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Fp^oktispiece. 
 
THE 
 
 OR, T*K 
 
 Sorrows of edward and louisa. 
 
 A NOVEL. 
 
 fcv CATHARINE SELDEN, Author of 
 Serena, Ifc, 
 
 Here in the shelter of this calm retreat, 
 Did sorrow find a safe and tranquil home; 
 Did meek ey'd Resignation take her seat ; 
 And bow submission to her Maker's doom. 
 
 i»:®:©:®:«»i 
 
 Printed by J, SWAINE, No, 49, Pearl-st, 
 180C. 
 

 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 THE principal circumstances of the 
 following little TALE, may, to some persons, 
 appear too improbable to justify their introduc- 
 tion even into a fictitious story ; and others, 
 (more charitable) may simply accuse the Au- 
 thor of plagiarism. As an evidence of the pos- 
 sibility of such conduct as that of the Heroine, 
 the Author refers the incredulous to the well 
 known circumstance mentioned by Mr. Baretti, 
 in the First Volume of his Travels thro' Spain 
 and Portugal, and candidly owns that the story 
 there related gave the first hint of the HISTO- 
 RY OF THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
THE 
 
 <Sn0li.0l) JBun. 
 
 T 
 
 -1*. HE Earl of Montrose was one of those 
 few Scotch peers, Avho, persevering in the Ca- 
 tholic worship, are excluded from all those of- 
 fices, the income of which may serve to assist 
 in supporting the dignity of the peerage, and 
 at the same time permit the possessor to lay up 
 a provision for younger children. 
 
 The Estate of Lord Montrose was much en- 
 cumbered, and its produce but ill adequate to 
 support the expences attending the education 
 of three sons and a daughter. 
 
 - The latter was, when four years old, placed 
 in a convent abroad ; and Lord Dudley, and his 
 brothers were, at a proper age, established in 
 the world by Mr. Frederic Percy, brother to 
 Lord Montrose, who having early in life chang- 
 B 
 
6 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 ed his religion, possessed high rank in the 
 army. 
 
 On his proposing to undertake the care of his 
 nephew's fortunes, he insisted on their abjuring 
 the Catholic faith, and becoming members of 
 the Church of England. 
 
 The Earl at first objected ; but in the heart 
 of a proud man religion is generally a secondary 
 object to the gratification of ambition ; and with 
 young men is seldom a matter of any considera- 
 tion ; so that the Percys and Lord Dudley rea- 
 dily yielded to their beloved uncle's wishes. 
 
 The Earl saw the Eldest and the youngest by 
 this step, exalted to high military rank, as the 
 third was to naval honors ; and he cared little 
 by what means. 
 
 The Countess was no bigot ; and, while she 
 knew her sons to be virtuous and noble, she 
 thought their religion might as well be the Pro- 
 testant as the Catholic. 
 
 When Mr. Henry Percy was about eighteen, 
 he received orders to join his regiment in the 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. P 
 
 West Indies ; and he had scarcely been there 
 a month when he died of a fiver incident to the 
 climate. This was a most crutl blow to the 
 Countess, (who almost adored her youngest son) 
 and one that she never recovered ; though suc- 
 ceeding sufferings of a nature more afflictive, 
 permitted her not to indulge in uninterrupted 
 sorrow. 
 
 About six months after the death of Mr. 
 Henry Percy-, his brother, Captain Percy, was 
 killed in an engagement, on board the frigate 
 of which he had the command. As he was a 
 young man of the most promising disposition, 
 his friends severely lamented his loss ; but still 
 there was some consolation to be found in the 
 consideration that he had fallen in the perfor- 
 mance of his duty, and universally lamented as 
 an excellent and gallant officer. 
 
 There now only remained to the Earl and 
 Countess of Montrose, their daughter and Lord 
 Dudley. Almost heart-broken by the loss of 
 their two youngest sons, they could not endure 
 the thoughts of his Lordship still continuing in 
 these rvice, and he reluctantly consented to aban- 
 don his profession. 
 
« THE ENGLISH NUN". 
 
 The regiment in which he had served hap- 
 pened soon afterwards to be ordered abroad, 
 and his parents congratulated themselves, that 
 their beloved Augustus would not be exposed to 
 that pestilential climate, which had been so fatal 
 to his brother. But they little thought they 
 were so soon to lose him, on account of the 
 very circumstance which now afforded them so 
 much pleasure. 
 
 A few days before the embarkation of the 
 tioops, Lord Dudley happened to meet Captain 
 Douglass, in the St. James's coffee house, and 
 after some conversation had passed relative to 
 the armament then going cut to the West In- 
 dies, the latter said, jestingly, 
 
 " Faith, Dudley, I think you were a very 
 lucky fellow to sell out, so opportunely as you 
 did." 
 
 His Lordship, who possessed as much cou- 
 rage as most men, but accompanied with a very 
 hasty temper, demanded what the Captain 
 meant by' this observation. 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 9 
 
 " Simply what I say," replied Douglass ; who 
 being naturally giddy, and himself one of the 
 best-tempered young men in the world, did not 
 conceive that Dudley was offended at his re- 
 mark. 
 
 " Then, Sir, I suppose you mean to insult 
 me?" 
 
 His Lordship pronounced these words with 
 an air of such angry haughtiness, that Douglass 
 (who thought the affair too trifling to give birth 
 to any serious consequences) yielded to an im- 
 prudent risibility, and Ld. Dudley left the room- 
 When Captain Douglass returned to his lodg- 
 ing, he found there a note from Lord Dudley, 
 containing a challenge. Though he had never 
 entertained the slightest intention of giving him 
 offence ; but, on the contrary, had a high esteem 
 for his character ; he was too much a modern 
 man of honor, to decline such an invitation ; 
 and Lord Dudley fell a victim to a piece of ill- 
 timed pleasantry, distorted into an insult. 
 
 On this melancholy event Lady Louisa Percy 
 was recalled from her convent, that she might 
 
10 THE ENGLISH NUN". 
 
 endeavour to alleviate the sorrows oF her pa- 
 rents. She was now in the tender bloom of 
 sixteen, and. from the gloomy tenor of her past 
 life, in the seclusion of a cloister, she had con- 
 tracted a seduieness of manner, unusual at her 
 age, and which gave greater expression to her 
 beauty. She was rather tall, and extremely 
 sljght, though without any appearance of lan- 
 guid delicacy : whenever she moved, but parti- 
 cularly when she danced, her form conveyed 
 an idea of the dancing nymphs of the antique ; 
 but when her face had been once seen, her figure 
 (perfect as it was) ceased to be an object of con- 
 sideration. She had those rare black eyes, 
 which are at once brilliant and mild, and when 
 they were fixed on those of a person she lov- 
 ed, it was impossible to conceive greater 
 sweetness of expression than they displayed. 
 Her hair was just light enough to form a con- 
 trast to the shining jet of her eyebrows and eye- 
 lashes : her nose was Grecian ; and her mouth 
 appeared beautiful before the sweet tones of 
 her voice, in speaking, made one forget whe- 
 ther she was handsome. She was fair, and 
 with scarcely the slightest tinge of red in her 
 chetks, except when exercise, or animation 
 dytd thtm with the most brilliant carnation. 
 
THE ENGLISH NUM. 1! 
 
 Such was Louisa Percy ; who soon became 
 the successful consoler of her unhappy mother. 
 The Countess ceased to lament her sons ; but 
 it was evident, fiom the dejected air her coun- 
 tenance ever after wore, that she continued to 
 think of them with deep regret. 
 
 As the Earl of Montrose had it not in his 
 power to lay up any fortune for his daughter, 
 he determined, if possible, to marry her during 
 his life ; and he had little doubt but what her 
 birth, beauty, and accomplishments, would 
 soon procure her an eligible establishment. 
 With this view she was exhibited at every pub- 
 lic meeting in the neighbourhood till she had 
 compleated her seventeenth year, but without 
 having any proposal made for her ; and her pa- 
 rents then took her to London, literally to be 
 disposed of. However repugnant this proceed- 
 ing was to the delicacy of Louisa, she was ob- 
 liged to submit, with patience, to the mortifi- 
 cation of being set up to sale. 
 
 Soon after the Montrose family arrived in 
 London, the Honourable Mrs. Willoughby and 
 her daughter Came to visit them. Miss Wil- 
 loughby was a pretty girl of nineteen, very fa- 
 
72 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 shionable, very vain, and as giddy and ignorant 
 as those Misses usually are, who are brought 
 from the restraint of a boarding-school, and im- 
 mediately ushered into all the dissipation of a 
 town life ; and seemed to wish to have it be- 
 lieved, that a young gentleman who accompa- 
 nied them in this visit, was humbly devoted to 
 her. 
 
 This gentleman, Lord Edward Lumley, was 
 the third son of the Duke of Beaufort, and about 
 the age of twenty-two, exceedingly elegant in 
 his figure, and with manners the most insinu- 
 ating and pleasing. He was a soldier, and con- 
 sequently not defidient in gallantry, which he 
 exerted in his conversation with Miss Willough- 
 by, in a manner that proved him in no danger 
 of becoming her captive. 
 
 During the visit, Miss Willoughby talked and 
 laughed a great deal ; but though both her chat 
 and her gayety appeared to be particularly di- 
 rected to Lord Edward, he spoke but little ; 
 and though, in compliment to the humour of 
 the ladv> he was obliged sometimes to smile, 
 and to reply to her silly remarks, it was very 
 evident that his attention was entirely engrossed 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 13 
 
 by Louisa. Mrs. Willoughby having taken no- 
 tice of a very beautiful lap-dog, belonging to 
 Lady Montrose, Miss Willoughby left her seat 
 to admire and fondle it, and while she was do- 
 ing so, Lord Edward found time to address 
 Louisa. 
 
 <: Is that little animal a favourite of yours ?" 
 inquired he. 
 
 " Only as it is my mother's," she replied ; 
 ** I am not fond of lap dogs." 
 
 " Nor of monkeys ?"— " No.'* 
 
 " Nor of parrots ?" 
 
 " My Lord, is not this an adorable creature r" 
 cried Miss Willoughby. 
 
 Lord Edward gave it a slight glance, saying, 
 " Very pretty, upon my word," and immedi- 
 ately turning to Louisa said, " What then are 
 you fond of?" 
 
 " Of my friends/' she replied with animation. 
 
 At the moment Lord Edward would have 
 C 
 
14 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 given the world to have been one of the num- 
 ber : for there was a lively sensibily in the 
 countenance of Louisa, that convinced him she 
 had a soul. In a few minutes the party took 
 leave, and a,s they proceeded to Portland-Place, 
 where Lord Edward was to dine with the ladies. 
 Miss Willoughby said. 
 
 " Well, my Lord, now that you have seen 
 this Caledonian belle, what do you think of 
 her ?" 
 
 " I have seen so little of her, that I positive- 
 ly cannot inform you," replied he. 
 
 " Really ! Why I thought you seemed to 
 take very particular notice of her while we 
 staid, and you must have very little observation, 
 if, after looking at her so long, you cannot tell 
 whether she pleases you. But come, my Lord, 
 this is all affectation, and I must know how 
 you like Lady Louisa." 
 
 From the air with which this was said, Lord 
 Edward, though by no means vain, could not 
 help observing, that Miss Willoughby was 
 piqued by the attention he had paid Louisa ; 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 15 
 
 yet expected that he would now pay a compli- 
 ment to herself. lie therefore said, with affect- 
 ed humility, 
 
 " Why, dearest Madam, will you so cruelly 
 insist on my saying what must incur either your 
 disapprobation or my own i" 
 
 " Your own, my Lord? I should thank you 
 to tell me how ?" 
 
 ° How ? By departing from candour and 
 truth." 
 
 " It should seem, then, that you must offend 
 both, by pleasing me in your answer ? I thank 
 your Lordship. Woman, it is said, cannot 
 bear to hear the praises of each other." 
 
 " I," said Lord Edward, laughing, " should 
 not have ventured to make so bold an observa- 
 tion. But you should remember, Miss Wil- 
 loughby, the censure has been cast on beauti- 
 ful women only." 
 
 " I should be glad to know," cried the young 
 lady, with an air of vivacity > which, however, did 
 
15 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 not conceal that she was far from being' pleased, 
 w whether you mean that qualifying speech as 
 a compliment to my person or my candour ?" 
 
 « Which you please, Madam. Far be it from 
 me to decide, lest I should inadvertantly offend 
 that on which you set most value. But I should 
 think the language of compliment was suffici- 
 ently familiar to you, for you to understand it." 
 
 " Its sincerity," — added Mrs. Willoughby j 
 who observed a sort of archness lurking in the 
 countenance of Lord Edward ; and who, though 
 she had not resolution enough to dehar her 
 daughter from that style of company that ren- 
 dered her so vain and trifling, yet did not ap- 
 prove of her being so, and wished to check her 
 in the indulgence of her levity. 
 
 " Your Lordship," said Miss Willoughhy, 
 with returning good humour, « is much too in- 
 comprehensible for me ; but let me seriously 
 understand whether you think Lady Louisa 
 handsome ?" 
 
 « Certainly* At least I believe so." 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 17 
 
 " You believe ! Bless me, what an expres- 
 sion !" 
 
 " It is a very proper one, Madam, for I re- 
 ally do not know whether her features are re- 
 gularly beautiful ; the contour of her face 
 pleased me ; but my chief attention was be- 
 stowed on the expression of her countenance." 
 
 " Which eloquently spoke the feelings of her 
 pure and enlightened soul i Eh, my Lord," 
 said Miss Willoughby, sarcastically smiling. 
 
 " I might r.ow compliment you on your pe- 
 netration, Madam," said Lord Edward. 
 
 " And with as little sincerity as usual, my 
 Lord." 
 
 " Oh, no !" returned he, " It would be most 
 seriously ; for you have said precisely what I 
 think of her Ladyship." 
 
 Perhaps Miss Willoughby would have been 
 full as well pleased if his Lordship had not 
 given quite so much credit to her discernment ; 
 for, biting her lips, she resumed, 
 
13 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 " But, my Lord, your admiration of Lady 
 Louisa may cease, for she is that most shock- 
 ing of all creatures — a titled beggar." 
 
 Lord Edward was displeased at the pointed 
 manner in which the last words was pronounced, 
 as they seemed in some degree to refer to him- 
 self, as well as to Louisa ; and he said gravely, 
 
 cl Upon my word, Madam, your information 
 does not concern me in the least. I can ad- 
 mire a beautiful woman, without forming any 
 design on her heart, or person ; and esteem an 
 amiable one, without considering what her for- 
 tune may be, or whether she is inclined to be- 
 stow it on me." 
 
 In the mean time Lady Louisa was replying 
 to similar inquiries with those of the fair Hen- 
 rietta Willoughby. As soon as their visitors 
 were gone, the Countess asked her daughter 
 what she thought of their young acquaintance ? 
 
 " That she is extremely pretty, and would be 
 much more so — Pray, Mamma, do you not think 
 she looks out too much for admiration ?" 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 19 
 
 " Pshaw I" returned the Countess, Ct I do 
 not mean Miss Willoughby, who is, I think, 
 the most unsufferable girl I ever saw. I mean 
 Lord Edward." 
 
 " Why I am half in love with him 1" 
 
 " Really !" 
 
 " Oh ! yes, he is undoubtedly very amiable." 
 
 " Not amiable, my dear Louisa. Of his 
 mental qualities you can, as yet, be no judge. 
 Agreeable would be a better term." 
 
 " I believe so," Lady Louisa resumed ; 
 11 Well then, he is very agreeable, and very 
 handsome, and I do not think him deficient in 
 having a good opinion of himself; and then his 
 conversation is so whimsical, as if he was ridi- 
 culing one." 
 
 " Lord Edward is a very gay young man," 
 said Lady Montrose, " and seems, like most 
 others, to talk entirely at random." 
 
 " When he comes here again," said Louisa? 
 
20 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 " he shall positively find some one else to con- 
 verse with." 
 
 " Did his Lordship mention any intention of 
 coming again ?" inquired Lady Montrose. 
 
 '' Not positively, Mamma ; but he said some- 
 thing of being your cousin ; I think." 
 
 " I hope," rejoined the Countess, " that he 
 may repeat his visit. The Duke of Beaufort's 
 grandmother and mine were sisters. But the 
 families have long been disunited! owing, as I 
 believe, to my great aunt marrying a Protes- 
 tant, though a Duke." 
 
 Nothing farther was, at that time, said on 
 the subject ; and the following morning Lord 
 Edward Lumiey called. He was admitted to 
 Lady Montrose's dressing-room, where she 
 was sitting alone. She arose at his entrance, 
 saying, 
 
 " To what cause am I to attribute the unex- 
 pected-honour of this visit." 
 
 " To my desire," he replied, bowing, l( of 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 21 
 
 claiming a relationship, which I fear I may find 
 you unwilling to acknowledge." 
 
 " Pardon me, my Lord," returned the Coun- 
 tess, with the utmost sweetness and benevo- 
 lence in her manner, " I shall ever feel proud 
 to acknowledge Lord Edward Lumley as my 
 kinsman, and happy to be entitled to consider 
 him as a friend." 
 
 " Ah ! Madam, such flattering language ac- 
 cords not with the friendly freedom of a rela- 
 tion," said Lord Edward. 
 
 At that moment the door opened, and Lady 
 Louisa entered the room. 
 
 " Come, Louisa," cried her mother, " and 
 receive your cousin." 
 
 Louisa blushed the deepest scarlet, as Lord 
 Edward, taking her hand, and kissing it, said, 
 M As Lady Montrose's kindness has led her to 
 admit my claims on her family, as a friend and 
 relative, may I not hope that the amiable Lady 
 Louisa will not deny me the honor of being es- 
 teemed hers also." 
 
 D 
 
22 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 " Certainly, my Lord," returned Louisa, 
 blushing more deeply than before ; while Lum- 
 ley led her to a seat, and placed himself in one 
 between her and the Countess.— The sight of 
 the piano forte produced a question from his 
 Lordship, if Lady Louisa played ; and being 
 answered in the affirmative, he requested the 
 favour of hearing her. 
 
 While she was putting the instrument in or- 
 der, his Lordship was looking over her music. 
 
 " You will find nothing but songs," said 
 Louisa, " for I play very little else." 
 
 " Then I conclude you also sing them." 
 
 " I used to do so ; but the principle part of 
 my music consists of duets, and I have now no 
 person to sing them with me ;" returned Louisa.. 
 
 " Unless you will permit me to do so;" said 
 Lord Edward, smiling, as he opened the book, 
 and put, " If I love," on the desk before Louisa, 
 who was by this time seated at the piano forte. 
 
 His Lordship's voice was a fine tenor, and he 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 23 
 
 sung both with taste and judgment ; proving 
 that he was acquainted with music as a science. 
 In the course of" conversation, he acknowledg- 
 ed that he played the violoncello ; an instru- 
 ment on which Lord Montrose had once poss- 
 essed great skill ; and Lady Montrose invited 
 him to be frequent in his visits, alledging that 
 it would be of the greatest advantage to her 
 daughter. 
 
 His Lordship thanked her for her kindness, 
 and readily promised (what he did not fail to 
 perform) to call on them often ; particularly in 
 an evening, when alone, Lord Montrose could 
 enjoy the pleasure of his company. 
 
 Lady Louisa was not long without lovers : 
 but the Marquis of Halifax and Mr. Montague 
 seemed more in earnest than any other of her 
 numerous admirers. 
 
 The Marquis, who was a Roman Catholic, 
 was a sensible genteel man, about thirty ; of a 
 grave turn of mind, and a benevolent temper. 
 He appeared passionately in leve with Louisaj 
 but was kept at a distance by the almost perse- 
 cuting -attentions of his rival. 
 
24 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 Mr. Montague was a Captain in the Guards> 
 and had (a few months before he made his ad- 
 dresses to Louisa) by coming of age, entered 
 into possession of a large family estate. His 
 person had more of fashion than of grace or 
 dignity in it ; and though his face was perfectly 
 handsome, it was entirely uninteresting. For 
 his mental qualifications, they were not very 
 remarkable : He neither wanted good sense or 
 goon nature, though his vanity often made 
 him appear deficient in the first as his haugh- 
 tiness did in the last. 
 
 The idol of a fend and weak mother, from his 
 earliest years, he had been accustomed to con- 
 sider himself as inferior to none : but when he 
 met with those whom he looked on as his equals 
 (which were few) or chose to render himself 
 agreeable, he was polite, and even attentive in 
 his manners. He had an air of assurance, 
 mingled with inconceivable nonchaler.ee ; and, 
 when he would so far exert himself, he was im- 
 perious and fierce in the extreme. With such 
 a character, Mr. Montague was not a man 
 likely to make any impression on the heart of 
 the gentle and unassuming Louisa. Confident 
 of success however, he demanded, rather than 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 25 
 
 petitioned, for her hand, but was positively re- 
 jected. 
 
 The Earl, though he would, in consideration 
 of the young man's large fortune, have consent- 
 ed to, the union, did not chuse to restrain his 
 daughter's inclinations in favour of a Protestant. 
 Mr. Montague, was at least as much surprised 
 as displeased, by this abrupt dismission, which 
 he attributed to the more favored pretensions 
 of the Marquis of Hallifax. 
 
 Though Mr. Montague was really attached 
 to Lady Louisa, his disappointed love would not 
 have led him to shew any resentment towards 
 the person, who, he imagined had occasioned 
 his mortification ; but his irritated pride for 
 once overcame his careless indifference, and he 
 dispatched the following billet to the Marquis. 
 
 « MY LORD, 
 & I have been rejected by Lady Louisa Percy, 
 and I attribute my disappointment to you. I 
 shall therefore expect, that ycu will meet me 
 at whatever time and place you may appoint, in 
 order to settle our pretensions. 
 
 » H. MONTAGUE." 
 
26 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 The Marquis was exceedingly amused by the 
 perusal of this morceau, which could excite 
 only his contempt and ridicule. He had too 
 much sense to engage in so foolish an affair, 
 farther than expostulating with this hot-headed 
 and vain young man, (for whose family he had 
 a high regard) and accordingly returned the 
 following very laconic answer to his note. 
 
 " I am not to blame that you have been un- 
 successful. However, if you think so, join me 
 at my house in Pall-Mali, at nine to-morrow 
 morning and I will satisfy you. 
 
 « HALLIFAX." 
 
 At the appointed hour Mr. Montague arrived, 
 and was desired to walk up stairs to the drawing- 
 room, where the Marquis expected him. His 
 Lordship arose at his entrance, saying, '' I am 
 happy to have the honor of seeing Mr. Monta- 
 gue in this house." 
 
 " I should be happy in entering it, my Lord," 
 returned Montague, " had you not subverted 
 me in the fondest wish of my heart. But where- 
 fore do we loiter ? You have promised me sa- 
 tisfaction." 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 27 
 
 .*" I have Mr. Montague, and I will perform 
 my promise ; but it shall be neither with the 
 pistol, nor with the sword." 
 
 ° How then, my Lord ?" interrupted he. 
 
 " By assuring you," said the Marquis, calm- 
 ly, " that I have not been the cause of your 
 disappointment. I love Lady Louisa, it is true ; 
 but have never told her so, because I would not 
 even seem to impede your success." 
 
 Mr. Montague appeared boiling with indigna- 
 tion ; and the Marquis losing all his solemnity) 
 which he had with difficulty assumed, exclaim- 
 ed, " S'death, Sir, cannot a woman, think, you, 
 do a sensible thing without bsing instructed by 
 one of us I" 
 
 " Your Lordship means to insult me J but I 
 insist on " 
 
 " Softly, my dear Montague," interrupted 
 the Marquis, mildly, " wait till I have made 
 my proposals to the Lady ; if she rejects me, I 
 shall just be in a humour to receive your fire. 
 And if I succeed! If Lady Louisa deigns to 
 
2S THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 smile upon my suit, I will not, I am determine 
 ed, risk a life, in which she is interested." 
 
 The share of understanding that Mr. Mon- 
 tague really possessed, enabled him to see the 
 justice of what the Marquis had said, and his 
 own folly. Restored to reason, he relapsed in- 
 to his former apathy and nonchalence ; and the 
 Marquis, as he had proposed doing, offered 
 himself to the acceptance of the fair Louisa. 
 Lord Montrose, at his request undertook to 
 plead his case ; and accordingly one morning, 
 while Lady Louisa and her mother were both 
 at work, in the dressing-room of the latter, he 
 asked the former, what she thought of the Mar- 
 quis of Hallifax ? To which she replied, 
 
 " He is perfectly amiable and accomplished.'* 
 
 " But his personal merits, Louisa?" said the 
 Earl. 
 
