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 http://www.archive.org/details/talesofbriefless01scar
 
 TALES 
 
 OF 
 
 A BRIEFLESS BARRISTER. 
 
 No court 
 Grants out a writ of summons for the conscience. 
 I must have witness, and of your producing, 
 Ere this can come to hearing, and it must 
 Be heard on oath and witness. 
 
 Ben Jonsoa. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 HENRY COLBURN AND RICHARD BENTLEY, 
 
 NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 
 
 1829.
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY, 
 
 Dorsft-slreet, Flf-et-street.
 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I HAVE been on the circuit fifteen years and 
 in the course of that time I have not once had 
 an opportunity of mystifying a jury, of bo- 
 thering a witness, of being called brother by a 
 judge, or of proving that a dead duck is not 
 a live one. 
 
 There was a time, about seven years ago, 
 
 when I had hopes that my fortune was made. 
 
 A brief was put into my hands in an action for 
 
 breach of promise of marriage. The leader in 
 
 f^ the same action had a violent fit of the tooth- 
 
 ^ ache, and slight symptoms of the gout to boot ; 
 
 ^ so there was every reason to hope that I should 
 
 at length let the world know what prodigious 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 11 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 powers of eloquence I possessed. I had forgot 
 my Greek, or I should have studied a speech 
 or two of Demosthenes ; but instead of the 
 philippics of Demosthenes, I read the famous 
 speech of Mr. Philipps in the case of Guthrie 
 V. Sterne. And perhaps that was better ; for 
 where there is one jury that understands Greek, 
 there are fifty that may be bamboozled with 
 Irish. All my preparation, however, was in 
 vain. The cause never came into Court. The 
 fee which I received with my brief I lost that 
 selfsame evening at a rubber of whist. I there- 
 fore call myself briefless. 
 
 But notwithstanding this, I am not weary of 
 the circuit ; it is a pleasant thing though not pro- 
 fitable. My legal knowledge is indeed evaporat- 
 ing, but I supply its place by other knowledge. 
 I know many anecdotes of the Bar, and I have 
 seen and conversed with many of the great ones 
 of our day, whose names are in the newspapers, 
 and whose portraits are in the printshops. 
 And the gentry who live in the country pay me
 
 INTRODUCTION. iii 
 
 great respect for furnishing them with anecdotes, 
 and telling them what this or that great man 
 thinks of the national debt or the game laws. 
 But I cannot help observing, that while they are 
 in their way very ready to pay me all proper 
 respect as an acquaintance of some of the great 
 men of the day, they seem to think that I 
 should repay their respect and admiration in 
 kind, and that I should also regard them with 
 reverence, as being in some unintelligible and 
 round-about manner connected with, or allied 
 to, some of the first people in the county. 
 How very vain some people are ! 
 
 In my intercourse with the gentry of those 
 districts through which I pass, on going the 
 circuit, I have picked up many an entertaining 
 story concerning the queer people in the neigh- 
 bourhood, and I find that there are more queer 
 people in the world than I had imagined. 
 When I was at school, and for many years 
 afterwards, it was my full persuasion that the 
 country was the abode of innocence, peace, and 
 B 2
 
 V INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tranquillity. I used to believe that vice and 
 misery, ambition, malignity, duplicity, selfish- 
 ness, censoriousness, and ten thousand other 
 evils, had no existence but in courts and cities. 
 But as I became familiar with the country, I 
 found that poets did not always tell the truth. 
 What can be their motive for telling so many 
 falsehoods ? 
 
 I have said that my country friends were in 
 the habit of amusing me with divers stories con- 
 cerning their neighbours. These stories are all 
 very well in their way to be heard once or 
 twice ; but I have heard them so frequently 
 that I begin to grow tired of them. For my 
 own part, I never tell a story twice over to the 
 same person if I can help it; and if I am 
 ever about to tell a story to one who has cer- 
 tainly not heard it, I always make it a point to 
 ask if there is any one in the company who has 
 heard the story before, and then I make an apo- 
 logy accordingly. 
 
 But my provincial friends are by no means
 
 INTRODUCTION. y 
 
 SO considerate, for they make me undergo fre- 
 quent repetitions of the same tales. There is 
 however this to be said, that the repetitions are 
 not unfrequently accompanied with some varie- 
 ties of circumstance. Whether those varieties 
 arise from fluctuations in the distinctness of re- 
 collection, or from a dliference in the fertility of 
 invention, I am not prepared to say. 
 
 In order to prevent all farther repetition, I 
 shall now ^ive to the world a narrative or two 
 which I have thus picked up in the course of 
 my travels, endeavouring to make the arrange- 
 ment of the events as lucid and coherent as I 
 possibly can. For having heard the stories 
 told repeatedly, and with variations, I am not 
 quite sure when I am right. Of course, there- 
 fore, I am under the necessity of using my own 
 judgment, and exercising a discretion in the se- 
 lection or rejection of several parts, in order to 
 make the whole more uniform in its aspect and 
 most probable in its bearing. How far I may 
 succeed I cannot even conjecture ; for as it
 
 Tl INTRODUCTION. 
 
 is sometimes in the power of a well-guided pen 
 to give to pure fiction all the semblance and con- 
 sistency of truth ; so, for want of dexterity and 
 tact, it is also possible so to narrate truth itself 
 that it shall look like a mere clumsy and in- 
 coherent fiction. So have I sometimes seen in 
 the course of the circuit several witnesses ex- 
 amined on a trial, and while one impudent, con- 
 fident fellow, in perfect self-possession, has told 
 a falsehood with all the coolness and coherence 
 and unhesitating fluency of pure truth ; another, 
 from clumsiness of apprehension, cloudiness of 
 perception, or constitutional timidity, has floun- 
 dered and boggled so miserably, that his truth 
 has looked as much like falsehood, as the other's 
 falsehood has looked like truth. 
 So much for introduction !
 
 TALES 
 
 OF A 
 
 BRIEFLESS BARRISTER. 
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST.
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 There is a remarkably fine and picturesque 
 view of the church and village of Nettlethorpe, 
 from the shop of Simon Sharpe the Blacksmith. 
 Almost every traveller who has a command over 
 his own movements, pauses at that point to 
 admire and enjoy the scenery : and no less than 
 six young gentlemen, and seven young ladies, 
 have, in the course of the last twenty years, 
 attempted to immortalize the beauties of Net- 
 tlethorpe in the flowing strains of poesy. But, 
 
 B O
 
 10 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 unfortunately, the beauties of that delightful 
 village are such as to defy description. There 
 is a church, with a well-formed spire, and there 
 are houses of various gradations, and there 
 is a small and gracefully undulating stream ; 
 there are also modern and recent improvements, 
 symptoms of taste embellishing nature ; there 
 is an elegant villa surrounded with a thriving 
 plantation, and seen to very great advantage 
 from that elevation on which the shop and 
 house of the Blacksmith are situated. And 
 there are many other local beauties, which may, 
 perhaps, be also found in a thousand other 
 villages ; but everybody who visits Nettle- 
 thorpe, and partakes of the hospitality of its 
 inhabitants, concurs in pronouncing it one of 
 the sweetest spots in the kingdom. It often 
 happens that those very scenes which provoke, 
 do also defy description. So it is in the pre- 
 sent case. 
 
 Whetlier it be owing to the beauty of the 
 scenery, which, in summer evenings, is pccu-
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 11 
 
 liarly attractive ; or whether Mr. Sharpe is soon 
 tired of his day's work ; or whether the worthy 
 artisan prefers a cool tankard to hot iron ; 
 it is a fact, that long before the sun is down, 
 this indispensable operative may be seen sitting 
 on a bench in front of his house, and regaling 
 himself with strong beer and tobacco-smoke. 
 Nor does he always sit alone. Frequently his 
 own meditations are his only company ; but 
 sometimes he enjoys a companion or two, who 
 yield a homage of flattering attention to the 
 enunciation of his opinions on men and things, 
 and who are astonished at his wonderful saga- 
 city in foreseeing political changes, which no- 
 body else anticipates. 
 
 An operative, who is addicted to political 
 prediction, may be suspected of radicalism ; 
 but this is a sin which no one can lay to the 
 charge of Simon Sharpe. He certainly does 
 grumble at the tax-o^athercr, and he once had 
 a quarrel with the parson, about the tithe of 
 grass on a meadow of about three acres and
 
 12 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 a half; and he has also been strongly suspected 
 of defrauding the Customs, by purchasing divers 
 parcels of smuggled Hollands. With these ex- 
 ceptions, there cannot be a more loyal subject 
 in his Majesty'^s dominions. It is his firm, and 
 frequently-expressed opinion, that those dis- 
 contented ones, who do not like their coun- 
 try, ought to leave it. He entertains a most 
 prodigious horror of the Roman Catholics, 
 which horror is very much strengthened by 
 the fact, that he has never seen one. On this 
 topic he reasons most sagaciously ; for having 
 never seen a Roman Catholic, and his abhor- 
 rence of them being so great, how much greater 
 would be his abhorrence if he were to see 
 one ? 
 
 Simon does not ordinarily look like a sim- 
 pleton ; he has a large, round, good-humoured 
 face, which shows more manifest symptoms of 
 easy living than of hard working. But when 
 he attempts to play the oracle, and to look 
 wise, then he sadly fails ; for the outside of
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 13 
 
 his head is no more calculated for the appear- 
 ance of thought, than the inside is adapted to 
 the reality. 
 
 No one who visits Nettlethorpe can avoid an 
 acquaintance more or less with Simon Sharpe. 
 For the most part, it happens that travellers, 
 who pause on the brow of the hill to admire 
 the scenery of the village, are struck with the 
 easy-looking countenance of the man of iron, 
 and address to him some common-place interro- 
 gation, out of mere civility. And it is a great 
 piece of civility, and of condescension too, for 
 an Englishman to address another, and especial- 
 ly one of the lower order. If, however, it should 
 so happen, as of course it sometimes must, that 
 an individual, unusually reserved, pauses on the 
 road to look with eye of admiration on the 
 village scenery, then will Simon thrust his own 
 broad face into the range of the traveller's ken, 
 and if this movement do not provoke the first 
 word, then Simon's tongue will utter it. And 
 few are they who can resist the attack.
 
 14 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 One evening, near the latter end of July in 
 the year 1815, the Blacksmith of Nettle thorpe 
 was sitting on the bench in front of his house, 
 enjoying himself to his heart's content, and des- 
 canting to two humble listeners on the great 
 mihtary talents of the Duke of WelHngton, 
 when the appearance of a traveller on horse- 
 back put a stop to Simon's eloquence. Horse 
 and rider looked equally weary. The traveller 
 turned a hesitating and inquiring look towards 
 the blacksmith's shop, and the blacksmith at 
 the same moment cast a quick professional 
 glance at the horse's feet, and saw that the 
 poor animal had lost a shoe. The traveller ob- 
 serving that the shop was empty, and at the 
 same time catching a glimpse of Nettlethorpe 
 spire, which told him that he was very near 
 to the end of his journey, was about to pro- 
 ceed, when Simon Sharpe hastily started up, 
 announced himself as the blacksmith, and of- 
 fered his assistance to replace the absent shoe. 
 
 Without giving any direct and positive an-
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 15 
 
 swer to the application, the traveller, in a lan- 
 guid, but not aiFected tone, asked, " Is not 
 this Nettlethorpe just before me?" 
 
 " That, Sir,'' replied the .blacksmith, '' is the 
 village of Nettlethorpe ; and I have the honour 
 to be the blacksmith of Nettlethorpe, and the 
 only one you will meet with for several miles. 
 But perhaps you are not going farther than the 
 village, and if so, I can send down to the Duke's 
 Head for your horse." 
 
 The stranger, who seemed much more occu- 
 pied with his own thoughts, than with what 
 Simon Sharpe was saying, dismounted, and gave 
 the horse to the blacksmith, and said, " I will 
 rest myself here while you are replacing the 
 shoe." 
 
 As he said this he moved towards the bench 
 which the blacksmith had left, and on which 
 his humble listeners were still seated. They, 
 however, on the approach of a gentleman, very 
 properly quitted their seat, for they were well- 
 informed and well-behaved rustics, and they
 
 16 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 knew how absolutely impossible it was for a 
 gentleman to sit upon the same bench with two 
 common people. From the look of the stranger, 
 any one would have imagined that he would 
 have declined this homage, and would have re- 
 quested the good people to keep their sitting : 
 for he had an aspect of much gentleness and 
 great good-humour, though he certainly had 
 something of melancholy in his countenance. 
 But he took the seat without appearing to no- 
 tice the movement that had been made. There 
 he sat in a state of abstraction regardless of all 
 but his own thoughts, and apparently not much 
 occupied with them. 
 
 When the blacksmith of Nettlethorpe had 
 finished his job, and had brought the horse back 
 to his rider, the stranger started up from his 
 reverie, and looking towards the village, said, 
 " Is there not a gentleman named Stratton 
 living in Nettlethorpe .?" 
 
 ** There is, Sir,'" replied Simon ; " and that
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 17 
 
 is his house which you see a little to the left 
 of the church." 
 
 The traveller paused as if expecting to hear 
 something more of Mr. Stratton than the bare 
 fact of his residing in Nettlethorpe, and the 
 blacksmith so interpreted the meaning of the 
 pause, and continued accordingly. " A strange 
 kind of gentleman, Sir, is that Squire Stratton ; 
 he has lived in this parish near upon twenty 
 years, and nobody seems to know any thing 
 about him. But the family are all in great 
 trouble now ; for they have received intelli- 
 gence from abroad that the eldest son, who was 
 severely wounded at the battle of Waterloo, has 
 since died of his wounds.*' 
 
 At this information the traveller gave his 
 head that kind of movement which is expres- 
 sive of sympathy, and is a very convenient sub- 
 stitute for moral reflection. But the black- 
 smith, being one of those who think it a pity 
 to use any substitute for words, proceeded to
 
 18 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 speak more at length concerning this mysterious 
 Squire Stratton. And he gave the traveller 
 pretty good proof, that the gentleman's real 
 history was not very well known, by repeating 
 various extravagant tales concerning him, of 
 which not two could possibly be true, and all 
 might very probably be false. These narra- 
 tions were not by any means flattering to the 
 person of whom they were spoken ; for it is not 
 much the practice of mankind to supply the 
 deficiencies of their knowledge of character, by 
 the exercise of charity or candour. They more 
 frequently imitate the map-makers of old, who 
 filled up gaps with hideous monsters. 
 
