nature of an amicable suit, in which we are all so sorry (particularly I assure you, her Majesty herself) to hear he is likely to succeed."

And with these words, and fifty bows, the happy knight, (happy in having been admitted to this visit) took his leave.

"And is it thus," said Lady Eleanor, as soon as he was gone, "that the world can palter with facts? and are these the certainties by which men's actions are judged? If this story be admitted as not false, what history can be true?"

"This, and my cousin's letter," observed Constance, "are enough to render one afraid of the world.

What I saw of it before, did not make me in love with it; what I hear of it now, makes me dread to return to it. Yet with such persons as Lord and Lady Clanellan, and you, dearest aunt, and Mr. Wentworth, and a few more, human nature cannot be so bad as Mr. Harclai sometimes says it is. At the same time I am still puzzled with what my cousin Mortimer means by taking his revenge of it."

Lady Eleanor said she was puzzled too, in which she perhaps spoke more from a wish to quiet the agitation of her niece, than from ignorance of the meaning of her son. The walk, however here ended, and the morning passed in that sort of serious abstraction, amounting not quite to sadness, but far distant from that happy calm which is always so incompatible with a state of suspense.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE COURT.

You are well encountered here, my cousin Mowbray."

Is that the law?

SHAKSPEARE.

SHAKSPEARE.

WILLINGLY Would we return to the public interests of this interesting time, from which many readers may think we have been too long absent. For the star of Mr. Wentworth had begun to prevail over that of his rival; and from the advance towards an improved state of being, of every kind, throughout the nation, which we formerly touched upon, the influential ranks in the state looked for a spirit more decidedly patriotic than they found in the trimming politics of the minister. In fact, not to repeat former topics, Lord Oldcastle's government was so little cemented by any known great principle, that, upon the smallest concussion, it was ready to fall to pieces over his head. But to this we cannot yet return; for we own ourselves so absorbed in the private fate of De Vere, and of her whose interests seemed to govern him more than his own, that perhaps we may be forgiven if we pursue that part of his story to its end, although it may carry us, in point of time, a little beyond some other incidents, which are yet of no small consequence to our general design.

The arrival of De Vere and Harclai in town made a considerable change in the face of things; and Herbert, who was on the spot, did not now refuse his counsel. The rectitude of the President, upon being informed of the probable reality of things, could not withhold his opinion, when asked by De Vere; but before he took any active part, he requested, and obtained leave to

consult Lord Clanellan, as the guardian of Constance. "I so entirely," said he, "love and admire that exemplary creature, that even my love for, and desire to benefit you, would not permit me to stir hand or foot to do her harm." De Vere forgave him from the bottom of his heart.

The good President, however, felt relieved when he found from Lord Clanellan, that in the opinion of all that part of the family, the real question was between De Vere and Lord Cleveland; and he willingly therefore brought to De Vere's little council the aid of all that ability and shrewdness, tact and knowledge, for which he was so remarkable.

It was presently known, that, as between De Vere and his cousin, the suit had become purely amicable. By degrees, too, the truth respecting Lord Cleveland slipped out. The scene with Silverlock in Kensington gardens, was accurately stated; and the consequence was, that no private cause, save perhaps that of Douglas or Annesley, ever excited the public interest more. The effect upon Lord Cleveland may be conceived. He was lowered in that predominance which in every thing he affected; he was accused as a grasping man, who would, if he could, take advantage of a legal flaw, to deprive a family of their undoubted rights. His unhappiness of mind only increased; and though while under the actual excitement of the process, his feelings perhaps were smothered, yet in the solitude of his closet, or his chamber, he was a remarkable instance that, in point of real prosperity, he with whom the world seems to go best, may sometimes envy those whom it appears to favour least.

As the final hearing approached, Lord Cleveland's anxiety became almost unbearable. It was not that he now hoped success for the sake of the wealth it would bring to himself; but for the sake of that which it would keep from another. It is certain that with external coolness, and even carelessness of manner, he execrated himself a thousand times a day, for the chances of fortune which he had thus forced upon De Vere. Sad ex

ample of that want of regulation, and that habitual worldly indulgence, which were the original causes of his mental ruin.

Upon the hearing, the court was crowded. Peers and ministers were upon the bench, where also appeared Mr. Wentworth, who seemed, from first to last, to be as interested as any of the parties. Lord Clanellan mixed with his friends, and talked undisturbedly of the cause. Lord Cleveland did so, too, and talked of Newmarket. De Vere would have been absent, but for the absolute requisition of his counsel, who said that there were points upon which he must not refuse to put himself under their guidance. Not so, Harclai, whom the requisition of the same counsel could not keep away, and whose saturnine countenance, as arguments pressed for or against, showed itself in a manner sometimes even to interrupt the peaceableness of the proceedings.

The counsel for Lord Cleveland began. He took high ground, and reasoned strenuously and cogently upon the positive enactment of the deed, in favour of his client, and the total want of it on the part of Lady Constance. He marked the pointed difference in the rules of law, as applicable to deeds, or wills; that the one was technical, the other general; the will open to explanation by common phrases; the deed always strict, and construed to the letter. Hence the preamble to the will was always something, to a deed generally nothing. But under either, he said, Lady Constance must fail; as, from the whole tenor of the settlement, whether in the preamble or the body of it, nothing could be clearer than that an heir male, and not a female, should succeed. Who that heir male was to be, was the question; and he contended that it could only be Lord Cleveland. "For although," continued he, "the descendants of Maria, Countess of Mowbray, are pointed at in the preamble, and that might avail to show intention, if it were a will; yet it cannot stand in competition with a positive; unambiguous, known form of conveyance, such as that, upon the extinction of the title of Mowbray, the estates shall go to the Earl of

Cleveland, in tail male." He admitted that there was the faint expression of failing Lord Mowbray and his heirs,' without saying heirs male; but this, he contended, was merely incidental, and could not stand against the clear, definite proposition in the deed above-mentioned, But if farther proof could be wanting, it was put expressly out of doubt by the provision made for female descendants, by a fixed sum of money to be charged upon the estate. Then, as to the claim of Mr. De Vere, the same reasoning, with the exception that he was not provided for at all, applied against him, for that his claim was chiefly founded on the preamble, which in the mere general language of common parlance, states it to be the intention of the settler, that the estates shall go to the descendants of Maria, Countess of Mowbray. But could this even pass for any thing of itself, it was positively contradicted by the express proposition in the body of the deed, in regard to the succession of the Earl of Cleveland, upon the extinction of the title of Mowbray. Upon this the advocate took his stand, and pressed the judgment of the court.

The audience, for the most part, were impressed by this argument, to which the court listened with patient attention; after which, it turned to the counsel for Lady Constance, who had at least the comfort and support of the good wishes, and, so far, of the encouragement of all who heard him. When he began a discussion on the technicalities of law, there was indeed little kindling; but when he proposed to put them all aside, for the sake of common sense and common justice; and when, as he said, he came forward in defence of a noble, but unprotected orphan, whose inheritance it was sought to spoil, and who had nothing to trust to but her natural rights and the shield of the law, all hearts were with him, and the great magistrate on the bench seemed himself to give him his sympathy.

The audience appeared to go along with this feeling, and, but for their sense of decorum, so characteristic of an English court of justice, they were disposed to mark their concurrence by indications which reverence for the administration of the laws, alone forbade.