 She answered gaily, in the words of ParneU 
 
 fl And if a shape could win a heart, 
 u He has a shape to win." 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 29 
 
 There was a smiling archness in her eyes as 
 she repeated these lines, that shewed at once 
 her indifference, and her determination not to 
 be serious on the subject. 
 
 " Precisely his opinion of you," returned the 
 Earl. 
 
 " Then it seems there is a sympathy between 
 us," said Louisa smiling. 
 
 " A sympathy," resumed her father, " that 
 will, I think, render you happy in marriage." 
 
 " Marriage ! Papa ! Marriage ! — And pray 
 what put marriage into my dear Papa's head ?" 
 cried Louisa, giddily patting his head as she 
 
 spoke. 
 
 The Earl was half angry, as he rejoined, 
 " Be serious, if possible, Louisa ! the Marquis 
 
 did—." 
 
 " But suppose, Papa, I have no mind to be 
 serious any more than I have to — marry the 
 Marquis ?" 
 
 E 
 
50 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 " You allow him handsome, amiable, and ac- 
 complished." 
 
 " Aye, indeed," replied Louisa, hesitatingly 
 as if in doubt. 
 
 " And you confess you admire him ?" 
 
 ,{ Well, my Lord, if I do, you know it is on- 
 ly discharging my obligation to him ; and my 
 heart is still free." 
 
 There was a playful sweetness and innocent 
 archness in her manner, during the whole of 
 this conversation, with which Lord Montrose 
 could not be seriously angry ; but assuming a 
 stern air, he said, " I am by no means certain 
 that it is. And now I desire that you may have 
 done with this flippancy. The Marquis of Hal- 
 ifax loves you ; he is not a man to be trifled 
 with, or lightly rejected, like Mr. Montague. 
 He is too generous to bestow a thought on for- 
 tune ; but will at once raise you to rank, afflu- 
 ence and splendor i Now answer as you ought." 
 
 Louisa's countenance immediately assumed 
 a serious cast: She came, and taking her fa- 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 21 
 
 ther's hand, replied with respectful but solemn 
 energy. V What your definition of ought may 
 be, I can easily conceive. But I will answer 
 you, my dear Sir, to the utmost of my ability, 
 as is proper for me to do. I have insuperable 
 objections to the Marquis ; who deserves a bet- 
 ter wife than I could make him. I cannot love 
 him, as in that situation I ought ; and must 
 therefore decline the honor of his alliance. If 
 he wishes to hear my reasons from myself, (so 
 much do I esteem him) I will give up the pri- 
 vilege of my sex, and satisfy him why I never 
 can be his." 
 
 When Louisa had concluded, she kissed her 
 father's hand, and left the room. 
 
 For some time the Earl was silent ; but at 
 last said, " Where can this girl have learned 
 such fascinating persuasive eloquence ! Upon 
 my soul I cannot resist it, and must give up 
 the fondest wish of my heart to gratify her ca- 
 price. Such it must be; for I cannot conceive 
 any reasonable objection she can have to the 
 Marquis; yet, she says, she will herself inform 
 him why she never can be his. Her affections 
 certainly are not engaged ! Tell me, Julia, do 
 you think they are ?" 
 
32 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 " Lord Edward Lumley," the Countess be- 
 gan. — He repeated, with a sarcastic smile, 
 " Lord Edward Lumley ! — An avowed heretic ! 
 —No, no. — Her piety is sufficient security a- 
 gainst that. If Lumley is the only person of 
 whom you have any suspicions, you may set 
 your mind at rest. My daughter will never give 
 her heart to a heretic. For, by heavens ! if she 
 did, she should be a beggared outcast from my 
 house, as well as affections." Saying this he 
 left the room. 
 
 Lady Montrose was far from being a bigot, 
 in any sense of the word ; and though many of 
 the misfortunes of her favorite sister, arose 
 from her having married a protectant, she was 
 far from thinking them a judgment on her for 
 so doing. 
 
 The Countess was of opinion, that amongst 
 the bigotted, morose, and severe of either reli- 
 gion, such a junction could not fail of producing 
 misery to one, or, perhaps, both parties. But 
 where both possessed good sense, good temper, 
 and liberality of sentiment, it could not be at- 
 tended with ill consequences to either. But 
 had Lady Montrose even been of a contrary wajr 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 35 
 
 of thinking, she knew too much of the human 
 heart, to be ignorant, that it is not in the minds 
 of young persons that religion is a preventative 
 of love ; and though she almost dreaded to in- 
 form her Lord of it, she was perfectly satisfied 
 that the frequent visits of Lord Edward were 
 occasioned by an attachment, she had no doubt 
 Louisa returned. As yet, however, no profes- 
 sions had been made ; but music is well known 
 to be a universal language ; and that of the 
 eyes is so to. Both had already betrayed to the 
 observing glances of Lady Montrose, that they 
 loved. The choice that Lord Edward (who al- 
 ways selected the music they were to perform) 
 made of those airs that seemed best suited to 
 show to advantage the fine voice of Louisa, and 
 his manner of singing them with her, served to 
 convince the Countess of their attachment. But 
 Lord Montrose was still (as it appeared) wilful- 
 ly blind. Lord Edward was the first protestant 
 for whom he had ever professed a friendship ; 
 and, him he seemed really to love. 
 
 One evening, when they had been conversing 
 on some subject, on which Lord Edward's opi- 
 nions proved such as particularly pleased him, 
 he exclaimed warmly, " Good God ! Edward, 
 why are you not a Catholic ?" 
 
34 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 " Probably," he answered, smiling at the ve- 
 hemence of the Earl, " because my family are 
 all protestants ; and I happen to be in the 
 army." 
 
 " Then, my dear fellow, since you attribute 
 your present errors to local circumstances, you 
 may, without hesitation, renounce them. Lousa, 
 try to convert your cousin ; and if you succeed, 
 you will be the two btings on earth most clear 
 to me." 
 
 " Dear Lady Louisa," cried Lumlcy, c! spare 
 me, I entreat you. My errors, as you call 
 them, I never can renounce ; and never put 
 me to so hard a trial, as to withstand so sweet 
 a pleader." 
 
 " Courage, Louisa." exclaimed the Earl, 
 your power once acknowledged, your victory 
 is almost complete." 
 
 " Well then, my fair antagonist," resumed 
 Lumley, perceiving Louisa about to speak, 
 " since I mnst stand your eloquence, let me at 
 least shew you the obstacles you have to sur- 
 mount, by shewing you what a devotee I am. 
 The religion of a soldier is that of love." 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN". 35 
 
 The Countess, who had been alarmed- an first 
 at this conversation, was charmed by the deli- 
 cacy of this lively turn from a subject, on which 
 it was impossible their Lordships would agree ; 
 while the young man went on. 
 
 " Beauty is the shrine at which I worship ! 
 But I bow not before a senseless image. The 
 divinity I adore is endowed with every mental 
 charm that can adorn a goddess ; and the in- 
 cense I offer on her altar is not the cold tribute 
 of flattery and admiration ! I offer to her ac- 
 ceptance a heart warmly sensible of her virtues, 
 and actuated by a love as pure as the Deity that 
 inspires it." 
 
 " Upon my soul," cried the Earl laughing, 
 11 your mode of worhip is a pretty one. Why, 
 Ned, thou art a perfect enthusiast in religion, 
 in thy own way I Well, Louisa, what say you 
 to this ?" 
 
 Lady Louisa had betryed evident uneasiness 
 during the whole time Lumley had been speak- 
 ing ; and now appearing resolved to know the 
 true state of his heart, she said, with apparent 
 calmness, « That the divinity of Lord Edward 
 
35 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 Lumley's worship is happy in so fervent a vo- 
 tary ; and it only remains to be proved, whe- 
 ther she is worthy of his partiality." 
 
 " To doubt her merits," returned Lumley, 
 " were indeed a crime. In every mental and 
 personal charm she is unequalled, except by 
 ., Lady Louisa herself." 
 
 " On my consciance, Ned," said Lord Mon- 
 trose, " you are a brave man, to say so much 
 before my daughter. Do you forget, that no 
 woman can bear to be told, that she is not su- 
 perior to the whole sex ?" 
 
 " Lady Louisa's virtues, my Lord, are too 
 similar to those of my mistress, for me to have 
 any fears. And now, sweet my coz, plead you 
 the cause of your religion." 
 
 " To attempt to warp your faith, my Lord, 
 would, I doubt, be a thankless office ; and my 
 influence is not, I imagine, of consequence 
 enough." 
 
 As she was speaking Lady Louisa advanced 
 to the piano, and struck the keys in such a 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 37 
 
 manner, that if she did not conclude the sen- 
 tence, no person could tell how. Lumley fol- 
 lowed her, and dropping on one knee beside 
 her, said with enthusiasm, though in a lovy 
 voice, " Here, since you forbid not my worship, 
 shall my homage ever be paid ; and never can 
 my devotion be less fervent, than at present, 
 when my adoration is declared." 
 
 Had Louisa been indifferent to her lover, this 
 unexpected declaration, and the manner of it, 
 would have rendered her confusion extreme ; 
 but the idea of her parents having seen Lumley 
 kneeling to her, and passionately declaring his 
 sentiments, was almost too overcoming. His 
 words, however, had been heard only by her- 
 self, and his attitude appeared assumed, merely 
 to look for the music book that he now took 
 from under the instrument, and placed on the 
 desk before Louisa. She mecannically sat 
 down, but she beheld not the song on which 
 her eyes were fixed ; and every sense was ab- 
 sorbed in deep reverie. 
 
 " Je vous adore !" said Lumley, in a low 
 tone. The sound of his voice aroused Louisa, 
 and she suddenly turned towards him. Her 
 F 
 
•3S THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 eyes met his, and the sweet smile that beamed 
 on her ingenuous countenance, satisfied her 
 lover. Certain, from his own feelings, that she 
 would not have power to sing, he pointed out a. 
 favourite lesson to her, and she began to sing it. 
 
 By the time it was concluded she had regain- 
 ed sufficient composure to join Lord Edward, in 
 two or three duets. They then ceased. Lady 
 Louisa left not the instrument ; and Edward 
 leaning on the back of her chair, conversed 
 with her, and Lord Montrose, who stood beside 
 him. 
 
 Louisa was speaking, and, with her head 
 thrown back, was looking up in his face, when 
 Lord Edward, unable to resist the temptation, 
 stooped suddenly and kissed her forehead be- 
 fore she was aware. Between confusion and 
 displeasure, she coloured; and Lord Edward 
 tapping her cheek, " said, "If you are angry I 
 shall repeat the offence." 
 
 " Louisa," cried the Earl, " you have no 
 right, for you fairly challenged him." 
 
 " It was unintentionally, then, my Lord, and 
 consequently deserved no punishment," 
 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 59 
 
 " Punishment !" he repeated, laughing, 
 « Oh ! the importance of those girls ! As if a 
 • kiss was worth quarreling for ! Come, come, 
 make peace directly." 
 
 Louisa had risen, and Lumley raising both 
 her hands, repeated the liberty he had taken, 
 saying gaily, " Thus I take peace and pardon !*» 
 Louisa, though she was at first seriously dis- 
 please, now smiled ; and calling him « Saucy 
 encroacher!" the affair was at an end. But 
 Lady Montrose saw its progress, with an un- 
 easiness which its termination encreased. 
 
 The Marquis of Hallifax had left town im- 
 mediately after he had laid his proposals before 
 Lord Montrose ; and, on his return, waited on 
 Lady Louisa, to receive that final answer, 
 which her father told him she was ready to give. 
 She received him, (accompanied only by her 
 mother) with sweetness ; and a few insipid ques- 
 tions having been asked, and answered, she 
 desired permission to thank his Lordship for 
 the honor he had conferred on her. " An ho- 
 nour," she added, " which my father has in- 
 formed your Lordship, I must reject." 
 
 " He has, Madam, but I had hoped—." 
 
40 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 u My Lord," interrupted the lovely Louisa, 
 with a noble candour, " I am above the mean 
 vanity of trifling with a heart like yours; and 
 your generous attachment merits something 
 more than politeness, from the -woman you so 
 highly distinguish. Were I disposed to be in- 
 sincere, I should tell you, that my rejection 
 of your hand proceeded from my unwillingness 
 to give you a portionless bride. But, my Lord> 
 I have no such motive ! To a man I loved 
 I should glory to owe every thing ! I es- 
 teem you as a friend, and might perhaps love 
 you as a brother ; but I feel not for your Lord- 
 ship that warmth of tenderness you deserve to 
 meet with, from the woman whom you honor 
 with you hand. Bestow it on some person, who 
 •can regard you as she ought ,• and preserve on- 
 ly for me your esteem and friendship, which I 
 shall endeavour to deserve, and repay with the 
 grateful affection of a sister." 
 
 " Forgive me, Lady Louisa," cried the Mar- 
 quis, with emotion, " forgive me for having dis- 
 tressed your ingenuous nature by a repetition 
 of what pains me to hear. For your generous 
 candour you must consider me your debtor ; 
 jmd believe that you have not in the world, a 
 •more tender and devoted friend than myself." 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 41 
 
 He timidly offered to take her hand, which 
 she presented to him, with so soft and sweet a 
 grace, that a lover more confident, or less con- 
 versant with the human heart, would have de- 
 rived some hope from it. But the Marquis of 
 Hallifax received the white hand of Louisa, and 
 the smile that accompanied it, as a death blow 
 to his hopes. 
 
 Lord Montrose now entered the room, and 
 something like conversation was attempted. 
 But it was only forced ; and the Marquis soon 
 took his leave. 
 
 From this time the passion Louisa felt for 
 Edward Lumley became every day more dis- 
 cernible. If he commended any particular co- 
 lour, or stile of dress, she immediately adopted 
 it. His favourite songs she was incessantly 
 singing, and if he happened to be two days ab- 
 sent, every rap at the door drew her to the win- 
 dow> and she listened anxiously to every foot- 
 step. 
 
 He was fond of Spanish, and one day said, 
 that he thought the study of that language and 
 the Portuguese, was a source of the highest en- 
 
42 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 joyment ; as it enabled a person to taste all the 
 beauties of Camoens and Lope de Vega. Lord 
 Montrose was familiar with both those lan- 
 guages, and as Louisa had in her Convent be- 
 gun to learn them, she now, under the auspi- 
 ciesof her father, returned to the study of them ; 
 and, by the most unwearied assiduity, she was 
 soon enabled to enjoy the writings of Lumley's 
 favourite authors, in the Spanish and Portu- 
 guese. 
 
 With the greatest uneasiness Lady Montrose 
 beheld her daughter's partiality gaining every 
 hour new force ; and, at last, determined to 
 seem no longer blind to it, but to point out to 
 Louisa, the consequences of indulging it. She 
 therefore took the opportunity of Ld. Montrose's 
 being absent for a few days, to introduce the 
 subject, and then added, 
 
 " That Edward Lumley is more to you than 
 a friend is very evident. With the crudest ap- 
 prehension I have long seen your attachment : 
 but forebore to speak of it, in the hope that 
 your own good sense would instruct you how 
 vain it must be to encourage a prepossession 
 in favour of one, so totally out of your reach« 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 43 
 
 Louisa : I know the doctrine I must inculcate 
 is disagreeable to a girl in love." 
 
 At the word love, Louisa shuddered. We 
 are all the slaves of sounds and terms. Louisa 
 had long experienced the sweetest emotions, 
 from the idea, that she was beloved by Edward, 
 and returned all those tender sentiments ; yet 
 at the expression, " girl in love," her colour 
 changed repeatedly ; she laid down her work, 
 and leaning her head on her hand, sighed deep- 
 ly. The Countess continued, 
 
 " You must conquer this weakness : What 
 do you conceive will be the consequences of it ? 
 Can you imagine, that did Lumley even wish it, 
 your father would consent to your marrying a 
 protestant, a heretic ! one destitute of fortune I 
 Think for a moment, my beloved child, of the 
 misery you are laying up for yourself, in che- 
 rishing this fatal attachment. Are you even 
 certain that Lord Edward loves you, and that, 
 having destroyed your peace, he may not de- 
 spise the weak girl, who gave her heart before 
 she was certain of possessing one in return. 
 Pardon me that I probe your wound so deeply, 
 my task is painful to you ; but it is not less so 
 •to myself,'^ 
 
*4 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 Lady Montrose took the hand, that in sup- 
 porting, almost concealed the beautiful face of 
 her daughter. Louisa raised her eyes, filled with 
 tears, and said, with a voice of anguish, " You 
 have indeed, Madam, wrung a heart, which 
 was never wilfully guilty of offence : I deserve 
 it, for you have convinced me, that I love Lord 
 Edward! But my affections have not been 
 thrown away on an unworthy object : for I could 
 tear his image with indignation from my heart, 
 could I believe him capable of the conduct you 
 describe." 
 
 <l Ah ! Louisa," said Lady Montrose, shak- 
 ing her head, " I am more than ever convinc- 
 ed that your heart is lost • It is thus that every 
 fond girl defends the treacherous foe that would 
 undo her ; and attributes virtues to her lover he 
 never boasted." 
 
 Louisa was shocked at this accusation. — " I 
 see all my guilt, Madam," cried she, weeping, 
 " I have deprived you of that noble candour 
 that used to distinguish you ! In tenderness to 
 your erring child, you load the unhappy but 
 honourable Lumley with contumely. Alas ! 
 he is but too amiable 1 But forgive me, my mo- 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 45 
 
 ther, for having caused those tears ! I will try 
 to remedy my imprudence : and if 1 cannot for- 
 get, at least I will never see Lord Edward more." 
 
 " Louisa, this must not be," said Lady Mon- 
 trose, interrupting her. " The world, or your 
 father least of all, must not be made acquainted 
 with this unfortunate affair. We shall soon re- 
 turn to Scotland, and then all will be forgotten. 
 But, could you give your hand to Hallifax, who 
 adores you — ?" 
 
 " Ask not more, Madam, than human na- 
 ture can grant. You must not urge me to mar- 
 ry a man I cannot love ; and then, I am cer- 
 tain, I shall never be guilty of a fault in favour 
 of one I do. Even you, my mother, must de- 
 spise me, were I to plight my vows to the ami- 
 able Marquis with an alienated heart." 
 
 Her sobs prevented her saying any more ; and 
 at that moment a footman brought her a letter. 
 The hand on the superscription was, she thought 
 well known to her : distressed as she was she 
 felt a sort of pleasure in beholding it ; but, un- 
 able to speak, she put it into the hand of her 
 mother, who rejected, it, saying, that as she 
 G 
 
40 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 had no doubt of her honor, any letter to her 
 should be sacred. A faint smile brightened 
 the countenance of Louisa ; but whether it a- 
 rose from pleasure in the confirmation of Lady 
 Montrose's good opinion, or the idea, that she 
 should not be deprived of her letter, she could 
 not herself define: she read, however, the fol- 
 lowing lines. 
 
 " Though personally a stranger to Lady 
 Louisa Percy, the Duke of Beaufort is suffi- 
 ciently acquainted with her good sense, and the 
 generosity of her disposition, to take the liber- 
 ty (as a father) of requesting half an hour's 
 conversation with her, at whatever time she 
 may appoint. That it may be soon, is perhaps 
 of consequence to the peace of an unhappy 
 young man." 
 
 « St. James's-Square, March 1." 
 
 " Well, Mamma," cried the blushing agitat- 
 ed Louisa, " what answer must I return ? Ad- 
 vise me," I conjure you." 
 
 Lady Montrose felt for the pain she was about 
 to inflict on the unapprehensive mir.d of her 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 47 
 
 daughter, by crushing all those delusive hopes 
 which, it was evident, the equivocal stile of the 
 Duke's billet had inspired. She knew his Grace 
 to be vain, sordid, and imperious ; and she 
 trembled for the scene the timid Louisa was to 
 'be engaged in. But she determined not, by 
 owning the full extent of her apprehensions, to 
 lessen the courage of the fair victim she was 
 about to wound. 
 
 " Flatter not yourself, my love," said she ten- 
 derly, " with hopes that the Duke of Beaufort 
 approves the engagement the heart of his son 
 has formed. To me the contrary is very evi- 
 dent ; and it will be so to you, if you consider 
 but a moment. If his Grace wishes to effect a 
 union between ye, would he, do you imagine, 
 apply to you ?" 
 
 " Oh ! Mamma !" exclaimed the sweet Louisa, 
 bursting into tears, and concealing her face in 
 the bosom of her mother. " Oh 1 Mamma, how 
 unhappy am I, to have caused all this by my 
 imprudence ! But do not ask me to see the 
 Duke ! Do not ask me to admit his visit, since 
 I am unable to bear his reproaches. From 
 you, and from my father, I have met only in- 
 
46 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 diligence, and how shall I meet the justly in- 
 censed Duke ? He will think, and (perhaps 
 will call me) the seducer of his noble son." 
 
 In an agony of distress, she clung to her 
 mother, and seemed afraid to raise her face 
 from her shoulder, lest she should behold the 
 angry countenance of the father of her lover. 
 The Countess embraced, and tried to convince 
 her of the propriety of her granting the request 
 of the Duke ; and at last so far succeeded as to 
 prevail on her to write the following note. 
 
 " Whatever conversation the Duke of Beau- 
 fort may wish to have, with Lady Loui*a Per- 
 cy, she will have the honor of attending to at 
 ten to-morrow morning, if convenient to his 
 Grace." 
 
 « Albemarle-Street, March 1." 
 
 As soon as she had dispatched this billet, the 
 unhappy Louisa retired to her chamber. She 
 jaovr saw,- painted in the most vivid colours, the 
 jnisery of the destiny that awaited her ; and 
 which she had, till then, hardly dared to glance 
 at. She saw herself divided from him, who 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 49 
 
 could alone sweeten existence, burthensome 
 and solitary without him. She beheld her mo- 
 ther, bending in sorrow to the grave, which the 
 "hopeless unhappiness of an only child, had ren- 
 dered welcome to her, condemning while she 
 lamented her. This picture was too dreadful, 
 and she again, infancy, returned towards Lum- 
 ley. She witnessed his agonies ; she saw him 
 mourning the cruel fate that blasted all his 
 hopes, and tore him from the woman he loved, 
 and she thought no evil could be greater ! But 
 fancy presented one, yet more keenly afflictive. 
 
 She" pourtrayed the amiable Edward, false to 
 his first attachment, blest in the possession of 
 some more fondly adored charmer ! Or, losing 
 in the embraces of venal beauty, the remem- 
 brance of his Louisa, and the pure heart she 
 had bestowed on his youthful virtues. 
 
 Thoughts like these occupied her the whole 
 day r and haunted her on her pillow ; to forbid 
 that repose her agitated spirits required, to ena- 
 ble her to support the fearful interview that 
 was to take place on the morrow, she endea- 
 voured to acquire composure, and, in part, suc- 
 ceeded. 
 
.SO THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 "When she entered the room, where the Duke 
 (in company with her mother) awaited her, and 
 when, with the most insinuating elegance he 
 paid her his compliments, his likeness in figure 
 and voice to her beloved Edward had overcame 
 her. But with unaffected grace she courtseyed 
 and suffered him to lead her to a seat near La- 
 dy Montrose, who, he insisted should stay to 
 hear what he should say. As if impatient to 
 perform his cruel task, he directly began. 
 
 " Till I saw you, Madam, I was at a loss to 
 account for the romantic enthusiasm of my son 
 Edward, in regard to you. His praises of the 
 accomplished Lady Louisa Percy, led me to 
 think highly of you ; but since I have seen ycu 
 I have found that I formed an opinion far be- 
 low your merits. You are not I suppose, a 
 stranger to my son's attachment to you ?" 
 
 " My Lord Duke," said Louisa, with a firm- 
 ness that would do honor to a heroine, " when 
 I acceded to your desire of an interview, I de- 
 termined to be ingenuous. I am acquainted 
 with the partiality with which Lord Edward 
 Lumley honors me." 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN". SI 
 
 " Comes your information from himself, Ma- 
 dam ?" 
 
 « From any other, my Lord, I should not 
 have believed the tale, however flattering." 
 
 " May I ask, Madam, how you received his 
 professions ?" 
 
 " As those of a man whose merit made them 
 agreeable, though his situation and mine made 
 them imprudent. Has your Grace any more 
 questions to ask?" 
 
 " No, Madam, I am fully answered. But 
 justice to the candour of your replies, demands 
 that I should be explicit with you, and lay be- 
 fore you, what, perhaps, an infatuated boy 
 would fail to do. You know I suppose, that 
 Lord Edward is my third son ? His two elder 
 brothers are expensive in their manner of living, 
 and their claims on my fortune are of a nature, 
 supe'rior to his. I have procured him the se- 
 cond rank in the line he has chosen, and I can 
 do little more. In order, then, to support him 
 in the stile in which he was brought up, and 
 which becomes his high birth, he must look 
 
52 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 for a large fortune with a wife. I have propos- 
 ed many ladies to him, and hare now selected 
 one, whose immense wealth is her least claim 
 to admiration: She would willingly bestow her 
 hand on him : but from a fatal infatuation he 
 declines it. To you, Madam, I apply. I de- 
 mand it of you, to point out to the deluded Ed- 
 ward, the impolicy of his obstinate opposition 
 to my commands." 
 
