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"His Grace was accustomed to say that he had only one misfortune, and it was a great one; he had no home. His family had married so many heiresses, and he consequently possessed so many halls and castles, at all of which, periodically, he wished, from a right feeling, to reside, that there was no sacred spot identified with his life in which his heart, in the bustle and tumult of existence, could take refuge."

His metropolitan mansion was on the same magnificent scale. 66 The Duke was one of

has ever been achieved in this way than the or more to each separate group, without description of the struggles of the leaders regard to the insignificant fact that they are of society-beautiful women, statesmen, scarcely more connected with each other and dignitaries of rival priesthoods for than the different shoots in an asparagusthe control of this young money-bag. bed. First Lothair visits the ducal seat of "London," we are told, was at Lothair's Brentham, the owner of which suffered to a feet." Like Mrs. Jarley, he was the de-degree unusually severe from the embarras light of the nobility and gentry. No ball, de richesses :— no dinner-party, is considered complete without the presence of the gilded youth. Potent, grave, and reverend signiors exercise the most astute diplomacy in approaching him, and gravely discuss with him the most momentous questions, displaying the deference, the cunning, and the perseverance which might be appropriate in gaining over some great potentate who carried the destinies of a nation in his pocket, but which seem ludicrously disproportioned to their singularly feeble object. It is true the few gentlemen in London who lived in a that they talk terrible nonsense and terrible palace." This fortunate peer had several twaddle still it appears to be the best daughters, each more beautiful than the they have; and their rivalry, though more other. Two of these are married, and one decorous, is hardly more respectable, and son-in-law, St. Aldegonde, not yet a duke, much less amusing, than that of a crowd of but a duke's heir, and evidently a great faMoors whom we once saw in Tangier tear-vourite with the author, is an execrable rufing each other's beards and pulling each fian, as we shall see, who would never have other's turbans in a mad struggle for a four-been tolerated for an hour in any decent penny-piece which an English stranger had house, but whose brutal eccentricities are dropped from a balcony. Whether Lothair detailed with affectionate approbation. This shall ultimately be labelled Protestant or patrician is humoured to such a degree by Roman Catholic is absolutely represented his wife that we are told, to be a matter of considerable importance for the moon it was promised him immedito others than himself; and there are some ately." He smokes Manilla cheroots of female Danäes of irreproachable morals, enormous length;" but the other son-in-law, each of whom, it is evident, will have her Lord Montairy, was differently minded, for young affections crushed and her soft heart of him it is recorded that he was so disbroken if the golden showers should fall into tractedly fond of Lady Montairy that he any lap but hers. One of these disappoint- would only smoke cigarettes," and the doed fair ones, indeed, hides her anguish in a mesticity of his tastes is further evinced convent, unable to endure the hollow world thus :when a rival is to have the prize. If the reader will only consider what chance any of the youths of his acquaintance just turned of twenty would have of obtaining all this bomage on the score of his own unassisted merits, he will the better appreciate the stinging satire of the description of Lothair's

social successes.

The first volume is taken up with the appearance of most of the characters on the stage, and the plan is adopted (which we do not, however, recommend to less experienced authors) of devoting one chapter

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66 when he cried

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"Lord Montairy was passionately devoted to croquet. He flattered himself that he was the most accomplished male performer existing. He would have thought absolutely the most accomLady Montairy. She was the queen of croquet. plished, were it not for the unrivalled feats of Her sisters also used the mallet with admirable skill, but not like Georgina. Lord Montairy always looked forward to his summer croquet at Brentham. It was a great croquet family, the Brentham family; even listless Lord St. Aldegonde would sometimes play, with a cigar never out of his mouth. They did not object to his

smoking in the air. On the contrary, they | Lady Corisande is remarkable for nothing so rather liked it.'"'

