feel that I am unconscious or my own conduct. A few weeks ago, I knew nothing of this state; I even thought it impossible. But see Lady Melville yourself, and then you will be satisfied that she is worthy of the place I offer her."

Richmond almost shuddered. He was alarmed by the idea of seeing a nameless stranger (for thus, in his letters, had the earl described her,) in the place which had been filled through centuries by only the noblest women, from the most distinguished families or the country. He esteemed it a duty appertaining to the head of

his family, to guard himself against any affection which would invade his dignity, and it seemed to him unmanly to disregard this duty for the sake of a woman; for although he had a great respect for the sex, he honoured therein his mother and grandmother alone, and it was only their ripened character which pleased him. A young creature (for by this term he designated all the beautiful maidens in his own and foreign countries) seemed to him quite unworthy of exciting such devotion in a man. On one occasion, when jested with on the subject of marriage, he had expressed himself so strongly as to declare that he would rather marry his grandmother, than the most beautiful lady in England, under twenty years of age. A union based on perfect esteem appeared to him complete, for he did not fear the warm feelings of his heart being rebuked by the ripe age of his future wife. His angry grief for his brother was therefore so much the less to be censured, as Robert, less firm in his own opinion, and with the carelessness of one who thinks he has little responsibility, had heretofore entertained similar views, and thus awakened the hope that no danger of this kind was to be apprehended on his account.

The tender love which Richmond bore to him, and which had in it something of a protecting character, instigated him to cast the greater part of the blame in this affair on the strange lady. Her whole situation seemed so extraordinary, that it was impossible for him to regard her in any other than an equivocal light; and he even thought it imprudent and dangerous to admit this unknown personage into the circle at the castle, and to allow her free intercourse with his sisters. These thoughts arose more rapidly than we can express them; but they decided his answer, which he uttered with forbearance and firmness.

"Let me hope, Robert," he said, "that nowever this lady may be distinguished by nature's gifts, the sight of her will not shake those principles which we have both received from our honoured parents, and also from the unspotted virtues of our ancestors. What avails the memory of a noble race, were it not for the remembrance of their virtues, which warns their descendants not to destroy the purity, the unspotted purity, of their name? You," continued he,

becoming more earnest, "with your fair locks and blue eyes, are born a Nottingham, and in your face are portrayed the features of our first ancestor, in testimony that his virtues are also there. Will you, then, be the first to graft on the tree of our female ancestors, a nameless and equivocal, although a beautiful branch? Say what you will, I do not believe you would thus act. I trust to your better self-to your firm, manly soul. You will conquer. The feelings of the heart may sometimes exercise tyranny over us; but where is the manly breast that does not feel supported against the power that threatens us? Let us together consider the subject: deprive me not, at all events, of that pleasure."

"Richmond," answered the duke, "this is the only thing I can promise you. But I still hope to lead you over to my opinion, as you have often gained me to yours. I only repeat once more-see

her first!"

"I certainly find the justification of your feeling in her beauty and amiability, for the ignoble and common could never seduce you. Yet I shall never find in her the justification of a wish, which leads you to overstep the bounds of justice towards her, and which renders you blind to the duties which you owe to the family of Dorset, none of whom ever doubted their fulfilment. You, my dearest friend, did not hesitate yourself, until this unfortunate maiden had changed your natural right feeling."

The duke was silent, and appeared inexpressibly distressed. There is no feeling which gives rise to such cruel contradictions as that of love: it divides us, as it were, into two contending parties; and whilst affection appears, with increasing demands, to possesss a holy and indisputable right to overthrow all that opposes it, there is often, to our great torment, a strong faculty of perceiving the difficulties which surround us.

It was thus with the young duke. He was obliged to confess that his brother had only reminded him of what he had before perceived; but the love to which he so entirely yielded himself, exercised a power over him which could not be called otherwise than overwhelming

Richmond marked the hesitating look of the duke, as betokening

mental indecision. His prudence, as well as his confidence, made him expect the completion of the one affair, in the breaking off of the other.

Both brothers now betook themselves to the discharge of those duties, which the arrival of guests imposed upon them.

CHAPTER XIII.

We are, for some time, about to take the reader out of the family circle with which he is already acquainted, in order to prepare him for events in another place, in which the Nottingham family is concerned; and at the same time to give some explanation of the occurrences mentioned in the close of the preceding chapter, as having happened some time previous.

At the period of the return of the Prince of Wales from Spain, Whitehall was the abode of the king; and in the neighbourhood of the palace were the dwellings of those nobles who regarded themselves as exclusively entitled to surround their monarch, and to form a barrier between him and the people. However necessary this might have been in earlier times, the better spirit which now began to be diffused throughout all classes, rendered it superfluous. The nation anxiously watched these privileges and distinctions; and perhaps the more anxiously, because a dull perception might obtrude itself here and there among the mass, that the people were worthy of a closer union with their sovereign. The nobility having given themselves up to licentiousness, their moral strength was impaired; they were, moreover, disunited among themselves, pursuing their dissensions even to the steps of the throne, and old habits alone retained for them their privileges. This licentiousness was imitated by the mass of the people, who, with greater patience than their penetration promised, favoured these privileges, because there lay in the spirit of the nation, conscious of its history, an inspiring and urredeemable gratitude towards names with which were

associated recollections of the glories of their country. Thus may be explained how the exalted name of a family long remains a banner of protection to its degenerate descendant, under which he may continue to enjoy inherited privileges which he would never have been able to win for himself.

Elizabeth, the most proud and jealous ruler, had already endeavoured to break through the boundary with which her haughty nobility sought to encompass her throne; and in her desire to elevate the citizens to their proper place, wherever she met with talent in their class, she honoured it with her personal favour. A support was by this means prepared among the middle classes of her people, who found, with already developed strength, aim and direction for their efforts; and at the same time secured for her a more independent position on the throne. Before the nobility, in their highly cultivated nature, were aware of this power thus rising against them, they were taught by it to feel that they must defend their privileges with something more than long possession.

But towards the end of the reign of King James, it was hardly possible to discover any of the ordinances of that royal woman, in the form in which she bequeathed them to her successor. The mechanism of a state, if well arranged, proceeds in its operation undisturbed, long after the guiding hand has failed which imparted its original activity. It was this continued action among the citizens, that in a great degree inspired them with self-satisfied confidence, since they felt themselves in possession of blessings which they had long ago desisted from attempting to secure for their desendants.

James possessed much learning, but it led to no valuable results, and only filled him with the ridiculous vanity which weak minds hold to be justified by the exertions which their learning has cost them, and which gives to their acquirements an over-prized worth. How poor are such minds, when compared with the fertility of true genius! The weak nature of James, debased by education and circumstances, had no strength to be quickened by the high position to which the death of Elizabeth called him. Destitute of real strength, he was as little capable of being a tyrant as a benefactor to his people. The plaything of others, he possessed so few individual