therefore, knew little of the changes which had taken place at home, when I landed in England, and sent forward to give notice of my speedy return to the seat of my fathers.

It was a lovely evening in the end of August, in the year seventeen hundred and when his Excellency the Earl of Roxeter, with his sister, Lady Seaforth, Lord Seaforth, her son, and the honourable Mr. Westfield, the son of Lord Roxeter, in a splendid barouche, followed by I know not how many Abigails and valets, in travelling-carriages, entered the rural street of Hartlands; while the bells sounded from the steeple of the church, and the little boys of the village ran shouting before the cavalcade to open the park gates. I had tried to keep up my spirits during the day; but with so little success, that I perceived the eyes of all my companions by turns fixed upon me, as if inquiring what was passing in my mind. As we approached Hartlands, these unpleasant feelings increased, and I really trembled when the carriage stopped at the Hall door.

The door was opened by the old butler, attended by two footmen, with whose physiognomies I was not acquainted. The first circumstance which struck me, on entering the Hall, was the countenance of the butler. He welcomed me, indeed; but not with a smile-not even a forced smile.

"Is all well, Morris ?" I said, as I advanced.

"Quite so, my Lord," was his laconic answer; adding, "and I rejoice to see that time has laid his hand so lightly on you, my Lord." He bowed and I passed on.

Mr. Helmly was the next person whom I met. He was much aged since I had seen him. He had lost his vivacity. He seemed affected on beholding me. His lip trembled; but he assumed an easy air; yet I saw that it was assumed. My son was by my side; he recognised him immediately; his eye brightened at the sight of him: he stood in the doorway of the inner hall, through which was the entrance to the drawing-room, and said, "My Lord, Lady Roxeter and Lord Bellamy are within; shall I lead you to them?"

"Certainly," I said, affecting ease: "why dont they come to receive us?"

Mr. Helmly made no answer, but hastening to the door of the drawing room, threw it open, and announced me and my son.

Theodore had been taught to suspect and fear his mother; he rather, therefore, lingered behind me than pressed forward. The door being open, Lady Roxeter appeared. She was sitting on a sofa, and seemed to have been struggling with a sort of faintness; her daughter was on one side of her, and Lord Bellamy on the other. One glance showed me that Lady Roxeter was less changed by time than either myself or my sister; in fact, she was younger than either of us by several years. She was still a beautiful woman. She arose as soon as she perceived that I had entered, but seemed to await some signal from me to know how she was to meet me. I advanced; I saluted her politely, and paid her a compliment on her appearance.-How this scene would have passed off, and whether she would have been able to have preserved her composure, had I been the only person she had to receive, I know not; for she had scarcely had time to admit my cold salutation, than her attention was fixed upon her son, who was stepping forwards to address her; and, throwing herself into his arms, she yielded to a flood of tears; leaving us to place what interpretation we chose on this burst of feeling. For a moment I could think only of my wife; and I verily believe, that, had not my sister and her son entered at that crisis, I should have embraced her, pressed her to my heart, and begged her pardon for all my past offences.-But the keen eye of my sister was upon me; and my pride recovering the power it had lost for a moment, I resolved not to seek any reconciliation: for I always affected to say that we had never quarrelled, and that, if we were shy and distant, it was by mutual consent, and only what many fashionable people were accustomed to. I, however, secretly resolved that I would be more polite and attentive to Lady Roxeter than I had formerly been; and, in pursuance of this resolution, I said, "Let me beg you, dear Lady Roxeter, not to agitate yourself. We are all met together after a long separation; let us be joyful; we will have no tears." And I turned to my daughter VOL. VII.

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and gave her a paternal embrace, though I had scarcely yet seen her features; and, stretching my hand to Lord Bellamy, whose figure I then for the first time observed attentively, I added, that I had great pleasure in seeing him again after so long an absence. I know not how my sister and Lady Roxeter met; for my eyes could only move from my daughter to my eldest son, and from my eldest son to my daughter as they stood perplexed and confused before me, hardly knowing how to conduct themselves towards relations whom they evidently dreaded more than they were inclined to love.

