all, he is but an engine, a mere engine."

"A steam-engine," said old Crawley, shaking his head, and anxious to agree with Lord Fitzadelm, of whom he stood in awe; "sorrow a thing else."

"Faith, pretty much," said Lord Adelm, with a gravity none preserved but himself, "except that a steam-engine has this superiority over him, that it is neither susceptible of caprice nor distraction. It turns also upon a beneficial principle, while the mainspring of the machinery of man inevitably turns on evil."

"Evil to him as evil thinks," reechoed old Crawley; "honey swa key molly panse, as the French says."

"That's not ill put, Mr. Crawley," said Mr. Daly, while every body else laughed; " but, my dear Fitzadelm you, at least, admit the principle of good to exist conjointly with that of evil. You will not establish a doctrine VOL. III,

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less consoling than that of the dark demoniac, Indian mythology."

"Oh, I deny good as a principle altogether," said Lord Adelm: "good is merely relative, evil is positive. Evil is necessary to man as the air he breathes; an inherent part of his existence: deprive him of his principle of evil, and he becomes a vegetable."

"A vegetable !" repeated old Crawley; "see that now."

"Evil is the source, food, end, and object of the passions; or, to give them their proper names, the appetites. It is the grand agitator of life, its food and occupation without evil there would be neither genius, virtue, nor valour; for what is virtue but an effort against vice? What genius ?-the nisus to overcome suffering. What valour?-the necessity of massacre and bloodshed."

"Christ save us!" exclaimed Mr. Crawley.

"What is ambition ?-the selfish wish

of rule. What friendship?-helplessness. What love?-a want. Whence arise the liberal professions but from the innate tendency of man to evil? Law, for instance," continued Lord Adelm, while old Crawley drew back, "from the villany of the species. Physic from its infirmities; the arts from vanity; the sciences from physical pressure. The whole business of life, then, is but one sustained effort against evil: and without evil, in a supereminent degree, those talents and properties on which we most

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pride ourselves, skill, wisdom, virtue, and courage, could not be developed, because they would not be called for. Taking then a just view of things, there is little to move either our wrath or admiration. He who feels little and digests well; he who has a bad heart and a good stomach, is, after all, the true sage and the happy man."

.

Here Lord Adelm was interrupted by a servant, who gave him a note. It filled the room with perfume, and covered Lord Adelm's face with blushes, warm as the hues of the paper he perused. Every one smiled as he hurried out of the room; and though the established laws of bon-ton prevented the slightest notice being taken of this incident, Mr. Daly could not help saying, with an arch smile" So much for the philosophy of indifference."

"Philosophy!" repeated Lord Rosbrin, laying down his play-book:

There never yet was found philosophy Could bear the tooth-ach patiently."

The quick eye of Lady Dunore had rested on the face, and observed the emotions of her son. Her feelings of maternity had been so little influenced by his return, that the first pleasure over, which surprise always occasioned

in her, she had not been induced to retire with him for a single half hour since his arrival, but had been quite satisfied with the few words he had said to her in the hall, stating the motive of his journey to have been his wish to preside at his own election. Since then, other objects had arisen to ingross her attention, and obliterate the sensation his return had roused into transient existence. His sudden emotion and exit now seized on her imagination. She was not yet exhausted by the events of the day; and after struggling for a moment in contest with her own feelings, she arose and followed him.

The servant who had delivered the note met her in the hall; but to her inquiries whence it had come, the answer was, it had been left in the porter's lodge, and had come from the post-house.

Meantime, Mr. Daly had ordered