 The Duke paused, and regarded Louisa with 
 haughty sternness : but observing no traces of 
 the weakness of her sex, on the burning cheek 
 of the victim of his unfeeling arrogance, he re- 
 sumed, 
 
 " To be plain with you> Madam, Lord Ed- 
 ward never can be yours ; since your fortune, I 
 believe, is but ill qualified to make up to my 
 son the deficiency of his own." 
 
 " My Lord Duke." said Louisa, with a mild 
 dignity, that seemed to humble the proud and 
 pityless Duke of Beaufort, " as my mother's 
 relation, and as the father of Lord Edward 
 Lumley, whom I had injured, I thought my- 
 self called on to listen with patience to your re- 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 53 
 
 monstrances, and the reproaches I knew I me- 
 rited, however unintentional the offence. I 
 have heard your Grace, and have formed my 
 determination." 
 
 "So have I mine, Madam," interrupted he, 
 " if you many my son, you must hope for no 
 favour. Edward shall not, with impunity, dis- 
 obey me ; and since your attachment to him is 
 so strong, how will you bear to see him, foi? 
 your sake, an alien to his family — poor, and 
 loaded with the curses of a justly incensed fa- 
 ther ? Remember, that I, in time, warn you 
 of the consequences, that will attend a union 
 so improper. Reflect on what the experience 
 of numbers too planly prove to be the case ; 
 that though love might smile in a cottage, while 
 the delirium of tenderness lasts, and while sur- 
 rounded with the elegancies of life ; yet when 
 poverty enters, love flies far away, and leaves 
 
 only fruitless repentance. 'You see, Ma- 
 
 dam, what Lady Edward Lumley, (unless she 
 is chosen by myself) is to expect from the Duke 
 of Beaufort." 
 
 " Your determination," said Louisa, wound- 
 ed pride and offended delicacy glowed in every 
 H 
 
54 THE ENGLISH NUN". 
 
 feature, as she gracefully arose, " your deter- 
 mination I have heard ; now hear mine. — Tha* 
 for Lord Edward I would endure any, and every 
 distress, in which he was not a sharer ; aivd 
 though, could he raise me to a throne, he would 
 be equally dear to me, never will I become his 
 wife ! Since, in doing so, I must owe duty and 
 reverence to a man, who meanly took advantage 
 of my youthful candour, to treat me with cru- 
 elty and insult." 
 
 She courtseyed slightly, and walked firmly 
 out of the room ; but the door was hardly clos- 
 ed, when the heroism that had supported her 
 failed, and turning into the library, she flung 
 herself on a sofa, and weeping, was insensible 
 to every thing but the anguish that wrung her 
 heart, from the idea that she had given up Lord 
 Edward Lumley for ever. 
 
 It had not unfrefjuently happened, that Lord 
 Edward had visited the Montrose family, when 
 they were particularly engaged, and he had been 
 refused admittance ; and the Earl then desired 
 him, always to walk into the library, without 
 asking any questions, and that he might there 
 amuse himself till the family were disengaged. 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 55 
 
 It happened that this morning he had done so, 
 and was sitting reading, when he saw Louisa 
 enter, and was a witness of her agohifes. He 
 threw his arms round her, and entreated l>er to 
 tell him the cause of that sorrow, which had so 
 totally overcome her fortitude. He tried to 
 soothe her, but in vain. The moment she re- 
 collected her situation, she endeavoured to dis- 
 engage herself from him, but he still detained 
 her. 
 
 " Louisa," cried he, " ypu must not leave me 
 in the cruel suspence your tears have given rise 
 to. Did I not hear my father's voice ? — h is 
 so, Louisa, and you have been prevailed on to 
 renounce me — But never will 1 give you up \* 
 
 " You must, my Lord," returned Louisa, 
 >vho lost the sense of her own suffering in her 
 wish to spare him some of the pain she must 
 otherwise inflict ; " you must submit to the ne- 
 cessity, which commands, that this should be 
 our last meeting. Here we must part for ever ; 
 ?.nd you must forget that Louisa Percy ever ex- 
 isted. Farewell ! — may you be happy ! and 
 in hearing of your felicity, mine will be pro- 
 moted. " 
 
5 6 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 She was leaving him ; and had already reach- 
 ed the door, when he sprung after her, and 
 holding her hand, " Stay," he exclaimed, " stay, 
 and tell me why we must part ? You would 
 not, I know, trifle with one who loved you ; 
 but why must I forget that my Louisa ever ex- 
 isted ? Is it because she never regards me, and 
 is going to be the Louisa of another ?. ■ Oh ! 
 do not torture me with this silent calmness." 
 
 " If I am calm," said the lovely heroine, with 
 suppressed anguish, « it is to spare you the 
 sight of the affliction it gives me, to part with 
 you for ever. Duty and honor alike command 
 the sacrifice, and I will be the first to make it ! 
 — Once more, ever dear Edward, farewell !— - 
 Obey your parents ; and let me hear that you 
 u! e happy with the woman they have chosen for 
 your wife. Dut I must never see you more. I 
 have vowed" 
 
 " Then my fears were prophetic ; and the 
 barbarous hand of a father, stabs the heart of his 
 son ! — But can you, Louisa, assist in the wan. 
 Ion cruelty that would destroy me ; and blast 
 the peace of my angel mother ?" 
 
 11 No, Edward, no. My love would save you 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 57 
 
 from parental curses ! — I could bear to be se- 
 parated from you ; but I could not endure your 
 unhappincss, if originating in me. I could not 
 behold your repentance, for what it would not 
 be in my power to recall ; and the idea, that 
 my fatal attachment had involved you in pover- 
 ty and disgrace. Be calm, dearest Edward ; 
 give not way to those agonies, but let us part." 
 
 Louisa began to be alarmed at the almost 
 frenzied emotions of her lover's mind, that were 
 discernible in his features : contending passions 
 deprived him of utterance, and shook his whole 
 frame. She laid her hand on his arm, repeat- 
 ing, in the softest voice, " Dearest Edward ! 
 dear cousin !" — .He stared — he caught both her 
 trembling hands, and grasping them closely, he 
 said, in a low reproachful tone, " Mock me 
 not with those tender appellations, when your 
 heart is insensible to the tortures you inflict on 
 mine. Oh ! rather than part let us immediate- 
 ly be united by a private maniage. You are 
 not averse and insensible, Louisa. Those tears 
 tell me you are not, and you will not deny me !'* 
 
 " I must, Edward ; and from the conviction 
 that I am right, I never will sew disscntion 
 
58 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 in any family, and the Duke of Beaufort shall 
 not again insult me." 
 
 " Has he then been the monster ?" 
 
 li Hold, my Lord," cried Louisa, interrupt- 
 ing him, u he is your father, and I have for- 
 given him. I did not merit his cruelty or the 
 ignominy with which he treated me ; and I 
 could bear it. But could I accede to your wild 
 proposal, I should deserve his contempt, and 
 the thought would indeed wound me. Never 
 will I force myself on him." 
 
 " Nor shall you. Neither he, nor my impe- 
 rious sister, shall ever intrude on my Louisa : 
 —but my mother, the gentlest^ths most amia- 
 ble of human beings, will smile on our felicity 
 and share it." 
 
 " Edward," said the sweet Louisa, with len- 
 der firmness, " that felicity would be only for 
 a time: and, by marrying, I si ould destroy 
 your prospects and your peace, without pro- 
 moting my own. In a very, few years love 
 would be no more, and you would look round 
 ycu, with regret, to the dreary scene of your 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 5» 
 
 future clays. You would then behold yourself 
 in the bloom of youth, encumbered with a wife, 
 perhaps a family, with a slender support, and 
 doubtful provision ; excluded from those circles 
 wherein you had been accustomed to move ; 
 your military ardour damped by the impossi- 
 bility of rising in the army, and struggling 
 with the effects of a father's stern displeasure. 
 Oh ! Edward, when you looked towards the fa- 
 tal cause of all this; when, (no longer blinded 
 by passion) you saw one, no more prized for 
 beauty ; her temper injured by reflection on 
 her situation ; of a diiferent religion from your 
 own, you will be miserable— and I should have 
 the misfortune of beholding it. Were I alone 
 to suffer, gladly would I encounter any evil for 
 your sake. But the keenest stings of adversity 
 enter through the bosom of those we love ; and 
 every pang that wrung your heart would be 
 doubly felt by mine." 
 
 *' Cold unfeeling reasoner !" said Lord Ed- 
 ward, with asperity, « but you have convinced 
 me, that my love would be the bane of your 
 happiness. It would make you, like me, a beg- 
 gar, an alien, and a wretch. It would blast 
 your hopes, tear you from Haiti fax, whom, 
 though discarded, you still prefer," 
 
60 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 Louisa was hurt: she fancied him above the 
 mean jealousy which disappointed lovers gene- 
 rally express ; and anger encreased the firm- 
 ne3s she had struggled to acquire, and had so, 
 nobly exerted. 
 
 u Continue thus to think, my Lord," she re- 
 joined ; " you cannot long regret a faithless wo- 
 man : and 1 am contented if, in despising me, 
 you can forget the pain I have given you. 
 Adieu ! when you see me no longer, reason wilj 
 conquer the infatuation, of love ! — Adieu." 
 
 Without another tear, or one lingering look 
 of sorrow, but with a heart a pray to despair, 
 Louisa drew away her hands ; and leaving the 
 room, retreated to her chamber; leaving the 
 now miserable Edward Lumley deprived of 
 every hope and consolation. 
 
 Scenes yet more trying, and more distress- 
 ing, were preparing for the gentle and amiable 
 Louisa. 
 
 The Earl of Montrose had, for many years, 
 been subject to paralytic attacks ; and on the 
 next day but one to that on which his daughter 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 61 
 
 parted from her lover, he was brought home in 
 his carriage so extremely ill, that his physicians 
 declared it was impossible he could survive a 
 week. 
 
 Lady Montrose, naturally of a delicate con- 
 stitution, sunk under this fatal sentence, and 
 declined rapidly ; while Louisa was obliged to 
 return and attend to both. The Countess ever 
 gentle and amiable, and now perfectly resigned 
 by her patience and affectionate sweetness, ren- 
 dered the task of her daughter an easy one, so 
 far as regarded herself; but the Earl, always 
 of a violent and gloomy temper, and now, by 
 turns, peevish, and irascible, was a continual 
 torment to the mild and uncomplaining Louisa. 
 
 One day, after a long silence, uninterrupted 
 even by groans, had persuaded Louisa that her 
 father had slept, he suddenly undrew the cur- 
 tain of his bed, and called her to him. 
 
 "Louisa," suid he sternly, " have you ever 
 deceived me ?" 
 
 " No, my Lord," she replied, after a mo- 
 ment's hesitation, "of that my heart acquits 
 me." 
 
 I 
 
62 THE ENGLISH NUN". 
 
 " Take care, child," said the Earl ; adding* 
 after a short pause, " you love ! Louisa, and 
 you have concealed it carefully." 
 
 Louisa's colour changed ; but she replied 
 •with the ingenuous calmness of innocence, 
 " You 'wrong me, my Lord, I have been guily 
 of no concealment. Had you demanded my 
 confidence, nay, had you even seemed to ob- 
 serve my unfortunate partiailty, 1 should not 
 have denied it." 
 
 " Louisa," interrupted the Earl, " I had 
 hoped it would never have exissted. I had 
 hoped that your piety, your duty, would have 
 prevented you from fromihg a connection with 
 a heretic; one destitute of fortune ; who con- 
 scious that lie was so, took advantage of a pa- 
 rent's easy confidence, to steal into the heart of 
 liis daughter, and betray her to ruin. This did 
 *that proud unyielding heretic— your Edward 
 Lumley." 
 
 « Oh ! my father," cried the generous Loui- 
 sa, with fast flowing tears, « Oh 1 my father, 
 wrong not so cruelly one, who was never gudty 
 of intentionally offending you, If I loye Lum- 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 63 
 
 ley, the blame of doing so has been mine ! He 
 could not make himself less amiable than nature 
 has formed him ; but he took no pains to ensnare 
 my affections ; nor did he profess more than 
 friendship for me, till accident revealed his love. 
 He is not proud ; he is not unyielding) except 
 in honor ; and if he is an heretic, it is because 
 he never was instructed in the ttnets of our ho- 
 ly faith. And would you wish that a son of 
 your own, should, for a religion of which lie 
 knew not the merits, abjure that of his ances- 
 tors, and abandon the service of his country ?" 
 
 The effect that the pleadings of lady Louisa 
 might otherwise have had on the Earl, was now 
 lost by this inadvertant mention of his sons. 
 The conformation of Lord Dudley and bis bro- 
 ther to the religion of the established church, 
 Lord Montrose had submitted to witness with 
 a. tolerable grace ; and, while they lived, gra- 
 tified ambition closed his ears against the whis- 
 pers, of superstitious bigotry; but, since they 
 died, the natural gloom of his disposition in- 
 creasing, he did not hesitate to attiibute the 
 misfortune of losing ail his sons to having con- 
 sented to their abandoning the Catholic I aith. 
 lie now severely tebuktd his daughter for hav- 
 
64 THE ENGLISH NUN". 
 
 ing recalled the remembrance of his sorrowSj 
 and added, " You are, however, at liberty ; 
 and will, no doubt, use that liberty, as soon as 
 my remains are laid in earth, to wed your he- 
 retic ! — to give up your duty and your religion 
 to love, and, perhaps, will be happy for a few 
 short weeks ; but ioon, soon will the time come, 
 when you will repent your headstrong follyi 
 and wish, with anguish, that you had never 
 trusted to a man, on whom, at his pleasure, 
 your claims must cease ! Know, you do not, 
 blind, infatuated girl, that such a marriage 
 would not be lawful ! and that your quondam 
 husband might, wiien weary of your endear- 
 ments, stamp you with a harlot's title ; turn 
 you and your beggared children from his house, 
 to seek from an insulting and pityless world, 
 food and raiment !" 
 
 Louisa was shocked at the prospect he pre- 
 sented to her, of the consequences of a union 
 with a man she almost adored ; and perfect as 
 was her reliance on the honor of Lord Edward 
 she trembled at the bare possibility of her ex- 
 periencing such a fate, and was on the point of 
 vowing never to see him more, when the Earl 
 (wearied with the exertion of speaking.) faint- 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 6$ 
 
 ed away ; and though he lived two days after* 
 iraids, the subject was never renewed. 
 
 From the very delicate state of Lady Mon« 
 trose's health, it might be expected that she 
 would receive a shock from the death of a be- 
 loved husband that would have terminated her 
 life. But she seemed, though bowed down by 
 sorrow, and reduced to a state of the utmost 
 debility, to be in no immediate danger ; but on 
 the contrary, to be more tranquil and easy than 
 she had long been. 
 
 Louisa one day (soon after her father had ex- 
 pired in speaking to her Ladyship's physician, 
 expressed a pleasing hope that she might re- 
 cover. 
 
 " My dear Lady Louisa," said the sensible 
 id benevolent Doctor jM» ■, " it would give 
 le pleasure to see you enjoy such a saiibfacti- 
 m, were I not in candour obliged to inform 
 rou, that those hopes are fallacious, and you 
 must expect to lose this dear mother. A dis- 
 order like Lady Montrose's (originating in the 
 mind) after a certain period, makes rabid ad- 
 vances, and, if left to itself, generally ends 
 
U THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 without a struggle ; but if the sufferer is op* 
 pressed with any new calamity, it sometimes 
 rouses those feelings that seemed worn out in 
 former conflicts, and gives the mind, and some- 
 times the body, temporary vigour ; yet death 
 becomes then more certain of his prey ; and 
 the blow, though delayed for a time, fails not 
 to fall. Your mother, Lady Louisa, will not 
 remain long with you : Nature exhausted by 
 some (to me) hidden grief, must sink under 
 this recent heavy misfortune ; and a constitu- 
 tion naturally feeble, must give way at last. 
 She is sensible of, and resigned to her fate ; 
 and do not, my amiable young friend, by in- 
 dulging affliction, for what can neither be pre- 
 vented or delayed, increase those sufferings, 
 while it will not hasten their termination." 
 
 From this time the amiable Louisa tried to 
 suppress, or at least to conceal, the anguish 
 she, on many accounts, endured, from her de- 
 clining parent : she read to her, when Lady 
 Montrose was able to sit up ; she sometimes 
 played to her ; nay, she even used to command 
 herself so far as to sing. But the idea of Ed- 
 ward Lumley was so closely connected with 
 every song- in her collection, that they brought 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 5? 
 
 him continually to rememb r ance, and destroy- 
 ed all hopes of regaining tranquillity. 
 
 Louisa had continued this arduous task for 
 near three months; when, one day, Lady Mon- 
 trose's maid drew her out of the sick chamber, 
 and informed her, that there was a lady below 
 so very urgent to speak to her, that she had in- 
 vited her to quit her carriage, and she now ex- 
 pected her in the drawing-room. Extremely 
 surprised, and, perhaps, curious to know the 
 cause of this urgency to speak with her, she 
 hastily descended to the drawing-room. On 
 her entrance, the stranger advanced to her, 
 and with an air of tenderness took her hand. 
 This Lady seemed to be in the meredian of 
 life ; the beauty and delicacy of her features 
 seemed rather obscured than destroyed by the 
 effects of evident ill health, and a deep dejec- 
 tion, that was visible in her whole appearance j 
 which, allowing for the difference of female at- 
 tractions, and those of men, extremely resem- 
 bled Lord Edward Lumley. 
 
 With some hesitation she announced herself 
 to the weeping and astonished Louisa, as the 
 Pulchess of Beaufort, Louisa withdrew the 
 
€8 THE ENGLISH NUN". 
 
 hand her visitor held, and unable to speak, 
 turned away her head. 
 
 " Shun me not, Lady Louisa," said the gen- 
 tle and amiable Duchess, in the softest accent, 
 11 consider me not as the wife of the Duke of 
 Beaufort, but as the mother of your Edward. 
 His attachment is no secret to me, and I ad- 
 mire the choice he has made, while I am com- 
 pelled to forbid his happiness. The duty of a 
 wife, though opposed by maternal tenderness, 
 must prevail ; and I must exert my influence 
 to divide my son from a woman so deservedly 
 dear to him. Think not, Lady Louisa, that I 
 am come to repeat the scene that you, some 
 time since, went through with my family. No 
 — my heart bled for you, and blushed for a hus- 
 band, as my cruel daughter, who occasioned it, 
 related it to me ; but I come to say, that I have 
 prevailed on Edward to leave the kingdom for 
 some time." 
 
 " That he has not already done so," inter- 
 rupted Louisa, " has not, Madam, been owing 
 to me. .When last we saw each other, he was, 
 I hoped, convinced, like me, of the absolute 
 necessity of our never more meeting," 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 69 
 
 « No, Lady Louisa," said the Dutchess, with 
 an expression of mingled tenderness and admi- 
 ration in her countenance ; " generous and no- 
 ble as I know your efforts to have been, he is 
 not yet convinced that your parting is inevitable, 
 and must, I much fear, be eternal. But I have 
 so far prevailed with him to go abroad for a few 
 years, provided you will allow him one farewell 
 interview. 1 know not how to wring your feel- 
 ings by asking so hard a proof of your good- 
 ness ; but for him I think I could attempt any 
 thing." 
 
 " Wherefore, Madam," cried the agitated 
 Louisa, " wherefore should we ever meet ? 
 "Why should I grant a request so fatal to the 
 peace of both, which, if we meet no more, may 
 be restored ?" 
 
 " Alas ! just, as what you say appears to me, 
 my son's mind is not in a state to attend to the 
 arguments of reason and propriety ; he seeks 
 an indulgence of the anguish he endures ; and 
 if you deny it to him, his reason may perhaps, 
 fail in the struggle. Oh ! Lady Louisa, will 
 you not, do you think, find some satisfaction in 
 the idea of having soothed and alleviated, by 
 K 
 
70 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 your pityinglundness, the sorrows of one who 
 lores you almost to distraction ? Will not that 
 consideration be consoling to your mind, in the 
 hours of separation from my son ? For myself 
 (long innurecl to suffering) sorrow has no such 
 terrors, that to save my own. bosom from a 
 wound, I would wish to plant the barbed arrow 
 in the heart of another : but when I think on 
 my poor Edmund ; when I see his brilliant ta- 
 lents and cheerful disposition, obscured by a 
 fatal attachment ; his fine person wasted by 
 sorrow ; my fortitude forsakes me ; and to pro- 
 cure him momentary ease, I could even afflict 
 her he loves. Can you then, dear and lovely 
 Louisa, can you consent once more to see him ? 
 —Ah ! can you bid him think of you no longer ? 
 Alas ! I fear my request is such as it is not in 
 human nature to grant ; though if there is one 
 in the world who is equal to such an act of hero- 
 ism, it is yourself." 
 
 Louisa felt at the. moment that she was no 
 heroine in inclination : but trying to overcome 
 her emotion, she replied : 
 
 <« The sight of your distress is torture to me, 
 and 1 can no longer endure it. Let him come, 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 71 
 
 Madam ; it is but one additional pang;, and my 
 heart will grow calous, or break in the strug- 
 gle. Bring hither your too well beloved son, 
 and be a witness of our interview and of our 
 parting." 
 
 " Why, why," exclaimed the Dutchess, 
 {c will tyranny and prejudice stand in the way 
 of felicity ? Did they not exist, with what rap- 
 ture should I clasp the Louisa of my Edward 
 to my heart, and bid them be blest.— Forgive 
 me for thus afflicting you ; and let my misery 
 plead my excuse, for my little consideration of 
 your feelings. My heart is almost broken, but 
 N till it ceases to beat, you will ever retain a place 
 in it ! — At twelre to-morrow — " 
 
 She could say no mo;e, and tenderly cm- 
 bracing Louisa, she hastened to her carriage, 
 to conceal her emotions. 
 
 Frcm the time that Lady Cecilia Lumley 
 had discovered her brother's attachment to 
 Louisa, she had studied to find out the mode of 
 informing her parents of it, that would be most 
 Irkely to exasperate them against a woman she 
 detested, for having robbed her of her long 
 
72 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 cherished hope of making a conquest of the 
 Marquis of Hallifax. She at last found this op- 
 portunity at court, when Lady Louisa was pre- 
 sented. Lady Cecilia observed, the fair Cale- 
 donian excited the admiration of the whole cir- 
 cle ; and she said to the Duke of Beaufort, in 
 a sarcastic tone, and pointing to Louisa, " That 
 is the pretty papist beggar, whom my brother 
 Edward means to marry." 
 
 This was enough to inflame the Duke, and, 
 on his return home, he called on his daughter 
 for an explanation of what she had said in the 
 drawing-room ; which she gave, by relating 
 all she had heard of Lord Edward's constant 
 visits at the house of Lord Montrose. 
 
 The Duke did not take the trouble of speak- 
 ing to his son on the subject ; but at the first 
 convenient time went to Lady Louisa, certain 
 of being able to terrify her into giving up Lord 
 Edward for ever ; and at his return home from 
 this memorable visit, related to Lady Cecilia all 
 that had passed. Lady Cecilia, afterwards re- 
 peated it, with much exultation, to her mother, 
 but faifed in the end she had proposed ; for the 
 Dutchess ftlt herself excessively interested in 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 73 
 
 Louisa, by hearing oflier behaviour ; and hav- 
 ing spoken of her to Lord Edward, heard 
 enough from him to give her a pretty just idea 
 of his mistress. This charming woman who 
 adored her son Edward, would (on seeing his 
 heart fixed on it) have immediately advised his 
 private union with Louisa; had she not known, 
 by sad experience, that such was the unfeeling 
 and cruel arrogance of her husband's character 
 that he would, should he ever discover this mar- 
 riage, use every exertion to have it set aside ; 
 which might, by a man of his power, be easily 
 done, on account of the difference of religion, 
 let Lord Edward make what efforts he would 
 in opposition to it. 
 
 When the Dutchess of Beaufort left Louisa, 
 the latter deliberated, whether she should in- 
 form Lady Montrose of the visit she had re- 
 ceived, and the one she expected on the mor- 
 row : She at last resolved to be silent on the 
 subject ; and gave such orders to Lady Mon- 
 trose's maid, relative to the admittance of the 
 Dutchess and her son, as would render it im- 
 possible her mother should know that they 
 were in the house. 
 