But the gem of the household is the youngest daughter, not at all original or amusing, or differing in any way from the ordinary silly young lady of slight novels, ex ept in her name, which displays the author's invention and research to great advantage, for she is called Lady Corisande, and to all the beauty of her sisters she adds a

refined expression peculiar to herself. What

the father of these divinities was like we may partly guess from that remarkable nobleman's own estimate of himself and of

them: "Every day when he looked into the glass, and gave the last touch to his consummate toilette, he offered his grateful thanks to Providence that his family was not unworthy of him.”

The first time that Lothair hears Corisande sing, he thus accosts that siren :

"Your singing,' he said, 'is the finest thing I ever heard. I am so happy that I am not going to leave Brentham to-morrow. There is no place in the world that I think equal to

Brentham.'

"And I love it too, and no other place,' she replied; and I should be quite happy if I never left it." "

Nor is this remarkable identity of tastes the only link between these innocent beings. "Lothair's vast inheritance was in many counties and in more than one kingdom.

much, next to her name, as for the stanch-
ness of her Protestantism. But now another
element comes into play, for we are intro-
duced to Cardinal Grandison. This prelate,
one of Lothair's guardians, is a highly-influ-
ential member of the Romish Church. He
is very tall, extraordinarily thin, and en-
tirely devoted to the interests of the Papacy;
and being better acquainted than most peo-
ple with the extent of his ward's worldly
possessions, it naturally occurs to him that
so rich a young man, with a cardinal for his
guardian, ought, by a little judicious man-
agement, to be brought, along with his pro-
perty, within the fold of the true Church.
Accordingly the worthy ecclesiastic, in his
very first interview with the hero, sets about
this politic design, though the style of his
conversation is so insupportably tedious that
any ordinarily-constituted youth thus ex-
posed to it would have fled the neighbour-
hood at all hazards, never returning during
the Cardinal's lifetime. His uncommon thin-
ness is fully accounted for by the manner in
which we find him receiving an invitation to
dinner: I never eat and I never drink,'
said the Cardinal; I am sorry to say I can-
not'".
- a degree of involuntary abstemious-
ness which must have been very convenient
and exemplary during feasts of the Church,
and which renders any extreme of emaciation
credible.

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The next group we are introduced to is .. Lothair was the possessor of as that which surrounds Mr. and Mrs. Putney many palaces and castles as the Duke him- Giles. Mr. Giles is a solicitor, but, neverself." A few more such proprietors, and theless, is not without claim to a place in the all the rest of our county families would be high society in which we find him, since we forced to go into lodgings. Thus naturally are assured that "many of his clients were fitted to be the Duke's son-in-law, Lothair among the most distinguished personages of signifies a wish to stand in that relation to the realm." Mrs. Giles is a lady with the the illustrious peer. The Duchess, however, weakness, not unfrequently depicted in novto whom he imparts his desire, thinks he had els, of desiring to get into a class higher better wait, and Lothair accepts the advice than her own. Lothair dines with this pair, with exemplary docility. He had previously and we subjoin a short specimen of the told her of his intention to build on his es-table-talk. Somebody has mentioned the tates, as soon as he should be master of Gulf Stream:

"And are you afraid of the Gulf Stream?' inquired Lothair of his calmer neighbour.

them, no less than two thousand cottages, a number which, if collected in rows, would have made an average county town, and "I think we want more evidence of a change. which thus attests the magnificence of Lo-The Vice-Chancellor and myself went down to a thair's disposition. place we have near town on Saturday, where

All this time he has been surrounded by there is a very nice piece of water; indeed some a highly Protestant atmosphere-indeed people call it a lake; but it was quite frozen,

and my boys wanted to skate, but that I would not permit.'

