finer picture of Family Portraits were perhaps never beheld on the canvass together, to delight the eye, as well as most irresistibly to engage the heart. Emma looked most transcendently lovely as she entered the room with Ellen, Mary, and Lucy Clarendale; but it was neither Emma, Ellen, or Mary, that Lord Beauverie so particularly admired, for he fixed his eyes on the blushing Lucy, and exclaimed to Lord Wyndham, "Is that lovely creature nearest the window also the daughter of Mr. Trelawney?" To which his Lordship replied, "No, my Lord, it is Miss Clarendale at whom you are now looking; she is a niece of Mr. Trelawney's, and the only daughter of Mr. Clarendale, to whom I have just had the honour of presenting you." "She is, then, most exquisitely beautiful," exclaimed Lord Beauverie; "indeed, I never beheld a more interesting group of youthful females." "And I assure you, my Lord, they are no less amiable than beautiful," answered Lord Wyndham: "the youngest daughter of Mr. Trelawney is, perhaps, one of the most accomplished young women in England.” The Earl of Beauverie was not only fully satisfied on this particular, but by entering into conversation with the lovely girls soon discovered on what system their education had been formed : it was not merely superficial, or calculated only to shine for a fleeting hour in the present fashionable day, but to render them competent to perform the more active duties of wives and mothers, whenever they should marry, and to prove blessings to their husbands as well as ornaments to the age in which they lived; and though all the young ladies shared in the attentions of Lord Beauverie on this day, yet the lovely Lucy appeared to be the particular object of attraction, which afforded the highest gratification to the feelings of the relatives of this amiable young creature. The timidity of a young female, unaccustomed to mix in the society of personages of exalted rank, threw a modest veil over the charms of Lucy, which she was quite unconscious only added to the loveliness with which nature had so peculiarly gifted her, and, in the eyes even of this accomplished nobleman, rendered her a thousand times more engaging than if she had studied to please. Lucy said but little, but that little was blended with such sweet simplicity and modest ingenuousness, that his Lordship seemed at once fascinated by her beauty and charmed with her innocence. At two o'clock, the infant son of Lord and Lady Wyndham was brought into the drawing-room, (where, in half an hour afterwards, the ceremony commenced,) receiving the name of William Egbert Augustus, the last in compliment to his godfather, the Earl of Perimont, and the former in memory of the beloved and lamented son of his grandfather. The babe was much extolled for its beauty, and particularly admired and even caressed by Lord Beauverie, who, resigning him to the arms of his lovely mother, exclaimed,— "Sweet little fellow! may every returning year increase your Ladyship's happiness in this darling boy, and add to the blessings of your present felicity! He will one day know his accomplished mother, and, I hope, amply repay the affectionate cares she is now bestowing on him." Lady Wyndham curtseyed gracefully to the elegant compliment of Lord Beauverie, and such was the delightful harmony which presided on this day in Berkeley Square, that not a sigh of regret, or a feeling but of genuine happiness would have prevailed in the bosoms of either of the party, who were assembled there, but for the thought that the parting hour was yet to come which was to separate them, for a continued length of time, from the society and tender intercourse of each other; and, whenever this thought intruded itself on their minds, a tear, an envious tear,—would unbidden start in every eye, and the lovely smile which gladdened every cheek and brightened every countenance suddenly made a retreat, like the sunny ray which sometimes steals behind a gloomy (though not a dark or sullen) cloud. 382 CHAPTER XXVII. "Woman! blest partner of our joys and woes, "Untarnished yet, thy fond affection glows, "Throbs with each pulse, and beats with every thrill: 66 Angel of comfort to the failing soul; "Undaunted by the tempest, wild and chill, "That pours its restless and disastrous roll "O'er all that blooms below, with sad and hollow howl. "Oh! who so welcome and so prompt as thou? "Alike thy care and constancy confess, "Alike thy pitying hand and fearless friendship bless." MR. TRELAWNEY having now made every necessary arrangement for the immediate departure of himself and family from England, often paid occasional visits on board the ship Fortitude, in which they were to embark for India; and in order to prepare the mind and feelings of his beloved Rosa to habituate herself to the scenes which would so shortly take place, and which would be so entirely novel to any thing she had yet experienced, he proposed to Captain Wilton, who was a most gentlemanly man, that they should one day dine on board the Fortitude, with all his family, and a select party of friends, which he would invite on the occasion. "In short,” cried Mr. Trelawney, "I wish Mrs. Trelawney to see what charming accommodations you have provided for her, Wilton, and to