 Rather before twelve o'clock the following 
 
n THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 day, Louisa saw the Duke of Beaufort's coach 
 stop at the door, and Lord Edward Lumley as- 
 sisted his mother to alight from it. Though 
 prepared to see him she was so much agitated, 
 that she required several minutes to compose 
 herself, before she could summon resolution to 
 go down stairs to meet him. When she open- 
 ed the door of the room where her lover was, 
 the total alteration of his appearance so much 
 shocked her, that her trembling was renewed; 
 and, unable to articulate a syllable) she could 
 only bow in silence to the Duchess, and sit 
 down. Lord Edward had arisen as she came 
 in ; but, as much agitated as herself, he had 
 not power either to speak, or move towards her. 
 
 The mental anguish he had endured had, in- 
 deed, effected a striking change in his person ; 
 he was grown extremely thin and pale ; his fine 
 blue eyes no longer sparkled with intelligence 
 and spirit ; but sunken and hollow, had lost all 
 their brilliancy : his light brown hair, devoid 
 of powder and dressing, partly concealed his 
 forehead ; and the negligence of his dress, with- 
 out making him appear slovenly, yet betrayed 
 the despondency of his mind. He spoke not* 
 but with his eyes fixed on Louisa, sighed fre- 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN". 75 
 
 quently and deeply. The amiable Dutchess, 
 anxious to relieve both, and put an end, as soon 
 as possible, to this distressing scene, mention- 
 ed Switzerland ; whither, she said, her son was 
 going. 
 
 Lord Edward started from his reverie, and 
 approaching Louisa, asked, almost mechani- 
 cally, whether she had any commands which he 
 could execute for her there. 
 
 She burst into tears ; which he observing, 
 said, in a manner, that proved him to be deter- 
 mined to hasten, as much as possible, what 
 must inevitably be done : 
 
 Lady Louisa, when I requested my mother 
 to bean advocate with you for the favour of this 
 one interview, I resolved not to let passion 
 overcome my sense of propriety ; or to distress 
 you with the sight of agonies, you have it not 
 in your power (consistently with your ideas of 
 rectitude) to relieve. 1 fancied that to behold 
 you once more, and to see you indifferent, 
 "would cure, or, at least, alleviate my wretched- 
 ness ; and that I could bid you adieu without re- 
 luctance : but, I think, I perceive that I am still 
 
76 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 dear to you ; and I cannot bear to afflict you by 
 fruitless lamentation. Your peace and honor 
 require our separation ; and, torn as my heart 
 is, at the thought of parting with you, I submit. 
 Will you, however, deign to wear this picture ? 
 —Sometimes, when you look on it, think of 
 the original, and doubt not his friendship." 
 
 With apparent composure he fastened a beau- 
 tiful minature of himself round the neck of ihe 
 passive, and now almost insensible Louisa ; and 
 when he had done so, before he rose from his 
 knees (for he had knelt to clasp the gold chain 
 to which the picture hung) he threw his arms 
 round her, and for a minute or two seemed to 
 forget himself; then hastily rising, took the 
 hand of his mother and lead her to the carriage. 
 
 Though Louisa had been thought to expect 
 that Lord Edward Lumley could never be her's, 
 and had almost succeeded in her endeavours to 
 persuade herself, that so far from hoping it was 
 possible she might at some future time enjoy 
 felicity with him, she did not even wish it ; the 
 idea, that she had seen him for the last time, 
 operated on her mind like a disappointment, 
 and nearly overcame her fortitude. She was 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 77 
 
 finable to move from her seat after he had left 
 the room, till the noise of folding up the step 
 of the carriage that was to convey him (with his 
 mother) from Albermarle-street, aroused her 
 from this stupor of sorrow, and she sprung to- 
 wards the window, if possible to obtain another 
 glance of one so beloved. But even this me- 
 lancholy consolation was denied her : she saw 
 the footman shut the coach door, the glass was 
 instantly drawn up, and the carriage drove off. 
 Louisa watcjied it as long as she could, and then 
 again sat down, unable to weep, and almost 
 devoid of sense and recollection. For several 
 minutes she continued in this state ; and, at last, 
 sighing deeply, "Farewell, dear amiable Lum- 
 ley, wc meet no more in this world ; but there 
 is a better life, where tyranny cannot again di- 
 vide two persons, whose hearts are united like 
 ours." 
 
 Louisa smiled unconsciously at the prospect 
 of again beholding her lover, even after death 
 should have released both. And now, for the 
 first time, recollecting the picture he had given 
 her, she took it in her hand to examine it : It 
 was a striking likeness ; and what pleased 
 Louisa more than any thing else ; it was, she 
 L 
 
78 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 fancied, evidently painted since Lord Edward 
 had been unhappy. She would have felt un- 
 pleasantly had his portrait " smiled when she 
 was miserable ;" and the placid dejection of the 
 countenance encreased the likeness, while it 
 assured her that the miniature had never been 
 the property of another. In this, however, she 
 was mistaken. He sat to the painter who drew 
 it, at the urgent request of his twin sister, a- 
 bout three years before. Lady Frances Luni- 
 ley (whom he most fondly loved) was, at that 
 time dying; of a consumption ; but, like most 
 persons in that situation, was blind to her own 
 danger ; and as her brother was then going 
 with his regiment to Ireland, she insisted on 
 his leaving her his picture. The ideas that 
 could not fail to occupy his mind, while indulg- 
 ing her in the melancholy fancy, gave a sort of 
 sadness to his features, which rendered them 
 unusually pleasing, and made him look older 
 than he really was. As Lady Frances died be- 
 fore the picture was finished, it became the 
 property of her mother ; who now parted with 
 it at the entreaty of Lord Edward, who wished 
 to present it to his love. 
 
 As Louisa gazed on the resemblance of the 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. f9 
 
 *ian she loved, her heart was softened with sor- 
 row, and her tears fell rapidly on the chrystal. 
 They in some measure relieved her ; and press- 
 ing the portrait to her lips, she made a secret 
 vow never to part with it even in death. 
 
 Collecting all her fortitude, for the perfor- 
 mance of her filial duties, Lady Louisa now re- 
 turned with seeming composure to the cham- 
 "ber of the Countess, who evidently had not 
 many days to live. For the week that she sur- 
 vived, her amiable daughter attended her with 
 the most cheerful fortitude, denying herself 
 even the sad indulgence of tears, for her own 
 sorrows, or the prospect of her mother's disso- 
 lution : Sometimes she would draw from her 
 bosom, the little resemblante of her lover, gaze 
 at it in silent anguish, and then kissing it fer- 
 vently, she would restore it to its place without 
 one audible sigh. 
 
 At length the decisive hour arrived, and at 
 about six o'clock in the evening, Lady Mon- 
 trose breathed her last. Louisa was alone with 
 her, and was supporting her in her arms, when 
 she expired ; and no sooner was it certain that 
 she was no more, than the wretched daughter 
 
30 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 laid the head of the corpse on the pillow, and 
 with the stoical apathy of despair, sat down on 
 the bed-side to watch it. The nurse and maid, 
 who had attended the deceased, endeavoured to 
 persuade Louisa to go from the chamber, but in 
 vain. She continued motionless and silent till 
 midnight, (the time when she had bi en accus- 
 tomed to lie down and try to sleep) and then 
 rising went to her room. Her bed was prepar- 
 ed, as usual, and she almost unconsciously went 
 in to it, though without undressing. A short 
 time afterwards her maid went into the room, 
 and softly undrawing the curtains, was surpris- 
 ed to find her mistress already asleep ; but re- 
 joiced at it, as she had neither eat nor rested 
 for the last three days. She accordingly stole 
 out of the chamber j and returning to it next 
 morning, beheld the unhappy Louisa suffering 
 in one of the delirious paroxysms of a fever. 
 
 Fur one and twenty days she continued insen- 
 sible to her afflictions, and to the tenderness of 
 her friends ; but on the twenty second day she 
 recovered her recollection, and was pronounced 
 likely to live. But to live was not the wish of 
 Louisa, since her existance could never be hap- 
 py to herself, and only served to embitter that 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 81 
 
 of him she loved. She had a melancholy con- 
 viction of this sad truth on the day that her ill- 
 ness took a favourable turn. She had been 
 some minutes awake, and in her senses, trying; 
 to recollect where she was, when the wispers of 
 two persons, who seemed conversing behind 
 the curtain of her bed, which was half closed, 
 attracted her attention ; and she heard a female 
 voice pronounce, " If, indeed you do not mean 
 to destroy her, retire. If her reason is restor- 
 ed by this long sleep, I dread the consequences 
 of her seeing you." To which the other per- 
 son replied, " I ask only once more to look on 
 her ; and, if it must be so, bid her for ever and 
 in silence adieu !" 
 
 There was something in the tones of the last 
 speaker, which Louisa fancied she remember- 
 ed ; and the idea drew a deep sigh from her 
 bosom. The lady heard it, and softly unclosing 
 the curtain, displayed to the poor sufferer, the 
 Dutchess of Beaufort, with the melting benig- 
 nity of an angel in her pale and placid counte- 
 nance, leaning over the bed, and holding a me- 
 dicine, which she softly entreated the patient to 
 swallow. Louisa feebly raised her hand, and 
 putting the cup away from her, continued to 
 
n THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 gaze intently on the Dutchess, seeming fearful 
 that the amiable vision would vanish. Her 
 Grace now turned to lay the medicine on a ta- 
 ble near her, and Louisa gained strength to say, 
 " How good you are, my dear Madam ! But 
 favour me by telling me where I am ?" 
 
 " Be silent, I beseech you, my love," said the 
 gentle Dutchess, " your recovery depends on 
 your remaining quiet." 
 
 11 Ah !" returned Louisa, " you may then 
 satisfy me by an answer to my question. Why 
 should I wish to recover, since my life is a bur- 
 den to myself, and a matter of no consequence 
 to any other human being ?" 
 
 " You are an ingrate," said the Dutchess, 
 " in doubting that you have some tender friends 
 — one at least !" 
 
 This reproach was uttered with a smile so 
 sweet, as gave Louisa confidence, and almost 
 a desire to live, that she might shew her grati- 
 tude to this inestimable woman ; who now find- 
 ing that to answer her questions was the only 
 way of easing her mind of a load of doubt and 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. *3 
 
 anxiety, told her, that she was at present in 
 the house of the Duke of Beaufort, and that his 
 Grace had been in Paris for above two months. 
 Louisa thought this was the proper time to 
 know whether her half formed conjecture that 
 Lord Edward Lumley had been in her apart- 
 ment was just ; and she said, faintly, while a. 
 transient blush suffused her pallid cheek. 
 
 ** I conjure you to satisfy me on one more 
 point : Is not your son Edward now in the 
 house ?" 
 
 " No, my dear replied the Dutchess, with 
 some hesitation ; " but why will you exhaust 
 yourself with speaking ? pray be composed, and 
 try to sleep." 
 
 " Ah !" resumed Louisa, with increased 
 earnestness, " I fear you deceive me. Surely 
 I am not mistaken. I heard his voice, and 
 even caught a glimpse of the uniform he was 
 accustomed to wear." 
 
 u I see," said the Dutchess, who had by this 
 time resolved to indulge her, " that you are not 
 to be cheated : It is true that my son was there ; 
 
.6*1 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 but not Edward. My son James having got a 
 etter for me, from Paris, and knowing- how 
 anxious I was to receive it, ventured to disobey 
 my injunctions, that no one might follow me 
 hither, and brought it to me himself." 
 
 w While the Dutchess was speaking, her own 
 woman (an elderly person) came into the room, 
 to inform her Lady, that her presence was re- 
 quired below stairs ; and then took her place 
 by the bedside of Louisa, whom she advised to 
 try and get a little sleep. But Louisa found it 
 impossible. The voice she had heard, which 
 she still fancied to have been that of her lover, 
 yet rung in her ears : The figure she had im- 
 perfectly seen through the opening of the cur- 
 tain, gliding out of the room, she still imagin- 
 ed resembled his. She thought that the Dut- 
 chess had, from kindness, deceived her ; and 
 wished to gain some intelligence from the ser- 
 vant, that might confirm, or confute, her sus- 
 picions ; She would not, however, express open- 
 ly a doubt of the veracity of her kind friend ; 
 and inquired of her attendant, preparatory to 
 other questions, if any of the Lady Lumieys 
 were in the house. 
 
 « No, Madam," replied Mrs, Chedley? 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 85 
 
 u Lady Cecilia, the only one of her Grace's 
 daughters now unmarried, is at Bath, with my 
 Lord Marquis and his bride." 
 
 w Lord James is however at home," said 
 Louisa, faintly. 
 
 " No, Madami he is not ; he is in Paris 
 with the Duke" replied Mrs. Chedley, adding, 
 n and Lord William Harcour.t returned to Ox- 
 ford yesterday* 
 
 " Is Lord James in the army ?" inquired 
 Louisa, making one more effort to obtain the 
 certainty she desired of the deceit the Dutchess 
 had practised ; and sh-i received for answer, 
 another negative, Mrs. Chedley saying, after- 
 wards, t; Their Graces have no son in the 
 army, except Lord Edward." 
 
 Louisa was now satisfied ; but repose was as 
 distant as ever ; and when the Dutchess return- 
 ed to visit her, she fouiid her much worse than 
 she had been for some hours. But this she at- 
 tributed to the patient's recollection of the loss 
 she had sustained in Lady Montrose, for, though 
 she knew that her young friend was not one of 
 M 
 
86 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 those querolous complainers, whose sorrows 
 are always more severely felt by those around 
 them, whom they tenure with the expression 
 of their grief, she knew her to possess innate 
 sensibility, and the sincerest affection for her 
 deceased mother. 
 
 It is time, however, to account for the events 
 just related, by a history of the three preceding 
 weeks. 
 
 As soon as Lady Louisa's maid saw the si- 
 tuation of her mistress, on the morning after 
 the Countess died, she called in the worthy 
 Doctor M» to her assistance ; who declared 
 
 the unhappy sufferer to be in extreme danger, 
 unless the greatest care was taken of her ; and 
 desired to be informed of the least change in 
 her disorder immediately on its taking place. 
 As soon as he had given those directions, and 
 written to inform the present Earl of Montrose 
 of the death of his relation, and the illness of 
 Lady Louisa, he was returning to his chariot, 
 but was stopped by the Dutchess of Beaufort. 
 
 This lady having stopped at the door, in her 
 carriage, to inquire (as she often did) for Lady 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. tY 
 
 Montrose, was informed of the situation of the 
 
 family ; and hearing Doctor M was in the 
 
 house, entered, in order to ask his opinion of 
 Louisa's indisposition. 
 
 " Her situation is extremely hazardous," re- 
 plied the Doctor. " Her fate entirely depends 
 on the manner in which she is treated ; and the 
 time when she recovers recollection, now en- 
 tirely lost." 
 
 ■•: ■* 
 
 " Do you not yourself mean to attend her ?'* 
 enquired the Duichess. 
 
 11 I will prescribe for her," he answered, 
 11 and, as much as is in my power, attend to her ; 
 but the constant solicitude of a friend would do 
 more towards restoring Lady Louisa than the 
 prescriptions of the whole faculty. Her dis- 
 order is principally mental, and originates in 
 some secret sorrow, which has for a long time 
 preyed upon her health, more than the death 
 of Lady Montrose. It is many weeks since my 
 lovely young friend seemed perfectly resigned 
 to the expected misfortune, which has new fall- 
 en upon her ; and I rather believe her illness 
 to be owing to the efforts she has lately made 
 
88 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 to be cheerful, when, I have reason to believei 
 her heart was breaking. If she should recover 
 her senses, and be restored to the remembrance 
 of her sorrows, before the crisis of her fate ar- 
 rives, I fear it will be a fatal one ; and only the 
 most minute and watchful attention can save 
 her." 
 
 " Do you think, Doctor," said the Dutchess, 
 hesitatingly, '• that the sight of any person 
 who may recall to mind the cause of the sorrow 
 you imagine harrasses the spirits of the invalid 
 would be prejudicial to her ?" 
 
 " I will speak freely to your Grace," return- 
 ed the physican, (who well knew what occasi- 
 ed Lousa's secret dejection) "and I.will tell you 
 that there is a person in the world, whom to 
 see, would, in all probability destroy her." 
 
 " But in order to reconcile her to events that 
 have long afflicted her, she must be led to think 
 •f them ; that, by doing so, her own excellent 
 heart and refined understanding may teach her 
 to look on irremediable sorrows with calm re- 
 signation." 
 
 From these words, and the manner in which 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 89 
 
 Doctor M delivered them, the Dutchess 
 
 easily perceived he was no stranger to the in- 
 terest she, through her son, felt in the fate of 
 Louisa : She therefore spoke to him of both 
 ■with candour ; and after some little consulta- 
 tion it was determined, that (as it could be 
 done without much risk) Lousa should be re- 
 moved to the Dutchess of Beaufort's house, in 
 St. James's-Square, which, as it has been left 
 to her since her marriage, she looked upon as 
 more particularly her own, than any house of 
 the Duke of Beaufort's could be. 
 
 To this measure the Dutchess was determin- 
 ed by two considerations, besides that of her 
 pity for the friendless Louisa. First, she could 
 not leave home for any period above an hour or 
 two, as her son Edward was just then recover- 
 ing from a long and lingering illness, the con- 
 sequence of hopeless unhappiness : and second- 
 ly, the late Lady Montrose's house, in Albe- 
 marle-Strtet, devolved to the young Earl, her 
 heir at law; and though his Lordship was a 
 most amiable youth, his uncle, who was his 
 guardian, was of a character the very reverse 
 of polite, considerate, and generous. 
 
 In a few days Louisa recovered surprisingly ; 
 
SO THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 the mild serenity of her countenance was restor- 
 ed, and her heart seemed for a time, to have 
 forgot its sorrows : She spoke of her mother's 
 death as an event too desirable, from her state 
 of mind, and wretched health, to be lamented; 
 and she expressed the most lively gratitude to 
 the Dutchess, for her attention to herself. This 
 charming woman used to check Louisa, for 
 what she called her impatience, under the sha- 
 dow of an obligation ; and she was forced to 
 be silent. 
 
 But though Louisa was forbidden to speak, 
 she yet felt sensible regret at the restraint she 
 would not doubt her presence imposed on her 
 truly maternal friend. She saw that the Dut- 
 chess deprived herself of the company of her 
 favorite son, (whom, though his name was never 
 mentioned, she believed to be under the same 
 roof,) on her account ; and she even doubted if 
 the Duke would not be displeased at her re- 
 maining so long in his house, though he was 
 himself absent from it, and resolved to take the 
 first opportunity of declaring to the Dutchess 
 her intention of retiring to the English convent 
 at Lisbon, there to seclude herself from the 
 world for ever. The late Earl of Montrose 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN". Si 
 
 had, till the death of his sons awakened his ten- 
 derness for his daughter, always intended that 
 she should take the veil there ; and she thought 
 she would now be complying, with what would 
 have been his desire, had he lived to declare it. 
 
 Louisa was soon enabled to make known her 
 design to the Dutchess ; who, with secret re- 
 luctance, was obliged to say, she thought her 
 immediate retirement an eligible plan ; and it 
 was decreed, that in nine weeks from the death 
 of Lady Montrose, Louisa should depart for 
 Portugal. 
 
 One evening, a few days previous to their se- 
 paration, as Louisa and the Dutchess were sit- 
 ting alone, the conversation happened to turn 
 on past events ; and the latter said, " How often 
 have I, my dear Louisa, since my Edward first 
 mentioned you to me, lamented the fatal im- 
 prudence of my marriage. You may, perhaps, 
 have heard, that it was a clandestine one, en- 
 tered into without the sanction of any of my 
 frie'nds ; but you probably have never heard 
 those circumstances of my maiden life, which 
 I hope would lead you to form some excuses for 
 my conduct.'' 
 
92 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 " It is possible that you may in your own 
 mind condemn me, for not exerting that influ- 
 ence the immense fortune I brought the Duke, 
 is supposed to give me in my own family, to 
 promote the happiness of my favourite son ; 
 which can only be done by effecting his union 
 with his adored Louisa. But when people de- 
 cide on the conduct of others, they seldom con- 
 sider how many reasons there may be to render 
 that conduct necessary. It is known that Miss 
 Maynard's family, fortune, and connections, 
 were such as did not disgrace the alliance of 
 the Duke of Beaufort ; her inheritance was in- 
 deed superior to what he had a right to expect, 
 as it is concluded that it procures her some re- 
 spect from the man on whom she bestowed it. 
 But alas ! it is far otherwise ; and her wealth 
 is only thought on as a momenta of the weak- 
 ness by which she forfeited the consideration it 
 ought to have acquired for her." 
 
 Louisa expressing a wish to be acquainted 
 with those events of the Dutchess's life, to which 
 she alluded ; her Grace thus resumed : 
 
 " My father was the second son o f a noble 
 family, but of indifferent fortune j and he im- 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 93 
 
 proved the small patrimony left him by my 
 grandfather, in the way of commerce, to such 
 an extent, and so rapidly, that at thirty-two he 
 was enabled not only to support a wife, but, from 
 his large fortune, to pretend to, and obtain the 
 daughter of an Irish Peer. With this Lady he 
 lived, in content and splendour, for twelve years, 
 when she died, leaving him no child but me, 
 then about ten years old. For some months 
 previous to my mother's death, nothing but her 
 bad state of health had prevented my father go- 
 ing to the East-Indies, where he had extensive 
 business, and where Ins presence was now be- 
 come necessary. As soon, therefore, as the 
 proper rites, not of sorrow (for my mother, 
 though an estimable woman, had never been 
 very tenderly beloved) but of decency, were 
 paid her memory, he placed me at a boarding- 
 school near London, and sailed for India. In 
 about two years he returned to London, consi- 
 derably richer than when he went ; and taking a 
 superb house, brought me from school to be its 
 mistress ; an office I was by no means qualified 
 for, except by a state for expence, and all sorts 
 of gaiety. I had enjoyed the sweets of unbound- 
 ed sway, in the mansion of my parent, little 
 more than a year, when my father married a 
 N 
 
94 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 lady whom he had known in Bengal, and who 
 had come over from India in the same ship 
 with him. 
 
 " This lady, who was the widow of a Mr. 
 Rayner, possessed a large fortune, a fine person, 
 and was not above six and thirty ; but she had 
 a proud and imperious spirit, with a heart by- 
 no means flowing with the milk of human kind- 
 ness ; so that you may imagine she took no 
 pains to soften my sense of the degradation I 
 must naturally suffer, when my step-mother 
 took possession of that place at the head of my 
 father's household, for many months occupied 
 by me. I, who was by nature almost as haugh- 
 ty as herself, but ill brooked the mortifications 
 the new Mrs. Maynard hourly made me suffer, 
 and my resentment, when I dared to give it ut- 
 terance, only rendered them more frequent and 
 intolerable. 
 
 " Ah, my Louisa, how do young people, who 
 have never known calamity, repine at events, 
 which, when more conversant with the world 
 and its sorrows, they look back to as trifles, in 
 comparison with present evils. The contemp- 
 tuous treatment, and sometimes the asperity of 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 95 
 
 my step-mother, I at that time considered as 
 the crudest persecution ; and though my father 
 had only been to blame in making me, at four- 
 teen, mistress of his house, and of myself; I 
 was rather inclined to accuse him of want of pa- 
 ternal affection, in permitting his wife to check 
 me in the slightest degree. The winter follow- 
 ing his marriage the Duke of Beaufort profess- 
 ed himself my lover. He was then remarkably 
 handsome, and every way qualified to make an 
 impression on my heart. It was true that he 
 was near twice my own age; but I thought, 
 like most girls, that chcumstance encreasecl 
 the compliment paid to my attractions by his 
 Grace's proposals ; as it was not merely an in- 
 experienced boy whom I had captivated. You 
 may perhaps wonder when I tell you, that the 
 Duke was, immediately on declaring himself, 
 positively rejected by my father ; and the reason 
 will no doubt surprise you, when I inform you, 
 that it was the rank of my suitor. 
 
 1 My Lord Duke,' said my father, < I have no 
 objection to you as a husband to my daughter, 
 except that you are not a trader. I know what 
 it is to be of an ancient and noble family : once 
 an epithet of distinction was attached to my 
 
96 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 name, but I never knew it of any advantage to 
 me, and I am now plain Mr. Thomas Maynard. 
 My fortune was made by a successful attention 
 to commerce ; and on a British merchant I 
 mean to bestow it at my death. Frances shall 
 inherit my wealth, but she must share it with 
 a husband, who will not look down on her as the 
 child of an insignificant cit.' 
 