You believe in the Gulf Stream to that extent,' said Lothair, — no skating.'

www

next few years, and Pio Nono will become the most powerful monarch in Europe, perhaps the only one." After these specimens of the table-talk of this sagacious though deAt this dinner Lothair encounters a very sponding prelate, the reader will perhaps singular lady, who is destined to exercise agree with us in doubting whether he could, great control over his fate. She is described in his most combustible moments, sparkle as "a matron of not many summers." Her with anecdote or blaze with repartee; or face strikes him, and he asks who she is. whether, even with the assistance of the She is called Theodora, is married to a friend brilliant and abundant chaplains, his conof Garibaldi, her birth is unknown, she versational abilities could have rendered the speaks every language, is ultra-cosmopoli- dinner in any degree more lively than if he tan, and has invented a new religion." An had followed the judicious example of Lord However, Lothair is of a naintroduction to her is offered by his inform- St. Jerome. ant, but that is reserved to be effected in a ture to be easily satisfied in the matter of much more informal and impressive way wit, and is much impressed by his new acthan by a couple of bows in a drawing-quaintances; nevertheless, even with the enthusiastic hostess, the silently appreciative host, the sparkling and blazing Monsignore, and the abundant chaplains, there is still an influence wanting to balance that of Lady Corisande, and that is supplied by Lord St. Jerome's niece, Miss Arundel, who is graphically and powerfully described as "a beautiful young lady," and the sole object of whose bright existence is to further the interests of the Papacy. Her cheerful frame of mind is thus exhibited:

room.

"One day he ventured to express to Miss Arundel a somewhat hopeful view of the future, but Miss Arundel shook her head.

"I do not agree with my aunt, at least as regards this country,' said Miss Arundel; I think our sins are too great. We left His Church, and God is now leaving us.''

The next personages whose acquaintance we make are Lord and Lady St. Jerome, "who resided in one of the noblest mansions of St. James's Square." As the Duke's family represent the Protestant influence directed on the hero, so the St. Jeromes throw their own weight and that of their family mansion into the Romanist scale. The lady was "the daughter of a Protestant house, but during a residence at Rome after her marriage, she had reverted to the ancient faith, which she professed with the enthusiastic convictions of a convert. . . . All Lady St. Jerome's family connections were persons of much fashion; her saloons were always attended, and by nice people.'" Lothair dines at their noble mansion. "It was a lively dinner," we are told. "Lord St. Jerome loved conver- have been revelling now suddenly changes The atmosphere of high life in which we sation, though he never conversed. There must be an audience,' he would say, and I for that of an obscure coffee-room, fream the audience."" There was a Monsig-quented by shabby foreigners in London. The waiter, described as ever-vigilant," is known as the General, and who demands to addressed by a mysterious person, who is see the landlord, by whom he is obsequiously received, and conducted to a room filled with conspirators, including a HeadCentre: "The Standing Committee of the Holy Alliance of Peoples all rose (superfluous, it may be thought, in a standing committee), although they were extreme Republicans, when the General entered. Such is the magical influence of a man of action over men of the pen and tongue." Now it is unlucky that none of the con- Nothing comes, however, of this formidable versation of this lively dinner is preserved. meeting. the talk of the men of the tongue Mr. Disraeli treats us only to a Barmecide's being quite as trivial and absurd as if they feast of wit. But the Monsignore subse- had all been monsignores and cardinals; quently indulges in such utterances as the and it is rather a relief to get back from the following: Before a few years have seedy and stupid scoundrels to the peerage elapsed, every country in Europe will be and baronetage at Vauxe, the family seat of atheistical except France. Let the St. Jeromes. Lothair arrives there just Christendom give us her prayers for the in the nick of time, when some fascinating

nore Berwick, who must have been a kind
of ecclesiastical firework, for it seems that,
when necessary, he "could sparkle with
anecdote or blaze with repartee;" and
"all the chaplains who abounded in this house
were men of bright abilities, not merely men of
reading, but of the world, learned in the world's
ways, and trained to govern mankind by the
versatility of their sympathies. It was a dinner
where there could not be two conversations going
on, and where even the silent take their share
in the talk by their sympathy."

