nothing but their friendlessness to recommend them Yet he was often forced to confess that even these by no means reached, in personal qualifications, the high notions he had formed of the military character; and some of them at last, abandoning him as their protector, got before him by the lowest arts of flattery, and the most vicious complaisance. This excited new disgusts. The whole constitution of the army, he said, was wrong; it was a mistake to suppose it composed of gentlemen; it neither rewarded nor ennobled its members.

In this state of things, he came to a downright quarrel with his General (a relation of his own), for sending home one of his staff with the intelligence of a victory, when another had distinguished himself more in the battle. It was in vain the General condescended to point out, that, in order to avoid invidious distinction, a rule had been adopted to send home officers in their turn. He served out the campaign, and at the end of it quitted the army, with some addition to his reputation on the score of gallantry, and not a little on the score of discontent.

Thus situated, his mind soured, his hopes crossed, his youth wasted, and his fortune spent, an employment of some consequence was offered him about the court: but as it was also a political employment, which required its possessor to support the minister, and as the politics of his family had ever led them to

opposition, he unhesitatingly declined it; assigning the true reason. This gave him considerable éclat ; particularly as he was known to be poor: and it was under these circumstances, that, by the death of an uncle and cousin nearly at the same time, he suddenly found himself master of an immense estate.

Tremaine was now not far from thirty, and his heart beat high at the prospects before him. He resolved to be happy; and if the indulgence of a disposition boundless in generosity, and naturally kind, could confer happiness, he ought to have found it; for it were endless to recount the instances of his active bounty to all who stood in need of it.

But with all this, he was more spoilt than ever. Though no longer in the heyday of youth, he might yet be called young; and all things seemed to court him. Yet his temper grew more and more delicate; and as to his natural fastidiousness, never having discovered that, he of course took no pains to correct it.

At the same time, he had formed to himself strange notions (not, indeed, arising from personal vanity, but from feelings less likely to make him happy) of the power of his situation, combined with his acquirements, always to make his mind suffice to itself, without the least dependence upon the world.

past! It is in solitary reflection alone that we feel ourselves men; and that is the best feast which least interferes with it. Let others bear the burthen of the world! I view it at a distance."

These reflections were diluted with more Burgundy; though neither that, nor any French wine, agreed with his constitution: an inconvenience, however, which he never would allow. As for Port, and all Spanish vintages, they were nothing but liquid fire, and had long been made to yield to this more elegant beverage; to carry off which, it was only necessary to throw in a little coffee; which he now drank in its quintessence, fuming from a silver lamp on the table; while he crowned the latter with no inconsiderable quantity of liqueur, the fire of which, he said, was so subdued that it never annoyed him. This, together with having, without appetite, tasted of almost every dish before him, made him at midnight feel heated and uneasy; and he retired to a bed of down, where, not having subdued his body with any fatigue, he was surprised to find that he could not sleep.

CHAP. II.

RETROSPECTIVE HISTORY OF A MAN OF REFINEMENT.

"The Courtier's, Soldier's, Scholar's eye, tongue, sword.”

SHAKSPEARE.

THUS passed the evening of the arrival of Tremaine at his retirement; that retirement which he had so sighed for, amidst many a scene of tumult and vexation, in the world where he had taken a lead. It is true, he thought of it most when least successful in any object he might be pursuing. But still his mind dwelt often with genuine pleasure on the charms of tranquillity, and the usefulness, the independence, and even the necessity of frequent seclusion. Accordingly, at Court, in the Senate, or in the heat and crowd of assemblies, particularly when things went ill, he always consoled himself with the notions of that happy life, which, in a philosophical retreat, and with unbounded leisure, he was sure of commanding. His friends, indeed,. told him (and he was not displeased at the liberty) that he had yet no right to such an indulgence; that

the world still wanted him,-either to oppose the most corrupt of administrations,* or to become a minister himself. But in reply he used to say that he must live for himself, as well as his country; and that it was in the meridian, not in the wane of life, that man could best assert the dignity of retreat. He was fond, on these occasions, of quoting the philosophic Temple, of whom it had been said by Hume, "that he was a man whom philosophy had taught to despise the world, without rendering him unfit for it." He would dwell, too, upon that exclamation of King Charles II. when he found Sir William too restless to give his mind to a great public question: "So, get ye gone to Shene! we shall have no good of you till you have been there." Sir William Temple's, indeed, was a full mind. Was Tremaine's, then, a vacant one? Certainly not; for his real character must not be inferred from the little traits we have hitherto related of him, but from the history which we shall have occasion to give of his past life, and of that portion of it which followed the scene in which we have just exhibited him.

We have said that Tremaine was in the meridian of his age. He had formerly read much, and he had lived a great deal in the world; though chiefly

* The administration of the time being is always the most corrupt of administrations.