 " My father repeated all this to me, and for- 
 bid me to think of the Duke of Beaufort more ; 
 a command I promised, and, at that time, se- 
 riously intended to obey. My resolution was 
 not, however, proof against the arguments of 
 my lover, whenever we met (which he contriv- 
 ed should be frequent) used to persuade me that 
 I injured not only myself, but the world in gene- 
 ral, by persisting in my rejection of the pro- 
 posals he made me, to venture to the borders of 
 Scotland, with him. At last I. yielded to his en- 
 treaties, and gave him a solemn promise to be 
 his whenever I had it in my power to do so, 
 vrithout travelling to the other end of the king- 
 dom with him ; an imprudence from which I 
 stiil shrunk. For two months that we remain- 
 ed in town after I made this engagement I only 
 saw the Duke twice, as he was most of the time 
 

 THE ENGLISH NUN. 97 
 
 on a visit to his relations in Wales. At parting 
 he entreated me to write to him ; but this I 
 steadily refused, from some remaining sense of 
 propriety ; insisting also that he should not at- 
 tempt to address me hy letter, on pain of my 
 renouncing him for ever. But I was not then 
 aware that the threat I made use of, to prevent 
 his holding any communication with me, gave 
 him to understand how entirely my heart was 
 devoted to him ; by proving in what light I con- 
 sidered our final separation : that I believed it 
 a punishment for the most daring imprudence 
 he could be guilty of, that of attempting to in- 
 troduce a correspondence. 
 
 11 In the beginning of June, my father and 
 Mrs. Maynard set out to spend some time with 
 a Mr. Rayner, (who was broiher-in-law to the 
 latter) and took me with them. Mr. Rayner's 
 house was within half a mile of the Scottish 
 borders, in the county of Northumberland ; 
 and as I had never been so far north before, I 
 was much pleased with the total difference of 
 tlie'country there and about London. I was 
 just at that age when novelty is most gratifying, 
 end as I had never been accustomed to rise 
 early at home, I now took a sort of childish 
 
$S THE ENGLISH NUN*. 
 
 pleasure in getting up several hours before the 
 rest of the family, and walking till breakfast. 
 In one of those rambles the Duke of Beaufort 
 suddenly presented himself to my astonished 
 eyes ; and having, in the tenderest manner con- 
 gratulated me on my good looks, and himself 
 on the happiness of having at last met with me ; 
 he reminded me of my promise to give him my 
 hand, whenever I could do so Avithout impro- 
 priety or suspicion. From the latter I knew 
 we were secure ; and I endeavoured to stifle 
 my sense of the former, when I found that my 
 lover seemed to resent the objections I made to 
 his plan ; which was this : — To pursue the 
 walk we were in, which led through a wood of 
 about two hundred yards in length, to the house 
 of a Scottish clergyman, whom, as I found af- 
 terwards, the Duke had prepared to be ready 
 to unite us. 
 
 " I consented, Louisa, and returned to Mr. 
 Rayner's a wife. Oh ! that before I had be- 
 come such, I had known what I had since to 
 endure. But it could not be. Trembling with 
 mixed sensations of delight and fear, I entered 
 the breakfasting parlour, where my father was 
 sitting with the rest of the family, As the tea 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 99 
 
 was already poured out, Mr. James Rayner (the 
 son of our host) drew a chair to the table for 
 me, and offered to take off my cloak ; I was 
 too much agitated to reject this little mark of 
 politeness, which produced another from my 
 father, who taking both my hands, began to 
 draw off my gloves. At the moment he did so 
 I recollected my wedding ring, which I had ne- 
 glected to take from my finger : however, as 
 my father did not speak of it, I fondly fancied 
 it had been unobserved, and when I put my 
 gloves in my pocket contrived to leave the ring 
 there also. I scarcely knew how the hour of 
 breakfast passed away, but, as soon as it was 
 over, I returned to my chamber. In about 
 two hours my father came to me, and led me 
 down to the library, where I was thunderstruck 
 on beholding the Duke of Beaufort. My own 
 confusion was too great to observe his ; or in- 
 deed any thing else, till my father said in a 
 stern voice } 
 
 i My Lord Duke, is this young woman your 
 wife ?' 
 
 1 She is, Sir,' said the Duke modestly, tho* 
 with firmness. 
 
100 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 ' And what do you intend to do in regard to 
 her ?' again enquired my parent. 
 
 1 Whatever may be agreeable to her, and 
 my father,' answered the Duke, bending his 
 knee to him, as he pronounced the last word. 
 My father seemed somewhat struck with his 
 manner, yet resolved not to give up his resent- 
 ment. He now turned to me, " Frances," cri- 
 ed he, " what is it you have done ?" 
 
 1 That which has not disgraced her,' an- 
 swered the Duke with spirit, answering for me ; 
 for, in truth, I was unable to speak. ' She has 
 accepted the hand of a man every way her 
 equal, and her husband now claims her.' Then 
 opening the library door, he called aloud for the 
 Dutchess of Braufort's carriage. He took my 
 hand, which I trembling half withdrew, and 
 looked towards my father. But why should I 
 weary you, my dear Louisa, with my tale ? It 
 is enough to say, that my lather did not part 
 with me till I was forgiven, and on that day I 
 went home to my husband's house. 
 
 " In four years after my marriage my revear- 
 ed father died, and bequeathed the whole of 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 101 
 
 his fortune, amounting- to above two hundred 
 thousand pounds, to the Duke : giving it as a 
 reason for making him his heir, that as I had 
 once proved myself a disobedient daughter, I 
 might perhaps, if left independent of my hus- 
 band, prove an imprudent wife. My father 
 had always been accounted a humourist, and 
 perhaps he shewed himself one in this instance ; 
 but I am certain, that had he ever conceived 
 that the two of my children most beloved would 
 be made miserable without my having the pow- 
 er to save them, he would never have made such 
 a disposition of his wealth." 
 
 Three days after the Dutchess had given 
 Louisa this little history of herself, the latter 
 left London, attended by Mrs. Chedley and her 
 husband, a decent reputable man. They had 
 received orders not to abandon the fair charge 
 till she arrived in Lisbon, when they were to 
 return to the Dutchess. Louisa felt sensibly 
 all the value of this kind attention in her friend ; 
 and did not decline it, as she really found her- 
 self unequal to encountering alone the task she 
 had to perform. 
 
 For the two first days that Louisa travelled 
 O 
 
102 THE ENGLISH NUN". 
 
 towards Falmouth, she was too much occupied 
 with regret for leaving her maternal friend, to 
 feel much the painful idea of abandoning her 
 native land : She had never been in the West 
 of England before, and the novelty of the scenes 
 tiiat presented themselves interested her curio- 
 sity ; and she then reflected, that she was only 
 to pass through this beautiful country in order 
 to bid it an everlasting farewell. So long as 
 she could rest her eyes on the green hills of 
 Devon, she thought she had not entirely for- 
 saken the scenes she had been accustomed to 
 behold ; but when they faded in the distance, 
 and she looked round on the barren lands of 
 Cornwall, she thought her banishment already 
 as compleat as if she had been immured in the 
 walls of a convent. 
 
 At length the carriage entered the town of 
 Falmouth, and Louisa anxious to complete a 
 disagreeable task, immediately sent for the 
 Master of the packet, that she had heard was 
 to sail the next morning. On her mention- 
 ing to the Captain her intention of taking her 
 passage with hi;n, he said, " I am already pre- 
 pared for your accommodation ; it is about an 
 hour since your servant agreed for your pas- 
 sage, his own, and that of a female attendant." 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. los 
 
 Louisa now recollected having seen Chedley 
 pass the chaise on horseback, within a few miles 
 of Falmouth, and she doubted not he had gone 
 forward to bespeak the packet, by the direc- 
 tions of the Dutchess. She now remembered 
 (what had not occurred to her before, and which 
 her extreme agitation of mind and ignorance 
 of travelling had prevented noticing) that she 
 had never been called upon for monty on the 
 road ; and felt doubly grateful to the Dutchess, 
 for this last act of polite attention, which had 
 saved her so much trouble. Louisa now re- 
 ceived the Captain's directions to be ready to 
 repair on board at day dawn ; and as, at this 
 season of the year (July) there is very little 
 night, and as, at this time, even that little was 
 rendered as brilliant as the day by a full moon, 
 she determined not to go to bed at all. About 
 eleven o'clock Louisa left the house, and de- 
 scended into a little garden belonging to the 
 Mistress of the inn, which overhung the sea, 
 in order to spend the remaining hours before 
 she was summoned on board the ship. 
 
 This was the only time of her life that 
 Louisa could have adopted a measure so incon- 
 sistent with her own sense of propriety ; but 
 she h*d no idea of there being any personal 
 
104 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 danger in her taking a moonlight walk in the 
 garden ; and as to its imprudent appearance, as 
 it was the last night she was to spend in Eng- 
 land, she thought that of very little consequence. 
 
 For about two hours she wandered among 
 the flowering shrubs of her good hostess ; 
 sometimes reposing herself on a wooden seat, 
 that was placed just on the point of a cliff above 
 the sea, which was now almost covered with 
 fishing-boats ; and at a distance she could de- 
 scry the ship in which she was to sail on the 
 morrow. But Louisa turned from the ocean, 
 and in vain strained her eyes in the hope of be- 
 holding on land, some object that interested 
 her : she beheld none ; she saw only through 
 the white mist, that a heavy dew caused all 
 along the shore, the dubious shapes of the hills 
 of Cornwall. A little after one o'clock Louisa 
 returned into the house ; when she arrived at 
 the little wicket of the garden, she was sur- 
 prised to meet a stranger, who appeared to 
 have been walking as well as herself, though 
 she had not seen him till now. He bowed po- 
 litely, but in silence, as he opened the gate to 
 let her pass through ; and she concluded that 
 he was some person, who, being to sail ,;n thp 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 105 
 
 packet in the morning, bad chosen to spend the 
 night in walking. 
 
 At the hour of four the lovely destined exile 
 received an intimation that the boat waited to 
 convey her on board, and with mild dejection 
 and reluctance she repaired to the shore with 
 her two attendants. Louisa felt a pang, for 
 which she scarcely knew how to account, as she 
 stepped into the boat, and sighed. Another 
 deep sigh seemed to answer her's, and she 
 looked round to see from whence it came ; but 
 the sailors and common passengers who were 
 now crouding into the boat, with the dim gray 
 light of the morning, would not permit her to 
 see any thing distinctly. She was soon seated 
 very commodiously between Mrs. Chedley and 
 the Captain of the Packet, and the boat put off. 
 
 As they proceeded the sea began to glow 
 with the brightness of the dawn, and at length 
 Louisa beheld the dazzling sun-beams playing 
 on the gently ruffled surface of the ocean, and 
 striking in a strong blaze on the already loosen- 
 ed sails of the packet. This was the last sun- 
 rise she would probably ever behold in England, 
 and as the wind was fair and pretty fresh, it re- 
 newed her deep regret. 
 
106 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 It is thus that we are too apt, mournfully to 
 linger over those objects we see for the last 
 time, though the view of them is productive of 
 anguish ; and though we know that our peace, 
 in a great degree, depends on our never behold- 
 ing them more, it is the greatest effort of reso- 
 lution to tear one's self away. Once determin- 
 ed, however, Louisa was obliged to make no 
 Farther exertions, the packet scudded before 
 the breeze, and had she wi htd to return, it 
 would not have been in her power. 
 
 At length Louisa beheld, from the deck, the 
 stupendous rock of Lisbon, and soon afterwards 
 the varied shores of the Tagus, with the city 
 extended along them, she even fancied she 
 could discern the English Convent, whither 
 she was going. As she passed under the rock, 
 and was taking leave of the vast extent of ocean, 
 she repeated a thousand adieus to England, and 
 then fixing her eyes on what she believed to be 
 her destined residence, she hailed it, in imagin- 
 ation, as her asylum and resting place. 
 
 It is needless to relate any more, than that 
 she wars readily admitted a member of the 
 English Nunnery ; and at her own request her 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 107 
 
 novitiate was dispensed with, and the two ce- 
 remonies of her receiving the white and the 
 black veil, were to take place at the same time, 
 at the distance of three days. 
 
 During this interval Louisa attempted seve- 
 ral times to write to the Dutchess; but she 
 found the task a difficult one, and it was only 
 in the evening preceding her profession that she 
 wrote the following lines, and delivered them to 
 Airs. Chedley, who was to leave Lisbon as soon 
 .as the solemn ceremony had taken place. 
 
 TO HER GRACE 
 
 THE DUTCHESS OF BEAUFORT. 
 
 " To-morrow, my revered benefactress, to- 
 morrow I abjure the tumultuous pleasures of 
 the world, and its active miseries for ever. To- 
 morrow that grate will close on me that will 
 shut me from liberty, my friends, and country, 
 as effectually as that one will do, which in a few 
 years will close on my lifeless remains ; I hail 
 the former, but the latter would be more wel- 
 come to me, since it would shut out memory, 
 that never-ceasing torment, which stings the 
 heart most keenly, even in the tranquil abodes 
 of religion and nominal peace. Before I aban- 
 
108 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 don the world, il is fit that I discharge all obli- 
 gations I owe in it, which are of a nature to be 
 discharged. Such is my pecuniary debt to you, 
 and as your servant has declined receiving it, I 
 shall now enclose it. The worthy and atten- 
 tive Mrs, Chedley will convey to you a small 
 memorial of your Louisa. There can now be 
 no vanity in sending you (unasked) a portrait of 
 myself, drawn at a time when I was thought to 
 possess some personal attractions ; the shadow 
 of them is now all that remains, and I wish 
 you sometimes to remember that such a being 
 as myself once existed. 
 
 I have stolen the time in which I wrote this 
 from prayer and preparation ; and it is fit that 
 I return to the performance of those awful du- 
 ties ; yet I ftel unwilling to lay down my pen, 
 while my gratitude is yet unexpressed : But why 
 should I attempt an impossibility ? I cannot ex- 
 press my feelings — I can only bid you adieu. — 
 Adieu, then, dearest and most revered of wo- 
 men : — Sister Louisa must cease to think of the 
 attachments of this world ; but tell your son, 
 that the last thought cf Louisa Percy shall be 
 for him. All my future thoughts must be of 
 heaven." LOUISA. 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 10!) 
 
 On the following morning, with a composed 
 and pious dignity, that was almost saintly, did 
 the young, beautiful and unfortunate Lady 
 Louisa Percy accept the veil which admitted 
 her a novice, and a few minutes after, that 
 which constituted her a nun. She had chosen 
 to have the latter ceremony take place immedi- 
 ately, that when Lord Edward was informed 
 whither she had retired, he might at the same 
 time learn that her destiny was unchangable ; 
 and thence be more quickly reconciled to their 
 eternal separation* 
 
 On the evening after she received the follow- 
 ing letter : 
 
 «' Now, indeed, Louisa, most beloved of my 
 soul, I will bid you an eternal adieu ! Till now 
 it has been no crime to cherish my adoration 
 of you ; to hover round you, and sometimes 
 endeavour to catch a transient view of a form 
 so adored ; and I have hitherto indulged in the 
 comparative happiness of being near you. Sad 
 enjoyment ! — I must now no more hope to 
 Lang over your sick couch, and while an angel 
 in the maternal character soothed my apprehen- 
 sive agonies, with promises of your recovery, 
 P 
 
210 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 watch that lovely and interesting countenance. 
 I must no longer attend your moonlight walks, 
 or even in disguise listen to the magic of your 
 voice, though obliged to preserve a careful si- 
 lence, lest my own should betray me. I must 
 never more please myself with the thought, that 
 only a thin partition divides me from Louisa, 
 that, in case of danger, I can be ready to assist 
 her — or, happier still, perish with her. 
 
 " I have seen you for the last time, Louisa. 
 I have seen you devote yourself to God ; and I 
 will no longer seek to draw your thoughts from 
 Him, to a wretch like me : — Yet, sometimes 
 remember me ! — Sometimes recollect how I 
 have loved you ; — or, if that would too deeply 
 wound your peace, think how I have given you 
 up. Be happy, angelic Louisa, though to be 
 so you must hate your 
 
 EDWARD LUMLEY." 
 
 LISBON. 
 
 Louisa wept sadly over this billet ; but resig- 
 nation soon conquered her regrets ; or at least 
 taught her not to indulge them. She never for- 
 got her affectionate gratitude to the Dutchess 
 of Beaufort ; though her affections were after- 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. Ill 
 
 wards divided between her and a young lady of 
 a most amiable disposition, who resided for two 
 years in the Convent, and who only left it to be 
 united to Mr. Clifford, an English gentleman 
 of rank and fortune, who took Lady Emmeline 
 with him, to her native country and his own. 
 
 TO LADY EMMELINE CLIFFORD. 
 
 ENGLISH CONVt.NT, LISBON. 
 
 <{ How strange does it seem to me to address 
 myself to my Emmeline, and to know that it 
 must be a long, long time before she can see 
 what I write ; or I receive from her that tender 
 sympathy wont to sooth my sorrows, and teach 
 me to bear up against calamity past, and irre- 
 mediable for the future. You are by this time 
 in England. Alas ! what would not I give, in- 
 dependent of the pleasures of your society, to 
 revisit that land, dear to me alike from custom 
 and from sentiment. Absurd as is the idea, I 
 have often detected myself in cherishing the 
 hope that some unforeseen event might lead me 
 onee more to my country. Like Goldsmith, 
 
 u In all my wanderings thro' this world of care, 
 u In all my griefs, and Gcd has given me share ! 
 " I still had hopes my latest hours to crown, 
 M And in those peaceful bow'rs to lay me down." 
 
112 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 " But wherever I lay me, my bed will be 
 strewed with thorns ; for where is the oblivious 
 cup that will annihilate memory ? Cure me of 
 that, and your affectionate wishes for my hap- 
 piness might perhaps be successful. As it is, I 
 must be miserable ! My sufferings are not self- 
 ish ; they are more for others than myself. 
 Pluck the barbed arrow of unavailing regret 
 from the noble heart of Edward Lumley, and 
 mine may then taste of peace. 
 
 " At the time when you bade adieu to Portu- 
 gal, and to me, I stood on the terrace, and 
 watched the vessel in which you were, while it 
 remained in view. Not a breeze from the shore, 
 that swelled the whitening sails, bul bore with 
 it some good wishes for my Emmeline ; but 
 when distance and the shades of evening conceal- 
 ed it from my sight, my tears could no longer 
 be restrained ; and I returned to my Convent, 
 a prey to the bitterest regret, I visited every 
 spot, where I had seen you, and still remem- 
 brance 
 
 " Throbs at my breast, and turns the past to 
 pain." 
 
 " On going to my cell, where you may re- 
 member we sat, the evening before ycur de« 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 113 
 
 parture, the open piano forte caught my eye. 
 On the desk was your music book (which you 
 forgot to take with you) laid open at that sim- 
 ple air, 
 
 " The last time I came o'er the muir." 
 
 When last I heard you sing it, I remem- 
 ber I wept ; but now I could not. My for- 
 saken country, my unhappy fate, and not less 
 lamented Emmeline, rushed all at once in- 
 to my mind, and filled my heart with anguish. 
 I took possession of the chair in which you had 
 sat, and gave myself up to sorrow. Every thing 
 destined to remind me of you : Taking out my 
 handkerchief to wipe away the tears that had 
 at last relieved me, something fell to the ground : 
 It was Edward's picture, which, I recollected 
 I took from my neck to shew you the morning 
 we parted, and had been too much occupied by 
 sorrow to replace. The features seemed more 
 than usually melancholy, and I thought I be- 
 held him sympathizing in my distress. 
 
 " You often asked me for an explanation of 
 my enthusiasm regarding this portrait, which I 
 often refused you. My reason for doing so 
 
114 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 was, that I believed it would be unkind to em- 
 bitter that happiness you seemed to enjoy, 
 by a retrospect of past events ; — but, like 
 Sterne's master of the ass, " I thought so when 
 you were with me ; but now you are gone I 
 think otherwise." And I now rejoice, that 
 even in the sad moment of separation, I had 
 resolution to relate my mournful tale. May I 
 now, Emmeline — oris it a crime to enquire af- 
 ter Lumley ? Mr. Clifford knows him, for I well 
 remember having heard Edward, in my happy 
 days, speak of him with affection and esteem. 
 You may see him I He may speak to you of 
 me ! Tell him, then, that his Louisa, in sorrow 
 and restraint, still thinks on him with unabated 
 tenderness. — Though, no — tell him not so. I 
 am a nun. Perhaps I am wrong to let you see 
 so much of my weakness, but I will not erase 
 what I have written ; for I would not owe your 
 approbation to an ignorance of my thoughts. 
 Adieu, my dear Emmeline — let not Mr. Clifford 
 forget that he possesses a friend in your 
 Jan. 15th. LOUISA PERCY." 
 
 The fair writer of the preceding letter had 
 now been seven years a professed nun. In that 
 time but few changes had taken place in her 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 115 
 
 and none in her destiny. The glow of youth 
 and health, were wont to mantle on her cheek, 
 sorrow, not time, had chased from thence ; the 
 sparkling brilliancy of her eyes had given place 
 to a soft sadness of expression, that rendered 
 her, to a soul of sensibility, a much more in- 
 teresting object at this period, than when, in 
 the first bloom of beauty she made her entre in- 
 to fashionable life. 
 
 She was now something more than twenty- 
 five, rather thinner than she had been, and too 
 much so for the perfect model of a woman ; 
 but still her figure, from being a little wasted, 
 had gained a look of delicacy and fragility, 
 which did not make her less lovely. Those 
 who admired beauty, would say, that her ap- 
 pearance was changed for the worse ; those who 
 felt it, and felt all the numberless charms of 
 suffering virtue and resignation, would decide, 
 that if any alteration had taken place in Louisa, 
 it was one by no means unfavourable to her. 
 
 In those with whom she was connected in 
 England, greater changes had taken place. The 
 Duke of Beaufort was dead, and being displeas- 
 ed with his two eldest sons, had left Lord Ed- 
 
116 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 ward one of his principal estates, which hap- 
 pened to be in his own power to bequeath to 
 whom he would. But Lord Edward lost all 
 wishes to possess wealth, since it could not 
 now purchase felicity ; his Louisa was immur- 
 ed in a cloister, and fortune to him had no 
 charms. 
 
 The Dutchess of Beaufort was still the same 
 amiable creature she had ever been ; but durin°* 
 the three years that had elapsed since she be- 
 came a widow, she was little less happy than 
 she had been, except that she could now in- 
 dulge her sorrows unreproved by the gloomy 
 or arrogant tyranny of a husband, who often 
 insulted her with that imprudent attachment to 
 him, which had procured — for him, immense 
 wealth to gratify his avarice — for her, misery 
 and dependence. 
 
 It happened, that on the very evening when 
 Lady Emmeline received the letter, which 
 brought her intelligence of her beloved Louisa, 
 she was engaged to attend a large route at the 
 house of her relation, Mrs. Olland. She would 
 have declined going on account of low spirits, 
 occasioned by the letter she received ; but Mr. 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 117 
 
 Clifford, ever kind and attentive, insisted that 
 she should rather seek in company to dissipate 
 that gloom which hung over her. Lady Em- 
 meline complied ; but as she found herself un- 
 able to join in cheerful conversation, she retir- 
 ed into a small apartment, where one of her 
 cousins, the Miss Ollands, was entertaining a 
 select circle with playing on the pedal harp, 
 accompanied with her voice. The song she 
 was singing happened to be that old and simple 
 air, " Mary's Lamentation." Lady Emmeline 
 had often heard it sung by her friend Louisa, 
 and it brought to her mind in the strongest 
 manner, the amiable recluse. Rousing herself 
 from a reverie into which she had insensibly 
 fallen, she now looked round the company, and 
 her eye immediately distinguished one from 
 the rest. It was a young man in a military 
 dress, very tall, and strikingly elegant in his 
 figure, who was leaning pensive against a pil- 
 lar of the window frame. In his pale and de- 
 jected countenance (which plainly shewed that 
 he was not thinking of the song nor the singer) 
 Lady Emmeline fancied she saw something 
 which authorised her to say to herself, " Surely 
 that is a person whom 1 ought to know." 
 Miss OUand when she had finished her song, 
 
 Q 
 
118 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 struck the strings in a gay measure, and the 
 young gentleman appeared to awake from a re- 
 verie ; — he sighed as he quitted the place he 
 had occupied, and left the room ; which was 
 soon after deserted by every one but Lady Era- 
 meline ; she was also going to leave it, when 
 Mr. Clifford, accompanied by the melancholy 
 young officer, came up to her, and the former, 
 having introduced the stranger as Lord Edward 
 Lumley, left them together. 
 
 For some moments both were silent ; Lady 
 Emmeline dreaded his introducing a subject 
 on which her spirits would not allow her to con- 
 verse without tears ; and Lord Edward was 
 evidently deliberating in what manner he could 
 best introduce it. But his mind was too much 
 occupied for him to give much thought to ce- 
 remony, and he at length said, in a voice and 
 with a manner that inexpressibly affected his 
 auditor, " Clifford told me, that his Emmeline 
 was gentle and compassionate — may I then 
 speak to her as a friend ?" 
 