 When Simon Sharpe had for some minutes 
 indulged his prating propensity, it suddenly oc- 
 curred to him that the person whom he was 
 addressing might be acquainted with Mr. Strat- 
 ton. Under this impression, the loquacious 
 blacksmith checked himself, saying, " But all 
 these stories may not be true. Sir ; I only tell
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 19 
 
 you what I have heard ; for my own part, I 
 don't know any harm of him." 
 
 The stranger, who had been apparently in 
 a state of abstraction, while the narrator was 
 pursuing his discourse, hereupon hastily started 
 from his reverie, saying, *' If you do not know 
 any harm of Mr. Stratton, why do you speak 
 ill of him r 
 
 Without waiting for any answer, the travel- 
 ler turned his horse's head and departed, leav- 
 ing the blacksmith cursing, for the five hun- 
 dredth time, his own unconquerable loquacity, 
 and vowing that he would take especial care 
 never so foolishly to commit himself again. 
 
 The individual, who had received from the 
 blacksmith of Nettlethorpe an unfavourable ac- 
 count of Mr. Stratton, soon presented himself 
 at the door of that gentleman's house, and sent 
 in his name as Captain Hartley. It was a long 
 while before Mr. Stratton made his appearance ; 
 and the Captain amused himself in the interval
 
 20 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 with the paintings which decorated the apart- 
 ment into which he had been introduced. 
 These were for the most part family portraits, 
 such as may be seen in ten thousand houses, 
 provoking at once for their Hkeness and for 
 their want of hkeness. It was easy to dis- 
 tinguish among them the portrait of the late 
 Lieutenant Stratton ; for, however faintly and 
 feebly the artist might have pourtrayed the 
 person, there was no lack of spirit and fidelity 
 in the delineation of the uniform. From the 
 likeness of the son, the only individual of the 
 family whom Hartley had evei* seen, he was 
 readily directed to the portrait of the father. 
 The Captain was not sufficiently skilled in the 
 science of physiognomy to draw any inferences 
 from the aspect of the portrait to the character 
 of the original ; but his lack of science did not 
 prevent him from examining the picture with 
 a great semblance of profound investigation. 
 While he was thus engaged, Mr. Stratton him- 
 self entered the room ; and whether it was
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 91 
 
 owing to the emotion which he felt at the sight 
 of his departed son's friend and companion, or 
 whether Captain Hartley was scrutinizing the 
 portrait with more critical looks than were 
 agreeable to the original, it is certain that there 
 was a cloudiness and constrainedness of look in 
 the gentleman, which by no means prepossessed 
 the Captain in his favour. But presently after 
 the first exchange of civilities, the cloud passed 
 away, and the conversation of the parties was 
 unreserved ; and Hartley, in his own thoughts, 
 pronounced Mr. Stratton to be a man of most 
 agreeable manners and of excellent understand- 
 ing. 
 
 It was, however, absolutely necessary that 
 the object for which the visit was paid to Net- 
 tlethorpe should be mentioned. And while 
 Captain Hartley was painfully and perplexedly 
 meditating how he should introduce the subject 
 in a way least likely to awaken acute feelings, 
 Mr. Stratton saved him from much difficulty 
 by saying — ' And now. Sir, may I be per-
 
 22 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 mitted so far to indulge a father's feelings, as to 
 make some inquiries concerning my dear boy's 
 last moments?" 
 
 Though Mr. Stratton began this short sen- 
 tence with much firmness, and with a cadence 
 which indicated that more was about to be 
 uttered, his lips quivered before he had finished, 
 and he paused, abruptly turning away his face 
 and hiding his falling tears. 
 
 " Your son, Sir," replied Captain Hartley, 
 " died as he had lived, nobly and honourably ; 
 and he has left an unblemished name." 
 
 While the Captain was speaking, the emotion 
 of the bereaved father increased, and before the 
 sentence was finished, Mr. Stratton, without 
 turning his face towards the speaker, caught 
 hold of his hand, and with much energy inter- 
 rupted him, saying, " Yes, yes. Sir, I know it ! 
 His name was indeed unblemished." 
 
 The singular and decided emphasis which 
 was given to the word his, and the unusual 
 agony of spirit with which the father alluded
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 23 
 
 to his deceased son, distressed Captain Hartley, 
 and drove him, in spite of himself, to uncan- 
 did suspicions. The language of the black- 
 smith returned to his recollection, and he was 
 beginning to beheve that there was some foul 
 blemish in the character of Mr. Stratton. So 
 painful and perplexing was this suspicion, that 
 it put a complete stop to the conversation, and 
 both parties sat for some minutes in a most 
 embarrassing silence. Captain Hartley made 
 several efforts to speak, but all in vain. His 
 voice would not obey his will, and his words 
 would not come at his command. At length 
 silence was broken by the afflicted parent, and 
 many questions were asked, and the answers to 
 them were honorable to the departed, and 
 consolatory to the mourner. 
 
 And when these inquiries were finished, and 
 Mr. Stratton had heard from the friend and 
 companion of his son, such an account of that 
 son's excellent conduct as might by a parent be 
 pleasingly remembered, the conversation again
 
 4 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 became general, and Mr. Stratton again ap- 
 peared to the Captain as a man of good sense 
 and good feeling. To an invitation to spend a 
 few days at Nettlethorpe the Captain gave an 
 answer of ready acceptance, and he was forth- 
 with introduced to the rest of the family, which 
 consisted only of Mrs. Stratton and two daugh- 
 ters. It was very obvious that the mother 
 had in her youth been handsomer than either 
 of her daughters, but it was also manifest that 
 the young ladies were by no means deficient in 
 personal beauty. 
 
 Although the melancholy event which brought 
 Captain Hartley to Nettlethorpe, was not by 
 any means calculated to lead them to put on 
 their gayest looks, yet in their subdued sorrow 
 there was a gracefulness which gave them an in- 
 terest far beyond the power of gaiety and joy. 
 They had never seen Captain Hartley before, 
 nor were they at all acquainted with his family 
 or kindred : but they had heard much of him 
 from their brother, who had been in his letters
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 25 
 
 most lavish in the praises of his friend and 
 almost only companion. Therefore, when they 
 saw the friend of their brother, while they had 
 tears starting at the recollection of the departed, 
 they had looks of gratitude for the kindness of 
 the survivor. 
 
 Hartley could not but be struck by the pecu- 
 liarly graceful demeanour of the sisters of his 
 friend ; and had there been upon his mind any 
 painful and disagreeable impression from the 
 strange and mysterious manner of their father, 
 that impression must have faded away entirely 
 before the influence of the truly graceful and 
 interesting manners of the daughters. In the 
 world, and by frequent converse with it, the 
 forms and visible exhibitions of courtesy may 
 be very completely learnt ; but the substance of 
 courtesy may exist in solitude, and when it 
 does there exist, it is developed by expressions 
 of its own prompting, and not artificially con- 
 trived : then it is most truly fascinating and im- 
 pressive ; then does it differ from and exceed the 
 
 VOL. I. c
 
 26 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 conventional politeness of society, as much as 
 the brilliancy of genius transcends the pedantry 
 of ponderous erudition. 
 
 The rest of the day was spent as agreeably 
 as could be expected with a family mourning 
 a serious loss.
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. SJ 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 It is wise in society to fix and determine cer- 
 tain forms of mourning. Were it not for this 
 arrangement, there would be all manner of extra- 
 vagances and indecorums. There would be a 
 wild and irrational rivalry of grief, and there 
 would perhaps be most extravagance where 
 there was least feeling, in order to conceal that 
 want of feeling. Now, when a family wears 
 black, that family is acknowledged and recog- 
 nized to be in mourning. There may be no 
 difference in their looks or their ordinary con- 
 versation from the rest of the world ; but the 
 attention is fixed upon the dress, while the coun- 
 tenance and manners are not scrutinized. Often- 
 c 2
 
 28 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 times the acuteness of sorrow is past before the 
 black has lost its first gloss, and oftentimes the 
 mourning garb is laid aside, when for years after- 
 wards there are sad regrets lying heavily upon 
 the heart. 
 
 In those families which are orderly in their 
 habits, serious in their pursuits, and somewhat 
 secluded from the world, a loss by death, though 
 it may make a deeper impression on the minds 
 of the individuals, makes at the same time a less 
 alteration in the general habits and aspect of 
 the family. They who are intemperately gay 
 when out of mourning, are most constrainedly 
 grave when they are in mourning. 
 
 The family of Mr. Stratton was of remark- 
 ably retired habits. Mrs. Stratton was said to be 
 so exceedingly nervous as not to be able to bear 
 company. But no symptoms of this nervous- 
 ness were visible to Captain Hartley. To him 
 the lady appeared as a person of agreeable and 
 unaffected manners, and though not of the very 
 highest order of female intellect, yet as possess-
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 29 
 
 ing a good natural understanding, not quite so 
 cultivated, however, as might have been expected 
 in her situation. But the young ladies were 
 clearly of a higher order of intellect, and of far 
 more extensive information. Their manners 
 were good, and the style of their minds were 
 peculiarly well fitted to appear to advantage 
 under circumstances of mourning. As black is 
 a becoming dress only to the most graceful 
 outward form, so does seriousness require a 
 superior mind in orrder to be shown to ad- 
 vantage. 
 
 The transition from a camp and a field of 
 battle to a quiet and secluded family, holding 
 scarcely any intercourse with the world, was to 
 Captain Hartley a change which produced its 
 full effect upon him. He had never been a man 
 of intemperate habits or of boisterous manners, 
 but had passively enjoyed the society in which 
 his profession had placed him. A natural and 
 constitutional propriety of feeling rendered him 
 gay with the gay, but not the gayest among
 
 30 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 the gay. In society he had not been accus- 
 tomed to sigh for solitude ; and the profession 
 which he had adopted, being the result of his 
 own free choice, he bore its inconveniences 
 without restlessness and uneasiness. But when 
 the tumult was over, and when he had expe- 
 rienced the stimulating sensations of victory, 
 and had felt the sorrow of losing a valued 
 friend, then a change of life produced a feeling 
 of repose most requisite in its calmness. He 
 was pleased with every thing around him. The 
 very house in which he was visiting appeared 
 to his eyes as being built in the purest taste, 
 and furnished with the utmost propriety, and 
 situated in a most beautiful country. The 
 whole domestic establishment appeared to him 
 as the perfection of order and neatness and real 
 comfort. And when he conversed with the 
 family, and found them, especially the father 
 and daughters, so very well informed, and so 
 happy in their choice of language and mode 
 of utterance, he was not much surprised that
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST, 31 
 
 they kept themselves aloof from the people of 
 the village and the neighbourhood. He thought 
 that they must feel their superiority to the 
 society by which they were surrounded. It was 
 also very delightful to see how respectfully and 
 affectionately the young ladies behaved to their 
 mother; and though Mr. Stratton did betray 
 occasional symptoms of haughtiness of feeling 
 and impetuosity of temper, yet it was manifest 
 that his good sense curbed his temper, and that 
 his uniform feeling towards his family was of 
 kindness and consideration. It was also pleasing 
 to Captain Hartley to observe, that though 
 the family deeply felt the loss which they had 
 sustained, yet they were not intemperate in 
 their grief or irrational in their mourning ; for 
 they delighted to speak of him that was gone, 
 and they spoke of him with a sober approbation ; 
 and if occasionally a tear or two fell while they 
 were speaking of him, it was wiped away with- 
 out interruption to the conversation or pain to 
 the spectator. Perhaps the Captain was not
 
 32 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 a little flattered that his own narratives were 
 listened to with an eager and unwearied atten- 
 tion ; for he had a happy art of giving interest 
 to a story without aiming at extravagance or 
 deviating from simplicity. 
 
 But pleasantly as the time passed, there was 
 necessity for bringing the visit to a close. 
 Captain Hartley had fulfilled his commission, 
 by giving to the family of his deceased friend 
 a most ample and particular account of his last 
 days ; and the account had been given with so 
 much true feeling, and with such considerate 
 kindness of manner, that every individual of the 
 family felt towards him as a friend whom they 
 had known for years. So, on the evening of 
 the day which preceded his departure, when he 
 announced his intention of leaving Nettlethorpe 
 on the following morning, there was a general 
 and simultaneous expression of concern, and a 
 more than ordinary earnestness of persuasion 
 was used with a view of prevailing upon him 
 to prolong his visit.
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 33 
 
 '* If you can, without any great inconveni- 
 ence, prolong your stay for a few days more," 
 said Mr. Stratton, " we shall be most happy in 
 your company. We have not much amusement 
 to offer you, for we live quite secluded. And, 
 indeed, under present circumstances, we cannot 
 well avail ourselves of the little company which 
 we might collect." 
 