I was, however, quite delighted with the appearance of Laura. She was a lovely young creature-really beautiful, and elegant in the extreme. But she seemed almost afraid to look up; and her timidity gave a sort of coldness to her manner, which a little mixture with the world would, I judged, have enabled her to have thrown off. But, much as I was delighted with her, I was as much hurt by the appearance of Lord Bellamy. He had never recovered the injury he had received at school. His knee had become stiff, and one limb was, in consequence, contracted. Indeed his whole person had acquired that appearance of distortion which was feared and anticipated from his infancy. His stature was lower than the common standard: notwithstanding which, his face was such a one as it seemed hardly possible to have spoiled. His eyes were brilliant, and his features perfectly regular. Had he not been so cruelly injured in infancy, he would have equalled in person, if not surpassed his brother Theodore. However, the uneasiness and anxiety he seemed to experience, while under my gaze, did not contribute to the agreeableness of his physiognomy. Never, surely, was a family meeting, after so long an absence, so uneasy to every individual; though there was certainly a wish on all sides to pass things off, at least, without what my sister was in the habit of calling a scene. Theodore was dull and restrained; Lord Bellamy and Laura silent and sad; Lady Roxeter less able to command herself than I had almost ever seen her: for, as I afterwards discovered, she was particularly hurt by the embarrassed manner of her son towards herself. Mr. Helmly was trying to conceal his

displeasure under a careless air; and my sister, well as I thought I understood her, playing a part which seemed to me utterly inexplicable: for she was actually showing off the affectionate sister to Lady Koxeter, and the tender aunt to Laura; while her son, after having looked at my daughter with considerable attention, availed himself of the first move to place himself by her side, and endeavour to engage her in conversation; a manœuvre which evidently displeased her elder brother, who attached himself as closely to her left side as Lord Seaforth did to her right. How we got through that evening, I cannot say; but it went heavily enough. The next day, however, brought us relief, by the arrival of several persons whom Lady Seaforth had very providentially engaged to follow us immediately from town; and then we did better, and each of us seemed more at

our ease.

I could not, however, be many hours at Hartlands without perceiving that there was a strong party against me; in fact, that there was not a virtuous or feeling person in the neighbourhood who did not detest me. Distant, and habitually haughty as I had long been to my wife, I had always used myself to speak familiarly to every other female who would bear it from me; and, by this conduct, I had formerly excited a very improper spirit among the daughters of the cottagers and tenants at Hartlands, and, no doubt, done an immense deal of mischief there; I had the same habits with the female servants of the family: I was, therefore, much struck by the grave and discreet manner of a servant-maid whom I met with by chance, and employed to carry a message to the butler. This young woman, on being familiarly addressed with a tap on her cherry cheek, evinced a sort of silent contempt of me, which I could ill endure. In the village, and at the farms, wherever I called during my morning walk, I was received with cold reserve; not a single smile was bestowed upon me; and the tenant's wives, whom I had known from a child, all answered me gravely, and as briefly as civility would permit. Thomas Jefferies passed me in the park, with a very formal bow; and my old gardener and steward were as silent as possible, though I could not say they

were deficient in respect. I bore this pretty well till Mr. Helmly joined me in the shrubbery; and, observing a certain sort of constraint in him also, I broke out, and asked him what had taken them all. "You all look," I said, as if it were a sin to smile-as if you were so many monks of the Chartreux; or were all going to be executed to-morrow. Is this the way I am to be received in my own domains after an absence of ten years ?"

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They that sow tares in their fields, my Lord," he replied, gravely, "cannot expect to gather wheat. Can you suppose that we can rejoice to see you, and welcome you to your home, when we cannot expect any benefits from your return?"

I was mute with amazement, and thus gave him opportunity to proceed. And he did go on, in good earnest; and paused not till he had probed me to the quick; taking upon him a tone of authority which I could not resist.

Were I to repeat all he said, word for word, I might fill volumes; I must, therefore, content myself with giving the heads of his discourse. He began, by saying that he pitied me, though he blamed me, and pitied me the more, because he had brought me up in contempt of religion; a sin, he added, the remembrance of which had imbittered many of the past years of his life. He then proceeded to say that he had been brought to a sense of his sin, and to a feeling of the extreme wickedness of his past life, not so much by the precepts, as by the blameless and lovely example of piety exhibited by Lady Roxeter-"the woman, my Lord,” he continued, "whom you have despised, neglected, insulted, and perseveringly ill treated for many years."

"Go on, Mr. Helmly," I said, when I could speak; for my indignation had almost choaked me; say at once all you have on your mind, and then permit me to bid you adieu; for I imagine that, after this interview, it will be quite as well for us to consider each other as strangers; for, be assured that I never will hold intercourse with any person who interferes between me and my wife."

"A good resolution, my Lord," he replied, calmly; "and I trust you will adhere to it. Dismiss the whole