 " As a sincere, a warm one, Lord Edward," 
 she replied, with difficulty concealing her emo» 
 tion, 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. . 119 
 
 " You have been in Portugal, Madam," he 
 resumed, " in Lisbon I believe ?" 
 
 " I have, my Lord ; I was educated at the 
 English Convent in that city," she answered. 
 
 " May I then, Lady Emmeline, from you 
 enquire for Lady Louisa Percy ? — How is she ? 
 —Is she happy ? — Does she forget " 
 
 His voice faultered, and Lady Emmeline re- 
 turned, " She is well ; and if not happy, is at 
 least contented !" 
 
 " She is blest indeed," cried Lord Edward, 
 with quickness, " in a memory so little reten- 
 tive ! Would to God 1 had some charm to banish 
 recollection ; then, I too, if not happy, might 
 be at least contented." 
 
 Lady Emmeline at first felt a little hurt at his 
 thus repeating her words ; but pique was im- 
 mediately lost in her pity for his sorrows, and 
 she said, " The present serenity ot Lady Louisa 
 proceeds from a consciousness of having done 
 right, and from the mild comforts of religion. 
 Time may reconcile one to any thing, and she 
 
i 20 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 has felt its lenient influence in favour of a mode 
 of life so essentially necessary to her own peace, 
 and that of those whom she esteems : but the 
 task of forgetting she has not yet learned, since 
 her chief source of pleasure arises in the happi- 
 ness of those she loves, amongst whom. you, 
 Lord Edward, are not the least valued, and she 
 wishes for nothing more than to hear you are 
 happy." 
 
 " That can never be !" said Lord Edward, 
 in a low and melancholy tone. — " Destitute of 
 enjoyment, separated from all my soul holds 
 dear, I can never hope to be less wretched than 
 at present. Since the rumour of a war proves 
 false, and I have lost all hopes from my pro- 
 fession, I will to-morrow resign my commis- 
 sion, and, perhaps, endeavour, by change of 
 place, to lose reflection. But, whilst I remain 
 in England, will the gentle Emmeline Clifford 
 permit me to visit her I" 
 
 " Certainly," replied Lady Emmeline, in a 
 voice that her emotions of pity for him render- 
 ed scarcely audible. Lord Edward observed 
 how much she was affected. 
 
 " My sweet friend," said he, taking her hand, 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 121 
 
 « why are these tears ? Do they indeed flow 
 in pity for me ?" 
 
 " Alas !" exclaimed Lady Emmeline, not re- 
 garding him, " why am I destined to behold 
 those I most esteem hopelessly wretched." 
 
 " Oh I" cried he, with warmth, " you are 
 indeed the friend of Louisa !" And after a 
 pause, he added, " I do not think that you will 
 long be troubled with my visits. A mind ill at 
 ease cannot endure the quiet of home ; and I 
 believe in the spring I shall go over to Switzer- 
 land. It is six years since I have been there, 
 and when I was, many things passed unnoticed 
 which I should be glad to see again." 
 
 " I wish I could go with you," said Lady Em- 
 meline, pleased to hear him speak more com- 
 posedly than he had done ; H I should like to 
 travel through Switzerland, to trace out all the 
 haunts of Rousseau, and to visit those places 
 which he has immortalized." 
 
 " There was a time," rejoined Lord Edward, 
 " when I too should have found pleasure in what 
 you describe ; but it is long since past : and 
 
122 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 les afjligeantes Reveries of my friend Rousseau 
 have ceased to affect me. Yet I have a sort of 
 veneration for his country, as the abode of free- 
 dom and simple felicity. To behold a happy 
 family I should not regret the fatigue of climb- 
 ing the Alps, if, on their snowy summits I 
 could meet one man who thought himself blest ; 
 I would take up my abode with him, nor once 
 look back with a wish to the peaceful vale." 
 
 " Then certainly," said Lady Emmeline 5 
 " you should be fond of England." 
 
 " As my native country I am. But the con- 
 trast that it every moment presents between the 
 present time and the past, is too wounding to 
 the feelings irrascible by nature, and rendered 
 moreso by affliction." 
 
 " Come," said Lady Emmeline, " fortune 
 has smiles in store for us, and these her frowns 
 are meant to brighten them." 
 
 She made this little quotation with an air of 
 cheerfulness, which Lord Edward knew the 
 heart too well to believe was real ; and the ex- 
 pression of her features, though they wore a 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 123 
 
 smile of pretended hilarity, betrayed only the 
 tenderest compassion for woes she could not re- 
 lieve. Lord Edward replied. 
 
 " That her smiles may ever be lavished on 
 you, Emmelinc, is my belief, as well as my 
 fervent wish. But, my gentle friend, cease to 
 flatter me with the hope of returning peace. 
 Good night," he added, in so low a tone as 
 scarcely to be heard) and hurried away. 
 
 Lady Emmeline immediately returned home; 
 and the following morning, as she was sitting 
 alone in her dressing-room, Lord Edward 
 Lumley was announced. He immediately ob- 
 served, that she appeared unwell, and affection- 
 ately taking her hand, said, 
 
 " You are ill, Lady Emmeline ; my conver- 
 sation with you last night was too much for your 
 spirits ; and for a heart trembling alive as 
 your's appear to be, to feel the afflictions of 
 others." 
 
 " My spirits are rather depressed," returned 
 Lady Emmeline, " and were so before I went 
 out last night : but when my cold is better they 
 will grow better also.'^ 
 
124 • THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 " Well, my amiable friend," said Lumley, 
 with a smile, " my melancholy shall no longer 
 distress you, as we shall not meet for a long 
 time." 
 
 " Did you not promise, Lord Edward, to visit 
 me, while you remain ir\ England?" inquired 
 she. 
 
 « This day," returned he, " will be the last 
 of my stay. When Clifford last night inform- 
 ed me of his marriage with you, and that you 
 were a friend of my Louisa's, I imagined that 
 in your society I should be comparatively hap- 
 py ; for, to you, I could talk of Louisa : but I 
 find, that to do so only increases my misery, 
 and I will bid you adieu. I had hoped to have 
 introduced my mother to you, but she is at 
 present confined by illness. Will you, Emme- 
 line, condescend to visit her, without the for- 
 mality of her waiting on you ; And will you 
 write to me while I remain abroad ? Clifford 
 authorized me to make the request ; and I hope 
 that, therefore, you will indulge me." 
 
 He appeared afraid to cease speaking while 
 he had any thing to say, lest he should not be 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 125 
 
 able to renew the speech ; and now, having 
 received Lady Emmeline's promise to comply 
 with his desire of a correspondence, he kissed 
 her hand, and without having power to pro- 
 nounce another word, he left the room. 
 
 On the following morning Lord Edward set 
 out for France, with a design to visit Switzer- 
 land, and in less than a month Lady Emmeline 
 accompanied her husband to Ireland, where 
 she was to remain for two years. A few weeks 
 after she arrived if) that country, she received; 
 the following letter from Louisa. 
 
 TO LADY EMMELINE CLIFFORD. 
 
 " When last I wrote to my Emmeline, I 
 thought myself as much fixed in this place, as 
 are the walls of my convent, since not even 
 deatli would lend to my passing its gates. Yet, 
 from intelligence received only a week since, I 
 find that I must leave Portugal to revisit my 
 native country. Yes, Emmeline, I shall again 
 behold the shores of Britain, again linger in its 
 fertile scenes, and cnce more see those friends 
 that endear it to me. Why, why must I not 
 hope to meet my Emmeline? But alas! con- 
 jugal duty will detain her in Ireland till I have 
 R 
 
126 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 left England on my return hither. A few days 
 ago, I received intelligence that my cousin. 
 General Somerset, who died some time since, 
 has left me heiress to his whole property, 
 which once belonged to my family, and if I die 
 without children, it is to descend to the present 
 Earl of Montrose ; whose letter to me on the 
 occasion I will transcribe in this place. 
 
 « MADAM, 
 
 " As the copy of General Somerset's will, 
 which accompanies this, will inform you of 
 your succession to his fortune, I shall not en- 
 ter into any discussion of the bequest, on which 
 I most sincerely and warmly congratulate you, 
 but merely intimate to you, that you should 
 not by any means lose time in coming over to 
 England to take possession of your estate j 
 which, otherwise, may be contested at law by 
 the more distant male relations of his family. 
 Among the number of his kinsmen, I am my- 
 self included j but I should value more the ho- 
 nour of being admitted in the number of your 
 friends, than being considered as his heir. 
 That I never may inherit his wealth, is my fer- 
 vent wish, since I hope to see your Ladyship 
 surrounded by your children ; having no doubt 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 12'/ 
 
 that you will be immediately absolved from your 
 tows. One of my principal reasons for now 
 writing- to you, is to desire your permission to 
 exert all my interest at the Court of Rome, to 
 procure a dispensation from those religious en- 
 gagements you have entered into at Lisbon. — « 
 And now, Madam, permit me to claim your 
 congratulations in return for mine, on my re- 
 cent marriage with one of the most amiable of 
 women. I should be happy if it were in my 
 power to offer you accommodations in my 
 house on your arrival in England ; but my 
 grandmother's present state of health forbids 
 my leaving this place, and your business lies 
 entirely in Kent. Lady Montrose desires me to 
 say, that she hopes soon, in person, to lay claim 
 to your friendship, till when she remains as 
 much your's as your affectionate kinsman, ccc. 
 
 MONTROSE." 
 Aberdeen, April 7. 
 
 Do I not owe it to this generous young man, 
 my Emmeline, to go over to secure that pro- 
 perty, which will eventually be his? I will own 
 to you, that when I first saw Lord Montrose's 
 letter a tide of joy rushed to my heart, and I 
 involuntary exclaimed, "Oh! dear Edward^ 
 
128 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 thy constancy will now be rewarded, and my 
 ■tenderness shall banish the remembrance of thy 
 sufferings." 
 
 But those ideas, felicitous as they were, were 
 immediately abandoned, when I recollected the 
 sacredness of my vow, and the inability of man 
 to release me from them. I am not so blind a 
 believer as to imagine that any human being can 
 free me from an oath, made before God, and 
 voluntarily devoting myself to him. 
 
 But my resolution was again severely shaken, 
 by a letter I at the same time received from 
 the Dutchess of Beaufort, congratulating me 
 on my acquisition of fortune, and herself on the 
 prospect of seeing me. 
 
 " When," she says, " the only one of my 
 children who shews me the least attention, left 
 England, I had no hope of enjoying any thing 
 like felicity, for three years, at the end of which 
 time I shall embrace my Edward ; but in the 
 interim I shall clasp to my bosom my beloved 
 young friend. I shall, for a short time at least, 
 enjoy her society ; as I am certain she will not 
 refuse to make my house her home, during her 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 129 
 
 stay in England ; and when she departs, I shall 
 again look forward with distant hope to the 
 meeting with my son." 
 
 This charming woman presses her invitation 
 with so much warmth of affectionate kindness, 
 that I cannot resist it. She tells me, that a 
 few days after I receive her letter I may expect 
 to see Mrs. Ched!ey, (her own maid, the same 
 who attended me hither) whom, with her hus- 
 band, she will send over to bring me to her. 
 
 How kind, how considerate is the Dutchess ! 
 To decline her offer is impossible ; more es- 
 pecially as our Abbess refuses to admit me to 
 visit England, unless I am to be under some 
 respectable protection when there ; and I have 
 no friend in London to afford me countenance, 
 except her Grace. Adieu, Emmeline ; my 
 next letter will be from England. 
 
 LOUISA P " 
 
 When Louisa determined to accept the Dut- 
 chess of Beaufort's invitation, she had not the 
 least suspicion of what the views of that Lady 
 were ; and the Dutchess too well knew her 
 scrupulous delicacy, to give the slightest hint of 
 v. hat they were. 
 
ISO THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 At the time that the Duke died, and Lord 
 Edward entered into possession of the estate be- 
 queathed him, it was his wish, and that of hi3 
 mother, that he should share it with his beloved 
 Louisa. Neither of them were ignorant that 
 there were a particular sort of arguments irre- 
 sistible to the sovereign Pontiff, to induce him 
 to remit any engagements formed with the 
 church; but, in order to be certain what grounds 
 he went on, Lord Edward employed a friend of 
 his (who happened to be no other than Mr. 
 Clifford) to find out from a priest well known to 
 the latter, (who had resided' a good deal in Ire* 
 land) in the neighbourhood of Dublin, whether 
 there were any hopes of Louisa being absolved 
 from her vows. If there was any one instance, 
 in which Lord Edward thought highly of any 
 thing serious, it was this ; and he was so far 
 excusable, as that from his protestant educa- 
 tion, and the school of his profession, he had 
 learned to consider many parts of the Roman 
 Catholic religion as extremely absurd ; and 
 though he esteemed a truly pious and virtuous 
 Roman Catholic as much as any one in the 
 world, h.e would have no scruple of marrying a 
 nun, even without his Holiness's permission, 
 provided her conscience was perfectly at ease 
 regarding the breach of her vows. 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 101 
 
 The priest to whom Mr. Clifford applied for 
 information concerning the power of the sove- 
 reign Pontiff, possessed some shrewdness with 
 much simplicity : totally uninformed of every 
 thing that did not immediately regard his pro- 
 fession, he had a sort of solemn importance in 
 his manner of speaking of that, which persuad- 
 ed the ignorant that he knew every thing ; while 
 those of more understanding were apt to sus- 
 pect from thence, that he knew less than he 
 really did. 
 
 One evening that Mr. Clifford had invited 
 the priest to his house, he contrived to turn the 
 conversation to the subject of Pontifical power, 
 and particularly that regarding his dispensation 
 with religious vows. The man freely declared 
 that it was in the power of the Pope to absolve 
 him from his vow of celibacy. 
 
 " And, no doubt, he could do the same, if 
 you were a monk ?" said Mr. Clifford. 
 
 " I am not so certain of that," resumed the 
 father ; « there are many reasons why absolu- 
 tion would be very difficult to procure in such a 
 case." 
 
132 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 " Why, my good friend," rejoined Mr. Clif- 
 ford, " you surely do not mean to say, that a 
 monk's sanctity would be superior to your own ; 
 and that, therefore, the Pope possesses less 
 power over him." 
 
 " God forbid," said the father, solemnly, 
 " that any person should conceive me deficient 
 in my efforts to acquire the greatest degree of 
 sanctity ! And you know, Sir, that according 
 to every man's ability to be virtuous he will be 
 judged. The man to whom one talent is com- 
 mitted, will not be expected to encrease that 
 one to so large an amount, as him to whom ten 
 had been given : If the proportion is the same 
 it is enough." 
 
 « Very true Mr. - ," returned Mr. Clif- 
 ford, who began to be really pleased with his 
 guest : " But still I do not understand why 
 your vows of celibacy should be less sacred 
 than those of a monk." 
 
 " I have made no vow of poverty," said the 
 father, unguardedly ; for he was a little vain of 
 the sound doctrine he had made use of, and the 
 effect it seemed to have on his auditor* Mr, 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 133 
 
 Clifford, however, did not receive any ntw in- 
 formation from the answer of his new compa- 
 nion ; as he was already well aware that all 
 such favours must be purchased, if not with 
 money, with something else. 
 
 <; But I do not conceive," resumed Mr. Clif- 
 ford, " that nuns make any vows of poverty ; 
 and I would fain know, if those they do make, 
 could be dispensed with?" 
 
 <' Much depends upon circumstances ;" an- 
 swered the priest hesitatingly : For, as the 
 matter had probably never before came under 
 his consideration, and his pos itive knowledge 
 did not reach so far, with all his importance 
 he could not speak with greater certainty than 
 when he added, " On very particular occasions 
 I know not how far this lenity might prevail : 
 But what is your reason for asking those ques* 
 tions ?" 
 
 Mr. Clifford did not care to lay open himself, 
 or to lay open his friend's views to this man, 
 who might, or might not, be fit to be trusted : 
 He therefore made no reply to this demand, 
 but said, « You then esteem it an act of grace 
 S 
 
J 34' THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 and indulgence to free a religionist from their 
 vows ?" 
 
 " You mistake me there, worthy Sir," said 
 the father, " but certainly there is as much le- 
 nity and goodness in exempting a person from 
 the fear of committing a crime, as if you offer 
 them the greatest enjoyment ; since, if a per- 
 son possesses peace of mind, they cannot be very 
 unhappy ; while the extravagance of riotous 
 pleasure cannot produce perfect satisfaction, 
 without the consciousness of right." 
 
 At least, thought Clifford, this man possesses 
 moral rectitude. He then said, " Suppose a 
 man should be blockhead enough to fix his af- 
 fections on a woman who happened to be a nun, 
 might he, in that case, ever hope to obtain 
 her . ? " 
 
 " I do not know how that which you mention 
 could happen. But I will suppose it could : It 
 must be either before the woman became a nun, 
 or afterwards. If a man fell in love with a nun, 
 it would be an abominable crime !" said the 
 father. 
 
 " It might be an involuntary one," returned 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 135 
 
 Mr. Clifford, "and, as such, not very abomin- 
 able." 
 
 « Pardon me, Sir, I do not think it could be 
 involuntary," said the priest humbly. 
 
 " You are unacquainted with love," said Mr. 
 Clifford, " and are, therefore, ignorant of its 
 uncontroulable power." 
 
 " For the very reason, that I have never felt 
 it, I know it is controulable. Nothing secures 
 me from being guilty of that offence, but a vir- 
 tuous inclination, and the custom of consider- 
 ing every woman as if she were my daughter. 
 If this love were that involuntary and uncon- 
 troulable passion, that persons who have never 
 been accustomed to govern their passions re- 
 present it, we should have nothing in this world 
 but mere falling in love (as you call it) with 
 their sisters ; which is so far from being the 
 case, that it does not often occur, (comparatire- 
 ly speaking) that men desire to possess their 
 neighbour's wives." 
 
 " That may easily be accounted for," said 
 Mr. Clifford, u by the o.'ium fixed to those 
 who do, and the fear of prosecutions at law." 
 
136 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 Clifford had here for once overshot himself f 
 and the father smiled between ridicule and tri- 
 umph. Clifford resumed, 
 
 " But in the other case, regarding a nun, 
 j\lr. V 
 
 " If she took the vows," he answered, " not- 
 withstanding his attachment to her, it is pro- 
 bable that she would not join him in endeavour- 
 ing to dissolve them ; and without her consent 
 nothing can be done." 
 
 " But suppose, my good Sir, that a man 
 were to indulge a passion for a nun, in the hope 
 of having her vows remitted ?" 
 
 " None but a heretic," interrupted the priest 
 Warmly, as he rose to take his leave, " could 
 form such a design ; and to heretics the sove- 
 reign Pontiff gives no indulgences ; since it is 
 more than probable that if he did, they would 
 laugh at him for his easy kindness." 
 
 In consequence of this conversation, which 
 wa's repeated to Lumley, his Lordship gave up 
 sdi hope of procuring Louisa's liberation ; and 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 13? 
 
 Lord Edward was, at the time she accepted his 
 mother's invitation to her house, entirely igno- 
 rant of the event that called her to England, 
 and of the hopes that it may reasonably inspire, 
 and the Dutchess thought it best that he should 
 not hear any thing of it for some time. 
 
 When Louisa applied to the Lady Abbess of 
 her convent, for permission to revisit England, 
 she found that it was not very easy to be obtain- 
 ed. The superior knew perfectly well, that all 
 the friends of the fair nun would use their ut- 
 most efforts to procure a dispensation of her 
 vows ; and that, thence, the income of her es- 
 tate would not by any means benefit the commu- 
 nity : while, if she still remained in the con- 
 vent, and did not chuse to sequester her income 
 for its use, she would pay largely for trifling 
 indulgences. The Abbess therefore insisted 
 on Louisa's giving a solemn promise to return 
 to her Convent, as soon as her business relative 
 to taking possession of her estate was compleat- 
 ed-, for which she would only allow three months, 
 saying, 
 
 " You cannot be ignorant, that in case any 
 disagreeable circumstance were to arise from 
 
133 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 ray permitting you to go, I should be obliged 
 to answer for it; therefore, if (for my security) 
 you refuse to give me the private promise I de- 
 mand to return hither, I shall withhold my per- 
 mission till you obtain an order from the higher 
 powers ; the process of procuring which will 
 be tedious : If, on the contrary, you give me 
 your word to come back at the end of three 
 months, or before, if your business can be dis- 
 patched, I will give you leave to secularize 
 your dress, and depart on the morrow." 
 
 Louisa gave the desired promise ; and, five 
 days afterward, attended by the worthy Mrs. 
 Chedley and her husband, she embarked on 
 board the packet, that had already loosened sail 
 to go for England. 
 
 With all Louisa's piety and (without being a 
 bigot) she possessed a great deal, she expe- 
 rienced an involuntary sensation of pleasure as 
 she passed the Convent gates ; and a still more 
 lively one when she lost sight of its lofty walls.* 
 Like a bird whose leg is encircled with a string 
 
 * This comparison has already been used by 
 Richardson, in his admirable production, Cla- 
 rissa Harlowe. 
 
 i 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 139 
 
 so light as not to impede its flying, she fancied 
 herself at liberty ; but as, v/hen the person who 
 holds the string by checking the flight of the 
 little volatile, convinces it that it is not in full 
 freedom, the recollection of her vows, and her 
 promise to the Abbess, would obtrude them* 
 selves on the mind of Louisa, and diminish the 
 pleasure she felt, at being able to look around 
 her, and to see no enclosing walls to bound her 
 prospects. 
 
 The next day but one following her departure 
 from Lisbon, Louisa happened to take up a 
 book, which lay on a shelf, in the great cabbin. 
 It chanced to be a volume of the Poems of Lo- 
 pez de Vega, in the original Spanish- 
 
 " That book," said the Captain, observing 
 she held it in her hand, " was given near eight 
 years ago, by an English gentleman (who took 
 his passage with me from Lisbon) to my then 
 lieutenant ; the lad died some time ago, and by 
 some chance or other I got the book : I cannot 
 read it ; and as I have a pair of sleeve buttons, 
 as a memorial of poor Mc. Intosh, I will give 
 it to the first passenger I get who understands 
 Spanish.'* 
 
140 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 " I am that one," said Louisa; " and as the 
 book is rather a scarce one, I shall be much 
 obliged to you for it." 
 
 The Captain declared she would oblige him 
 by accepting it ; and Louisa after thanking him> 
 retired with the volume to her own cabin. She 
 then looked out for a particular poem, which 
 she often read with pleasure : She soon found it, 
 and was as much surprised as pleased to behold 
 the name of E. Lumley written, in the well 
 known hand of Lord Edward, in the margin of 
 the page. With a thousand pleased emotions 
 her eyes dwelt on the letters for some minutes ; 
 her next feeling was one of gratitude to the 
 Captain, for having bestowed such treasure on 
 her ; and estimating the obligation rather by its 
 peculiar than its intrinsic, or even designed va- 
 lue, she hastened to the trunk, and taking from 
 thence a book of most beautiful maps, given her 
 when almost a child, by the late General So- 
 merset, and writing the Captain's name in the 
 first leaf, she sent it to him, with her compli- 
 ments, as a small return for the pleasure he had 
 afforded her, by his present of Lopez de Vega. 
 
 The remaining days of the voyage passed 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 141 
 
 Quietly away ; and in the usual time Louisa 
 landed at Falmouth. She immediately wrote 
 to the Dutchess of Beaufort, to inform her of 
 her arrival, and had just dispatched her letter, 
 when Mr. Chedley entered the room. 
 
 " At what hour," said the old man, " will 
 your Ladyship chuse to start ?" 
 
 " Whenever you please to order the car- 
 riage," was the answer. 
 
 " Her Grace will be very impatient till she 
 sees your Ladyship," Chedley resumed. 
 
 " Let us then set out early," said Louisa. 
 
 " But her Grace desired me not to allow your 
 Ladyship to fatigue yourself by hurrying for- 
 ward." 
 
 " Then, friend," said Louisa, with a smile, 
 " Lthink the only way there is of our obeying 
 your Lady, yet gratifying your and my own 
 desire is, that I should command you to order 
 the carriage, that we may go the first stage 
 this evening." 
 
 T 
 
142 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 Louisa spoke to one who was not backward 
 in hastening the preparations for their depar- 
 ture ; and with such alacrity did the old man 
 set about them, that in less than an hour Louisa 
 and Mrs. Chedley were in the chaise, and on 
 their way to London. 
 