accomplished, according to the previsions
of Monsignore Berwick, by the union of all
nations under the sovereignty of Pio Nono
(whose longevity will in that case be miracu-
lous), we are not informed; but Lothair
sets about the latter at once in the most
practical manner, by resolving to devote
£200,000 to the building of a cathedral, in-
stead of to the construction of cottages, and
causes an architect to make plans for the
purpose. These designs are sent to him in
a style totally different from that which
would have sufficed for an ordinary con
moner:

Popish ceremonies, called "Tenebræ," are
in progress. The ingenuous youth is easily
induced to assist at these, and a profound
impression is produced on him, when, at the
end of the last of them, as he rose, Miss
Arundel passed him with streaming eyes."
At a picnic next day the hostess is more
charming than ever: "Never was such gay
and graceful hospitality. Lothair was quite
fascinated as she thrust a paper of lobster-
sandwiches into his hand, and enjoined Mon-
signore Catesby to fill his tumbler with
chablis." Thus fed and fascinated, and ex-
posed to the spells of Miss Arundel while
revelling on lobster-sandwiches, the Protes-
tantism of Lothair is evidently in imminent
"The door opened, and servants came in bear-
danger; and this is presently increased by ing a large and magnificent portfolio. It was of
the arrival of the Cardinal, who is thus wel-morocco and of prelatial purple, with broad
bands of gold and alternate ornaments of a cross
comed: "His Eminence was received with
and a coronet. A servant handed to Lothair a
letter, which enclosed the key that opened its
lock. The portfolio contained the plans and
drawings of the cathedral."

much ceremony. The marshalled household, ranged in lines, fell on their knees at his approach; and Lady St. Jerome, Miss Arundel, and some other ladies scarcely less choice and fair, with the lowest obeisance, touched, with their honoured lips, his princely hand."

The Cardinal, the hostess, and the beautiful young lady, now all concentrate their efforts on the proselytising of Lothair. Of Miss Arundel we learn that "in her society every day he took a strange and deeper in

"She deems it her vocation,' said Father Coleman.

And yet, with such gifts, to be immured in a convent,' said Lothair.

"That would not necessarily follow,' replied Father Coleman. Miss Arundel may occupy a position in which she may exercise much influence for the great cause which absorbs her being.'

"There is a divine energy about her,' said Lothair, almost speaking to himself. It could not have been given for little ends.'

"If Miss Arundel could meet with a spirit as exalted and energetic as her own,' said Father Coleman, her fate might be different. She has no thoughts which are not great, and no purposes which are not sublime. But for the companion of her life she would require no less than a Godfrey de Bouillon.'”

But his speculations were not all confined to the lot of Miss Arundel, for "Lothair began to meditate on two great Ideas the reconciliation of Christendom, and the influence of architecture on religion." Whether the former of these great ideas was to be

Whether this cathedral would be Anglican or Romish, Lothair did not know himself. It depended a good deal on the comparative warmth and influence of the smiles of Miss Arundel and of Lady Corisande. But just now it seemed to Lothair that nothing could interest him in life that was not symbolical of divine truths and an adumbration of the celestial hereafter." On the one hand, he was fortified by a conviction of the apostolical succession of the English bishops, which no Act of Parliament could alter or affect." But on the other, he "was haunted by a feeling that the relations of his communion with the Blessed Virgin were not satisfactory," and in fact seems to have been a bore and prig of very singular promise."

"To whom is your cathedral to be inscribed?' asks Miss Clare Arundel.

"To a saint in heaven and in earth,' said Lothair, blushing; to St Clare.'

After this we learn that he was meditating if he should say more."

Before quitting Vauxe we will quote two of the most important facts concerning the establishment there. One is, that after dinner the nobility and gentry "left the room with the ladies, in the Continental manner." The other is, that "it was the sacred hour of two when Lothair arrived, and they were summoned to luncheon almost immediately". though why the hour of two should be sacred we know no more than Mr. Disraeli. We will also give a short specimen of the conversation that prevailed both as illustrating the manners of high life, and as relieving Lord St.

