Part 9 (1/2)

She had not time to attend to me 'What the d--mn--t----n is the matter?' said Hector 'Why was not I let in? Who have you here?'--'Here!' answered the sweet creature 'How can you suppose I have any body here?'

There was a watch studded with diaht the eye of Mowbray; he snatched it up, and with a volley of oaths asked--'Whose watch is this?'--'Mine!' said Harriet Hector looked again 'Yours? Set with dia! His arht I saw one of his fellows, as we turned the corner!'

There was another door, to an inner chamber; to that Hector, with all his force, applied his foot A loud laugh was heard within, the door opened, and out ca in _propria persona_

Miss Pal what better to do, joined his lordshi+p in the forced laugh The surly Hector shewed every propensity to brutal revenge, but had only the courage to bully; in which art the lord and the lady soon shewed they were as great proficients as hi Harriet and e each other for acquaintance I did not wish to be proclaiuineas, or be sued for a fraud Hector was in no hu and even laughing, now athis choler and his courage increase in proportion as he was driven farther froressive: A 's continence: Religious fervour: A er: Love drearace, and honours delayed_

During the short period of ht two additional and essential lessons: the first, that ht be; and the second, that I was not quite so wise as I had supposed ht occurred that it was possible I ree of what is called worldly caution At once to display one vice and teach another, to expose fraud and inspire suspicion, is, to an unadulterated mind, a severe and odious lesson; and, when repeated too often, is in danger of inculcating a mistake infinitely more pernicious than that of credulity; that is, a conviction that etfulness that he is merely the creature of habit and accident

Hitherto I had h it was not the novelty I expected, yet it was invigorating: it kept me awake The qualities for which I most valued myself no one indeed seemed to notice But the world was before s assured enius and virtue had a real existence, and so consolatory thoughts, thewas the recollection of what Turl had said, that, to the possessor of fortitude and virtue, Oxford was a place where study eously prosecuted; and, aided by this cheering hope, I applied e and assiduity

On the subject of reading howevercontentions with itself: poetry, and the _belles lettres_, Hoil, Shakespeare, Spenser, Milton, Dryden, Tasso, Ariosto, Racine, Moliere, Congreve, with a long and countless _et caetera_, were continually te me to quit the barren pursuits of divinity and law, for the study of which I had come to Oxford Yet a sense of duty so far prevailed that I went through a course of the fathers, pored over the canonists, and made many resolute attacks upon the schoolable, the angelic or eagle-eyed, the subtile, the illuminated, and many more had their peaceful folios vainly disturbed by my researches, and my determination to understand what, alas, in its essence was unintelligible

In the very beginning as it were of these labours an event took place, which gave a very serious aspect to ret chagrin and surprise at my mother's conduct, no present uneasiness to randfather had left considerable property; which it was supposed would descend toleft under the executorshi+p of a lawyer, who represented it to be in a very involved and disorderly state: for, with respect to h she had ireeably to the intention of the rector, her own subsistence excepted, she held it only for my use Thus, in several of her letters, she had affectionately pressed me not to deprive myself of as necessary to entleman, or to the support of the family character

For the first two months we punctually wrote to each other once a week 'My dear dear Hugh' was the first phrase in all her letters; and 'ood mother' in mine: every maternal anxiety was expressed by her, and by th a week came in which I received no letter I was alarmed, wrote to express my fears, and in a few days was answered, by the lawyer, that ood health, but was froer passed away in silence, at the end of which I wrote toan answer under her own hand; otherwise I should come myself to see as the an to read It was no longer prefaced with 'h:' It hat follows

'Dear Son,

'You seem impatient to hear fro that has happened, which perhaps you will think well of; I hope you will; I ah, when one does things all for the best, one is not always best thought of But I dare say you will not think ill of your reeable to what your poor dear grandfather always taught nobody can suppose that I am not come to years of discretion; and you very well know I have always been a good and tender mother to you; and so I always shall be; and I am sure you will not think hardly and improperly of my conduct in any way, for that would be very unkind and unbecoht of afterwards would be very improper indeed Mr Thornby [the lawyer] is a very prudent man, and so I have acted by his advice, which you ; and his nephew, Mr Wakefield, is a gentle; and so, since you must be told, you may as well be told at first as at last--I am married; which I hope and expect you will think was a very prudent thing I am sure when you coiously He sends his kind blessing to you, and so I re mother

JANE WAKEFIELD'

Little as I was attached to personal interest or fearful of being left without a provision, I own this letter electrified me Was this the tone of affection? Had it vanished so instantly? After such strong and reiterated professions for my sake never to have a second husband, not only to marry but to cool intirely toward me, and to be only anxious, in a poor selfish circuy, for a conduct which she herself felt to be highly reprehensible!

The lawyer too! His nephew? Not satisfied with the executorshi+p, he had engulphed the whole in his family, the stipend of a hundred a year while I ree, and a thousand pounds for the purchase of an advohen I should leave it, excepted I wondered, on reflection, that he should even have advised the rector to this: but it was by affecting disinterestedness that he could most effectually secure the rehts occasioned was neither debilitating nor durable My sanguine self-confidence, though so subject to fits of perrin, or melancholy The recollection of my mother's passionate proe, the family into which she had married, and the instability of a wohs froloom evaporated I returned cheerfully to my books and determined to visit home no more, but while a student to make Oxford my home, and not incur the frequently well- a _term-trotter_

As for my companion, Hector, whatever the intentions of the Squire his father ht be, he considered Oxford only as a place of dissipation, and loved it for nothing but because he was here first let entirely loose, and here first found comrades that orthy to be his peers

Most of his time was now spent in London, or in parties such as himself and his intimates planned I suffered little interruption froave me an indolent call; but, as there was no parity of pursuit, nor unity of sentiment between us, there could be but little intercourse

Little farther re the three years and ten months of my residence in this city, except the incident that occasioneda constant spectator of the debauchery of the young, and the sensuality of the old, I conceived an increasing dislike of theirmen, who like myself were severe students Toward the close of this period I becaed withto their conversation, hts were turned into the saious duty, the tedious and dull ser themselves and not their Saviour, were the frequent topics of our animadversion

This was a doctrine ination like mine, which was ardent and enthusiastic Beside it relieved me from a multitude of labours and cares, for, as I proceeded, Tho competitors were thrown by in contempt I had learned divinity by inspiration, and soon believed myself fit for a reformer The philosopher Aristotle with his dialectics and sophised, for those of the philosopher Saint Paul; fro, and that he anted it was naked of all excellence as the new born babe This nakedness I had discovered in e of the sect was ihteousness of Christ Jesus! I, in common with my methodistical brethren, was chosen of the elect! My name was inscribed in the book of life never to be erased! My sins ashed away! Satan had no power over me; and to ates of hell could not prevail against us!'

To these mysteries, which all the initiated allow are suddenly unfolded, descending like lightening by the inspiration of the spirit and illu the darkened soul, to these mysteries no man perhaps was ever a more sudden or a ospel light; it shone through e: a comet, sent to warn the wicked I ination, which swelled and mounted to the very acme of fanaticism