 There was an embarrassment of manner in 
 uttering this sentence, which led Captain Hart- 
 ley to think that there must be something 
 wrong in the family, or some reproach cleaving 
 to some individual in it ; there was a mystery 
 implied in the cadence with which Mr. Stratton 
 uttered the words, " the little company which 
 we might collect;" and there was, at the same 
 time, something in the looks of the female part 
 of the family, by which the Captain was con- 
 vinced that there were peculiar causes which 
 kept the neighbours aloof from the family. For 
 his own part, however, he was well pleased with 
 all that he had witnessed while at Nettlcthorpe, 
 c 5
 
 34 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 and not being greatly addicted to curiosity as 
 concerning the aifairs of his neighbours, those 
 appearances, which excited suspicion, did not 
 stir up any great degree of anxiety to penetrate 
 the mystery. 
 
 No soHcitations had power enough to move 
 him from his purpose of departing on the 
 following morning; and, as the prospect of a 
 journey had a little disturbed and shortened his 
 repose, he made his appearance in the breakfast- 
 room rather earlier than the family. That was 
 the room into which he had first been intro- 
 duced ; and, in order to while away the minutes 
 of waiting for his friends, he applied himself, as 
 at his first appearance in that room, to gaze at 
 the family portraits. There was among them 
 one which, by its strong resemblance to Mr. 
 Stratton, was evidently designed for one of the 
 family, but it was one of whom no mention had 
 been made amidst all their conversation. By 
 the dress and obvious date of the picture, it 
 seemed to have been intended for a younger
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 35 
 
 brother of Lieutenant Stratton. It was either 
 a very flattering picture, or the likeness of a 
 remarkably fine young man. The Stratton s 
 were a fine family, and this portrait, if by any 
 means faithful, was a specimen of the finest of 
 them. Captain Hartley had before observed 
 the picture, and he had also taken notice, that 
 whenever he had fixed his eyes upon it, some 
 question or remark was sure to be addressed to 
 him by one or other of the family, as if with a 
 view of drawing away his attention, or prevent- 
 ing him from asking any question concerning 
 the original. As he was a man of delicate feel- 
 ing, the hint, however remote, was sufficient to 
 keep him from speaking on the subject ; but 
 the very pains which he took to avoid appear- 
 ing to notice the picture, led him to direct his 
 eye more frequently to that spot. 
 
 He had therefore taken it for granted, that 
 if his departed friend had ever had a brother, 
 he had been lost to the family for some time. 
 But, as if to repay himself for his abstinence in
 
 36 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 withholding his gaze from the picture when the 
 family was present, he now, at the moment of 
 his departure, and when quite alone, gazed most 
 attentively and studiously at it, and he felt sa- 
 tisfied that the portrait was one of Mr. Strat- 
 ton^s family ; and, notwithstanding a general 
 want of curiosity, he did feel some curiosity to 
 lift up the veil of mystery which hung over this 
 nameless picture. 
 
 This curiosity was presently gratified by the 
 entrance of Mr. Stratton into the breakfast- 
 room. He walked silently up to Captain Hart- 
 ley, and was not observed till he laid his hand 
 on the gentleman's shoulder. The Captain 
 started and looked confused, but presently re- 
 covering from his embarrassment, he paid the 
 usual morning salutation. 
 
 '' Captain,'' said Mr. Stratton, " I have long 
 observed that your curiosity has been excited 
 by that picture. Have you ever seen the ori- 
 ginal ?'' 
 
 " I have seen no one more like that picture
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 37 
 
 than my departed friend, but I see that there 
 is another portrait more obviously designed for 
 him." 
 
 Mr. Stratton shook his head and replied, " It 
 is a painful thing to lose a child under any cir- 
 cumstances, but if the original of that portrait 
 had died as his brother has, I should look upon 
 that canvass with very different and far more 
 pleasing emotions." 
 
 The appearance of the other part of the fa- 
 mily put a stop to the conversation for the 
 time, but Mr, Stratton just said, "I must 
 have a word or two more with you on that sub- 
 ject before we part." 
 
 Whether breakfast is the most serious and 
 silent meal, because it is the first, or because it is 
 the soberest, is difficult to say, but it generally 
 does pass without much talk, or at all events, 
 without much talk that is worth recording 
 Punsters very seldom pun at breakfast, and the 
 narrators of long-winded stories are at that time 
 more sparing of their tales. There is then scl-
 
 38 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 (lorn any argumentative discussion or any play 
 of wit. Breakfast is altogether a matter of 
 business, an affair of life and death, because, if 
 people did not break their fast, they could not 
 live. Dinner is quite another thing ; that is 
 more a matter of pleasure than of business ; and 
 they who speak of the pleasures of the table, 
 are supposed to allude to dinner, and not to 
 breakfast. A man may dine with Duke Hum- 
 phrey five days in the week, but it is a much 
 more serious matter to breakfast with Duke 
 Humphrey. 
 
 Be this however as it may, it is a fact that 
 breakfast did on the occasion alluded to pass off 
 very silently, and as appeared to Captain Hart- 
 ley, somewhat more silently than usual. In- 
 deed, for his own part, he had not much appe- 
 tite for talk. His mind was full of expectation, 
 which by the way is but an empty kind of full- 
 ness. When breakfast was finished, Mr. Strat- 
 ton took Captain Hartley into the library, and
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 39 
 
 began his narrative concerning the mysterious 
 picture 
 
 " I feel impelled, Sir, though I scarcely know 
 upon what principle, or from what cause, to 
 speak to you confidingly on the subject of that 
 portrait, which seems to have attracted so much 
 of your notice. I have several times thought 
 of removing it, but I have about me an unac- 
 countable, superstitious fear of doing so, though 
 I cannot generally accuse myself of strong pro- 
 pensities to superstition. The painting, as you 
 may see by its resemblance to my departed son, 
 is done for one of my family. It is a likeness, 
 and I think a fair likeness, of my youngest and 
 now only son.'"* 
 
 Captain Hartley was going to speak, but Mr. 
 Stratton interrupted him. 
 
 *' Excuse me. Sir, if I beg that you will let 
 me tell my own story without interruption ; you 
 may perhaps be of service to me. That por- 
 trait, as I said, is a portrait of my only sur-
 
 40 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 viving son. You have heard us make no mention 
 of his name, and the reason of that silence is, 
 that to mention his name would be to recall 
 painful feelings. He is living, but where or 
 how I know not." 
 
 There was a pause, and Captain Hartley, 
 mindful of the request to abstain from inter- 
 rupting the narrator, made no audible remark, 
 but his look of astonishment seemed to ask if 
 the father did not care any more than he knew 
 where and how his son was living. Mr. Strat- 
 ton interpreted the question implied in the look, 
 and answered it accordingly. 
 
 " I have not forsaken my child, but he has 
 most unaccountably and unwarrantably with- 
 drawn himself from my protection. He has 
 been away from home upwards of four years, 
 and for the greater part of that time has sub- 
 sisted independently of me. I have made every 
 endeavour to recall him, and once or twice in 
 the interval I have seen him. He has con- 
 tracted debts, which I have paid ; and I have
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 41 
 
 also, by various means, conveyed occasionally 
 supplies to him. If I knew, or could by any 
 means ascertain, what is his favourite pursuit, I 
 would indulge him in it to any extent ; but the 
 evil is, that he is an extravagant in every thing, 
 and steady to no one purpose or pursuit what- 
 ever. He has been seen in such various and 
 opposite circumstances, that the narration of his 
 history would, while it makes a parent weep, 
 make a stranger smile. He is altogether a 
 being of impulses, and seems to have no com- 
 mand over the movements of his own mind ; 
 and yet it would be difficult to procure suffi- 
 cient evidence to take out a statute of lunacy 
 against him. 
 
 " When he first left home he was under six- 
 teen years of age. His appearance was, how- 
 ever, of a person at least one-and-twenty. Then 
 he had a passion for the stage. Of course, I 
 opposed him ; but he suffered, in order to gra- 
 tify his ruling passion, a long series of painful 
 mortifications and privations, and I thought
 
 42 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 that sorrow had subdued him. He sent me by 
 a private hand a penitential letter. In that 
 letter was an eloquence far beyond his years. 
 I was moved and melted. I saw him, and was 
 shocked at his appearance. I provided him 
 with the comforts of which he stood in immedi- 
 ate need, and I expected that on the following 
 day he would accompany me home, but in 
 the morning he was not to be found. I re- 
 turned home as miserable as a disappointed fa- 
 ther can possibly be. Nearly two years elapsed, 
 and, in the bitterness of my soul, I was tempted 
 to wish that the next place in which I might 
 see him should be his coffin. At the end of 
 that interval I saw him once more, and then he 
 had been, how long I know not, wandering 
 about the country with a gang of gypsies. 
 
 " The interview which I then had with him 
 was accidental. Though he had been suffering 
 many privations, and bore symptoms of hard 
 living, yet his spirit was not humbled and sub- 
 dued as it had been when he wrote to me from
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 43 
 
 his wandering theatre. Instead of professing 
 any contrition for his follies, or expressing any 
 wish to return to the quietness and respecta- 
 bility of home, he actually pretended to justify 
 the choice of life which he had made ; and I do 
 assure you. Sir, he did speak on the subject 
 with so much fluency, and with such a plausibi- 
 lity of argument, as showed that he was abso- 
 lutely sincere in what he said and did. He is 
 certainly, though I say it, a youth of uncommon 
 and most powerful talents. 
 
 " I could not, of course, countenance him 
 in that pursuit; but I then told him, that if 
 he really did feel a strong propensity to go 
 upon the stage, rather than he should be a 
 houseless vagabond, I would have him pro- 
 perly instructed, and regularly brought out 
 at any respectable theatre, provincial, or metro- 
 politan, as he might choose. He then pro- 
 fessed to think that the stage was an immoral 
 pursuit, and that it tended to strengthen and 
 countenance the artificial state of society, which
 
 44 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 was destructive of the natural dignity and sim- 
 plicity of the human character. He told me 
 that he considered the life which the gypsies 
 led was the most natural and independent. 
 That theirs was the original mode of living 
 of all mankind, and that it excluded numerous 
 vices which disgraced civilized society. And 
 when I told him of the dangers to which he 
 was exposed of violating the laws, by trespass- 
 ing upon the rights of property, he actually 
 had the effrontery to tell me, that those who 
 had established what are called the rights of 
 property, had, in so doing, violated and in- 
 vaded the general rights of mankind ; and that 
 the gypsies were people of great moderation, 
 in taking so small a share of what belonged 
 to them by the constitution of nature. 
 
 " I cannot pretend to give you any thing 
 like the language in which he was pleased to 
 defend himself; and you may very well sup- 
 pose that I did not deign to enter into an 
 argument with him ; but I peremptorily told
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 45 
 
 him, that unless he would return home with 
 me, I must abandon him, and renounce him 
 altogether. To this he replied, with a calm- 
 ness which cut me to the very soul, that, 
 to speak most properly, he had renounced 
 me; and that, as I was no farther neces- 
 sary to him, he would not trouble me any 
 longer. He talked as if the human race 
 were no better than the brutes. Since that 
 time I have not seen him, but I have occasion- 
 ally heard of him by means of one friend or 
 another ; and I have heard that sometimes he 
 has been exhibiting himself as a mountebank 
 at fairs ; at another, that he has been preach- 
 ing in the fields as a mcthodist ; and again, 
 he has been employed in London as a corrector 
 of the press ; and that, for a very little while, 
 he was an assistant in a school. 
 
 " The last account that I had of him was, 
 that he was in London, and was in some em- 
 ployment or other connected with the theatres. 
 I think. Captain Hartley, from what I have
 
 46 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 heard you say, that you may be acquainted 
 with some gentlemen who may give you in- 
 formation of my poor boy. I cannot renounce 
 him ; and, unless some change takes place in 
 him, I know not what will become of him." 
 
 When Mr. Stratton had finished his nar- 
 ration, Captain Hartley expressed a feeling of 
 sympathy with the unhappy father, and pro- 
 mised that he would use his utmost diligence 
 to discover the young man's abode, and to 
 bring him to rational conduct. The Captain 
 then took his leave of the family at Nettle- 
 thorpe, and made the best of his way to 
 London.
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 47 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Captain Hartley was not a man of high 
 family, or a man of large fortune. His parents, 
 whohad died when he was young, had left him 
 to the guardianship of an uncle, who was altoge- 
 ther a man of business, and who had a family 
 of his own. And when the uncle undertook the 
 guardianship of the lad, it was on the express 
 condition that the boy should be left to his own 
 choice as to his pursuit in life, and should 
 receive an education accordingly, to be paid 
 for out of the means left by his father, and 
 that the remainder of the property should be 
 paid over to the young man as soon as he should 
 arrive at the age of twenty-one.
 
 48 SECOND THOUGHTS ARK BEST. 
 
 Now, as both father and uncle were city men, 
 it never entered the minds of either, that choice 
 of pursuit, though left unHmited, could ever 
 have wandered to a greater latitude than a 
 choice between a shop or a warehouse. How 
 the lad could ever think of the army, 
 neither uncle nor aunt could conjecture; for 
 they knew that he had never seen any thing 
 more of military affairs than the East India 
 Company's volunteers marching magnanimously 
 round the Shepherd and Shepherdess-fields in 
 the City-road. From whatever source the pas- 
 sion sprung, so it was, that the young gentleman 
 insisted on being provided with the means of 
 entering into the army. 
 
 What made the choice more remarkable was, 
 that the manners of the young gentleman were 
 very mild and gentle, and his habits generally 
 quiet and retiring. His wishes, however, were 
 not opposed, and he entered the army accord- 
 ingly. He felt himself at first somewhat awk- 
 ward from being placed among young men
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 49 
 
 of family and fortune ; but the only individual 
 in the regiment from whom he experienced any 
 thing like arrogance, was the son of a village 
 apothecary, who priding himself upon being the 
 son of a professional man, looked down with 
 contempt upon Hartley as the son of a shop- 
 keeper. The other officers being gentlemen by 
 manners as well as by birth, and seeing that he 
 did not show himself meanly ashamed of his ori- 
 gin, or weakly proud of his profession, behaved 
 towards him with kind and liberal feelings. 
 