Jerome from the stigma of being unable to and hostess into a choice saloon, hung with rose

Barbarian!' exclaimed Lady St. Jerome. 'I see you want luncheon; it must be ready;' and she took Lothair's arm. I will show you a portrait of one of your ancestors,' she said;

'he married an Arundel.'"

What a perfect family!' exclaimed Hugo from their bed of aspic jelly. Bohun, as he extracted a couple of fat little birds Everything they here to have ortolans for supper!' do in such perfect taste. How safe you were

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con

"All the little round tables, though their number was infinite, were full. Male groups hung about; some in attendance on fair dames, some foraging for themselves, some thoughtful Evidently it is now high time for the and more patient and awaiting a satisfactory Protestant faction to interfere, unless they future. Never was such an elegant clatter." wish Lothair to go straight to Rome and Lothair now resolves to return to Oxkiss the Pope's toe. Accordingly he is ford (where he had before entered the hurried away to the Duke's house in Lon- University, and where he had a don. Lady Corisande has just been pre-siderable establishment of horses). Drivsented. "From the moment her fairing out his drag, he finds in the road a cheek was sealed by the gracious approba- lady with a broken-down carriage. This tion of Majesty, all the critics of the Court was Theodora. Lothair gallantly offers at once recognized her as the Cynosure of assistance, and Theodora, while thanking the Empyrean." him, introduces him to her husband, ColoIn describing a dinner-party at the nel Campian, a Southern American. LoDuke's, at which a Lord Carisbrooke was thair sends them home in his drag, which present, a young man of distinguished was drawn by a remarkable team. They air and appearance," the author, acwere four roans highly bred, with black customed as we are to his eccentricities, manes and tails. They had the Arab eye, nevertheless greatly startled us by the with arched necks, and seemed proud of abrupt announcement that "Lord Caris- themselves and their master." The gratebrooke was breeding." He was only ful Campians invite Lothair to dinner. breeding horses, however. Afterwards The lady's attractions are thus described: there was a ball, at which poor Miss Arun- The countenance was Olympian; a Phiddel, with nothing but the odour of sanctity ian face, with large grey eyes and dark to make her agreeable, stood a very poor lashes; wonderful hair, abounding without chance with the Cynosure of the Empyrean, art, and gathered together by Grecian bearing the seal of majesty on her cheek: fillets." Next day they all go to Blen"A prince of the blood was dancing with heim; the weather is beautiful, the scene Lady Corisande. Lothair was there vis-à- enchanting, the Colonel, most accommodatvis with Miss Arundel. . Lothair had ing of men; and the naughty hero, who, to advance and meet Lady Corisande. before he is of age, has proposed for one Her approaching mien was full of grace girl, and been on the extreme verge of and majesty." We should think so, con- proposing for another, now makes ardent sidering what was on her cheek. We have love to the lady with the Olympian counoften heard from young men addicted to tenance and Phidian face. Even the most slang phraseology that the most remarka- rigid moralists will, however, be disposed ble feature of the girls of the rising gen- to excuse his passion, in consideration of eration is their cheek," but all must yield the mental as well as personal attractions in this particular to the Lady Corisande. of the lady. Here are a few sentiments As incidental bits of high life, we may note selected at hazard from her conversathat they had dined "in the Chinese saloon" (we hope on birds'-nest soup and puppy-dog pie), and that the supper was conducted in this way:

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"Royalty, followed by the imperial presence of ambassadors, and escorted by a group of dazzling duchesses and paladins of high degree, was ushered with courteous pomp by the host

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tion:

"I live only for climate and the affections.' "I am a great foe to dinners, and indeed to all meals. I think when the good time comes we shall give up eating in public, except, perhaps, fruit, on a green bauk, with music.' Railways have elevated and softened the lot of man.'

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