that had befallen himself and Rose, whose virtue and good sense have hithand then I asked him how he could dare to speak of a lady lovely and virtuous like Patrick's wife as an odious woman. Patrick replied with an apology for his brother. He had never spoken of her, or thought of her as an "odious woman," but I well knew that his marriage had brought him nothing but unhappiness, and that the bond was nothing but a legal tie, which law courts could dissolve. I turned to Mademoiselle de L"I have given you credit," I said, "in all our intercourse for good sense and good feeling, am I to change my opinion of you, to-day?" erto inspired me with such high esteem? What can you hope for? Do you not see that in ruining our family you will infallibly sacrifice your own reputation? For if my brothers bring this matter into the law courts, I will defend my sister-in-law's rights until I die. I will influence the judges. I will open their eyes. All France shall know what to think of you." She burst into tears, and answered that she had no wish to trouble the repose of our family. That she had never had any hope that the marriage could be dissolved until Lord Tenermill had assured her of the favor of the king, and the opinion of the law Then Tenermill, as usual, made light|yers. of what he called my "too delicate Here Rose broke in, and confirmed scruples," and then, turning to Mademoiselle de L, said, "Trust to me, and feel easy. I promise you that two days hence our good brother will see things just as we do, and doubtless will beseech you to let his be the hand that bestows on you the nuptial benediction." her words, adding many things in her justification. But the moment I perceived that Rose was on her side I sighed bitterly, and felt that there was no one left in whom I could place confidence. Count S-, where at any hour you can find me. Make all arrangements you think proper for my wife. Do everything you can to make her comfortable." My two brothers at last came back to me, and Patrick, who was the spokesWith that he made a sign to the two man, thanked me for not having told ladies to leave the room. 66 Stop!" I my sister-in-law that they were in the cried, before they did so, "and tell house, for that under present circumme," I added, turning to Tenermill, stances he could not see her. "We "what charges you can bring that will leave you now," he said. "We might secure a decision against a can meet in Paris. I am staying with woman as amiable, as affectionate, as virtuous as your sister-in-law? She has even quitted her own country for Patrick's sake. She is at this very moment in this house. She has come here to follow his fortunes, or to stand by his side in danger. If you bring this matter to trial she shall not be undefended. She is rich enough to pay lawyers. She is a woman of energy and spirit, and I will stand by her to the last moment, pitying her misfortunes, and admiring her virtue." Though much in this speech roused my indignation, I endeavored to restrain my feelings. It seemed to me there was more to be feared than hoped from an interview between Patrick and his wife at that moment, and I reflected, too, that if I was to bring Patrick back by my exhortations to his duty, what I said would have more effect in private than in the presence of so large a company. However, I offered two objections. One was that through the servants my lady would be almost sure to hear that their master had been at ing into our family. the house and had not seen her; “and "Can you do this," I said, "you in the second place," I said, “how will Great was their astonishment as I made this speech. My two brothers and Count S― drew apart and spoke in whispers, whilst I profited by the opportunity to reproach Mademoiselle de L for the trouble she was bring it look if she is lodged in a strange added that they had left as soon as I house in Paris, where she cannot fail was called away to her ladyship, but to know that Rose and Tenermill have that they had not gone far before Miss set up an establishment." Rose had sent him back to tell me that I had better take my sister-in-law to Les Saisons. I had tears in my eyes and bitterness in my heart as I spoke thus to them. Before they could answer a commotion in the rooms above startled us, and one of my sister-in-law's servants, abruptly interrupting us, asked me to come to her. I hastened to obey. This man, who was much in the confidence of his mistress, the same whom she had sent to follow me when I went to the house of Anglesey, had found his way to her, notwithstanding the precautions I had taken, and had told her, not only that his master and several of his family were in the house, but also what he had heard from Count S- -'s servants, that there was a project of divorce on foot, against which he warned her. I found her in a terrible state of agitation of anger and of jealousy. At first she was disposed to accuse me of having had a share in the treachery. I could only pacify her by promising that in twenty-four hours without fail I would bring her husband back to her. "Trust me," I cried, "trust my honor and my zeal. Nothing can be done against you in one day. I have plans that I had rather not explain to you. If the hope I have that my brother may listen to my advice should fail, I give you my word that the measures I shall adopt as a last resort will succeed infallibly." But my present difficulty was where to find lodgings. At that moment my old servant Joe presented himself. He explained the unexpected arrival of so large and unwelcome a company by telling me that my man had given my message to Count S― and had then set off to Les Saisons, where I had told him he would probably find Lord Tenermill. Meantime, Count Shad hurried to give the good news to my brothers and Rose, who were in Paris, and taking the whole party in his coach, had come to greet me. They had all arrived at St. Denis greatly delighted at at the thought that I was there. Joe This at least relieved my mind from a present anxiety. I sent Joe to our country house at once to get things