Mr. Breresford liked the woods and dales; if he had taken sketches of the most striking views, as he had proposed; and what he thought to the picturesque appearance of the whole. Breresford bore the laugh with great good humour, saying, that if to inspire terror were one great effect of the sublime, the scenes through which he had passed were, doubtless, entitled to that epithet; but, that he hoped his short stay amongst them would excuse his not having described them with his pencil according to his original intention." And yet," said Mr. Fletcher, we do not find flying through a country, any impediment to describing it, in this ingenious age; formerly, indeed, men of talents and information used to spend twenty years in travelling, and then apologize for any imperfection in their accounts, by stating the difficulty of arriving at facts; but now, a tour for a couple of summer months, is quite sufficient for an elaborate account of the places through which it is made; particularly if illustrated by sketches taken, of course upon the spot, aud no doubt equally faithful with the descriptions which accompany them. So wise are our present travellers; and wiser still is he who travels by his own fire-side, and with a map, a volume or two of good old authors, and quotations from fashionable moderns, and the poets, can make as entertaining a tour as the best of them." Снар CHAP. VIII. Oh, Happiness! our being's end and aim, Say in what mortal soil thou deign'st to grow. POPE FOR some time, affairs went on in an uniform train at Castle Drelincourt; Miss Clayton did not continue her jokes further than she could expect them to be born, Henry made violent love to Lady Harriett, merely pour passer le tems, and Edmund every day gained ground on Lady Laura's esteem, and lost it in his own; half his time was spent at Carisbrocke Castle; every evening he resolved to go there no more, and every morn ing ing he resolved to go once again for the last time. Lady Emma was unhappy, but she saw that Edmund was likewise, and she carefully avoided a look, or word, which he might construe into a reproach: nor were they alone melancholy; Captain Clayton's dejection increased, Edmund perceived it, and anxiously wished to enquire its cause, for he had conceived a regard for him, which was returned by the Captain with the utmost friendship. But it was a subject too delicate to be introduced unless by accident, and Edmund was therefore left to conjecture. Sometimes he thought the eccentricity of Miss Clayton might give her brother uneasiness, but Clayton's mind was too strong to sink under the follies of others, and becoming accustomed to his sister's they ceased to mortify him, nor did he throw away upon them remonstrances which experience had taught him were unavailing. VOL. I. G The The next idea that presented itself, and apparently a more plausible one, was, that he felt hurt by the treatment which he received from the fair goddess of his idolatry, for Lady Rosamond, in common with many other ladies, was fond of exerting her power, and thought that the sure way to try a man's affection, was to treat him alternately as a slave and a fool. Having received every tender avowal from her lover, and her vanity having been gratified by every compliment and praise which partial affection could bestow, she tried all the variety of caprice to rivet more firmly, chains, which however strong, ought never to be felt. She assumed a cold and haughty air to wound his pride, a reserved and dejected one to mortify his love; she was gay when she thought being so would rouse his jealousy, indifferent and careless, when she saw that by such conduct she depressed his hope of pleasing. In short, she was alternately a tyrant and a spoiled child, and he was al ternately |