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    gentleman , a father , and so forth , but , above all things , a landowner and a mag istrate . The girl , somehow or other , though smothered under various ung irlish externals , still lurks in Mrs . Audley . That excellent lady conform s to all the appearances of society , and conducts , with great discretion , the usual framework of costume and good manners ; but within that factitious edifice lurks the simple woman . The girls have been brought up « strictly , " at least as strictly as a good deal of paternal negligence , and an endless amount of maternal ignorance , made possible . The strictness had many loop-holes in it , better known to the housekeeper ' s room and the servant ' s hall , than to the drawing-room or the school-room . " Such things happen in the best regulated families / ' as they say here . King is

    a man of the world , and as such , he is a man of pleasure . He knows what is due to society , —that is , " appearances "; but having a good chest for a waistcoat , whiskers that comb forward conveniently , and features capable of an engaging arrangement , he has , by the gift of fortune , a power of fascination , which at once surprises and delights himself . He is very vain of his power as a lady-killer , and with all his awe of appearance , cannot help talking . Thus there is a kind of secret in the house , which by this time must be known to a considerable number of the bosom friends amongst whom King confidentially boasts . But the coxcomb already wearies of these embarrassing multiplicities . " It is not the—the—what shall I say ? but the damned jealousy , Sir . It becomes tedious . "

    But presently he surprised me by a new disclosure—some prize that was " peculiarly worthy of his attempts . " He was contemplating a new triumph , and promised me that I should see the lady in the evening , as she was coming there with her husband . "A beautiful woman ; young , unsuspicious , happy with her husband ; altogether a delicious creature . " " And what , " I said , "is your motive , Mr . King , for invading that lady ?" " Precisely that , my dear fellow . There is no credit in picking up a woman who is unappropriated ; but when a creature is devoted to her husband » %

    I could stand this no longer . It might be very good worldly epicureanism ; but the total heartlessness of it , the mechanical licentiousness—nay , I suspect , the very want of enjoyment , exasperated me with the woodenfaced gentleman ; and rising from the table I told him that he had no right to surprise me with his confidences . I abruptly declared to him that I should put the lady on her guard . " Good Gaud ! " he exclaimed . " Upon my soul , sir , I took you for a gentleman ; but if I am so mistaken , let me warn you—aye , you may frown , but let me warn you that , perhaps , what I cannot expect from your honour may be enforced by a horsewhip . "

    " Don't apologise , " I replied , " for any freedom of language after what you have said ; but , in return for your admonition , allow me to warn you , that when any man touches me in that way , my flesh never feels easy till I have washed it in his blood , and I am never unprovided for extracting that restorative . Take what steps you like ; I have told you mine , and I never depart from my declared purpose . " He tried " to recall me to a sense of gentlemanly feeling ; " he condescendingly suggested that , unaccustomed to English society , I had forgotten myself , and did not remember the usual mode of regarding the confidences of gentlemen ; and finally , he told me that I was beneath further notice ; but that if I made any outward scandal he should be obliged to call me to Hccount .

    In the course of what passed I assured him that I should do what I said ; but should make no open scandal ; and should always be ready to account to any one . "We will join the Indies if you please , " he said ; and he made way for me to go first . In spite of my disgust I could not but admire the easy assurance with which he covered his discomfiture . I need not tell you all the details of the ailair . In the evening came

    Mr . mid Mrs . Ilartwell ; pleasant people , and the lady all that King hud descri bed her to be . I found no difficulty in my self-appointed mission , made Wcrncth specially introduce me , with a voucher for my honour ; made her promise to hear me out ; suggested to her the propriety of not dun g her husband , or anybody ; and then disclosed to her , in the plainest ; ¦ lin ns , the coxcomb ' s intentions . When I told her she remained perfectly Sl t ; , and I was aJhout to leave her , us having no further claim on her attention , but she stopped me .