ready for our arrival, and I went back to my sister-in-law, whose anger had given place to despair. "I know too well," I said, “what reasons you have for complaint; but do not make things worse by indulging unfounded suspicions. You are expected at Les Saisons. Rose can hardly have sent you a message to that effect without the consent and approval of your husband.” This seemed somewhat to comfort her; and during our little journey I talked to her in a way that I hoped might give her courage and tranquillity. But alas! we had no sooner arrived at our country place than she became so ill that her women put her to bed, and I sent in all haste for a doctor. As I sat beside her, she opened her heart to me as she had never done before. I was more indignant at her husband's conduct than she was. I was almost ready to start at once for Saint Germain, to throw myself at the king's feet and implore him to lend no countenance to a divorce, which seemed to me the utmost stretch of cruelty. Just then I heard a carriage entering the courtyard. I supposed that it was that of the doctor whom I had sent for. What, therefore, was my astonishment when I went down to receive him, to find myself met by Mademoiselle de Land Rose ! "What brings you here ?" I cried. Then turning abruptly to Mademoiselle de L- I exclaimed, "How dare you enter a house that owes suffering and sorrow to you?" My sister stopped me, saying in Irish that they came on a mission of peace and reconciliation, and that I should be sorry for my harshness to her companion when I knew what she had come to say. She then turned into a small room, where Mademoiselle de L circumstances what sank into Under these a chair, while Rose explained a plan could I do but offer her hospitality at that had been formed among them. Les Saisons? —and she was carried to Mademoiselle de L- renounced all a room as far off as possible from that pretensions to the hand of Patrick, but in which lay my unfortunate sister-inthey would all form one family. As law. soon as Rose was married Mademoi- This arrangement having been made, selle de L should live with her, I had a few words with Rose, who and be to her like a sister. "To this blamed me for what she called my arrangement," she said, “ Mademoiselle prejudice against Mademoiselle de de L consents. She shows noble L- "It is true," she said, "that generosity in thus sacrificing her dear-she and Patrick are ardently attached est hopes to the peace and honor of to one another, and it was a cruel disour family. But I dare hardly answer pensation of Providence that separated for Patrick. He thinks he has cause their fates, but if you knew Mademoiof just complaint against his wife. I selle de L- as I do, and if you had can hardly hope he will pardon her more confidence in Patrick, you would what passed between him and Dilnich, trust their perfect innocence and sinwhich was all her doing." cerity. They were thunderstruck when they learned of poor Sara's arrival in France, and though they had begun to form new hopes, her coming has put an end to them. Mademoiselle de L- has perceived that the publicity likely to be given the affair might injure her reputation and her honor. She has told Patrick that she can never marry him. He received this announcement like a sentence of death. Then George interposed, and approved the plan which we have come here to propose to my sister-in-law." I knew that I could set that matter right by telling what I knew from my brother's valet, and from Dilnich, but I was not prepared to assent to this plan of family union, remembering too well the words once spoken by George. Before I had time, however, to say anything to Rose, they came and told me that the doctor had arrived, and I went to hear his opinion. It was very unfavorable. He said that her ladyship had received some violent mental shock, and that unless some remedy could be found for that, his art would be unavailing. Rose had hardly recovered from her astonishment at the indignation with which I at once rejected this plan, when a servant announced the arrival of George and Patrick. Before I could speak they overwhelmed me with questions. Had I seen Rose? What did my sister-in-law say? How had she received Mademoiselle de L-? I יי, Rose had accompanied me to the sick-room, but I refused to let Mademoiselle de L― come with her. The doctor's report was so alarming that I thought it my duty to send off an express for Patrick. I begged Rose to leave her sister-in-law to her women, as her cares and caresses seemed only "Thank Heaven you have come," to irritate her, and I was sending off said to Patrick. "Your wife is so ill the messenger to Paris when I heard a that the doctor fears for her life. sharp cry. Running into the room Come with me and see what you can where we had left Mademoiselle de do for her. Listen for a moment to L—, I found her lying unconscious the voice of duty and compassion." on the floor, with Rose bending over George interrupted me: "He is quite her. Happily, the doctor was at hand. ready to see his wife," he said. “You We sent for him, but it was long be- ought to give him credit for his good fore he brought her to herself, and intentions." "Ah! all advice from then he told me in a whisper, that you is suspicious," I cried. George there was more immediate danger in laughed, as if he felt himself superior her case than in that of the lady who to my reproaches. was lying ill up-stairs. 