shocked. total overthrow, she pretended to be exceedingly "To be sure," Lady Dashwood said, Lady Frances was a woman who always seemed made for the world, and one might have expected 66 that she would not exactly filer le parfait amour by the fireside-but then with such an inamorato! She might at least have" "Oh!" interrupted Lord Bellamont, “I did not expect her to be a recluse-but never, never to be happy at home!" "It is, to be sure, rather too bad," said Lady Dashwood. "Ah! if she only knew what a treasure she possesses. But "You are very kind, my dear friend," said Lord Bellamont. And now followed a long course of instruction as to the means he should pursue to reclaim her, and the methods he should adopt to rescue his own mind from painful contemplations. As to the first, she assured him, that all attempts to assert his right as a husband to forbid her leading the life she did, could only draw down upon himself the ridicule of the world. "It is always better," she said, " to leave these things to correct themselves. As to the latter," she added, " I, you know, am a sort of Mentor from which you must endure to hear harsh truths." Among other specious advice, she warned him of the dangers of play, an excitement to which, though originally averse, and long indifferent, he had recourse, as people swallow spirits or opium to silence their conscience. "A little harmless ombre or bassette in good society," she would say, "cannot tend to any derangement of fortune. But that horrid club!those blacklegs-those sharpers. Do not, my dear Lord, trust yourself to their manœuvres. At my house, you will always find a party ready to while away a few hours, where you will at the same time be safe." Thus the whole iniquitous train was laid, and took effect, which was to plunge Lord Bellamont in disgrace and ruin; and his own wife was the original promoter of the scheme, not perhaps with a full insight into its ultimate issue, but from the wicked and weak intention of running herself a career of thoughtless and unchecked dissipation. CHAPTER VI. O Nature! a' thy shews and forms Or winter howls in gusty storms The lang dark night. BURNS. How differently had the winter months passed over Lady Emily and General Montgomery in their retirement, and with what a contrast of feelings did they hail the return of spring! Even during the intense rigours of a severe winter, Lady Emily still found a beauty in the landscape : for Nature is never dead to eyes accustomed to read her aright; and the dashing through the spray of a snowy path, the delicate fretwork of frost on the fibres of trees and plants, the pureness of the air, and the cerulean tint of the sky, with the dark colour of the broad Severn, were pleasures and beauties to be admired and tasted by Lady Emily even in wintry hours. The sounds of distant rustic labour or merriment that were borne distinctly through the clear and rarified atmosphere, gave animation and cheerfulness to the otherwise sombre landscape: they told of the vicinage of human beings; and surely utter solitude, however sublime, cannot long be grateful to the heart of social man. They told of the business, the cares, the delight of fellow-creatures, and were circumstances which added a lively interest to the scene. In addition to these, how many pleasing objects rewarded Lady Emily's tasteful eyes in and about their humble dwelling-objects which were all the offspring of her industry and exertion, and thus their value was enhanced tenfold. Her refined perception and enjoyment of beautiful things, took a wide range through the whole province of the endless regions of taste. The comforts and even elegancies of furniture with which she had adorned the interior of their dwelling, were chiefly wrought by her own hand. The blush of early flowers which thickly enamelled the garden, were literally the result of her own culture; the early lilac which perfumed the apartment had been cherished by her through the severity of winter, and coaxed into premature bloom, to surprise her uncle, and make him forget the loss of his forcing houses, or only remember them in order to prove that all things may be supplied by care and love; and chiefly, and above all, the joy she experienced at placing his favourite bunch of violets on his table, could not be compared with that which gold or jewels can afford. From these innocent but evanescent delights, she turned with other sentiments of graver satisfaction to the orphans whom she had converted, not into fine lady playthings, but into tidy, active, useful children, so gentle, so well suited to fill their sphere in life with credit and comfort, that they were living proofs, not only of the endowments of her refined taste, but of her solid understanding; and bore testimony that these qualities are not necessarily incompatible, although they frequently are disjoined. During the long winter nights, Lady Emily alternately plied her needle, or read aloud to the General, or sang to him his favourite songs; and as they retired to rest every night, when he kiss |