    " In the first place , " she said , " if it wen : needed , 1 should thank you 01 < no trust you have put in mi ; , for most men would have hesitated to ( xvi t-h the mutter so simply , and might have permitted , no v . iul of niis" (! » - In the second place ; , I am thinking what 1 can have done to give !" Sl ! ( o such—projects . In the third , I am trying to see if it is possible there could have been any danger . I think not : Charles is too frank tree himself ever to have believed even ' appearances ; ' mul I now see . man was studiously arranging appearances . Hut—it is all over now . 'Kelne f miyht have been made , if you bad not stopped it . " » " « promise d to tell nobody . •<> u are wanted for a trio , " . said King , approaching us with an air of U )( lu ( 'd defiance , amd speaking to Mrs . Jlartvvcll ; " may I lead you to the m ^ nunent ?"

    , j ^ ' " su <> < answered , with 11 self-possession that bore down his impudent ^ ' " I shall place myself under the protection of this gentleman . " ° w dimple the words , how deep the indignation , how bitter the bullied maUc c f

    More than one pair of eyes were watching us with angry vigilance ; but no outward conflict disturbed the unbroken serenity of the evening . So much may pass around us , in the quietest of circles , that we suspect not . But—I observed to Mrs . Hartvvell , who noticed to me the unseen drama of which so man y deeply-interested were unconscious—it is a silence which enables a cunning and hypocritical vice to confound itself with real virtue and abnegation . In real life , " villains are not driven from society / ' they are its most constant attendants .

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    PASSAGES FROM A BOY'S EPIC . XIII . INITIATION . The Princess slept ; and lighting all her sleep A vision came , and with soft luminous rings Encircled her pale face . Nor marvel thou , For where she lies no less than Goddess kneels , And pathos looking out thro' dewy eyes , Tells that the Gods are human . Soon ai'ose The fairest form that ever dreamer saw , And cried , Awake ! - Awake ! Ev ' n as she spoke The vision faded from the sleeper ' s eyes , And like to one long laid in feverish trance , " While months have hui'ried past , and seemed one day , And who when Gods have wrought a sudden cure , Leaps from his couch and wonderingly beholds The true appearances of men and things , Awakened Ariadne . Soon she saw The Eternal Loveliness , and wonder rose To silent worship , till reviving thought Past into words , and thus relieved her soul : * ' Now first I know what love , what nobleness , Adorn the heart , what tender feelings clothe Our mortal -life , as violets the white roots Of antique trees , when the birds call the Spring . I was a dreamer once , and dwelt alone , Or wandered through the blighted woods of life As some lorn child , belated in his play , Wanders thro' lengthening fields and winding lanes , And sobs out helplessly ; but now I wear The delicate white garments of Delight . Henceforth , fair Mother of the Universe \ I shall not live the life of trees and flowers , And toil and grieve as other women do , In the bare desert of Humanity . Hope have I now of more majestic hours ; For is there not a world where music dwells With love ? a world soft gleams of whose blue heaven Thrill gentle souls with dim delicious hopes Till Pleasure smiling trembles into tears !" The Goddess answered : " Such a world there is , And I by all my lovely ministers , In sun and cloud and sylvan "looms remote , Have led thee upward to the golden realms Where dwell the Gods in light and azure eahn . But leave we now this land , for Fate ordains Naxos for close of this high Tragedy . " Uranian Aphrodite , speaking thus , liaised her light wand , and from the loftier sky The magic ear ran down the slanting winds , With gradual motion : in the ear enshrined , The Goddess and the godlike woman rose , With wave of wand , into the parted air ; Now soaring to the Olympian palaces , Until they toucht the overhanging stars ; Now falling till they skirred the . level sea . But when the Isle drew near , with tenser rein , Guiding the ear down purple slopes of air , The Goddess sought the shore . Wild , sheltcrlesa , Barren , and desolate , it streteht away ; With moaning sound , the waves , sluggish and green ,. Plunged over slippery rocks , one lien ; , one there . Leafless and dry , were crouch ! , about tin ; shore Dwarf-featured trees , or images of trees , And ever 'mid their rattling skeletons , Crept a low wailing wind with human tone , And over all , and magnifying all , Rolled like some stagnant sea a yellow mist . Hither the fairest of the Olympians came , And with soft words upon their downward path , Cheering her coursers with the . silver wings , Approneht that savage shore , and pausing then ; , On a gray heap of withered moss threw out Tht : exulting traveller of a ; therial realms . And lo ! while yet her orbs were dim with fear ,

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    November 20 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 1191

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 20, 1852, page 1121, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1961/page/21/