66 Meantime we had gone up to my sister-in-law's chamber. Patrick en- | accumulated custom and tradition, tered with a brisk step, and kissed her" broadening down from precedent to with many kind expressions of regard precedent," and undergoing changes and of politeness. His words and his which are not the less sure because presence seemed like water on a they make no stir. It is, in a word, thirsty ground. I seized the opportu- what jurists have agreed to call a flexnity to give some little explanations, ible and not a rigid constitution. It and called upon Patrick to confess that is then only natural to suppose that he would never have thought of taking within the present century time's steps to divorce his wife, had it not "thievish progress " has left its mark been for what had passed with Dilnich, upon it. The great central institutions and on Sara to say that she had never stand apparently unmoved, but the instigated her uncle's violence, and stream of time runs on, and slowly but that, save what concerned that matter, surely tells upon the fabric. It looks her husband had always treated her outwardly the same, but the careful with tenderness and consideration. eye can detect the changes which do "Your unhappiness, my dear sister," I not lie upon the surface. The present said, comes from unfounded suspi- Parliament is the twenty-fifth of the cions, which can be destroyed in a United Kingdom of Great Britain and moment. My brother is here to promIreland. We have therefore had an ise you all the fidelity and the tender- experience of nearly a century of such ness due to you as his wife, and I am Parliaments, and it may be interesting sure you will not suspect him of bad to take a rapid glance backwards, and faith in thus returning to you freely see what can be gleaned from such a and voluntarily." survey of the now closing century of our Parliamentary history. 66 Patrick sealed this promise with a kiss, and Sara appeared fully satisfied. Alas! I should have felt more confidence in Patrick had I not known that it would be impossible to keep from him the knowledge that Mademoiselle de L was in the house, and that her life, too, was in danger. Under these circumstances, I thought it best to tell him this at once, and to take him myself to her room, where I might hope that my exhortations to duty might enable them both to achieve a victory over their unhappy inclina tions. Something in the first place must be said of the relative durations of Parliaments and ministries. It will have been observed that the twenty-five Parliaments of the century have had an average life of about four years apiece. But their respective fates have been curiously divergent. A few have lived to a green old age, while of others the thin-spun thread has been early cut. Three only have lasted over six years, and only seven over five; so that the proportion of long-lived Parliaments is comparatively small. In three cases life has failed to reach a single year. Having regard to the average it may be said that the Septennial Act has proved of much less importance than might have been predicted. For many years, indeed, during the reign of THE British Constitution is the George the Third it was a common grandest example of the type which thing for Parliaments to die a natural is not made but grows. It knows death, but things are now so altered, not the day of its nativity; it came that the advocates of triennial Parlianot forth into the world full-blown ments would gain little satisfaction by from some ingenious and constructive the change. Contemporaneously with brain; its natural elasticity has never these twenty-five Parliaments there been confined within the range of have been up to the time of Mr. Gladany document. It is an accretion of stone's retirement a succession of From Macmillan's Magazine. THE PARLIAMENTS AND MINISTRIES OF THE CENTURY. As Byron Nought's permanent among the human race, twenty-nine ministries; but after mak- that the Whigs held office. Except the Whigs not getting into place. Those who are accustomed to the present uniform swing of the pendulum from one side to the other, may well reflect with amazement upon a time when one of the great parties in the State, with one brief exception, was excluded from office for nearly half a century. It is a fact which is eloquent with a meaning. This Whig ministry, the "Ministry of all the Talents," with Lord Grenville as premier and Fox as foreign secretary, had a very brief existence. They proposed a measure of Catholic relief. The king not only forbade them to introduce the bill, or even to offer him any advice upon the subject, but also endeavored to extort from them a pledge that they would never presume to do so again. They refused, were dismissed, and a Tory ministry with the Duke of Portland at its head was appointed in their place. It was in this government, it may be noted, that Lord Palmerston, then a young man of twenty-three, held his first office as a lord of the Admiralty. This ministry immediately advised a dissolution, and taking advantage of the favoring breezes of the hour, they A brief and rapid sketch of the Parliaments and ministries, sufficient to bring into relief their salient characteristics, will enable us to trace the changes which have crept into the succeeded in obtaining a substantial spirit and the working of our Parliamentary institutions. The first Parliament of the United Kingdom, which was merely the continued existence of one elected in 1796, met in January, 1801, and was dissolved in the autumn of the following year. Pitt was at this time the one indispensable man who alike possessed the king's confidence and the capacity to govern. Addington tried to do it for a while, but Pitt alone was equal to the times, and he was premier when he sank beneath the cares of office in 1806. This was a year which was marked by events of great constitutional importance. It was then, for the first time since the rise of Pitt in 1783, and for the last time until 1830, majority. Then ensued in home politics a long period of monotonous routine. If the administration was safe, it certainly was dull. It was an age of respectable mediocrities. Burke's stately eloquence, Fox's generous ardor, and Pitt's administrative genius, were a memory to treasure, and that was all. When the mantles fell there were none to take them up. The Duke of Portland died in 1809, and was succeeded by Spencer Perceval, a conscientious minister, whose useful services did not screen him from the gibes of the malicious and the witty. It was recorded to his credit that he was "faithful to Mrs. Perceval and kind to the Master Percevals;" but it was somewhat cruelly added that "if pub |