 After he had been in the regiment for some 
 time. Lieutenant Strat ton joined it ; and between 
 these two a friendship was formed which termi- 
 nated only with the death of the latter. Lieu- 
 tenant Stratton had frequently in his letters to 
 his family mentioned the name of his valued 
 friend ; and had, in a letter written after his 
 fatal wound was received, informed his father, 
 that, in the event of his death, he had commis- 
 sioned Captain Hartley to go to Nettlethorpe, 
 and to give a verbal account of the last 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 50 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 moments of his life. There is no necessity for 
 any farther account of Captain Hartley previ- 
 ous to his introduction on these pages. The 
 narrative may therefore proceed intelligibly 
 without any more retrospection. 
 
 When Captain Hartley arrived in town, he 
 very properly paid his respects to his city rela- 
 tives, and they, notwithstanding the abhorrence 
 in which they had held his military propensities, 
 were exceedingly proud of their nephew. Uncle 
 and aunt and cousins paid him the homage of 
 flattering attentions, and as they were very 
 loyal people, they failed not to be loud and 
 warm in praise of the heroes of Waterloo. It 
 was as much as the Captain could possibly do 
 in the way of entreaty and argument, to pre- 
 vent his uncle from dignifying his shop by the 
 epithet of " Waterloo House." Over and over 
 again did he tell his respected relative, that 
 there was no connexion whatever between mea- 
 suring tape in Houndsditch, and routing the 
 French at Waterloo. Hartley, indeed, admitted
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 51 
 
 that his uncle had as much right as any one to 
 adopt that designation for his shop ; but he 
 observed at the same time, that the expense of a 
 new board with large gilt letters would never 
 answer, and that, in all probability, the same 
 title would be given to all manner of trumpery, 
 catch-penny shops, so that the very name of 
 Waterloo on a shop-window would become ri- 
 diculous. In this last conjecture he has been 
 perfectly right. 
 
 The uncle, whatever he might think of his 
 nephew's want of prudence in entering the 
 army, was mightily proud of his nephew the 
 Captain. It was amusing to observe with what 
 glee and cordiality the old gentleman intro- 
 duced his heroic relative to all his friends and 
 acquaintance ; and it was pleasant also to see 
 how puzzled divers of these friends and ac- 
 quaintance were to see so mild, quiet, and un- 
 assuming a personage introduced to them as a 
 military hero just fresh from the field of battle, 
 and covered with the laurels of recent victory. 
 D 2 
 
 ^l OF ILL Lia
 
 5^2 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 It does sometimes happen that they who make 
 a noise in the world are very quiet kind of 
 people. 
 
 The gaieties and entertainments to which 
 Hartley was introduced by his admiring rela- 
 tive, were not of a nature to afford a very last- 
 ing gratification to a man of such taste and 
 habits as he, and he was therefor^? very glad to 
 make an occasional escape from the importu- 
 nities of oppressive hospitality. 
 
 There is certainly much in the character of a 
 well-doing citizen of London, that is truly re- 
 spectable ; there is oftentimes an honourable 
 generosity and munificent liberality, and there 
 lacks not in many cases a very respectable share 
 of information, a shrewdness of penetration, and 
 -a solidity and acuteness of judgment ; but it is 
 an acknowledged evil in large and opulent mer- 
 cantile places, that the general ambition is di- 
 rected to the grossness and crudeness of physi- 
 cal enjoyment ^d vulgar splendour. A great 
 deal has been said about the Lord Mayor's
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 53 
 
 coach, that the magnificence of it is a kind of 
 homily to young apprentices and juvenile shop- 
 keepers, exhorting and stimulating them to dili- 
 gence in business, and steadiness in moral con- 
 duct, that they, also, in their turn, may have the 
 praise and glory of riding in so fine a carriage. 
 But the carriage is too heavy, and it certainly 
 corrupts the taste of the citizens. Then again, 
 the other glories of the mayoralty and delights 
 of civic eminence, such as sumptuous feastings 
 and gorgeous balls, all these things appearing 
 as the end of mercantile diligence, give to the 
 mind a degree of grossness in its ambitions, 
 which is by no means favourable to the per- 
 fection of human nature. Therefore, notwith- 
 standing that some individuals who have with- 
 drawn themselves, and escaped from the heavier 
 atmosphere of the city, have wittily and smartly 
 ridiculed others who have attempted to tread in 
 the same steps ; it may be asserted, that they 
 who have business in the city, act wisely in 
 seeking to divest themselves as much as pos-
 
 54 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 sible of its grossness, and in endeavouring 
 after some more refined and liberalizing plea- 
 sures. 
 
 The taste of Captain Hartley was not by any 
 means a city taste. Sumptuous and expensive 
 eating and drinking did not give him much 
 pleasure ; and therefore having a commission to 
 seek out the wandering and lost son of Mr. 
 Stratton, and also meditating a change of pro- 
 fession, he found means of removing from the 
 hospitalities of Houndsditch, and fixing himself 
 in lodgings somewhere to the west of Temple Bar. 
 
 He was not long in solitude. The accidental 
 meeting with an old acquaintance brought him 
 into the society of many new acquaintances, and 
 some of them seemed not unlikely to assist him 
 in his search after the wanderer. By their means 
 the Captain was brought to the knowledge of 
 many modes of life and forms of human charac- 
 ter to which he had been heretofore a stranger. 
 He then saw, what he had often heard of and 
 scarcely believed , — he saw that many a gay-look-
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 55 
 
 ing, well-dressed, high-talking man, whose air 
 and manners had enough of grandeur to indicate 
 the possessor of a palace, was the tenant of a 
 scantily furnished and scarcely weather-proof 
 lodging. Some of these he found to be men of 
 hiojh intellectual endowments, and of great con- 
 versational powers, and he thought that their 
 talents deserved a better fate. But a short ac- 
 quaintance solved the difficulty and explained 
 the mystery. 
 
 To one of these gentlemen he was indebted 
 for the discovery of Frederick Stratton. The 
 circumstances were as follows. The Captain 
 had been spending the evening with a party of 
 a very miscellaneous nature, and in the course 
 of the evening had conversed with several intli- 
 viduals, but more especially with a Mr. Theo- 
 dore Clarke, whom he had met on former occa- 
 sions. This Mr. Clarke, finding that his dis- 
 coursings were attentively heard, pronounced 
 the Captain to be one of the most sensible men 
 he had ever conversed with, and to show his
 
 56 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 gratitude for the attention so afforded, he be- 
 came doubly eloquent. And when they found 
 that it was time that they should quit the party, 
 their discourse was in the height of its interest 
 and the flower of its eloquence ; so it fell out 
 that Theodore and the Captain walked out of 
 the house together. 
 
 Theodore, though a young man of great 
 genius, was not by any means the soberest man 
 in the world. He owed much to natural talent 
 and power, but his eloquence was indebted for 
 much of its brilliancy to the artificial stimulus 
 of wine, or some of its humbler substitutes. 
 And when he was under the influence of this 
 stimulus, he was eloquent, heroic, generous, 
 communicative, candid, patriotic, and all that is 
 good. By the impulse of this excitement, he 
 took hold of Captain Hartley's arm, as they 
 quitted the house, and said — 
 
 " Captain, T envy you : what a happy man 
 you must be to have been in that glorious battle 
 of Waterloo ! I admire the military character
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 57 
 
 above all conditions of human life. In all 
 other professions there is something of the 
 meanness and lowness of mere selfishness and 
 money-getting. The lawyer, for instance, pleads 
 most eloquently, argues with logical accuracy, 
 strains every nerve, rises to the subhme, or 
 revels in the ludicrous, and seems to think only 
 of his client's interest when all his thoughts are 
 on his fee." 
 
 ** Take care of that post,'' said Captain 
 Hartley. 
 
 " Thank you. Captain. Well, as I was saying, 
 all other professions are selfish. Look at the 
 medical, and look at the clerical ? But I hate 
 common-place declamation. Now the military 
 man is altogether and diametrically opposite to 
 all this. Even the man of genius, high-born or 
 low-born, will haggle for the price of a manu- 
 script. But the profession of arms is all honour 
 — pure honour, and high spirit. Its very cha- 
 racteristic is to esteem Hfe as nothing, and 
 honour as every thing.*" 
 
 D 5
 
 58 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 " You are quite complimentary, Mr. Clarke," 
 said the Captain, who thought that he ought 
 to say something, but felt as if he should 
 be very glad to get rid of his talking com- 
 panion. 
 
 " Not at all, not at all," replied Theodore, 
 who was most happy to hear the sound of his 
 own voice. 
 
 " But, suppose," said Hartley, " that I 
 should relinquish the military and adopt some 
 other profession." 
 
 " Then you would carry the same high and 
 honourable spirit into any other profession that 
 you might adopt.'- 
 
 " Then you will allow the possibility of 
 honourable and disinterested principle in other 
 professions besides the military ?" 
 
 " Oh, most undoubtedly. There is no rule 
 without exceptions. I am acquainted with 
 many men of genius, the most disinterested 
 creatures in the world ; with powers capable of 
 anything, yet content to live in obscurity
 
 SRCOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 59 
 
 because they will be independent. If you are 
 not engaged for the rest of the evening, I can 
 introduce you to some of my friends." At this 
 moment St. Giles's clock struck twelve ; and the 
 Captain smilingly said ; " I think the evening 
 is pretty well spent already. Did you hear 
 what the clock struck ?" 
 
 " To be sure I did, it is only twelve, and I 
 dare say my friends are but now beginning to 
 spend the evening. They can but have just 
 left the theatre. 
 
 Hearing mention of the theatre, Hartley 
 thought that he might have an opportunity of 
 tracing out Frederick Stratton, and therefore 
 suffered himself to be led through various dark, 
 narrow, and unfragrant streets, into which, 
 without a companion, he would scarcely have 
 dared to venture, and out of which, without a 
 guide, he could scarcely have found his way. 
 After a tedious, though not very long walk, 
 the party arrived at a pubHc-house, or coffee- 
 house, into which they entered with very differ-
 
 60 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 enl emotions ; for Theodore Clarke felt himself 
 quite at home, and Captain Hartley most sin- 
 cerely wished himself at home. Not that he 
 was afraid — captains are never afraid — but he 
 could not help thinking that he was about to 
 be introduced to very strange company, and 
 he certainly would have preferred day-light 
 to candle-light in his pursuit of Frederick 
 Stratton. 
 
 The Captain and his companion were shown 
 into a long low room, filled with a dull and 
 smoky atmosphere. A nose of great discrimi- 
 nation might therein have discerned the vari- 
 ous odours of gin, rum, tobacco, toasted cheese, 
 and strong beer ; an eye of penetration might 
 through the lurid atmosphere have seen coun- 
 tenances of varied character, all singular in 
 their way ; but no power of hearing, how- 
 ever discriminating, could make head or tail 
 of what the miscellaneous host was talking 
 about. 
 
 As they entered the apartment, the Captain
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 61 
 
 looked about him, as well as the smoke would 
 let him, to see if there were any individual in 
 the room at all resembling the portrait which 
 he had seen at Nettlethorpe. But he did not 
 feel much confidence in the power of reasoning 
 under the circumstances in which he then saw 
 the company. Several persons addressed them- 
 selves familiarly to Theodore Clarke, who in- 
 troduced them by name to his friend Captain 
 Hartley, one of the heroes of Waterloo. But 
 most of them seemed to think that a genius 
 with a cigar in his mouth was a person of more 
 consequence than one of the heroes of Wa- 
 terloo. 
 
 Almost mechanically, the Captain yielded to 
 the entreaty of his friend to be seated. Pre- 
 sently there came and sat opposite to them a 
 thin, semicircular figure of an elderly man, whose 
 hair, beard, and coat, were grey with age; 
 whose waistcoat and nether garments were 
 brown with snuff, and whose shoes and stock- 
 ings were miscellaneous from mending, and in-
 
 62 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 dependent of strings and garters. Theodore 
 Clarke immediately greeted him most famili- 
 arly, and said, " Allow me to introduce to you 
 my friend Captain Hartley."' 
 
 The old gentleman bowed and pulled out 
 his snufF-box. Theodore then went through 
 the form of saying, " Captain Hartley, Dr. 
 Grimwood; Dr. Grimwood, Captain Hartley.'' 
 Then, of course, the Captain bowed to the 
 Doctor, and the Doctor bowed to the Captain. 
 But whether the Doctor was of law, physic, or 
 divinity, was not readily ascertainable. It was, 
 however, very presumable from his appear- 
 ance, that he had not been so very attentive 
 to what is called the main chance, as Theo- 
 dore, in his recent declamation, had affirmed 
 concerning the generality of professional men. 
 
 " You have been at the theatre to-night, I 
 suppose. Doctor," said Mr. Clarke ; " was there 
 any tolerable acting .'^" 
 
 " None, I protest," replied the Doctor : then 
 addressing himself to the Captain, he continued,
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 63 
 
 " I remember the time when the theatres were 
 attended for the sake of the acting ; when the poet 
 and the player filled the house ; but that day is 
 past. Now, the great attraction is found in the 
 art of the scene-painter, the handy work of the 
 tailor, the gorgeous and silly decorations which 
 dazzle the eye and corrupt the taste. For- 
 merly, the attraction was of the ear, now it is 
 of the eye. But there is no use in complaining. 
 The case is the same in every thing else ; this 
 is the age of externals and superficiality ; and 
 so far from any prospect of a change for the 
 better, we seem to be growing worse and 
 worse."" 
 
 " Well, Doctor," rephed Mr. Clarke, " when 
 your new tragedy comes out, all these evils will 
 be rectified." 
 
