Lord Drelincourt had presented a living, was fixed on, as his travelling companion and friend. The family were of course soon acquainted with the intended deprivation of Lord Courtney's society; but the Earl imparted to Lady Drelincourt only, his reasons for hastening his son's departure, and she acquiesced in the necessity of it, whilst she wept at the idea of parting with him, and lamented the unprotected situation of the orphan girl, who had unfortunately won his regard. The period necessary to elapse, before Lord Courtney was in readiness to depart, rolled slowly on in anxiety and sorrow. He was frequently absent from the Castle; but the Earl knew the severity of his trial, and expected no unnatural firmness from him; though he could not but rejoice, as the moment drew near, which would at once terminate his son's conflict and his own suspense, After what we have described him to be, after shewing his character in every pleasing pleasing and domestic light, it is unnecessary to say, that Lord Drelincourt felt, at his approaching separation from his son, all the anguish of a tender, and all the anxiety of a wise parent. He had seen in Lord Courtney the happiest effects of a domestic education; he saw in his estrangement from home a probability of all the favorable appearances which he had witnessed with paternal delight, being blasted by the temptations of vice, or lost in the insignificance of folly. It may be asked, if Lord Drelincourt's enlarged mind could not be brought to consider the world itself as one vast city, where different nations, manners, and opinions, are all lost in the appellation of citizens? It was not that he feared" Antres vast, and desarts idle, and men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders;" he was well convinced, that in all climates, men are essentially the same, and that one mode of conduct will gain the esteem of all alike; but be fore fore he sent his son to traverse the vast city, he wished him to have at least a general idea of its plan, and of the object of his search. He knew that Henry was one of the many who are acted on, almost entirely from accidental causes. He was blest with virtuous inclinations and shining talents; but the careful father saw that the nicest discrimination would be required to guard these endowments from degenerating into vices. The vivacity that rendered him the peculiar favorite of a domestic circle, might among strangers, plunge him into excesses, and the more easily, from the facility with which he yielded to intreaty; and which, though among his friends it could be called by no other name than good-nature, might, among strangers, be productive of the most ruinous consequences. His generosity, under the influence of vanity, might become profusion, and render him the prey of the designing; even his taste for the fine arts, his love of en quiry, and thirst for general knowledge, were now sources of anxiety to the Earl, who feared lest they should induce his son to associate with those in whom the sacred gift of genins is too often rendered of little value by their entire want of conduct. It may be urged that the Earl was so inclined to look on the dark side of probable events, that he gave himself unnecessary pain in thus distrusting a son, who had never deserved the suspicion of being propense to change, merely from a change of air. But the Earl was a tender father, and Lord Courtney was an only son; and such a son as was rare indeed, in the annals of fashion. Many may not enter into Lord Drelincourt's feelings, because there are not many who possess the greatest treasure that Heaven can bestow on man, a child, amiable, virtuous, and dutiful, as Lord Courtney had hitherto been. The Earl had seen some like Henry, like him they had left their native isle, rich in public public and private virtues; the darling of their friends, and making the esteem of those to whom they were dear, their first consideration. He had also seen them return, but alas! how changed! emaciated persons, enervated constitutions, estranged affections and prostituted abilities, were the precious fruits of their travels, the offerings to their mourning disappointed friends. Could he see and not tremble? could he witnes the frailty of expectation, the uncertainty of hope, and not dread the possibility of his brightest prospects being overcast? Filled with melancholy reflections, he sent to Lord Courtney the evening before his departure, requesting his company in the library. He came; a few moments elapsed in unpleasant silence, which at length the Earl broke, by saying in a voice that betrayed all his emotions. " Henry I trust you know how dear you are to me, if you had not een convinced of it before, I could not express it at this time. I love you with the |