The Mysteries of London; or, Lights and Shadows of London Life — page 264: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

20832 THE MYSTERIES OF LONDON, - — —_————— ee | that tnan will be ugeless,” he fretfully exclaimed, as he threw himself back in his carriage; “1 feel that I was born to hate him.” CHAPTER XX. Slave of his passions, yet a heart withal Not deaf to virtue; like life’s tangled web, Mixed up with good and bad. Nor knowing where or how to employ the time, and his heart being ill at ease, our hero druve to Ranelagh—at the period of which we write a place of fashionable resort, though classed with the remini- scences of our grandmothers and their juvenile days. The gardens were thronged, although the concert was nearly over. Many of his acquaintances —men whom he had met in the fashionable world— mere butterflies of fortune—rejoiced to see him in that vortex of dissipation, where all ranks were con- founded, where the duchess jostled against the cour- tesan, the highwayman with the legislator; where coy morality threw aside her last veil, and abandoned herself too frequently to the embrace of vice. “What!” exclaimed one, “the cynic out of his tub!” “ The philosopher of twenty in search of an honest man!” exclaimed Captain Sedley, one of the most celebrated men of fashion of the day; “ where is your lantern, Burley ?” “Say rather for an honest woman,” added a tall, dark, handsome man, who appeared to be about thirty; “the more difficult, 1 guess, to find of the two,” “No man knows that better than yourself,” ex- claimed Sir Harry Waller. “ Experience teaches.” The captain introduced the baronet and his com- panion to Burley. Sir Harry was known by reputa tion as one of the most finished rakes about town ; the latter, a Colonel Hamilton, he had neither seen nor heard of before. At any other moment, perhaps, he would have declined joining their boisterous party, for although Sedley and Waller were known to be men of fortune, and what the world terms honour, they were not the associates he would have chosen ; but his heart was ill at ease; he felt dissatisfied with Georgina, himself, and all the world; and he yielded to any proposal which promised him oblivion. Something, too, particularly attracted his attention in the person of the colonel; he felt like a man who gazes on a finished portrait, which he had not seen since it was sketched. He was puzzled, That they had met before be felt assured, but when or where he had not the slightest recollection, “Do not think me rude,’’ he exclaimed, seeing that the colonel appeared slightly embarrassed by his scrutiny; “but we have met before, and 1 was endea- vouring to remember where; perhaps your memory can assist me,” “ Unfortunately not,” replied the stranger, with a gracetul bow. “I have been absent from England for many years, and both lost sight of and been for- gotten by many of my friends,” *“ You have served, then?” * T have served.” “In England?” continued Burley, “ No, in France,” “Jt must have been there or else in Germany that we met then,’ resumed our hero, who felt annoyed at his own want of memory; “ since I have passed the greater portion of my life in those two countries, and but lately returned to England.” meet again,” exclaimed Sedley, as he pgssed rot champagne; “you are both of you dey'lish fellows, and that’s all we need care about, aps,” he added, “ you were schoolfellows.” sigh, for he remembered the only school in England at which he had ever been, and which our readers will recollect he and George had both been hunted from, as the children of the man who had been hanged, quietly observed that he felt convinced they never could have met in childhood. He had a peculiar recollection of names, and certainly could not have forgotten that of Burley. nificent/y dressed, who was attended by a bevy of beaux, and had two or three female companions | with her, changed the conversation. As she passed {| the spot where the party was seated, she nodded tamiliarly to the baronet and Sedley, Sedley ; of any woman in England.” Waller. | already. What do you think of her, Hamilton?” | the colonel; “ worth two thousand pounds at least.” approach of a party who had been indulging freely in © gentlemen came rolling, or rather dancing, down the handsome man, in the very prime of life, slightly inclined to obesity, but not enough to hide the mus- —————— er eee a ee ee 7 ) “No matter where you met, or whether you ever the “ Certainly not schoolfellowe,” said Burley, with « “ Or met in childhood,” added Sir Harry. | Hamilton’s brow became suddenly overcast, as he The epproach of a stout lady, vulgarly but mag- “There goes the Duchess of Gordon,” exclaimed ‘| “the sharpest tongue and the keenest wi “ And the greatest matchmaker,” added Sir “She has netted two dukes for her girls “That she wears prodigious fine diamonds,” replied | Burley stared, for he thought it a strange remark, | y? A loud laugh and a sort of cheer announced the - their libations to the rosy god, and presently a dozen walk. The leader of the joyous band was a tall cular proportions of his graceful figure. His chestnut hair was slightly powdered, and he wore the well known coat of the Jockey Club; a small star, half hid under its broad lappel, indicated the wearselll rank. It was no other than the frolic-loving Prince of Wales, who had made a wager with his companio that he would kiss every woman he met in the walk. “Go it, George!” exclaimed a stout, coarse, pimp nosed, half-dranken debdauchee, who fellowed “ there is nothing like completing a thing when yo have commenced it.” The speaker was no other than the infamous Duk , of Orleans, the father of Louis Philippe, who had been: sent by Louis XVI. on a mission to England, in orc ‘ to remove him for awhile from France, where, by hil intrigues against his authority, and cowardly, un- | manly slanders against the queen, Marie Antoir tte, he had materially contributed to the impending re lution. Although married to a good and virtuc us woman, the only daughter to the Dac de Penthiey from whom he had received a princely dower, h infidelities were as numerous as they were degrading he even numbered the instructress of his ¢ children, | celebra*sd Madame de Genlis, amongst hi stres and insulted his wife by retaining her under the sam roof. Althongh possessed of an im in was insufficient for the horrible dcbageeaelent ny | he indulged, and which would pollute wf pe of honourable writer to trace. To sup xu gance, he iatroduced his br rinlaw, the you Prince de Lamballe, to one of his fes rgies when drunk, caused him to be place i in t ‘the | it < ‘cOmi books.com |