 The Doctor smiled, and said, ** Yes, yes, if it 
 ever does come out; but the faction, I fear, will 
 not suffer it to be acted. The managers and the 
 performers and the public are all in favour of 
 pantomime ; and no wonder, for there is not a
 
 64 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 single actor at either house that is fit to be 
 trusted with a respectable character in a legiti- 
 mate drama." 
 
 " But what progress have you made in your 
 work .?" 
 
 " Why, as to that," replied the Doctor, " I 
 cannot say I have done much to it of late. I 
 have not quite made up my mind as to the ca- 
 tastrophe, and I have some doubts concerning 
 two or three of the characters, that I thought of 
 introducing. Indeed, I have once or twice had 
 serious thoughts of giving up the idea of a tra- 
 gedy, and of writing a genteel comedy instead. 
 And to tell you the truth, and I hope you will 
 not let it go any farther, I have already made 
 considerable progress in a comedy ; but some of 
 the sentiments are so liberal, that I very much 
 fear that there will be great difficulty in getting 
 it licensed." 
 
 " And will you throw your tragedy quite 
 away ?"" 
 
 " Not exactly so, I shall lay it aside only for
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 65 
 
 awhile, and perhaps, when I have pubUshed my 
 epic poem, if that has much of a run, I may 
 see what I can do in the way of tragedy. The 
 managers, then, perhaps may run after me, in- 
 stead of my running after them."" 
 
 '' Very good, very good," responded Theo- 
 dore Clarke ; and turning to Captain Hartley, 
 he said, " Suppose we call for a bottle of wine, 
 and drink success to Dr. Grimwood's new co- 
 medy. What is the title to be, Doctor .?" 
 
 The Doctor smiled, and said, *' That is a 
 secret at present." Then, after a little more he- 
 sitation, he added, " Why, to say the truth, I 
 have not quite made up my mind about the 
 title." 
 
 Then Theodore Clarke smiled, and poured 
 out a glass of wine, and handed it to the Doctor, 
 who observed that it was growing late, and that 
 he must be up early the next day, because he 
 had an engagement to meet a gentleman, who 
 had promised to assist him in compiling a 
 county history.
 
 66 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 But that will interfere with your comedy, 
 Doctor," said Mr. Clarke. 
 
 *' By no means; it will rather assist me, for 
 it may suggest some curious incidents and amu- 
 sing situations." 
 
 a Very true,*" replied Mr. Clarke. 
 " Very strange," thought Captain Hartley. 
 While this talk was going on, and much more, 
 manifesting the versatile talents and digressional 
 genius of Dr. Grimwood, the watchful and ob- 
 servant eye of Hartley discerned at a distant 
 part of the room, through the then subsiding 
 cloud of smoke, a figure and countenance bear- 
 ing, as he thought, no slight resemblance to the 
 portrait of Frederick Stratton. The person to 
 whom the Captain's attention was directed, was 
 sitting alone, with his arms folded across his 
 breast, and his eyes fixed upon the ceiling, ap- 
 parently and almost studiously inattentive to all 
 that was passing in the room. Hartley obser- 
 ved that, though several persons looked at him, 
 they did not seem to regard him as a stranger.
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 67 
 
 Presently Theodore Clarke, directed his eye 
 to that part of the room, and then he sHghtly 
 touched the Doctor's arm, and pomted out the 
 person to him. Some few words passed in a 
 low tone between Mr. Clarke and Dr. Grim- 
 wood, enough to satisfy Hartley that they were 
 in some sort acquainted with the gentleman. 
 He therefore, in a whisper, asked Mr. Clarke if 
 he knew who that person was sitting in such an 
 attitude of abstraction. 
 
 " That gentleman," replied Clarke, — "for he 
 really is a gentleman by birth, — is one of the 
 greatest paradoxes in town. He is absolutely 
 uninterpretable. He is a very young man, but 
 as full of information as if he had spent a long 
 life in study. He can do every thing, and loill 
 do nothing. Some time ago he took it into his 
 head to carry about in his pocket, and to offer 
 to every man he could speak to, proposals for 
 publishing a cheap edition of Paine's Age of 
 Reason, and before he had well disposed of his 
 prospectuses, he was seen by my friend Dr.
 
 68 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 Grimwood preaching in the fields near White 
 Conduit House, and predicting that the world 
 would be at an end in less than six months. 
 To tallc of him, you would think him deranged ; 
 but to talk with him he seems as cool and as 
 rational and as capable of an argument as one 
 in the healthiest state of mind. I have known 
 him about ten or twelve months; and I have 
 never found him for a month together in the 
 same mind. His friends, he tells me, are desi- 
 rous of confining him ; but certainly he is by 
 no means mischievous, and he is perfectly com- 
 petent to take care of himself. He has written 
 several clever things for some of the minor thea- 
 tres, and is equal to any thing if he had but 
 perseverance." 
 
 The account thus given, and the appearance 
 of the person, convinced Captain Hartley that 
 it could be no other than Frederick Stratton. 
 Not willing, however, to excite suspicion, he 
 merely said, " I think it must be amusing to 
 have an acquaintance with so singular a genius."
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 69 
 
 " I can introduce you, if you please. He is a 
 very accessible man, and he will be as intimate 
 with you after an acquaintance of ten minutes 
 as of ten years. He has not the slightest degree 
 of reserve."''' 
 
 " Thank you," said Hartley ; *' I shall have 
 much pleasure in an acquaintance with him." 
 
 '' It may be better perhaps to wait till 
 to-morrow morning," replied Mr. Clarke, " for, 
 judging from his present appearance, he seems 
 to have taken a little too much to-night, and I 
 am afraid he will not show to advantage now. 
 Will you call at my lodgings to-morrow morn- 
 ing about twelve o'clock, and then I will take 
 you with me." 
 
 " Shall we be sure to find him at that time .^" 
 
 *' Quite sure ; for he never rises till between 
 one and two." 
 
 " By the way,"" added the Captain, " you 
 have not told me his name." 
 
 " I don't know," said Theodore, " that he 
 would thank me for telling you his name ; but
 
 70 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 between ourselves his name is Stratton. He 
 carries in his card-case eight or ten cards, and 
 all with different names, and sometimes he has 
 been very nearly brought into difficulties by 
 that humour." 
 
 Having ascertained this intelligence, the Cap- 
 tain was ready enough to quit his company.
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 71 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Hartley was punctual to his appointment 
 with Theodore Clarke. But for a moment or 
 two, the Captain doubted the accuracy of his 
 direction, for the house to which he had been 
 referred, as the residence of the gentleman who 
 was to introduce him to Frederick Stratton, was 
 of a very humble description indeed. It by no 
 means seemed to comport with the idea which 
 that gentleman entertained of himself. Hum- 
 ble as the house was, Theodore Clarke dwelt in 
 the most exalted part of it ; and there was he 
 found, at twelve o'clock at noon, his apartment 
 and himself being in the utmost dishabille. 
 The room was small and full, though not well-
 
 72 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 furnished. The walls were not papered nor 
 painted, but they were nearly covered with pic- 
 tures, some in black frames with glasses, and 
 some in frames without glasses, and some only 
 pinned or pasted against the wall, without 
 frames or glasses. Some of these pictures were 
 caricatures, in which the wit exceeded the de- 
 cency ; and others were delineations of heathen 
 goddesses, and such like cattle, so far connected 
 with modesty, as if not to blush themselves, yet 
 to cause a blush in others. There were books 
 also, and these too were not in the best possible 
 order. They were scattered about the room, 
 and covered with dust, and intermingled with 
 miscellaneous minor articles of furniture, and 
 various parts of dress, such as shoes, stockings, 
 handkerchiefs, and night-caps. Three crazy 
 rush-bottomed chairs, and one ricketty table, 
 had no sinecure place, but were loaded with 
 litters that might laugh at catalogues. In one 
 corner of the room stood a chest of drawers that 
 had seen its best days, the drawers that were
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 73 
 
 open could not easily be shut, and those that 
 were shut could not easily be opened ; and that 
 piece of furniture resembled a stage-coach, 
 which carries more outside than inside passen- 
 gers. The fire-place was not much of an orna- 
 ment to the room, and in the condition in which 
 it was when Captain Hartley saw it, it did not 
 appear much more calculated for use than for 
 ornament. A lop-sided unfixed grate, red with 
 rust, buried in ashes, and filled with rubbish, 
 promised but little comfort, and but little 
 warmth. 
 
 " You are very punctual. Captain," said 
 Theodore Clarke ; " you have taken me rather 
 by surprise, but I shall soon be ready; will 
 you sit down till I have dressed myself?" 
 
 It was very easy to say * sit down,' but it 
 was not quite so easy to find a seat to sit 
 upon. But one of the chairs was soon emptied 
 of its contents, and the Captain sat down in 
 astonish iTtent at the littered and miserable con- 
 dition of the residence of a person who had 
 VOL. I. E
 
 74 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 the day before been as well dressed as a duke, 
 and as fastidious as a dandy. 
 
 The duties of the toilet were soon finished, 
 and the Captain was conducted by his friend 
 to the residence of Frederick Stratton. — If, in 
 that abode, there had been symptoms of negli- 
 gence and want of order, it would not have 
 been wonderful. But there was not any ob- 
 servable lack of the ordinary comforts of a 
 dwelling-house. 
 
 The young gentleman made his appearance, 
 and there was in his deportment and address 
 something which most forcibly struck Captain 
 Hartley, and irresistibly prepossessed him in 
 favour of the wanderer. When the ceremony 
 of introduction had been rapidly passed through. 
 Captain Hartley was desirous of giving such 
 a direction to the conversation as might lead 
 to the forming of some opinion as to the prac- 
 ticability of recalling the young man to sober 
 and rational habits, and to those ways of think- 
 ing and acting, which the majority of man-
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 75 
 
 kind seem to prefer, and to honour with their 
 patronage and countenance. The Captain, 
 however, was not quite competent to this task. 
 He was a very sober, rational man himself, 
 but that very sobriety and rationality rendered 
 him unfit for reasoning and arguing with such 
 a genius as Frederick Stratton. That which 
 appeared to the Captain as an argument in 
 favour of a certain line of conduct, would ap- 
 pear to the other as an argument against it. 
 For while the multitude is moved by the im- 
 pulse of imitation, such a genius as Frederick 
 Stratton would studiously avoid acting or think- 
 ing like any one else. Captain Hartley also 
 considered that he was not likely to have much 
 influence, in the way of persuasion, over the 
 mind of an impetuous and wrong-headed youth, 
 who had shown himself insensible to paternal 
 influence. But, though Hartley was not quite 
 competent to mould the will of a headstrong 
 genius, yet he had some degree of strength 
 in the very consciousness of his weakness. 
 E 2
 
 76 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 When the introduction of the parties had 
 taken place, the Captain found that the ac- 
 count which had been given of Frederick 
 Stratton's disposition to sociabihty was per- 
 fectly correct. It so happened, indeed, that 
 the young gentleman was, that morning, most 
 heartily disposed to volubility. 
 
 " Captain Hartley," said he, after the first 
 introduction, " I am most happy to see you ; 
 but I have my doubts as to the lawfulness of 
 war. I do not mean that it is contrary to 
 national laws, or acts of Parliament, but I 
 think it is contrary to eternal and abstract right. 
 I have given the subject a great deal of con- 
 sideration, and the result of my reflection is, that 
 war is a punishment inflicted on mankind for 
 their folly and vanity in separating and dividing 
 themselves into nations and tribes, and for their 
 selfishness in making distinctions of rank and 
 property." 
 
 The opportunity afforded by a short pause, 
 induced Captain Hartley to reply ; " I think.
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 77 
 
 Sir, that 3'ou will find that the merest savages, 
 the most inartificial people on earth, are not 
 strangers to the practice of war.''"' 
 
 *' Nonsense, nonsense r interrupted the young 
 gentleman : " there are no people thoroughly 
 and primitively inartificial. Those whom you 
 call savages are in some degree infected with 
 the pestilence of civihzation. They have chiefs, 
 and that circumstance alone is sufficient to show 
 that they are in an unnatural and artificial 
 state. Now it is my intention very shortly to 
 publish a volume — a very little volume indeed, 
 but one which shall have such an effect upon 
 the public mind, that all the present frame of 
 society shall be instantaneously and for ever 
 dissolved. The human species is capable of 
 great things, and the public mind is sensible of 
 the value of truth; but truth has never yet been 
 presented to it fairly and honestly. I hardly 
 know at present whether I shall publish a sermon, 
 or a play, or a poem ; but whatever be the vehicle 
 through which the medicine shall be conveyed,
 
 78 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 the effect of it will be precisely the same. 
 Within six weeks after the publication, you will 
 find that all the common-place vulgar notions 
 about rank and property and patriotism and 
 government will be quite exploded, and man- 
 kind will return to its natural vigour and to 
 its primitive loftiness of condition." 
 
 In such style as this did Frederick Stratton 
 harangue his friends for nearly an hour ; per- 
 petually starting fresh paradoxes and reasoning 
 concerning them, as though they had been the 
 most substantial verities. 
 
