than he could ever pay: we were forced to cut him; and his relation, Lord
----, coming into the ministry a year afterwards, got him a place in the
Customs. They live at Brompton: he wears a pepper-and-salt coat, and she
a mob-cap, with pink ribands: they have five hundred a year, and ten
children. Such was the fate of S----'s wife; such may be the fate of
Godolphin's. Oh, Miss Vernon could not marry _him!_"

"You are right, Lord Erpingham," said Constance with emphasis; "but you
take too much licence in expressing your opinion."

Before Lord Erpingham could stammer forth his apology they heard a slight
noise behind: they turned; Godolphin had risen. His countenance, always
inclined to a calm severity--for thought is usually severe in its outward
aspect--bent now on both the speakers with so dark and menacing an aspect
that the stout earl felt his heart stand still for a moment; and Constance
was appalled as if it had been the apparition, and not the living form, of
her lover that she bebeld. But scarcely had they seen this expression of
countenance ere it changed. With a cold and polished smile, a relaxed
brow and profound inclination of his form Godolphin greeted the two: and
passing from his seat with a slow step glided among the crowd and
vanished.

What a strange thing, after all, is a great assembly! An immense mob of
persons, who feel for each other the profoundest indifference--met
together to join in amusements which the large majority of them consider
wearisome beyond conception. How unintellectual, how uncivilised, such a
scene, and such actors! What a remnant of barbarous times, when people
danced because they had nothing to say! Were there nothing ridiculous in
dancing, there would be nothing ridiculous in seeing wise men dance. But
that sight would be ludicrous because of the disparity between the mind