 It was one of those fine evenings, not very 
 uncommon in the beginning of May, that Louisa 
 began her journey : the sun shone with the ut- 
 most brilliancy, guilding the steep crags that 
 rose upon all sides ; and the wild heaths that 
 have at any other season of the year a barren 
 and uncomfortable appearance, now that the 
 tops of the plants were covered with the tender 
 shoots of spring, possessed a lively verdure, 
 almost unequalled by the fresh grass that over- 
 spread the plains of Devonshire ; while, in some 
 places, the pale purple tint of the heath blos- 
 soms gave a luxuriance to the colouring of the 
 landscape, that rendered it peculiarly pleasing 
 to a person who had long been accustomed to 
 behold only the narrow limits of a garden, or 
 the scenery of the shores of the Tagus, speck- 
 led with 'stately edifices, and highly cultivated : 
 the native simplicity of the country through 
 •which Louisa now travelled, and the almost- 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 143 
 
 boundless view of hills rising behind hills, and 
 the distant sea forming a scarcely perceptible 
 horizon, must (even from its novelty) be charm- 
 ing. But Louisa was a lover of nature, and 
 the first impression she had received of a coun- 
 try she was attached to, had been in the wild 
 regions ot the highlands of Scotland. 
 
 In a shorter time than a less impatient tra- 
 veller would have performed the journey, Louisa 
 arrived in London, and on stopping at the house 
 of the Dutchess of Beaufort, she was in a mo- 
 ment conveyed to the bosom of her truly res- 
 pectable friend. 
 
 To describe the mingled sensations of delight 
 and pain (caused by intrusive remembrance) 
 which both felt at meeting, would be impossi- 
 ble ; but when they had a little subsided, each 
 could observe the change which time had made 
 in the other. Louisa saw that the Dutchess 
 was wasted almost to a shadow, and that seven 
 yea'rs had more effect in altering her appear- 
 ance, than twenty might reasonably be expect-- 
 ed to have : the languor of her once bright eyes 
 and of her now withered form, proclaimed that 
 her constitution was entirely broken ; and that 
 
144 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 at an age when many women are only in their 
 prime, she was sinking into the grave, from, 
 nature being entirely exhausted: she smiled, 
 however, upon Louisa, as she said, 
 
 " Your arrival, my invaluable young friend, 
 was too fortunate a circumstance to arise on a 
 day when I have received more pleasure than 
 I have dc.ie for many months. I shall grow 
 fond of this world in time, if I enjoy many 
 such days as this ; which first brought me in- 
 telligence that my son Edward is in some mea- 
 sure recovering in his health, and then present- 
 ed me with my Louisa." 
 
 Louisa could only look her gratitude, both 
 for the information and the compliment, and 
 soon afterwards (as she declined supping and 
 was much fatigued) the Dutchess attended her 
 to her apartment. It was that in which she 
 slept previous to her leaving England ; and the 
 reflections that crowded on her mind when the 
 Dutchess, immediately departing, left her alone, 
 were of a nature to preclude, for that night at 
 least, the- repose she so much stood in need of. 
 
 Louisa had been near a month in London^ 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 145 
 
 and her business was in great forwardness, 
 when one morning, as she was sitting at break- 
 fast with the Dutchess, the latter received some 
 letters, which she immediately opened. As she 
 read them, frequent sighs swelled her breast, 
 and, at length, laying down the sheet she was 
 perusing on the table, she burst into tears. 
 Louisa tenderly enquired the cause of her sor- 
 row. 
 
 " Ah ! Louisa," said the Dutchess, in a voice 
 that betrayed the anguish of her heart, " your 
 gentle and susceptible nature should not be 
 shocked by the knowledge of my woes ; they 
 are such as that you cannot relieve, and your 
 pity would only distress yourself, without bene- 
 fiting me." 
 
 " Think not of my sufferings, Madam," said 
 Louisa, " but if to speak of your own can alle- 
 viate them do so ; and inform me whence ori- 
 ginates this sorrow." 
 
 " Alas ! it originates in my children ! When 
 it pleased the Almighty to give me a numerous 
 family, I fondly hoped that I should have had 
 so many comforts in my declining years. But 
 
146 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 I have sighed over the graves of some, and those 
 who remain occasion me nothing but affliction. 
 My eldest child, my dear, my lovely Caroline, 
 compelled by an austere and unrelenting father 
 to a marriage with a hoary monster, survived 
 the sacrifice but a few months : torn from a 
 man she loved, and given to a wealthy tyrant, 
 her mild and gentle nature sunk under the 
 sufferings, and I wept over her corpse. My 
 second daughter, Olivia, determined not to be 
 sacrificed like her sister, took the most effectual 
 means to prevent it, by marrying to please her- 
 self, a man unworthy of her, with whom she 
 now lives miserably in Germany. My sweet 
 Frances, my best beloved, I was doomed to 
 watch, for three tedious years, declining by 
 slow degrees ; and, at length to see her expire 
 in a consumption. Never, never, Louisa, was 
 there a mother more fondly attached to a child, 
 than I was to her ; and no child ever deserved 
 more of a parent. The present Duke of Beau- 
 fort is another bitter source of misery to me : 
 With all the faults of his father, he wants his 
 virtues : he has given his hand to a woman of 
 mean birth, without one single quality 10 make 
 her estimable ; if she is chaste it is the utmost, 
 for she pursues pleasure in all its dangerous 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 147 
 
 forms, accompanied by my deluded and head- 
 strong Cecilia, rioting in every species of ex- 
 travagance, which her husband dare not check ; 
 though it is tardily, and with avowed reluc- 
 tance, that he pays me my trifling jointure. 
 James is a gamester, a drinker, and a jockey ! 
 And William Harcourt, with amiable disposi- 
 tions, and no deficiency of sense, prefers fol- 
 lowing the steps of James, to imitating Edward ; 
 because he says, he sees Edward's virtue makes 
 him miserable. Of Harcourt's reformation I 
 still cherish hopes ; but I can scarcely think I 
 shall ever see Edward restored to that peace of 
 mind, and lively gaiety that he once possessed, 
 and I can never be any thing but miserable." 
 
 When the Dutchess had a little recovered 
 her composure, she took up a letter which had 
 lain unperceived on the table, being concealed 
 by the covers of the others. Louisa saw that 
 it had a foreign post mark ; and the writing on 
 the superscription (though scarcely legible) she 
 knew to be that of Lord Edward Lumley. The 
 Dutchess wept as she read it, and then gave it 
 to Louisa. It contained only these lines. 
 
 « When I wrote last I thought that my health 
 
I4S THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 was about to be restored ; but on that very day, 
 I was seized Avith a violent illness, 'which has 
 reduced me to a state of such extreme weak- 
 ness, that even Writing these few words is an 
 arduous task. My physician informs me, that 
 nothing can so soon re-establish my health, as 
 returning to the influence of my native air. I 
 shall, therefore, set out for England to-morrow, 
 and hope, by easy stages, to reach your house 
 even sooner than you may expect me. Let me 
 not in the least disturb any arrangement you 
 have made ; but receive me as you have ever 
 done your 
 
 Geneva, June 2. E. LUMLEY." 
 
 Louisa, when she had perused it, folded up 
 the letter, examined the seal, and seemed stu- 
 dying what to say ; but all the resolution she 
 had been able to muster gave way, when the 
 Dutchess taking her hand, and looking in her 
 face with the most mournful earnestness, she 
 perceived the tears falling fast over her pale 
 cheeks. Louisa wept also, and was unable to 
 pronounce a word ; she directly conceived the 
 meaning of the Dutchess's supplicating looks, 
 and said, 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 149 
 
 " No, Madam ; if prudence and propriety are 
 not found to forbid my remaining with you, I 
 will not abandon you. — Lord Edward will see 
 me with such feelings as lie ought, and there 
 will be no necessity for my leaving your pro- 
 tection, at a time when my services and my 
 soothings may be of use to you." 
 
 The Dutchess embraced her young friend, 
 while her bosom throbbed v/ith numberless un* 
 describable emotions, amongst which gratitude 
 was the first ; but hope soon displaced it, and 
 she was ready to exclaim, 
 
 " Then shall my Edward be blest ! — If you 
 consent to see him, it is impossible you can 
 resist his wishes." 
 
 A few days after this Louisa received the fol- 
 lowing billet. 
 
 " If hope does not deceive me friendship has 
 net yet fled to heaven ; and Lady Louisa Percy 
 still remembers the promise she made me, to 
 think of me with some little regard I" 
 
 ** Have years obliterated this promise, Ma- 
 U 
 
•150 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 dam, from your memory ? or, may I believe 
 that you will not disappoint me, by a refusal to 
 see me, to permit me to assure you I still re- 
 main the most sincere of your friends, 
 
 HALLIFAX." 
 
 With a satisfaction she did not wish to re- 
 strain, Louisa read this billet ; and returned 
 the following answer. 
 
 lt The remembrance that the Marquis of Hal- 
 lifax thought it worth his while to exact the pro- 
 mise of which he reminds me, gives rise to 
 ideas too flattering for me to forego. I have 
 never been unmindful of it, and shall be proud 
 to assure the Marquis in person, of my friend- 
 ship, if he will call at the Dutchess of Beau- 
 fort's house to-morrow evening and inquire for 
 LOUISA PERCY." 
 
 When Louisa had sent away her note, she 
 inquired of the Dutchess, what was the present 
 situation of the Marquis of Hallifax ; and learn- 
 ed, that about four years before, he had marri- 
 ed a very, amiable young lady, sister to the 
 Earl of Montrose, who had died in child-bed of 
 fcer first child, about twelve months after Jier 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 151 
 
 marriage : the infant was dead born, so that 
 the Marquis was still unincumbered with a fa- 
 mily. He had been much attached to the Mar- 
 chioness, and, since her death he had led a 
 wandering sort of life, never residing above a 
 month in any one place, when in England ; 
 and two years he had spent in Sweden, from 
 whence he was not long returned. 
 
 The Marquis did not fail to attend Louisa's 
 appointment, and at six o'clock in the evening 
 he met her in the drawing-room of the Dutchess 
 of Beaufort. 
 
 She received him with a generous warmth of 
 friendship which he scarcely exptcted ; but 
 with which he was quite enraptured. As for 
 his behaviour to her it was that of an affection- 
 ate brother, restrained by the timid respect 
 which ever accompanies even the recollection 
 of a former attachment. Louisa endeavoured 
 to make him forget that such had ever existed, 
 while she talked to him of the time that had 
 elapsed since their last meeting, and, by de- 
 grees, drew him into giving her and the Dut- 
 chess an account of what he had seen in Swe- 
 den, He was relating to them the occurrences 
 
152 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 of the eventful morning of the 19th of August, 
 1772, when he happened to be in Stockholm, 
 when the party were disturbed by a little bus- 
 tle, that arose at the head of the stairs, and the 
 next moment Lord Edward, supported by old 
 Chedley, entered the room. 
 
 He quickened his pace as he approached the 
 Dutchess ; who, every thing but fainting, was 
 unable to rise from her seat ; but the embrace 
 of her son seemed to restore her faculties, and 
 the power of shedding tears, caused by joy for 
 his return, and sorrow for the manner of it, 
 and his wasted appearance. Louisa now prov- 
 ed herself superior to all the weakness of her 
 sex ; for without any visible sign of extraordi- 
 nary emotion, she gave her hand to Lord Ed- 
 ward, and congratulated his return, as if he 
 had been only an old friend. The Marquis was 
 surprised at her composure, and instead of re- 
 seating himself, said to her, in a low voice, 
 " The present time is not one when my pre- 
 sence can be agreeable, and I will not take 
 leave of you now, because when 1 do, I shall 
 chuse to fake up the whole of your attention c 
 S9 I say simply, good night." 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 153 
 
 He kissed her hand as he pronounced those 
 words, and bowing to the Dutchess and her son, 
 left the room, followed by Louisa, who did not 
 wish to be present at their first conversation. 
 
 When alone with his mother, Lord Edward 
 was ashamed to express surprise or curiosity as 
 to the cause of the visit of the Marquis of HaUi- 
 fax to Louisa, (for he well knew the Dutchess 
 was not acquainted with him) but he certainly 
 did not experience the most agreeable sensa- 
 tions, and was thoughtful, silent, and melan- 
 choly, during the short time that intervened be- 
 fore he retired to his chamber, excusing him- 
 self under the plea of ilinebS and fatigue. The 
 true occasion of the indisposition of Lord Ed- 
 ward, though he did not own it to the Dutchess 
 (who, however, suspected it) was the agitation 
 caused in his mind, by the receipt of his mo- 
 ther's letter, informing him of Louisa being in 
 England, and the reasonable possibility of the 
 church yet permitting their union. 
 
 The letter the Dutchess never thought it pro. 
 per to inform Louisa she had written, and had 
 Louisa been in a state of mind to note- (compa- 
 ratively) trivial occurrences, she would probab- 
 
154 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 ly have observed it to be something- singular 
 that his Lordship betrayed no token of surprise 
 on seeing her, as she thought so unexpectedly. 
 But as she felt conscious of having made a most 
 wonderful effort herself in meeting him with 
 composure, when she did reflect on this cir- 
 cumstance, she attributed to him a similar, if 
 not a superior exertion of heroism. 
 
 At breakfast the next morning Lord Edward, 
 who had rested ill, did not appear ; and the 
 moment it was over, as Louisa had some busi- 
 ness to transact with her agent, the Dutchess 
 hastened to the apartment of her son : she 
 found him ill and -languid indeed, but, from the 
 expression of his countenance, s'ie thought his 
 mind more at ease than it had been the preced- 
 ing evening. After a little previous conversa- 
 tion, he said to the Dutchess, 
 
 " I know, my dear Madam, that I am weak 
 if I am forbidden to call Louisa mine ; and 
 wrong if she permits me to indulge the hope 
 you have given me, in being uneasy at the 
 Marquis of Halli fax's visit last nighi ; but I re- 
 quest you will inform me in what light she con- 
 sidered him, when she allowed him to come ? 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 155 
 
 I do not ask this question from an impertinent 
 curiosity, but from a desire to know how to con- 
 duct myself. If she is only to be absolved from 
 her vows, that the increass of wealth and con- 
 sequence her estate affords may be thrown into 
 a Catholic family, I should wish to know it j 
 that I may at least secure her friendship, by 
 seeming to have forgot my love." 
 
 " Assure yourself," said the Dutchess, " that 
 Louisa professes, and I am certain feels no- 
 thing more for the Marquis than esteem and 
 good will." 
 
 " But does she honor me with a softer sen- 
 timent ?" inquired Lord Edward, half mourn- 
 fully. 
 
 " My dear son," she replied, u that is a sub- 
 ject on which I have never dared to touch : I 
 know that if I did Louisa would be ingenuous ; 
 and I know also, that I could not conceal my 
 knowledge of her sentiments from you. But I 
 considered that maternal affection would be no 
 excuse for my betraying the secret thoughts of 
 my friends. From her, then, you must learn, 
 how highly you stand in her estimation.'^ 
 
156 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 While the Dutchess was speaking, Lord Ed- 
 ward's man brought her a slip of paper, on 
 which was written, in Louisa's hand, 
 
 44 The Marquis of Hallifax has written to tell 
 m°, he is going to leave town for a few days; 
 and to request permission to call on me at his 
 return : Will it be agreeable to you that he 
 should do so?" 
 
 As the servant left the room the moment he 
 had delivered his business, the Dutchess gave 
 the note to Lord Edward, saying, 
 
 " Does this look like attachment to the Mar- 
 quis ?" 
 
 Lord Edward perused the lines in silence, 
 and sighed as he gave them back to his mother ; 
 who immediately went, in person, to reproach 
 Louisa, for having thought it necessary to re- 
 quire her permission to receive any visitors she 
 pleased. The Marquis accordingly received as 
 favourable an answer as he could wish, and that 
 day (and several succeeding ones) was spent 
 tranquilly at least, if not happily, by the Dut- 
 chess, her son, and Louisa, 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 1st 
 
 One morning, however, a fortnight after the ar- 
 rival of Lord Edward, Louisa happened to be 
 left alone with him after breakfast, and (as was 
 her custom when this occured) she was going to 
 leave the room, when his Lordship said, " Is 
 Lady Louisa timid, or unkind, when she takes 
 such precautions to prevent my speaking to 
 her, except in the presence of my mother." 
 
 " Neither, my Lord : For the former, I con- 
 clude, I have no reason ; and to the latter I 
 have no inclination." 
 
 " Why then, Madam, do you fly me ?" 
 
 " The inquiry, my Lord, proves, it is right so 
 to do," replied Louisa. 
 
 " You then perceive that I wish for a private 
 conference ?" 
 
 " I cannot avoid perceiving it, my Lord : If 
 it were not so, your Lordship would permit 
 me to leave the room unnoticed, when I pleas- 
 ed." 
 
 « How long, Louisa," enquired Lumley, 
 V 
 
158 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 with assumed calmness, " is it since you have 
 adopted the cold and ceremonious term, my 
 Lord, for him who was once your Edward ?" 
 
 K Eight years since," Louisa replied, " I ab- 
 jured all connexions except friendly ones : yet 
 if you please to be considered in the fraternal 
 character, the formality you complain of shall 
 not offend you. I am, and will be to you, sis- 
 ter Louisa." 
 
 " No, Louisa, that title must be your's no 
 longer," said Lord Edward gravely, Avith an 
 air of seriousness, that was evidently put on to 
 conceal the excess of his emotion, as he added, 
 44 For this once hear me. There was a time 
 when you, without scruple, confessed, not only 
 that I was dear to you, but that it was your 
 Wish to spend your life with me. — Biest^ most 
 truly blest should 1 have been, to put your af- 
 fections to the proof ; had not the stern preju- 
 dices of both our fathers forbid our union : 
 your's loved you — mine only regarded me as 
 I might increase his consequence, by giving 
 him a Countess for a daughter. To my own 
 father I looked on myself as absolved from all 
 duty, as he had violated his to me, by endea- 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 159 
 
 vouring to make me miserable ; and, at the 
 death of Lord Montrose, in spite of fortune, I 
 would have claimed and made you mine : my 
 commission would have been sufficient to sup- 
 port us- My father would not deprive me of it 
 so long as I performed my duty as an officer ; 
 and had I died before you, or left any children, 
 my generous country and my benevolent King 
 would have secured the family of a faithful ser- 
 vant from want. But, Louisa, the difference of 
 religion would have afforded a plea to my fa- 
 ther to disunite us, which he might easily have 
 enforced. I then consented to yield you up to 
 a more fortunate destiny ; and 1 think that I 
 could have seen you the wife of another. I 
 saw you devote yourself to heaven with all the 
 agony of disappointed hope; but I dare not 
 step forward to prevent it. Once, indeed, dur- 
 ing the awful ceremony, 1 had nearly done so. 
 I saw the priest advance to wrap you in the sa- 
 ble veil, that was to divide you from me for 
 ever ; I thought I saw you shrink back, and I 
 was on the point of exclaiming, that you were 
 my wife, by a thousand vows of fidelity, but 
 utterance was denied me, and ere I recovered 
 the power of speech, you meekly bowed your 
 head, you received the veil, and all hope was 
 lost." 
 
160 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 " Good God I" cried Louisa, now first re- 
 covering the power of speech, of which sur- 
 prise and bitter recollection had bereft her, 
 " whither does all this tend ?" 
 
 " Be patient, Louisa, a few minutes, the re- 
 maining part of my history will not detain you 
 long." 
 
 " When the death of my father, and my ac- 
 cession to wealth far beyond my wishes, would, 
 in other circumstances, have placed me within 
 the reach of happiness, I took the best means to 
 be informed whether it was possible that you 
 might be freed from your vows ; but, from a 
 minister of your faith, I found that I, as a Pro- 
 testant, must not appear in it, and that, indeed, 
 there was no hope of your liberation. A friend- 
 ship I at this time formed with your cousin, 
 Lord Montrose, opened to me farther infor- 
 mation. He lamented that he was not of age 
 when you took the fatal step, of entering the 
 convent, and told me that it was next to impos- 
 sible for you to regain your freedom, unless 
 some unforeseen event was to afford you an op- 
 portunity of coming to England, since that 
 wa"s the only place from whence you cot&ftreat 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 161 
 
 with the church. This unforeseen event has 
 taken place ; and Lord Montrose, in a letter I 
 yesterday received, informed me, that he has 
 been endeavouring to ascertain the practicabi- 
 lity of procuring your release, and has very 
 little doubt, that if the proper steps are taken, 
 you will be permitted to marry," 
 
 " And can you conceive it possible, that I 
 shall ever do so?" inquired Louisa, with calm 
 dignity. 
 
 " I do, Louisa, I do : I cannot believe you 
 capable of inconstancy ; and my own lovely, 
 lender Louisa, would wish to make all within 
 *he sphere she moves as happy as possible." 
 
 " My Lord, you have mistaken my charac- 
 ter," returned Louisa firmly, " I hope I never 
 yet gave you just cause to imagine, that I would 
 break through avow to promote my own tem- 
 porary happiness. For, believe me, Edward, 
 all the satisfaction you could experience from a 
 union with a woman, to whom I never doubted 
 your attachment, could not equal the transport 
 with which I should receive the assurance, that I 
 iShould spend the remainder of my life with one 
 
162 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 whose tenderness, honor, and fidelity, has beea 
 proved, as your's has been." 
 
 " Noble, generous Louisa !" exclaimed Lord 
 Edward, " you have given me another plea 
 whereon to urge my proposal : My efforts Avill 
 not now be selfish, since they will be to promote 
 your happiness, as well as my own : and hear 
 my declaration, as I have heard your's. Much 
 as I doat on you, and tedious as have been my 
 sufferings for your sake, could you, at this mo- 
 ment say, with truth, ' Lumley, I should be 
 happier in my Convent!' yet were willing, for 
 my felicity, to consent to a marriage with me, 
 I would spurn the idea, though my life should 
 pay the price of my self-denial. But why talk 
 of yielding up my life ? Rather should I say, 
 nay swear to you, that I would in preference 
 to taking advantage of your generosity, consent 
 lo spend a long life separated from ycu, while 
 the keen torment of my feelings should, to the 
 end, be undiminished." 
 
 " For both our sakes, then," continued Ed- 
 ward fervently, " let me conjure you to con- 
 sent to Lord Montrose applying for absolution 
 from your vows." 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 163 
 
 li Let me ask you," said Louisa solemnly, 
 " do you think that such an absolution would 
 acquit me of a crime, in violating a vow I have 
 made ?" 
 
 " I do, Louisa. Had you made a vow to your 
 father, and had he rendered it void, it would 
 have been so. Your present engagements were 
 formed with the church, and the church has 
 power to dissolve them." 
 
 " Were it for any good or necessary pur- 
 pose," returned she, " perhaps it might ; but 
 when the desire of being freed from them arises 
 from those very passions I have vowed to banish 
 from my heart, how shall I hope for absolution ? 
 But, Edward, I will be more candid with you. 
 I do not believe it is in the power of man to re- 
 mit those vows made to God." 
 
 Lord Edward looked astonished ; the serious- 
 ness of the subject did not permit his thoughts 
 to dwell on any but itself, and he said, " Louisa, 
 you are no Catholic ! This is not the declaration 
 of me." 
 
 " I hope I possess reason and charity," she 
 
164 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 replied, " and such tenets of the religion, I pro- 
 fess, as depart from both, I learned to condemn, 
 when I found in heretics every virtue that could 
 render them worthy of heaven. If memory is 
 left us in a future state my happiness would be 
 incomplete, unless shared with those I love ; 
 and, it is reasonable to suppose, that a mere mi- 
 nister of God should have no power to dissolve 
 vows, witnessed and accepted by God himself. 
 When I devoted myself to his worship, I called 
 on him to behold and ratify my oath, and no- 
 thing can excuse my breaking it ; therefore, 
 Edward, seek not, Oh ! seek not to make me 
 •"•iiilty. My reason and my heart are weak, they 
 may betray me ; but do not you, whom I have 
 loved and trusted, lead me to destruction !" 
 
 As Louisa pronounced this affecting petition, 
 she clasped her hands in an attitude of supplica- 
 tion, and the deep sobs that seemed to swell 
 her heart almost to bursting, totally overcame 
 Lord Edward. He threw himself on his knees 
 before her, exclaiming, with tears, 
 
 " Glorious, matchless Louisa, you shall be 
 obeyed. Oh ! believe me not so base, as that, 
 to make my whole future life one scene of bliss? 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 165 
 
 I would expose you to feeling one sting of con- 
 science. No, thou perfect angel, never from 
 this moment shall you hear my ill-fated love. 
 I will look up to you as a superior being, who 
 has deigned to feel an interest in my fate, — 
 and ■ ■ " 
 
 " No, Edward," interrupted Louisa, the ele- 
 vation of her soul beaming in her eyes, and 
 seeming to restore her from the wreck of what 
 she had been, to all her former spirit and beau- 
 ty, " Consider me as your sister ; fancy that I 
 am the one you most loved, risen from the 
 grave, and then I shall glory in your affection." 
 