 To Hartley's mind, there seemed to be abun- 
 dant manifestation of insanity on the part of 
 Frederick Stratton ; though Theodore Clarke 
 had said of him, that he was argumentative and 
 rational in his talk. But Hartley was not a 
 genius, nor had he the shghtest apprehension 
 of the humours of genius. He was a man of 
 plain sense, taking the world as he found it, and 
 was well able so to manage his own mind, and to 
 guide his own conduct, as to pass reputably in
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 79 
 
 society. When, therefore, he heard this kind of 
 talk from the lips of the young man himself, 
 and compared it with the account given by the 
 father, he thought that there could be no 
 doubt of the disorder of the young man's mind. 
 Remote, however, as the Captain might be 
 from the comprehension of the freaks of a para- 
 doxical genius, he was not quite so common- 
 place in the construction of his mind as to fancy 
 that he could banish these crotchets by a bare 
 exposition of their absurdity. He also thought 
 it possible that Mr. Stratton the elder might 
 have made more use of paternal authority than 
 of parental influence; or that, if reference had 
 been made to feeling, such reference might not 
 have been made with proper judgment. He 
 considered, that if the young man's reason had 
 not entirely forsaken him, he might yet be sus- 
 ceptible of feeling; and that if his vagaries were 
 inaccessible by reasoning, his heart might not 
 be totally incapable of emotion. To try how 
 far he was approachable by these means, the
 
 80 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 Captain led the conversation again to the 
 subject of war, and in speaking of the army, 
 Frederick Stratton said, " I have a brother in 
 the army.*" 
 
 Captain Hartley, with an intentional abrupt- 
 ness, broke in upon him, saying, " You had a 
 brother in the army/'' 
 
 The look and the tone which accompanied 
 this short sentence produced the effect design- 
 ed. The young man trembled and turned 
 pale, the whole expression of his countenance 
 was changed in a moment, tears started into 
 his eyes, he covered his face with his hands, 
 and sobbed loudly, long, and bitterly. His two 
 visitors looked on in silent sympathy. The 
 agony of real sorrow is a perplexing sight to 
 those who are unused to it ; but happily nature 
 dictates that which is the best course to the 
 sufferer, and teaches us to be silent till tears 
 have done their utmost to relieve. 
 
 When the burst of tears had a little abated, 
 the young man lifted up his face, and looking
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 81 
 
 imploringly at Captain Hartley, said, " You 
 knew my brother, Sir ; can you tell me any 
 thing of him ? He was kind to me. I did 
 love him."" 
 
 There was an emphasis on the words he and 
 him^ which led the Captain to infer that the 
 young man's father had not been so judicious 
 and temperate as he ought to have been in the 
 use of his paternal authority. From what 
 Hartley had observed at Nettlethorpe, it ap- 
 peared to him that, notwithstanding Mr. Strat- 
 ton's good understanding and gentlemanly man- 
 ners, there were strong symptoms of a leaning 
 to despotism, and a haughty impetuosity of 
 temper. But these defects were not enough 
 to justify or even to palliate the outrageous 
 conduct of his son. 
 
 An opportunity was now offered to Hartley 
 to remind the young man of the duty which he 
 owed to his father, and to direct his attention 
 to that regularity and sobriety of demeanour, 
 which he had so thoughtlessly and wildly for- 
 E 5
 
 82 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 saken. But it is much the same with morals 
 
 'J 
 
 and with theories ; opinions are not changed by 
 the force of argument, and moral reformation is 
 not the effect of moral exhortation. It is an 
 inward feeling which acts in both cases. 
 
 Hartley, however, thought it his duty to 
 embrace this opportunity of giving the young 
 man a little good advice ; and very fortunately 
 it happened that this good advice did not do 
 any harm. For in many cases the prosing and 
 common place of advising rather diverts from 
 than directs to the desired point. Frederick 
 Stratton listened to all that the Captain was 
 pleased to say, but though the arguments were 
 very strong, and the exhortation very impres- 
 sive, it was not by the influence of these that 
 the youth was led to the resolution of returning 
 home. But Hartley was quite as well pleased 
 as if it had been solely owing to his good 
 advice that the wanderer returned to reason. 
 And so, in order to a full enjoyment of his
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARK BEST. 83 
 
 triumph, he proposed, that if it were perfectly 
 agreeable, he would accompany Mr. Frederick 
 on his return to Nettlethorpe. The offer was 
 accepted, and the day of return was fixed.
 
 84 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Whatever might be the natural and con- 
 stitutional harshness of Mr. Stratton's temper, 
 he was moved and melted most deeply at the 
 unexpected, and almost unhoped for return of 
 his son. The joy manifested and felt on this 
 occasion absorbed all other feelings ; even the 
 memory of him that was no more, ceased to 
 afflict the family, and the only emotions felt 
 were those of satisfaction and composed delight. 
 There are in the lives of all, who possess any 
 susceptibility whatever, certain seasons and cir- 
 cumstances in which some long enduring anxie- 
 ties are relieved, or some long desired object is 
 accomplished, and in the delight of which all
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 85 
 
 unpleasant thoughts are forgotten, and by the 
 joy which is then experienced, the mind is re- 
 conciled to all that is and to all that has been. 
 Such was the return of Frederick Stratton to 
 his family. 
 
 It was very natural that every individual in 
 the family should feel gratitude towards Cap- 
 tain Hartley, in proportion to their delight at 
 the recovery of the wanderer. They took it for 
 granted, and no one thought of contradicting 
 them, that the young man's return was the 
 fruit of the Captain's good advice. Then they 
 thought of him more highly than ever ; they 
 had before considered him a very agreeable man, 
 but now they found him to be a person of 
 very superior mind, and in possession of every 
 good and desirable quality of heart and under- 
 standing. 
 
 It has been already hinted, in the course of 
 this narrative, that the Captain had some in- 
 tention of changing his profession. The pro- 
 fession which he chose, as requiring the shortest
 
 86 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 preparation, was the clerical. Some have 
 thought that the transition from the military 
 to the clerical profession, is rather too abrupt, 
 and that the habits of the army are greatly op- 
 posed to the habits, or to what should be the 
 habits, of the clergy. But the objection is more 
 plausible than just. The military man, though 
 hired to kill, is not essentially and constitution- 
 ally blood-thirsty ; and though he cannot re- 
 fuse a challenge, he is not therefore vindictive. 
 He acts according to orders, or in comphance 
 with etiquette. He has a strong sense of duty, 
 and that is a valuable principle in a clerg3^man. 
 The habit also of acting exactly and unques- 
 tioningly according to orders, is likely, if car- 
 ried into the clerical profession, to prevent all 
 wanderings into the irregularities of fanaticism, 
 or any impertinent questionings of the publicly 
 enjoined faith. And it is probable that the 
 habits of a camp may be as good a prepara- 
 tion for the discharge of parochial duties, as 
 the habits of a college and the practice of shoot-
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 87 
 
 ing, coursing, and hunting. At all events, it 
 is better to find out reasons and palliations for 
 things which do and will exist, than to be per- 
 petually wearying one's spirits, by reprobating 
 what we cannot reform. Every man, especially 
 every Englishman, has an undoubted right to 
 find fault with every thing if he so pleases ; and 
 if he enjoys a pleasure in grumbling, it is a pity 
 not to let him grumble on ; but if grumbling 
 disturbs and discomposes him, then he will be 
 wise to seek for reasons to cease from bewail- 
 ing unavoidables. 
 
 Returning then to the narrative, it is suf- 
 ficient to state, that Captain Hartley not only 
 entertained the intention of changing his pro- 
 fession, but he did also communicate that inten- 
 tion to Mr. Stratton, mentioning the matter to 
 him, as it were doubtingly, and by way of ask- 
 ing his opinion. With a more than usual cor- 
 diality of manner and warmth of expression, 
 Mr. Stratton replied — 
 
 " My good friend, I am most happy to hear
 
 88 SECOND THOUGHTS ARR BEST. 
 
 that such is your intention. In my opinion, you 
 are perfectly right — nay, more than right ; it is 
 a design which does you infinite credit ; and, 
 if I can by any means farther your views, it 
 will give me very great satisfaction." ' 
 
 In addition to this and many such like 
 speeches from Mr. Stratton, there were also ex- 
 pressions, not loud, but deep, of approbation from 
 the ladies of the family. When, therefore, it 
 is considered that Captain Hartley had scarcely 
 an acquaintance in the world, except his worthy 
 relative in Houndsditch, it is no wonder that 
 he should find himself much attached to the 
 family of Mr. Stratton ; and when it is also con- 
 sidered that the young ladies were of agreeable 
 manners, and that the Captain was five-and- 
 twenty years of age, and disengaged, it is not to 
 be wondered at that he should insensibly and 
 gradually form an attachment to one of the 
 young ladies. And when mention is made of 
 such attachment, it becomes necessary to say 
 something by way of description of the parties.
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 89 
 
 Of Captain Heartley, sufficient has been said 
 already to give a notion of the general cast and 
 complexion of his mind. Of the young ladies 
 little has been said, inasmuch as there has been 
 little occasion for their introduction till now. 
 
 The sisters, of whom the eldest was named 
 Jane, and the youngest Laura, might not have 
 been the most excellent and perfect samples of 
 humanity, but they were of that peculiar 
 character and turn of mind, which may, by 
 a friend and admirer, be easily described as 
 perfection, or very near it. To speak first of 
 those points of character which were common 
 to both ; they were very graceful in their de- 
 portment, mild and gentle in their manners, de- 
 votedly but unostentatiously attached to each 
 other, benevolent to their poor neighbours, 
 charitable in their thoughts and opinions of 
 mankind, and, though not pedantic and learned 
 in their discourse, yet by no means given to 
 gossiping, or addicted to small-talk. They 
 were not of extraordinary beauty, yet they had
 
 90 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 that expression which excites more admiration 
 than mere prettiness. The general character of 
 their minds was such that no one who had not 
 some degree of respect for himself would ever 
 think of paying his addresses to either of them. 
 Young gentlemen of vulgar minds professed 
 themselves to be afraid of these young ladies. 
 They were not silent and reserved, affecting an 
 oracular wisdom, nor were they much addicted 
 to lecturing and haranguing. They never, by 
 any hint or insinuation the most distant, ever 
 gave their neighbours reason to accuse them of 
 thinking themselves superior to the rest of the 
 world. This certainly contributed in a great 
 measure to raise them to that high degree of 
 esteem which they enjoyed among their friends. 
 In the points above mentioned, and in many 
 others, the two sisters agreed. Some few there 
 were in which there was a little diversity. 
 Jane was something more grave than Laura, 
 who had a tendency to humour, but it was 
 kind and playful, not satirical and sarcastic.
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 91 
 
 Laura had also more personal beauty than 
 Jane ; but as if to make amends for this, she 
 uniformly submitted her judgment to that of 
 her sister, with a more complete and unhesitat- 
 ing deference than the difference of age seemed 
 to demand. The care which they took to'pre- 
 serve domestic harmony, was abundantly re- 
 paid by the delightful success which attended 
 it. 
 
 To make a deliberate choice between the 
 two sisters might have been a difficult task ; 
 Captain Hartley did not attempt it. Accident 
 superseded the necessity of deliberation. It was 
 the custom of the young ladies to pay occasional 
 visits to the cottages of the poor people. This 
 is a very laudable and most valuable custom ; 
 but it is not every one who can manage it well. 
 Too often is the condescension regarded by 
 those who display it, as worth much more than 
 it really is ; and when generosity is thus pom- 
 pously displayed, the crafty pour will take un- 
 fair advantage of it, and the timid and the
 
 92 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 humble will often pass unrelieved. The osten- 
 tatiously generous, and the lovers of picturesque 
 misery, are more especially delighted in la- 
 vishing their bounty where external appearances 
 are most deplorable ; and thereby they not 
 unfrequently patronize sloth, and encourage 
 negligence and filth. Some visitors of the 
 poor are too fastidious to attend minutely and 
 patiently to the wants of the necessitous, and 
 therefore the work of charity is slurred over, 
 and the indiscriminate gift is received thankless- 
 ly as a right, and blesses neither the giver nor 
 the receiver. 
 
 It was well for the honest and industrious 
 poor of Nettlethorpe that Jane and Laura 
 Stratton did not negligently discharge the duty 
 of visiting the poor ; but so observant and judi- 
 cious were they in their visits, that instead of en- 
 couraging indolence they excited to diligence. 
 And as the conscientious discharge of duty 
 usually brings with it a pleasure that rewards 
 the labour, so did it happen in the present case ;
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 93 
 
 for the daughters of Mr. Stratton, by their con- 
 stant and careful attention to their poor neigh- 
 bours, formed an acquaintance with them, and 
 were much interested in them, and were de- 
 lighted in listening to their talk, and observing 
 and tracing the developement and varieties of 
 their character. 
 
 Finding a pleasure in this occupation, they 
 frequently made the affairs of the villagers a 
 topic of domestic talk ; and the two sisters 
 would laugh together at absurdities, or make 
 sentimental remarks on follies, which they 
 might have seen or heard of, and would sincere- 
 ly express their pity for the sorrows which it 
 was not in their power to heal or alleviate. 
 
 As the village of Nettlethorpe was some few 
 miles distant from the nearest market-town, 
 the young ladies would often execute little 
 commissions for the cottagers, and would bring 
 medicines for the sick, for there was no resident 
 apothecary in the village. One evening, after 
 Laura had paid a visit to the market-town, and 
 was in rather higher spirits than usual, her
 
 94 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 sister Jane suddenly interrupted her, by asking 
 whether she had recollected to brinfj the medi- 
 cine for poor Mrs. Mason. The laugh paused 
 suddenly at the inquiry, and with much self- 
 reproach for her negligence, the young lady 
 acknowledged that she had forgotten it. 
 
 Then there arose a long and confused dis- 
 cussion of the steps which should be taken to 
 rectify the evil ; and of course it may be very 
 naturally supposed, that Hartley was prompt 
 in offering his services. He found that it would 
 be absolutely necessary for him to ride over to 
 the town early on the following morning, and 
 as he should not be long detained, he could 
 without the slightest inconvenience bring back 
 the medicine in good time for the poor patient. 
 Laura Stratton, however, insisted that no one 
 should be at the trouble of supplying the de- 
 fects of her memory, but that she herself would 
 repeat her visit to the town on the following 
 morning. 
 
