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dinner; a summons for which, with all his philosophy, he secretly craved: so that a minute more found him seated at table.

His repast was recherché in the extreme; yet his senses were not pleased, and his palate scarcely excited. Every thing was ill-seasoned, and either too much or too little done. In fact, notwithstanding his craving, he had either waited too long, or was not hungry. In fact too, however strange it may seem, although he had now come sixty miles to be alone, he was almost surprised, and to a cursory observer might have appeared not pleased, to find exactly what he came for. His dinner forced upon his memory (involuntarily, indeed, but not the less strongly) the companions of his banquets in London; and the conversation, the interchange of idea, the lively sallies of polite fellowship, were thought of at least, though not (he said) with regret: on the contrary, as he poured out a bumper of Burgundy, he indulged again in a mental soliloquy upon the delights of solitude, and the unfitness of a man to live who could not live alone.

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"The world," said he, "is so entirely, even in its banquets, a mere vulgar crowd, that the true play of mind is seldom indulged. How different is the noisy contest for pre-eminence in conversationthe impatience of interruption-the struggle for wit that will not come-from this calm and happy re

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."

2

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.

in the highest circles of it: a sort of natural or early acquired fastidiousness: having, even as a younger brother, forbidden much mixture with any

other.

Being the younger son of a younger brother, he was designed, having much quickness of parts, for a learned profession. There was a considerable family living which might have made him easy in fortune; and accordingly, he gave some little time to Divinity. But this pursuit did not prevent the cultivation of those high acquaintance among whom his own connections threw him, and whose manners and notions were particularly pleasing to his frame of mind. He indeed at first loved the court, for the sunshine with which it often dazzles a young bosom; and he thought at one time of pursuing a court life; but soon drew back, from finding that his heart had need of better things. In short, if fashionable society had charms for him, literature and reflection had more; or at least it was always doubtful to which he was most devoted. This disposition at once to refinement and sensibility, pushed as far as it would go, formed at length a peculiarity in his character, which never quitted him; nor was it at all diminished by his being, at the same time, not only peculiarly alive to the charms of female society, but fastidiously nice in his notions of female character. That with much susceptibility, therefore, he was still

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