"Indeed," observed Lord Delaware; "I little thought your friend was such an inimitable comedian; such a performance would not have disgraced a metropolitan actress. If Miss Avondale had been tied to a husband whom it was necessary to fondle and spoil, she could not have done it better; she seems to know, if I dare use the expression, the weak side of your mother.”

"Oh! she sways her as she likes, and never uses the power amiss; and well she knows the effect political objects have upon her," said Cleveland; "but I owe her much, and years of gratitude cannot repay the kind words she has whispered for me into the ears of my dear mother, when her mind has been at all affected by unforeseen events."

The following morning the freeholders of Eglinton, the neighbouring borough represented by Cleveland, sent a deputation to offer their thanks for the unwearied exertions of their independent member; and to assure him, that his integrity would be rewarded by a re-election at the ensuing termination of Parliament.

Lady Mary Cleveland observed to Lord Delaware, she was happy her son had acted in the way best adapted to satisfy his own feelings, but she regretted he had not lent his support to that party which was studying the best interests of the nation, by upholding the power of the king, and turning a deaf ear to the useless clamour of the versatile mob.

To this his Lordship replied, that opinions must always differ on the subject; anxious as he was for the welfare of her son, it was a point which he never discussed.

"Am I then to suppose," Lady Mary immediately replied, "you have no political bias."

"Pardon me," he answered, "I have strong feelings on the subject; but I am unwilling, except when called on by the public, to enter upon a subject which claims to itself such warm partizans, that it is incompatible with friendship; but I confess myself an ardent admirer of the conduct your son has pursued; and our principles bear some resemblance."

Would," said Lady Mary, "my son could support that system which, whilst it reflects honour on himself, could secure those advantages which are denied to the followers of opposition." "His honesty, madam, is the only adviser he has; reply of his Lordship.

was the

From this moment, Lady Mary declared herself an enemy to Lord Delaware; to her it appeared, that her views in life were to be thwarted, and that the prospects to which she had so fondly looked forward, were to be obscured, by the interference of one, who pretended to have no open opinion to guide him.

At this moment Cleveland, accompanied by Miss Avondale, joined them: he related his interview with his constituents, and expressed his satisfaction at the reception he had met with, and exclaimed, "How well a British public repays the least appear

ance of feeling a wish to promote its welfare;" to which his mother answered,

"Yes, the mob bestows its indiscriminate applause, it visits the just and the unjust."

"But," said Miss Avondale, " the patriotism which has always guided your son, seems to be the theme of admiration; not the glare of vivid brilliancy, which whilst it enlightens, strikes the beholder dead.”

"I believe," said Lady Mary Cleveland, "you have all learnt some fine rhetorical flourishes from the amiable orators of the day, or you would avoid a theme as disgusting as it is disgraceful."

"This I did not expect from you, my dearest mother," said Cleveland.

Lady Mary said, "You must be aware that my relationship to the Earl of Bristol, a man who does honour to the noble situation he fills, must make me anxious you should support the measures he proposes."

"With Lord Bristol I can never coincide," was the reply of Cleveland,

This conversation appeared trivial to Lord Delaware, but it was the cause of once more awakening a difference of opinion between an affectionate parent and an attached son, which became the source of daily regret.

Week after week passed on, and still Lord Delaware found himself an inmate of the house of his friend; yet he disliked the country, and could not account to himself for his unwillingness to leave it.

He thought Miss Avondale's manner singular, and it awoke within him feelings, to which he was formerly a stranger; yet he felt no attachment to her, and looked upon her as the person most likely to be the future wife of his friend.

It was now the time for his departure; he left the manor with regret, and anticipated the pleasure he should enjoy when they met for the season in London.

Cleveland thanked him for the unexpected protraction of his visit, and said, "Many a heart that has long been sad for the absence of all that was charming, would now beat with redoubled ́animation, and the arrival of Lord Delaware would be hailed in London as a joyful event; for me, I must vegetate somewhat longer, till the sombre colour of my clothes can be exchanged for the fantastic fashions of the day; but in three months time, my mother will take up her residence in Dover-street, to give her fair ward an opportunity of throwing off the melancholy the country gives. We shall see then, I know, but little of you. Your time, Lord Delaware, is so much occupied with all the joys of the town, that our only place of meeting is a club-room: but I wish you to be the guide of Miss Avondale."

To this Lord Delaware replied, "He should be proud of the

privilege this important office would give him-he should love to be the shadow of so excelling a form."

"Your are right," said Cleveland, "a shadow gives no shade; and you must add lustre to every one you come near—a glorious coronet of light."

But Lady Mary said, with rather an angry look, "I have an objection to make; Lord Delaware is no lover of a family with whom it is my most anxious wish we should be most intimate. Lord Bristol's opinions differ so much from Lord Delaware's, I should fear their coming in contact."

"On that subject you may rest satisfied," said his Lordship. "I cannot feel with him as a public character, but I entertain no hostile opinion towards him; and in private life, I must forget those causes of disagreement which arise in both parties, from a wish to promote the welfare of the country."

"No!" said Lady, Mary, "I feel how much life may be embittered by entertaining opinions so much at variance, and never can my doors be thrown open so widely to receive an oppositionist as a friend of the ministry; and you must pardon my sincerity, when I assure you, as a guest, you will be more welcome when time has changed your opinions; and for my son, he must not lose one iota of my affection, which must be the case, if he proceeds in the unfortunate path he now treads. But we now part, adieu, Lord Delaware, and gain my regard and my esteem, by teaching my son to think differently.'"

"I must, indeed," said Lord Delaware, "bid you adieu, for I cannot make any one inconsistent. I hope," turning to Miss Avondale," my unfortunate opinions have given me no unpleasant appearance in your eyes."