 Now as Captain Hartley had affirmed that
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 95 
 
 he was under an absolute necessity of going to 
 the market-town on the same morning, he could 
 not well retract the assertion, and therefore 
 very few words were required to arrange that 
 both should go, and of course in the same 
 conveyance. In all this, considered merely in 
 itself, there was nothing very extraordinary or 
 particular ; there was nothing to excite a blush 
 in the young lady, or to impose an awkward 
 silence in the young gentleman. Nevertheless, 
 such effects were produced ; for after the ar- 
 rangement had been made, Laura blushed, and 
 the Captain was confusedly and perplexedly 
 silent. Moreover, the parties were conscious of 
 their awkward feelings and were desirous of 
 concealing them, and the very efforts which 
 they made for that purpose told most effectually 
 against it. 
 
 Falling in love is, in all places and at all times, 
 a most serious affair, but there are some places 
 and some times in which it is more serious than 
 in others. It is a terrible thing in the country,
 
 96 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 where people have nothing else to do ; and a 
 most terrible thing in the winter time, when the 
 parties cannot ramble in the groves or saunter 
 in gardens or sit in alcoves and gather living 
 flowers and sigh over scattered rose-leaves; 
 but when whole families are congregrated for 
 hours in one room, and when grave parties look 
 gravely at the fire, and gravely at one another; 
 then it is that lovers are grievously restrained, 
 and know not where to direct their eyes, and 
 torture themselves to death to put themselves 
 at ease. In such an unpleasant, undescribable, 
 indefinite manner did the Captain and Laura 
 Stratton pass the remainder of that evening. 
 They were neither conscious nor unconscious, 
 in love nor out of love. They both thought 
 that every body was looking at them, and they 
 took great pains not to look at one another, 
 and then they took pains to look at one ano- 
 ther lest they should seem to be taking pains 
 not to look at one another. It was some con-
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 97 
 
 siderable time after the arrangement for the next 
 morning's journey had been made, before the 
 parties concerned could so far compose them- 
 selves as to speak deliberately and definitely on 
 that or any other subject. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 98 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 For one couple that falls into love deliber- 
 ately, intentionally and expressly, according to 
 the dictates of the judgment, and the conscious 
 determination of the will, there are ten thou- 
 sand at least that fall in love they know not 
 how, and they know not when. This is gene- 
 rally the case with very young people, and not 
 unfrequently does it also thus happen to such 
 as are not mere children. 
 
 The morning which was destined for the ex- 
 cursion of the young people, was remarkably 
 fine for the time of year. And well was it for 
 them that it was so ; for that circumstance gave 
 them a topic of discourse to begin with, but for
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 99 
 
 which they might have made their journey in 
 total silence. 
 
 ^' I have often observed," said Captain Hart- 
 ley, " that at this time of year, we have some 
 of the most beautiful and delightful days 
 in the whole course of the seasons. There is 
 something, too, most pecuharly delightful in a 
 fine day in winter." 
 
 " From its being unusual, and from the con- 
 trast which it forms with the general aspect of 
 the seasons," replied Laura. 
 
 " And also from the shortness of the days," 
 added the Captain ; " for it appears to be the 
 constitution of our nature, that as humanity it- 
 self is fleeting and evanescent, it sympathizes 
 with and delights in that which is also transient, 
 and we have a feeling of affection for that which 
 is fleeting." 
 
 " The feeling, perhaps," replied Laura, 
 " may be altogether selfish, if we trace it to its 
 true source." 
 
 " That may be said of all our feelings," an- 
 F 2
 
 100 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 swered the Captain ; *' but they are not the less 
 valuable or the less beautiful on that account. 
 Nor is it very desirable to enter too minutely 
 into an analysis of those emotions which are 
 obviously beautiful. The utmost reach of the 
 exertions of philosophy is to justify common 
 language, and to vindicate and account for that 
 which is." 
 
 " But, Sir," rejoined the young lady, who 
 was very unwilling to imagine that she had 
 read metaphysical books in vain ; " you do not 
 mean to assert that there is no benefit to be de- 
 rived from analyzing the emotions of the mind, 
 and inquiring into the constitution of our na- 
 ture .f^ it appears to me to be one of the noblest 
 studies in which we can be engaged." 
 
 " I must confess, myself," said Hartley, " so 
 much of a bigot, that I do not think knowledge, 
 merely as knowledge, to be the great desidera- 
 tum that it is usually represented." 
 
 " And what do you think. Sir, of Bacon's 
 aphorism, ' knowledge is power.' '*
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST, 101 
 
 " I think it very true in some cases, and very 
 false in others : in short, it is either a mere 
 truism or an absolute falsehood. Knowledge of 
 the arts and sciences, which contribute to the 
 embellishment and enjoyment of life, is certainly 
 very desirable, as placing many pleasures within 
 our reach, which we might otherwise not have 
 acquired. But mere knowledge is but some- 
 thing to talk about." 
 
 "And is it not pleasant," Laura quickly and 
 smilingly replied, " to have something to talk 
 about ?" 
 
 " Most undoubtedly," answered Hartley ; 
 " but is it not far more pleasant to have, as the 
 result of our pursuit after knowledge, something 
 more durable and beneficial to us than merely 
 talk ?" 
 
 " Yes," answered Laura ; " it may be so; but 
 I cannot help thinking yet, that knowledge, as 
 knowledge, is desirable. For instance, is there 
 not in the human mind a natural and innate 
 curiosity to know ? and is there not a pleasure
 
 102 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 in the gratification of that curiosity ? To the fe- 
 male mind you will acknowledge that there is."" 
 
 " And I will acknowledge the same of the 
 other sex,'' replied the Captain; "but I also 
 believe that both have at times repented the 
 indulgence of that propensity." 
 
 Laura Stratton at this remark changed colour, 
 and her lips quivered, and her eyes seemed 
 starting tears, and painfully repressing them. 
 Hartley, who was rather shy and timid — for 
 very good soldiers can be timid among friends, 
 though they are bold among enemies, — Hart- 
 ley had not observed the alteration in Laura's 
 countenance, and attributed her silence merely 
 to the fact that she had nothing to reply to his 
 last observation ; he therefore proceeded in the 
 same strain. 
 
 " What is a more common topic for works of 
 fiction, appealing to the feelings and seeking to 
 awaken an interest in human bosoms, than an 
 exhibition of the misery arising from curiosity.
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 103 
 
 The passion is almost universal, I will grant 
 you ; but I do contend, that if the truth were 
 known, it would be found, that where curiosity 
 had in one case been the means of good, it 
 has been in a thousand the cause of misery. 
 But where there is any symptom of mystery or 
 concealment, there is generally a strong desire 
 to remove that veil, even though it may be 
 apprehended at the same time that the removal 
 will be productive of pain. That emotion is 
 finely painted in Moore's poem of the Veiled 
 Prophet." 
 
 Hartley felt that he was prosing; it was a 
 failing to which he was subject, and of which 
 he was occasionally conscious; and, however 
 generally agreeable his own voice might be to 
 his own ear, the thought suddenly seized him 
 at this moment that the voice of Laura Strat- 
 ton might be quite as agreeable to him as his 
 own. He therefore suddenly checked himself, 
 and with a smile said, ^' But I beg your par-
 
 104 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 don for discussing common places with so much 
 gravity, I need not read you a lecture on the 
 subject.'^ 
 
 Laura sighed deeply, and made an effort to 
 reply, but words would not follow the effort : 
 and thereupon Captain Hartley, notwithstand- 
 ing his general indifference to unnecessary 
 knowledge, and his recently-delivered lecture 
 on the evils of curiosity, felt painfully desirous 
 to know the cause of these melancholy symp- 
 toms. He ventured to ask the young lady if 
 she were unwell ; and, at the end of another 
 deep-drawn sigh, she said, " No, Sir." 
 
 That short answer was uttered in such a 
 tone, and with such a cadence, as intimated, 
 on the part of the speaker, a wish that no 
 farther question might be asked on the sub- 
 ject; and in this sense Hartley understood it. 
 It was a difficulty then to change the topic, 
 and it was not very pleasant to pursue the 
 journey in silence. The Captain was sensible 
 that he had excited painful associations, though
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 105 
 
 he knew not of what precise description ; when, 
 therefore, he recollected the discourse of the 
 talkative blacksmith, and called to mind the 
 constrained and embarrassed manner of Mr. 
 Stratton, who was, otherwise, a man of ad- 
 dress and gentlemanly deportment, he was con- 
 vinced that there must be something wrong in 
 the family. And all these provoking gVimmer- 
 ings of an unapproachable secret, rendered him 
 still more anxious to penetrate the mystery. 
 He could have resisted one or two temptations, 
 but when they came cumulatively upon him 
 in such rapid succession, and he seemed to 
 be living in a region of mystery, then the 
 desire of solving the difficulties came to be 
 more and more powerful. And as those per- 
 sons, who are habitually and ordinarily tem- 
 perate, become more violent and outrageous 
 in their seldom-occurring fits of intemperance, 
 than the habitually intemperate ; so are those 
 who are not generally addicted to idle curiosity, 
 more strongly excited, when, by any peculiar 
 p5
 
 106 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 circumstances, their dormant curiosity is 
 aroused. So felt Captain Hartley ; but in the 
 midst of this strongly-excited curiosity he was 
 considerate. He was especially desirous of 
 avoiding every allusion which might cause an 
 unpleasant emotion in the mind of the young 
 lady; but as he could form no conjecture as 
 to the cause of her uneasiness, he knew not 
 how to guard his expressions. He certainly 
 would abstain from alluding to the subject 
 of curiosity ; but, as he knew not what that 
 knowledge was, which had so painfully gra- 
 tified, or which so anxiously tempted her cu- 
 riosity, it was not possible for him to know 
 when he might be making unpleasant allusions. 
 His only resource then was, on the suppo- 
 sition that there had been any transgressions 
 in the conduct of Mr. Stratton, to avoid refer- 
 ences to moral inaccuracies, and to confine him- 
 self, as much as possible, to generalities ; and 
 to be, in fact, ten times more common-place 
 than was his usual habit. At the same time,
 
 SlECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 107 
 
 while he was cautious of wounding the young 
 lady's feelings, he was the more particularly 
 attentive and kind in his manner towards her, 
 as to an invalid : and in the little conversation 
 which passed, he so displayed a spirit of can- 
 dour and generosity, that Laura's cheerfulness 
 presently returned, and the journey was finished 
 as pleasantly as it was commenced. 
 
 In this brief journey of nine or ten miles, a 
 sympathy of an interesting nature had sprung 
 up between the parties. Laura was grateful 
 to the Captain for his delicate attentions, and 
 Hartley felt a more than usual compassion 
 for the unknown sufferings of Laura ; and she 
 easily discovered the nature of that compassion, 
 when among the rest of his conjectures, it had 
 occurred to him that possibly there might be 
 something of an affair of the heart connected 
 with these sufferings. 
 
 When they had arrived at the town, which 
 was a sea-port, where their respective commis-
 
 108 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 sions were to be executed, they separated with 
 an understanding that they should meet at the 
 inn where the carriage was put up. Hart- 
 ley, who had very little to do, found that he 
 had leisure to saunter about for an hour on the 
 beach, and to amuse himself by watching the 
 vessels as they entered the harbour. He had 
 not been many minutes there, when he was ac- 
 costed very familiarly and loudly, by a person 
 whom he remembered to have seen recently, and 
 whom he presently recognized to be Theodore 
 Clarke. The meeting was very cordial on the 
 part of Mr. Clarke, whatever coolness or re- 
 serve there might be on the part of the Cap- 
 tain. Hartley was not a proud man, though his 
 reserve might by some persons be so character- 
 ized ; but there were those who, by their noisy, 
 blustering, swaggering style, were not agreeable 
 to him. Theodore Clarke was of this descrip- 
 tion ; and though there was no imaginable rea- 
 son on the score of rank, why there should be
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 109 
 
 any difference felt, or any distance kept between 
 the parties, yet Hartley was conscious that he 
 regarded Theodore with this feeling, and he was 
 rather desirous of concealing it. He therefore 
 met and spoke to Mr. Clarke with as great an 
 effort towards sociability as he could possibly 
 make. He was not very successful ; but Theo- 
 dore Clarke overlooked it, and made up for 
 the other's silence and reserve by his own loqua- 
 city and communicativeness. 
 
 " And so. Captain, you have persuaded Strat- 
 ton to return home ? Now you have nothing 
 more to do than to persuade one of his sisters 
 to leave home. I suppose that will be the 
 end of it. Well, Captain, you are a fortunate 
 man." 
 
 " You seem," said Hartley, endeavouring to 
 smooth a gathering frown, " to take very much 
 for granted." 
 
 " Ay, ay, to be sure, I don't ask you to con- 
 fess ; you are not supposed to be under the ne-
 
 110 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 cessity of proclaiming to all the world that you 
 have thoughts of changing your condition." 
 Theodore Clarke smiled, and said again ; " But 
 to be serious, Captain, I have a great respect 
 for you as a friend, and I would advise you 
 not to be in too great a hurry to commit your- 
 self. You may find yourself disappointed in 
 pecuniary matters. There is something in the 
 family of Nettlethorpe that is is not quite as it 
 should be." 
 
 Hartley listened with eager attention, and he 
 was almost thrown into a violent passion when 
 Clarke merely added, 
 
 " I jam not aware of the real facts, but I have 
 at different times heard Frederick Stratton speak 
 as if his father was not quite so much his own 
 master as a gentleman of independent fortune 
 ought to be. But don't let me say anything 
 to set you against the family. Judging from 
 the young gentleman, they seem to be a very 
 superior family, and to have many excellent 
 qualities." 
 
 The Captain was disturbed, and the more so
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. Ill 
 
 because he wished to conceal his emotion ; and 
 he was mortified at being treated with so much 
 familiarity by this accidental and chattering 
 acquaintance. As coolly as he could, he there- 
 fore replied, 
 
 " Well, Mr. Clarke, I thank you for the 
 trouble you have given yourself on my account, 
 and the interest which you are pleased to ex- 
 press for to my welfare ; but I trust I can take 
 care of myself. I hope you have not made this 
 journey solely on my account."" 
 