introduce her to her fellow-passenger De Montford, who will be her companion and associate on her long voyage, and in whose society I think she will be charmed." "Governor De Montford is indeed a most amiable and accomplished man," cried Captain Wilton, "and had he not been so, Mr. Trelawney, you cannot suppose that I would ever have admitted him as a passenger on board the Fortitude. Having been apprised of your intentions to embark for India, with the whole of your amiable and accomplished family, I was particularly solicitous with whom I engaged, that they should be worthy of becoming fellow-passengers with you and Mrs. Trelawney, and your most respectable family. Had not Governor De Montford been such as you behold, he would not have sailed in the Fortitude to India, though he had offered twenty times the sum for his accommodation." With so flattering a compliment and high mark of respect from the Captain, Mr. Trelawney was much pleased, and resolved that it should not go unrewarded on their arrival in India; and that day Captain Wilton dined in Berkeley Square, and was introduced to the . whole family of the amiable Trelawneys, the ensuing day being appointed for their going on board the Fortitude, where, perhaps, one of the most elegant entertainments ever introduced in such a style was prepared for the lovely and accomplished guests, when the whole family of the Trelawneys, including Lord and Lady Wyndham, Fothersgill, and Mrs. Pelham, met; in addition to which were Dr. Starmer, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Clarendale, and Sedley and Lucy, the last of whom had received no small hint from Lady Wyndham of the conquest she had made of a certain great Lord, who had actually fallen desperately in love with her on the day of little William's christening; but as this hint was not given in the presence of the senior parties, it excited no small degree of pleasantry with Mary, Ellen, and Emma, and even Tanjore was allowed to join in their mirth against the blushing Lucy, who exclaimed,— "There, now, cousin Alexina, see what a tormentor you have given me in Tanjore; and if he was not going shortly to India, I suppose I should never hear the last of it, he would so tease me about this Lord—what do you call him, Lady Wyndham ?” "What, you really affect, Lucy, to be ignorant of his name?" cried Lady Wyndham, laughing most immoderately, in which the mischievous Mary almost immediately joined, while Tanjore exclaimed,- "If ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise;' but, my pretty Lucy, this wont do, you are as well acquainted with his name as we are. You know very well who it was that introduced you to Lord Beauverie, and that you were ever afterwards the exclusive object of his Lordship's attentions. As to Mary, she had no chance,-he scarcely looked at her." "Yes, but he did though," cried Mary, in her usual arch manner; "and he looked at somebody else, too, and I dare say you saw that, though you did not observe him looking at any one beside; but then your penetration was sufficient to see that he was no rival of yours, and you did not care for aught else; but he was looking at me all the while now, and I dare avow that he said more to me than to any one in the room about Lucy Clarendale, and I said more to him than I mean to tell you, so you may just guess what that isand it will puzzle you." Mary then ran away laughing, Tanjore following her, and declaring that he would not let her escape without she made full confession of all that Lord Beauverie had said about Lucy. "Mary is the same little tormenting creature as formerly," cried Lady Wyndham, "and now I am gone I suppose she does just as she pleases among you all,-is it not so, Ellen? What, silent ?– well then, Emma, you speak,-is not Mary as forward and as curious as ever?-You perceive she did not suffer you just now to escape from the keenness of her observations." "I will tell you just what I think of Mary, without disguise," said Emma; "but, indeed, Alexina, you quite mistake the point in Mary's disposition: she has wit and boundless vivacity, but all her roses are thornless,—I am persuaded that she never intends to wound. Though she is sometimes severe, yet the moment she is conscious that she has offended, how humbly will she sue for pardon and forgiveness, and this sweet atonement is more than sufficient for her fault." "Yet you acknowledge that she has faults," cried Alexina smiling. To which Emma, with a soft sigh, answered,— "And who is there, my dear creature, cast in this frail shape of mortality, that has not a fault?-ah, who is there without them? And so many there are, who knowing that they have faults, yet are too proud to own them, that I always think the confession is praiseworthy, and though it does not immediately produce a reformation, yet it is certainly one of the steps towards it." "Granted, my dear Emma," cried Lady Wyndham, "but confession without amendment will avail us but little; confession and amendment should be prompt, or they are useless ; and although you have said thus much to excuse Mary, I must still adopt my former opinion, and that it were much better that she did not offend at all, rather than to seemingly atone for it when she has done so: it |