Certainly not," was the only answer Miss Avondale gave. The carriage was at the door, and without a further farewell, Lord Delaware was on his road to London. A thousand mixed ideas crossed his mind; he had felt an interest for one who scarcely thought of him; he had lost the opportunity of cultivating her acquaintance, for Lady Mary's observation was a polite denial. She had fairly told him, or led him to imagine, that, unless he exerted an influence over her son, to induce him to become an agent of the noble lord at the head of the administration, it was in vain for him to hope he could be a welcome friend. He arrived at the St. James's hotel, and encountered his old acquaintance, Sir George Burrell, a young man of fashion, who acquired notoriety by an indolent, yet haughty, manner. He possessed considerable wit and quickness, but mingled it with such careless impudence, as to excite around him a sort of fear: his replies were generally buzzed about, and he was looked on as a superior genius by many of the gay world; he had a high opinion of Lord Delaware, and courted his friendship.

"Why," said Burrell," in what delicious nook have you been gaining such ruddy health? You look most amiably. Has the western breeze been fanning your cheek, or has the ray of royalty given you resplendence? Have you been Brightonizing?"

No," said the Earl, "I have been with Cleveland."

Oh, oh," said Burrell, preparing some alarming cuts for the pilot who weathers the storm-"we are to have a glorious session, and report says, you muster strong enough to throw out the present men; but beware of trusting that Cleveland too much; I like him well enough, but his mamma has the curb in her own hand; she will make him play Jaffier, and you, my exquisite Pierre, as a pundit would call a peer-will have to regret your plot was in the hands of a mis-guided man; for that Miss Avondale, whom I have not lately met, notwithstanding her demure looks, can turn a saint or a sinner which way she pleases." Why," said Lord Delaware, "where did you pick up your information? where have you met Lady Mary and the young lady?"

Oh," said Sir George Burrell," we were kittens together; that Mary Avondale and I, were once as pretty a pair of horses as ever ran in a curricle. Her uncle's property joined mine, and I never went out with the gamekeeper, stopped to give hay to my horse at the public-house, or spoke to a fat farmer's wife, but I was sure to hear some fine phrases of country admiration for this amiable piece of perfection. She made flannel petticoats for the old women, breeches for the men, and rods for all the snub-nosed children in the surrounding villages. My good father, rest his soul, used to look through his spectacles, in a very unbaronet kind of way, and recommend me, whenever her name was mentioned, to marry a prudent, virtuous woman, who had a good fortune. We have not married, you see; but, my dear Lord, is she about to end in amazement with this learned Theban, your Cleveland, of whom I never should have had a thought, but that he was a friend of yours? For me, I never fancied his stiffnecked Presbyterianism, for I know no other name for his virtues. Do you think she likes him?"

"Indeed," said Delaware, "I have seen nothing that gives me any reason to suspect an attachment. But I must say, I think your fears of Cleveland unfounded; we shall have a glorious struggle, and you will find he will not desert his standard," continued Lord Delaware; "and I, though caring but little for politics, long for this approaching meeting with the foe."

"I am going," said Burrell," to Exeter House, where hopes are high; but Lord Bristol is too strong-he has, they say, bought over the Aubreys; they rat it immediately. Lord Aubrey is to be an Earl, and the pretty Miss Aubreys will be, by courtesy, what they never would be by manners.'

"Hey!" said Delaware. "Is it a decided fact; can a man of Lord Aubrey's talent-his as yet unshaken integrity-play his party false?"

"Yes," said Burrell, "and William Aubrey is to go out ambassador to the moon, or envoy extraordinary to the king of the snow-mountains, a thing I don't dislike. You know we are rather rivals in the good graces of Catherine Peyton, and I think she hates snow and the man in the moon, and if he goes we shall not remain one and one. And Charles Aubrey, a fellow I never liked; and who, by-the-by, hates you and Cleveland most heroically, is certainly to be under secretary to Bristol, and looks more impudent than ever."

"

"Yes," replied Delaware, "I am aware he is no friend of mine". No, nor of any one, excepting Mrs. Avondale, the mother of Cleveland's curiosity."

"How!" said Delaware," is Miss Avondale's mother-in-law acquainted with Charles Aubrey?"

"Yes," said Burrell; "and as we know he would bow down to the head of a crocodile well gilt, we may expect her gold will induce him to sacrifice his valuable liberty, at the shrine of that disgusting hag; who, having robbed a child of its parents' affection, wishes to secure a husband, who may get some day that for which her heart palpitates-a foolish, vain title; and if Charles gets that, she marries him."

"Ah!" said Delaware, "how little do we know the world; I once fancied Charles Aubrey was my friend-his public views were the same, his integrity was unimpeached, and he knew most of the secrets of my heart!"

"Yes," said Burrell," he has no longer the power, I am happy to say, of imposing on your Lordship. Will you go this evening to Exeter House? We shall see some pleasant people; and many, who, when they know you are hovering about, will be joyed to see you."

"A thousand thanks!" said his Lordship, "but I am not in the vein."

Adieu, then," said Sir George Burrell, who was overjoyed to whisper into the ears of a thousand fair ones, the news of the arrival of " the glass of fashion, and the mould of form."

Where can he have been?" said Lady Harriet Clifford to Burrell; who, putting on his air of sloth and nonchalance, said, "Picking strawberries, and eating peaches at Cleveland."

"But what," said Lady Harriet," kept him there?"

"Lady Mary," replied Burrell," to whom he is shortly-but you look mortified, it is only a report, I assure you."

Why," said Lady Harriet, "you cannot mean to insinuate

he is going to marry the dowager.'

"

"

Nothing more certain," was the answer.

Why, Sir George, the firmament will fall next!"