 At that moment the Dutchess entered the 
 mom, and Louisa throwing her arms round 
 her neck, wept in silence, with her head re- 
 clined on her shoulder for a few minutes ; but 
 seeming suddenly to recollect herself, she hur- 
 ried to her own apartment. 
 
 ,It was some time btfore Lord Edward was 
 able to give his mother an account of his con- 
 versation with Louisa ; but when he did so, the 
 Dutchess was at once convinced that he had no 
 further to hope. What her feelings were when 
 W 
 
166 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 she declared this sad certainty, may be con- 
 ceived, but not described. 
 
 " Alas I" said she, in an accent of the bitter- 
 est anguish, " now, do I feel the fullness of my 
 punishment for my breach of duty to my father, 
 in my marrying with your's. His resentment 
 "was the cause of the sacrifice of my poor Caro- 
 line. It lessened my consequence in the eyes 
 of five of my children, and prevented my efforts 
 to save them from guilt and misery — and it has 
 blasted all the hopes of my Edward and his 
 Louisa. It was not enough, to atone for my er- 
 ror, that I should endure thirty years of misery 
 and corroding reflection, but I must behold those 
 I most love, wretched. — That is the severest 
 sting of all." 
 
 Lord Edward tried successfully to sooth the 
 perturbed emotions of his revered parent ; but 
 to restore her mind to peace was impossible. 
 .She said, and she said truly, that she had no 
 hopes but in the grave : To that place of repose 
 she seemed fast hastening, and every day that 
 passed, after this memorable one, appeared to 
 produce some new sign of decay ; but the Dut- 
 chess resembled the tender and flusible reed, 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 167 
 
 which the tempest has often pressed to the earth, 
 and the rain-swollen rivulet, rising mid way in 
 its stem, threatened to tear it from its root, to 
 carry it with its rapid tide way ; but when the 
 tempest ceases it again rises, and, though ever 
 drooping, is in no danger of breaking. So this 
 fresh tide of sorrow, though it almost over- 
 whelmed, did not destroy her. 
 
 From this day. too, Louisa seemed to forget 
 that Lord Edward had ever been any other 
 than a brother to her, and always treated him 
 as such. She had no doubt of his honourable 
 manly firmness, and she wished to shew him 
 that she did not distrust his sense of propriety. 
 
 The expiration of her three months of liberty 
 was now fast advancing, and Louisa began to 
 think seriously of preparing for her return to 
 her Convent, when, one day, a week before she 
 intended to begin her journey, she consented 
 (accompanied by the Dutchess and Lord Ed- 
 ward) to visit a beautiful house and demesne, 
 which was part of the property left her by Ge- 
 neral Somerset. She had been there before for 
 ?.bout an hour, but they were to spend the whole 
 day there : and as it was eighteen miles from 
 
163 - THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 London, they sat out early. The house was 
 situated in an extensive park, and from its scite 
 commanded a most beautiful view of the River 
 Thames, with the busy ever moving scene on 
 its bosom, and the varied prospects of the op- 
 posite shores. The pleasure grounds were in 
 elegant order, and almost formed a circlej 
 which bounded the park on all sides. 
 
 The gardener (for Louisa was unacquainted 
 with the place) conducted the party all over the 
 gardens, and to several ornamental edifices, 
 erected in the best chosen situations, and in 
 exquisite taste. When they thought they had 
 already seen every thing worthy observation, 
 the gardener said to Louisa, " But my Lady 
 lias not yet seen the watch tower." 
 
 <{ The watch tower, Andrew ; whereabouts 
 is that ?" inquired Louisa. 
 
 " Near half a mile off, my Lady, on the rock, 
 io the east of the trout-stream." 
 
 " I fear," said Louisa to the Dutchess, " you 
 will not be able to walk so far." 
 
 " Oh!" cried honest Andrew, " her Lady- 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 169 
 
 ship will not have far to walk, and may have 
 fine rest, if she does not please to mount the 
 rock ; for there is a little place at the bottom 
 of it where I keep all sorts of fishing tackle, 
 and where ray Lady Dutchess may divert her- 
 self with a rod and line." 
 
 The Dutchess said she would walk to this 
 place, at least, and they accordingly set out. 
 The path lay along the borders of the trout 
 stream, which was in some parts broad and 
 smooth, the green turf sloping gently to the 
 water's edge, and frequently decorated with 
 large willow and Accasia trees. Sometimes, 
 where it was confined by steep rocky bounda- 
 ries, dashing and foaming over the little falls 
 that varied its bed, and threatened to tear away 
 the crooked branches of the oaks that stretched 
 across it. 
 
 At length they came to the building the gar- 
 dener had spoke of, as a resting place for the 
 Dutchess. It was in the form of a small cot- 
 tage, with only a few feet of rustic garden, be- 
 tween it and the stream, which at this place 
 rather resembled a pool than a brook. The 
 thatched roof was shaded at one end by a 
 
11T0 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 flowering alder tree, which hanging over the 
 water, at every breeze covered its surface with 
 thick falling blossoms. Three tall poplars grew 
 at the extremity of the little garden, and seve- 
 ral trees of the light and (nightly) fragrant Ac- 
 casia, were planted along the verge of the 
 stream, which reflected the beautiful white flow- 
 ers, that half conceal themselves among the 
 foliage, if not looked at from beneath. Almost 
 close to the cottage began the ascent of the 
 craggy rock, or rather a mass of rocks, and 
 scarcely vegetation, on the summit of which 
 stood the watch tower. 
 
 Arrived at the cottage the Dutchess declared 
 her intention of remaining there till the rest of 
 the party returned from the tower ; Louisa ob- 
 jected to ascending the cliff without her, but 
 her grace insisted so strongly on her doing, so, 
 that she was at last obliged to begin the ascent, 
 accompanied by Lord Edward j and honest An- 
 drew. The difficulty of reaching the summit 
 of the rock was not trifling, but the view from 
 it amply compensated for the fatigue. The 
 principal room in the tower had two windows, 
 one commanding an extensive prospect of hill 
 and dale, finely planted and improved, with the 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 171 
 
 cottage and its peaceful environs close below : 
 the other looked down on the stream, and on a 
 rock that appeared to have split to about the 
 depth of thirty feet, to form a channel for it ; 
 it inclined outwards a little on each side, shad- 
 ed by brush wood, and across the chasm was 
 erected one of those rustic bridges, common in 
 many parts of England, particularly Devon- 
 shire, where they are called clams : the path 
 down to the bridge was ruggid, and even steeper 
 than that from the cottage ; and seemed to lead 
 into a small chesnut wood, on the left. * 
 
 When Louisa and Lord Edward were suffi- 
 ciently gratified with contemplating the pros- 
 pect, they examined the edifice itself. It was 
 in a circular form, and its construction was 
 such that they would scarcely have entertained 
 a doubt of its having in former ages, answered 
 the purpose of a watch tower, had not honest 
 Andrew taken infinite pains to assure them, 
 that for all the walls looked so rough, and so ivy 
 grown, it was not above five years since he had 
 seen every stone of them laid with his own 
 eyes. 
 
 The tower had no other furniture but a few 
 
172 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 of those rustic stools, described by Cowper, 
 where he says, 
 
 " On such a stool immortal Alfred sat, 
 " And sway'd the sceptre of his infant realms." 
 
 The walls were coated with straw, raised in a 
 sort of rude pannels ; and in most of the com- 
 partments were sketches, in red and black chalk, 
 executed with the boldest and most masterly ex- 
 pression of men, in the habits of Roman soldiers, 
 employed in several sports ; and some few of 
 the figures seemed to have all the formality of 
 military discipline. The name of George So- 
 merset, inserted in some part of the drawing, 
 proved they had been done by the late General, 
 and Lord Edward remarked, that the idea was 
 borrowed from the supposed guard-room of 
 Pompeia. The observations that his Lordship 
 was drawn into to make on that wonderful city, 
 were interrupted by the clamorous complaints 
 of the gardener, who was execrating a large 
 goat that had taken a fancy to browse on the 
 tender shoots of some exotic plants, which grew 
 under the window of the watch tower. In vain 
 were the shouts of Andrew to chase him from 
 the trees ; he shook his long flowing beard, and 
 continued his destructive employment, The 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 173 
 
 poor gardener was now compelled to descend 
 the tower, and go round to force him from the 
 enjoyment of his repast ; but the bold animalj 
 when he threatened it with a stick, looked, for 
 a moment, with seeming arch defiance in his 
 face, and then, bounding down the cliffs, mount- 
 ed the bridge, where it stood stamping, and 
 appearing to display its horns, as a formidable 
 means of defence, in case of attack. 
 
 Louisa was for some time amused with its 
 tricks ; and then leaving it and Andrew to set- 
 tle their disputes how they pleased, she went to 
 the other window. She observed the Dutchess 
 sitting on a sod-seat, at the door of the cottage ; 
 and from the perfect simplicity of her dress she 
 might easily (at a distance) be mistaken for its 
 proper inhabitant ; her plain brown lutestring 
 was not to be distinguished from acamblet, and 
 her simple and becoming black hood, was no£ 
 knoAvn to be of the finest lace. 
 
 Xouisa remarked to Lord Edward, who stood 
 beside her, What an interesting figure his mo- 
 ther appeared ; and he said, " Most truly so } 
 indeed 1 But can you, Louisa, who are so gen- 
 tle, and so benevolent, seriously think of de- 
 X 
 
174, THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 priving her (by your departure for Portugal) 
 of that sweet serenity she at present seems to 
 enjoy ?" 
 
 " You know all my feelings on that subject, 
 ray friend," said Louisa, " should not there- 
 fore, doubt, or be surprised, at my resolution 
 to leave England in a week." 
 
 " No, my more than sister !" returned Lord 
 Edward, without any apparent or extraordinary 
 emotion, " I will yet hope that you will not 
 abandon her. I have given up every idea of 
 your ever marrying, and with your notions re- 
 garding the guilt that would attend it, I cannot 
 even wish you to do so : neither will I say, I 
 should think it no impropriety for you to live 
 in the same house, or even in an intimacy with 
 me, for any length of time. But I wish you 
 to reside with my mother, she loves you, I 
 think, as tenderly as she did my poor Frances> 
 and you could not be unhappy with her. As 
 for me, I am ready to become an exile to pro- 
 mote her felicity ! I will embark in the first 
 packet for the East Indies, there to remain for 
 the rest of my days ; or for such a number of 
 years, that my returning to live in the same 
 
THE ENGLISH NUX. Its 
 
 kingdom with you cannot give rise to any thing 
 disagreeable." 
 
 " But how," cried Louisa, charmed and 
 touched by his disinterestedness, though it was 
 no more than she would have expected from 
 Lord Edward : " But how (should I even think 
 xif ac< :;ting your generous offer) would that 
 promote the felicity of my revered friend ? 
 Could my residing with her (think you) console 
 her for the loss of her son ? — Alas ! no." 
 
 " Yes, Louisa, it would," replied Lord Ed- 
 ward ; adding, " there are a thousand little arts 
 of consolatory tenderness, in the power of a wo- 
 man to perform, of which men are incapable. 
 The feelings of 'women are more congenial to 
 softness ; their offices of kindness more sooth- 
 ing to the wounded soul : besides, I should be 
 more happy to know, that my Louisa was the 
 sweet supporter of my beloved mother t and 
 she, in the certainty that I was so, would enjoy 
 a greater share of content. For this reason, 
 then, let me entreat you, as the last and only 
 favour you can grant mc, that you will consent 
 to cheer, by your presence, the remaining years 
 of my mother's life," 
 
176 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 " I am sorry, Edward," replied Louisa, with 
 difficulty restraining her tears, " that even 
 in this one instance I cannot oblige you. Be- 
 lieve me, that, if it was in my power, I would 
 gladly remain in England ; and that too, with- 
 out permitting you to become an exile for my 
 sake. But I have given my solemn promise 
 to our Lady Abbess to return to my Convent ; 
 and let the consequence be what it may, my 
 engagement shall be sacred." 
 
 As she spoke Andrew returned to the bower. 
 
 " There ! cried he, " there is that cursed 
 jockey that my master would have running 
 about the rocks here, has torn all the trees to 
 pieces, and that fine beard of his, that the Ge- 
 neral used to admire so much, if it was sold, 
 (aye, or his whole carcase into the bargain) it 
 v/ould never pay for the damage he has done. 
 Pray, my Lady, allow me to have the knave 
 killed, or we shall never see the end of his mis- 
 chievous tricks." 
 
 " At any other time, perhaps, Louisa would 
 have been amused by the vociferous indignation 
 af the gardener, but now could only say, " No' 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 177 
 
 no, Andrew, I will not have him injured ;" and 
 immediately began to descend the narrow path 
 to the cottage. 
 
 When she joined the Dutchess, she found 
 her talking to a very pretty young woman, 
 who held in her arms a lovely infant, appa- 
 rently only a few weeks old. Louisa had al- 
 ways been extremely fond ef children ; and now 
 sitting down on a seat at the cottage door, she 
 took this one in her lap. She had been playing 
 with it for some time, while Lord Edward had 
 been looking at her, with sensations difficult to 
 describe ; afraid that the mother of the baby 
 would discover them in his looks, he endeavour- 
 ed to conceal them, by stooping to kiss the in- 
 fant. As he did so, a large locket, or picture, 
 slipped from within his waistcoat, and appeared 
 hanging to a slight gold chain. The glitter at- 
 tracted the eyes of the child, and catching the 
 brilliant object in its hand, it, as is common 
 with children at that early age, directly convey- 
 ed it to its mouth. — Louisa disengaged it from 
 the hand of the little girl, and, in doing so, per- 
 ceived that it was the very likeness of herself 
 which she had given to the Dutchess. Lord 
 Edward seemed distressed at the incident, and 
 
173 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 she therefore pretended not to notice it ; but 
 restoring the baby to its mother, she inquired 
 of her Grace, if she was ready to return to the 
 house : They did so, and having spent the re- 
 mainder of the day very agreeably, they re- 
 turned in the evening to London. 
 
 To Lord Edward, to his mother, and, even 
 to her fair guest, the hours seemed to fly, with 
 unusual swiftness, during the few remaining 
 days of Louisa's purposed stay in England. 
 Two evenings before she was to depart, how- 
 ever, she was surprised to receive a message 
 from the Earl of Montrose, who, the servant 
 said, was in a carriage at the street-door, de- 
 siring to be permitted to introduce Lady Mon- 
 trose to her. 
 
 Lord Edward directly ran down stairs, to 
 welcome his friend, and to invite him and his 
 lady up. lie immediately returned, conduct- 
 ing them, and presented both, first to Louisa, 
 and then to the Dutchess. When the former 
 beheld the young Countess, she thought she 
 had never seen a more lovely and interesting 
 woman ; and even Lord Edward and his mother 
 felt that they had never seen but one who stir- 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 179 
 
 passed her in elegance and beauty, that one was 
 Louisa Percy ; and faded as were now her 
 charms, the latter still preserved her superi- 
 ority. 
 
 Louisa inquired of Lord Montrose for his 
 Grand-mother. 
 
 11 Her health is still precarious," he replied, 
 " but when she found that your Ladyship would 
 not be prevailed on to prolongue your stay in 
 England, she acceded to Julia's wishes and mine 
 that we should leave her, in order to have the 
 honor of attending you to Lisbon." 
 
 It was in vain that Louisa objected to their 
 taking so much trouble on her account ; Lord 
 Montrose was determined : and when the gen- 
 tle Julia, taking her hand, said, with the sweet- 
 est look and accent, 
 
 " Your compliance with our plan of attending 
 you will give me the most heart-felt satisfac- 
 tion, since it will afford me an opportunity of 
 laying claim to your friendship !" 
 
 She could no longer resist j and only five days 
 
180 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 later than she had at first proposed her depart- 
 ure took place. 
 
 It would be in vain to attempt to describe the 
 feelings which agitated the minds of the Dut- 
 chess of Beaufort and Edward Lumley, as they 
 beheld Louisa get into the coach, which was to 
 convey her to Falmouth. 
 
 There are some connexions of a nature too 
 acutely painful for an adequate idea lobe given 
 of them to those who have never felt such ; and 
 to those who have, the attempts would be need- 
 less. 
 
 Lord Edward could not now, as he had done 
 on a former occasion, secretly attend Louisa, 
 even to the chapel of her convent ; and when 
 she mounted the step of Lord Montrose's coach, 
 he ftlt nearly as much as at the moment when 
 she received the black veil. 
 
 During the journey, and the voyage, Louisa 
 never lost sight of her usual dignified compo- 
 sure, in the smallest degree ; and in a very few 
 days she became really attached to her cousins, 
 particularly the Countess. The affection that 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 181 
 
 soon united those amiable women was, perhaps 
 in a great measure, owing to their mutual at- 
 tachment to Lady Emmeline Clifford ; and in 
 speaking of her, in dwelling on her praises, the 
 sensations of both were so perfectly similar, 
 that they entirely forgot that their first meeting 
 had taken place only a few days before. 
 
 In due time they all arrived in Lisbon, and 
 the morning after they reached that city, Louisa, 
 accompanied by the amiable Julia, took the 
 way to the English Convent. 
 
 As soon as it was known that she was return- 
 ed all the inhabitants of the house flocked to 
 the parlour to receive and welcome her. 
 
 " You are come, my sister," said one of the 
 senior nuns, as she embraced her, — " to share 
 our grief for the death of our venerable mother, 
 and to supply her place. 
 
 " Yes, yes," cried several of the religious at 
 xjnce, " sister Louisa must become our mother. 
 No other is worthy to govern us, but the glo- 
 rious Louisa, who has so nobly resisted all the 
 temptations of the world, and has returned to 
 edify our society." 
 
 Y 
 
18? THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 Louisa felt grateful ; but she experienced no 
 commotions of pride in hearing those exclama- 
 tions : she thanked the good sisters more by 
 looks than words, and determined steadily to 
 decline the intended honor. 
 
 She now learned, that the late Abbess had 
 been buried two days before, but that the elec- 
 tion of a new superior had been delayed till her 
 arrival from England, that she might give her 
 vote ; or rather, (as it appeared) that they 
 might appoint her to the sovereignty of the lit- 
 tle community. 
 
 Suffice it to say, that Louisa's rejection of the 
 office of Abbess was of no avail ; she was kindly 
 forced to accept the dignity. And so much 
 had her conduct endeared her to the society) 
 that never was there a superior who enjoyed 
 such absolute dominion over the conduct and 
 affections of the nuns. 
 
 Lord and Lady Montrose remained a month 
 at Lisbon (during which time his Lordship 
 heard that his friend, Edward Lumley, had en- 
 gaged in the service of the Empress of Russia, 
 then at war with the Turks) and afterwards set 
 out to make the tour of Portugal and Spain, 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 1,83 
 
 After visiting most places worthy of obser- 
 vation in those kingdoms, they, at the end of 
 three months returned to Lisbon. It was ra- 
 ther sooner than they had at first intended ; 
 but the change in their measures were occa- 
 sioned by Lord Montrose receiving an account 
 of Lord Edward Lumley being killed at the 
 siege of 
 
 Desirous of softening as much as possible the 
 cruel anguish this must inflict on the heart of 
 Louisa, Julia entreated her Lord to hasten to 
 Lisbon ; and he readily consented to oblige her. 
 When they arrived at the English Convent, 
 they found that Louisa had been informed of 
 the fatal event they came to impart to her. 
 One of the nuns who came to receive Lady 
 Montrose, said, that the Abbess had, ten days 
 before, received letters from both England and 
 Russia, since which time she had appealed in 
 the deepest affliction, though she still perform- 
 ed her customary duties. 
 
 But the first meeting of Julia and her friend 
 were best described, by an extract from a letier 
 written by the former to Lady Emmeline Clif- 
 ford-. 
 
184 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 " As soon as I was admitted into the Abbess's 
 parlour, and Louisa appeared, I was certain 
 that what the nun had conjectured was but too 
 true, and she already knew what I came to im- 
 part toher. She did not fly to meet me, with 
 the impatient eagerness of a long absent friend ; 
 but walked sedately up to me, and took my 
 hand in silence. The apparent coldness of her 
 manner, would have wounded my self-love, had 
 not the expression of anguish her lovely coun- 
 tenance wore excited my tenderest commiser- 
 ation." 
 
 " Where is your husband, Julia ?" said she ; 
 adding, " he was a witness of the last great ce- 
 remony that took place within those walls, and 
 he should also behold that, which in a few days 
 will be performed." 
 
 I did not directly understand her, and indeed 
 thought but little of the singularity of the speech, 
 so much was I affected by the evident abstrac- 
 tion of her ideas, till she continued, 
 
 M It is now no violation of the tenderest friend- 
 ship to wish to die. Lumley no longer lives, 
 to have his sad existence embittered by my 
 
 i 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 185 
 
 death. He expects me in a better world, and 
 I hasten to rejoin him." 
 
 " To you, Julia," she added, after a pause 
 of considerable length, u I must confide the 
 care of writing to the few friends I have left. 
 The duty of making my will is indispensible ; 
 in that they will find that I do not forget them ; 
 but I cannot reconcile myself to the idea of bid- 
 ding them a last farewell. The few hours of 
 life that remain to me, must be devoted to pre- 
 paration for death ; and that will plead my ex- 
 cuse for declining to see Lord Montrose. You, 
 my Julia, will return to me, to-morrow." 
 
 I took this to be an intimation that she wish- 
 ed to be alone ; and, accordingly, with a heavy- 
 heart, I left the Convent. Alas ! Emmeline, 
 it is too evident, that our beloved Louisa has 
 not many days to live. Montrose is not less 
 afflicted than myself ; and laments that our 
 sweet cousin will not consent to see him ; but 
 he could not have the cruelty to wish to disturb 
 iaer tranquillity. Adieu, 
 
 JULIA MONTROSE." 
 
 Three days after this letter was written Loui- 
 sa breathed her last ; displaying even in the 
 
186 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 moment of closing life, the same sweet and 
 placid composure of soul, and pious resignation 
 which she had ever shewn in the midst of all 
 her calamities. Lady Montrose, who was pre- 
 sent when she expired, was often afterwards 
 heard to declare, that there was something so 
 holy, so elevating, in the death-bed scene of 
 this almost matchless woman, that to give way 
 to giief for her departure, would have appear- 
 ed a crime. 
 
 The Dutchess of Beaufort's sufferings for the 
 death of her son were too severe to receive any 
 augmentation from the intelligence that Louisa 
 was no more. 
 
 Gn the news of his brother's death, Lord 
 William Harcourt Lumley flew to the house of 
 his mother. He found all the tenderness of a 
 son rising in his heart, and from the sad event, 
 which he most truly lamented, his reformation 
 may fairly be dated. In one of his letters to 
 Lord Montrose, he said, 
 
 " I endeavour, without ceasing, to assuage 
 ■the grief of my mother, which is beginning to 
 yield to resignation, in the sweet hope of meet- 
 
THE ENGLISH NUN. 137 
 
 ing my brother at a not far distant period. It 
 will be needless, Montrose, for you any longer 
 to exhprt me to reform. I have, hitherto 
 spurned at virtue, from the idea, that had Ed- 
 ward been less obedient to its dictates, he would 
 have been less miserable : But I am now con- 
 fident, that there is something sweeter in the 
 idea of my friends lamenting me, when I die, 
 as they now do Edward, than in leading a life 
 of selfish pleasure." 
 
 " Address your letters to my mother's house 
 (which I am determined not to leave while she 
 wishes me to stay) to your's most sincerely, 
 W. HARCOURT LUMLEY." 
 
 His Lordship continued thus to think, and 
 when, two years afterwards, by the premature 
 deaths of his two remaining brothers, he be- 
 came Duke of Beaufort, his conduct and cha- 
 racter were such, as his mother, had she lived 
 to see him succeed to the dignity, would have 
 gloried in. 
 
 The Earl of Montrose readily consented to 
 entrust him with the happiness of his only re- 
 maining sister } and the Marquis of Hallifax 
 
188 THE ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 soon afterwards marrying Miss Clifford, sister- 
 in-law to Lady Emmeline, the four families 
 lived in the most perfect union ; and could the 
 Duke of Beaufort have shut his ears to the ac- 
 counts of the behaviour of the widow of his bro- 
 ther, and Lady Cecilia, they would have been 
 perfectly happy. 
 
 They were all too sensible of the happy release 
 from sorrow that death had afforded to their be- 
 loved friends, to mourn for them without mea- 
 sure, or without end ; but they never forgot 
 them : and Emmeline and Julia often held up 
 as an example to their daughters the Virtues of 
 the ENGLISH NUN. 
 
 i$M^^i?!gi&k 
 
 THE END. 
 


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