his plans to his father's opinion, it was, that those plans should be approved of by him, as it was the first instance in which Lord Dunderton and his son had ever agreed. On this occasion he warmly commended his judgment; told him that Lord Courtney's misbehaviour was a good chance for him, that it had made stocks fall, and enabled him to buy in at an easy rate, and that it was an ill wind that blew nobody good. He then enquired minutely concerning the lady's fortune, and was much pleased to find his son well informed as to the particulars of it; in short, he approved of every thing, but advancing the money necessary for the matrimonial expedition. Here he could not conquer the natural reluctance that he felt on parting with a portion of that good, which he had all his life been labouring to acquire, and he argued and bartered with his son respecting the cheapest way of going to work, as he expressed it, as if he was bargaining with a cattle

a cattle-driver to bring him a young filly from a country fair. Four horses, he thought were terribly extravagant, and said it would be quite enough to have them for the first and last stage each way; observing that he had never rode in a carriage with four horses in his life, ex

cept sometimes when going to vote at an

election, and latterly on the Lord Mayor's

day, and such like solemn occasions. In

deed he thought going to Scotland, in any way, was an unnecessary expence, and proposed that the young folks should get married, and keep snug at some of the neighbouring villages for a little time; where, as the country was beginning to be very pleasant, they might have a good bit of pleasure, and fresh air, at little cost, and no risk. To this pleasurable scheme, Mr. Dunderton objected the difficulty of finding a clergyman willing to undertake the dangerous office of joining their hands, as Lady Harriett was under age; he also dwelt upon the ignorance that they

they must betray if questioned concerning a route which they had never taken; but Lord Dunderton engaged to find as many clergymen, as his son could find couples, who would compassionately join them in the holy state, on which our laws have, contrary to their usual wisdom, fixed such severe shackles, that it seems as if they were now conscious of their impolicy, and therefore generously wave the punishment threatened to the daring ministers who shall disregard them. As to the second objection, Lord Dunderton answered very truly, that they would not be the first travellers who had returned home, without being able to communicate information of any part of their route, or the first who had described places which they had never seen. much argument, that threatened to destroy the satisfaction with which both parties had at first considered the subject, Lord Dunderton reluctantly gave his son a draft for one hundred and fifty pounds,

After

advising

advising him not to be over ready in producing it, but to see what cash his bride had about her, as she would willingly assist him with a few loose corns, on such an occasion, if he appeared short run; and" a penny saved was a penny got."

If any thing could have added to Lord Drelincourt's mortification at his son's marriage, it would have been the discovery of his ward's folly, when it was too late to prevent any bad consequences that might arise from it. Lord Drelincourt was too much a man of honor, and too faithful to any trust which he undertook, to feel indifference respecting Lady Harriett's conduct or happiness, now that he had no longer the hope of uniting her to his own family, by the ties of consanguinity. He did not feel any resentment against her, for he considered her as influenced by the sensations of the moment, and the artful allurements of those, who knew how to take advantage of her weakness. But he severely condemned Lord Dunderton,

Dunderton, whom he justly conceived accessary to the design, and he resolved to wait upon him immediately, in order openly to testify his displeasure at so selfish and dishonorable an acquiescence. Lord Dunderton, however protested his entire ignorance of the whole, until he had been informed of it, by a letter from his son; and though the Earl was strongly tempted to give him the lie direct yet his own sacred regard for truth, his conviction of its importance in society, and the contempt, with which he thought every one who deviated from it ought to be treated, made him very unwilling to accuse any one of a breach of it, without the most positive proofs; as after such an accusation, he would have deemed it degrading ever more to hold converse with its object. Eut doubt had taken such strong possession of his mind, that he could not at once dispel it, sufficiently to resume the subject by which it had been inspired. He therefore after a few