 With these words Hartley was turning round, 
 and about to depart, leaving his friend to his 
 own meditations ; but Mr. Clarke was one of 
 those who are not easily repulsed by a little 
 coolness. Such persons of any respectability as 
 he could by any means claim as acquaintance, 
 he would not readily relinquish ; it was not 
 his forte to understand, or at least to take a 
 hint. Instead, therefore, of leaving the Cap- 
 tain according to the hint given liim, he very 
 familiarly took hold of his arm, saying, 
 
 " If you are going to walk I shall be glad to
 
 112 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 join you. I must acknowledge that my jour- 
 ney here was not solely on your account ; though 
 if I could have done you a service, I should not 
 have thought it a trouble." 
 
 To such an expression of disinterested ge- 
 nerosity, what answer of repulsiveness could be 
 given ? Yet it was very clear that the motive 
 was not of the most unmixed nature. Hartley 
 made a very faint acknowledgment of such kind- 
 ness, and directed his meditations to thoughts 
 how he might best rid himself of the benevolent 
 incumbrance. 
 
 Meditation was not one of Mr. Clarke's 
 habits ; and while his companion was silent, he 
 continued talking. 
 
 " Nettlethorpe is not very far from here, I 
 believe .?"" 
 
 " About nine or ten miles," replied the Cap- 
 tain. 
 
 *' You came over on horseback, I suppose ?'' 
 
 No answer was given, and the Captain was 
 surprised at the forgiving temper as much as
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 113 
 
 before he had been at the disinterested benevo- 
 lence of his companion. Theodore Clark pro- 
 ceeded. " Nettlethorpe is a pleasant village, I 
 have heard. I have never been there. Perhaps 
 it would appear intruding if I were to call upon 
 you there. Though I don't know ; for I was 
 very intimate with Frederick Stratton, and I be- 
 lieve I did as much as any one to bring him to 
 reason. Mr. Stratton, the father, is a proud 
 man, I have been told." 
 
 Hartley was still silent, and could not but 
 admire the perseverance of Theodore Clarke, 
 who must see, he imagined, that his companion 
 was not agreeable. But Theodore Clarke did 
 not see it, and did not think of it. He had not 
 the slightest notion that his talk was wearisome, 
 and that Hartley was endeavouring to make 
 him understand that it was. They at length 
 reached the gate of the inn, where the carriage 
 was waiting to convey Laura and the Captain 
 back to Nettlethorpe. Hartley extricated his 
 arm, and with much alacrity and politeness.
 
 114 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 bowed to his friend, wishing him a good 
 morning. But Theodore was not disposed of 
 so easily. 
 
 " Are you at this inn ? So am I." 
 This was provoking again ; but there was 
 no remedy at hand, and the annoyance could 
 not be avoided. Hartley was fully determined 
 not to introduce his acquaintance to Laura, 
 and he was also desirous to avoid being seen in 
 such company. He therefore placidly suffered 
 Theodore to lead him to his own apartment. 
 Another misfortune, however, now arose, for it 
 was necessary that Laura should know that 
 Hartley was in the house, and was ready to 
 return to Nettlethorpe. And this information 
 could hardly, under present circumstances, be 
 conveyed to the young lady, without being 
 overheard by the troublesome Theodore. While 
 the Captain was meditating his escape from his 
 generously-disposed friend, a sound of carriage 
 wheels was heard rolling rapidly out of tlie inn- 
 yard. Hartley hastily rose and went to the win-
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 115 
 
 dow, from whence, to his great astonishment and 
 perplexity, he saw Mr. Strat ton's carriage taking 
 a hasty departure. It was possible he might 
 be deceived. He rang the bell and inquired if 
 Mr. Stratton's carriage was gone ; and when 
 the inquiry had been hastily answered, the 
 waiter suddenly left the room, and shortly re- 
 turned, bringing a note, which he presented to 
 Hartley, saying, " I believe. Sir, this note is 
 for you." 
 
 Hartley saw that it was for him, and he 
 opened it with no slight degree of trepidation, 
 wishing again and again that he could ex- 
 tricate himself from Theodore Clark. The 
 note was as follows. 
 
 " My dear Hartley. 
 " Circumstances which cannot be explained 
 at present, render it necessary that you should 
 not return to Nettlethorpe. I know the can- 
 dour and generosity of your disposition, and am 
 persuaded that you will not put a wrong con- 
 struction upon this singular step. Shortly, I
 
 116 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 fear, the whole mystery will be explained, if 
 not to your satisfaction, at least to our ex- 
 oneration. My old acquaintance, Theodore 
 Clarke, is in the town, and he will be the means 
 of transmitting any thing which you have to 
 send to me. 
 
 Yours ever, 
 Frederick Stratton." 
 
 When Hartley had read this any-thing-but- 
 satisfactory note, he addressed himself to Theo- 
 dore with a more than usual earnestness ; 
 and handing the note to him, said, 
 
 " If you can give me any interpretation of 
 this mysterious note, you will do me a kindness 
 indeed." 
 
 *' I will give you all the information," re- 
 plied Mr. Clarke, " that I am in possession 
 of; but I can assure you that there is almost 
 as much mystery in the affair to me as there 
 is to you. I have been here for three or four 
 days on a visit, and this morning, as I was
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 117 
 
 walking in the North Street, I saw a gentle- 
 man riding furiously on horseback into the 
 town. I recognized Frederick Stratton, and he 
 as readily recognized me. He asked me if I 
 had seen you this morning ; and he requested 
 me to endeavour to find you, and, if possi- 
 ble, to detain you, if you should not be at 
 the inn, or to keep you in conversation till 
 after one o'clock. He then added, ' If Cap- 
 tain Hartley has any communication to make 
 to me, desire him to give it to you, and I 
 will shortly send to your lodgings in town 
 an address, by which you may send to me.' 
 And he concluded by saying, ' Now don't 
 ask me any questions ; you will probably soon 
 see me in London again, at my old lodgings, 
 but not at my old habits." He then left me : 
 and I have fulfilled my commission to the best 
 of my ability. You little suspected, when I 
 talked about calling on you at Nettlethorpe, 
 that you should take such a sudden leave of 
 it yourself .?*"
 
 118 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 '^ This is all very unaccountable," said 
 Hartley. 
 
 " I could have told you as much," answer- 
 ed Theodore ; " but I suppose that there are 
 some financial embarrassments, and, as Mr. 
 Stratton is a proud man, and you have seen 
 him as a rich man, he does not wish you should 
 see him as a poor man." 
 
 " But there was no necessity for an act of 
 such downright rudeness," replied Hartley; 
 " the language of Frederick Stratton's note cer- 
 tainly indicates that some unexpected calamity 
 has befallen the family." 
 
 It was a great happiness to Captain Hartley 
 that he was a man of such extraordinary pla- 
 cidity and qviietness of character. Any one 
 else would have blustered and bullied, and have 
 made a most outrageous noise about expla- 
 nation and satisfaction; but he was very well 
 content to wait for an explanation, and to 
 trust that it would be satisfactory. There was 
 a little more perturbation, however, of spirit.
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 119 
 
 with respect to his thoughts of Laura Stratton. 
 He did not so patiently bear that loss, nor 
 was he so content to wait calmlj^ for an ex- 
 planation on that subject. Whatever difficulty 
 he might formerly have had in deciding which 
 of the young ladies was the most interesting, 
 he had no difficulty now; and forthwith, the 
 name of Laura Stratton was a name of interest 
 and emotion.
 
 120 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Theodore Clarke and Captain Hartley 
 returned to London. The former to pursue his 
 literary avocations, and the latter to addict him- 
 self to those studies which might be necessary 
 to fit and prepare him for his meditated change 
 of profession. The narrative, therefore, must 
 lose sight of them, while it pursues the move- 
 ments of Mr. Stratton's family ; going back for 
 that purpose to the moment when the carriage 
 which conveyed Laura and Captain Hartley 
 from Nettlethorpe had quitted the village. At 
 that moment the postman brought Mr. Stratton 
 a letter ; a little dirty square scrap of clumsily 
 folded paper, with a direction so villainously
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 121 
 
 written, that none but a post-cffice clerk could 
 read it except Mr. Stratton himself, and to him 
 the letter seemed to be transparent; for be- 
 fore he opened it, he turned pale, and gnashed 
 his teeth ; and the servant who brought him the 
 letter was glad to escape from his angry pre- 
 sence. In a very few minutes Mr. Stratton's 
 bell was rung violently, and Frederick was sum- 
 moned. 
 
 The instant that the young man entered the 
 room, his father bolted the door, and in a fever 
 of passion, which was not very unusual to him, 
 said, " Frederick, are they gone?" 
 
 The young man, at the moment, was not 
 aware of his father's meaning, nor at all sus- 
 picious of any peculiar cause of agitation ; 
 he therefore very quietly repeated the word, 
 " Gone .?" 
 
 Violently striking the table, and raising his 
 voice to a scream, Mr. Stratton replied, "Ay! 
 I ask you if Hartley and Laura are gone. 
 Why don't you speak ?" 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 1^2 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 With quietness of manner, Frederick replied, 
 '' Yes, Sir, they are gone ; but if you wish it, 
 I can overtake them and bring them back." 
 
 •' Hartley must not return," said Mr. Stratton, 
 " but bring back Laura this moment." 
 
 " But what apology must I make to Captain 
 Hartley ?"' 
 
 " Apology !" exclaimed Mr. Stratton, with 
 an aspect and tone of bitterness, " any apology 
 you please." Then breathing hard, and groan- 
 ing with an agony which terrified his son, the 
 afflicted man, in a more subdued tone, con- 
 tinued, " Frederick, if you have any regard 
 for your father's feelings, ask me no farther 
 questions, but make the best of your way after 
 Laura, and bring my child back again: but 
 tell Hartley he must not return. I respect 
 him, but — there — there go — go." 
 
 Frederick Stratton obeyed, and the result of 
 that obedience was stated in the preceding chap- 
 ter. Mr. Stratton the elder had always been sub- 
 ject to occasional fits of violence, and to tran- 
 sient emotions of caprice. Laura, therefore, when
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE liEST. V2S 
 
 her brother brought the message, that she was 
 to return alone, and that Hartley was not to 
 be permitted to return to Nettlethorpe, imme- 
 diately suspected that the cause of this hasty 
 movement and rude resolve was to be traced 
 to her father's apprehension of an incipient 
 attachment between them. Now this suspicion 
 was by no means adapted to weaken or destroy 
 whatever httle sentiment of love had begun to 
 take possession of her bosom. She yielded, 
 however, an unhesitating obedience to her fa- 
 ther's will, and carried her self-denial so far as 
 not to persist in her proposal of seeing Captain 
 Hartley to take leave of him. And one reason 
 why she was thus placidly obedient was, that 
 she was aware that there would be some diffi- 
 culty in managing the parting, so as to satisfy 
 at once her judgment and her feehngs. 
 
 Great, however, was her surprise, and bitter 
 
 were her feehngs, when, on returning home 
 
 with her brother, she did not merely meet the 
 
 frowns or hear the reproaches of an arbitrary 
 
 G 2
 
 124 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 and capricious parent, but heard from the ser- 
 vants that her father had left his home, and was 
 gone no one knew whither. She next inquired 
 for her mother, and was informed that the 
 calamity, whatever it was, which had so deeply 
 distressed, and so violently disturbed Mr. Strat- 
 ton, had not so powerfully affected her other 
 parent ; but that Mrs. Stratton, who was in her 
 own apartment with her eldest daughter, was 
 desirous of not having at present any other 
 company. Poor Laura was therefore left to all 
 the horrors of filial solicitude, and excited cu- 
 riosity : a curiosity not indeed of idle imperti- 
 nence, but of strong personal interest. She had 
 before frequently seen and heard that which led 
 her to conclude that some painful and mortify- 
 ing discovery was anticipated by her father ; 
 and she knew that her mother was in the se- 
 cret, and more than half suspected that her sis- 
 ter knew it too. 
 
 This, however, was a state of suspense in
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 125 
 
 which she could not long patiently remain. 
 And as soon as she could have her brother's 
 company, she commenced questioning him very 
 particularly, as to his knowledge of the mys- 
 tery. 
 
 "Child," said the young man, with much of 
 his father's impatience of manner, " I have 
 already told you every thing I know. I hate 
 secrets, and I hate equivocation. What my 
 father can mean by keeping us in this state of 
 anxiety, I cannot conjecture. I feel that our 
 family is a mark for the whole neighbourhood 
 to point at with the finger of suspicion or of 
 scorn. We have no society and no relatives; 
 we are alone in the world." 
 
 " Well, my dear brother," answered Laura, 
 " it does not become us to speak or think harsh- 
 ly of our father ; he has certainly been a kind 
 parent to us ; and I am sure that, whenever he 
 may have spoken hastily or sharply, it has 
 not been from any feeling of ill-humour, but
 
 126 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 merely owing to the irritability arising from 
 some troubles with which he does not wish to 
 afflict us." 
 
 " But I do not approve," replied Frederick, 
 " of all this mystery. People make free with 
 our character ; and if I were to tell you what I 
 have heard, you, with your common-place no- 
 tions of society and propriety, would be shocked 
 into an agony." 
 
 " Frederick V exclaimed Laura, " what are 
 you saying ? Have not you this moment told 
 me that you hate secrets.'^ and now you are 
 tantalizing me with insinuations that you know 
 more than you dare to tell me." 
 
 " Nay, my good sister, I am not conceal- 
 ing from you anything that I know ; I have 
 merely abstained from annoying you by the 
 repetition of idle and perhaps false reports." 
 
 " Even these, however^'' answered Laura, " it 
 may be better for me to hear at once, than to be 
 in a state of suspense and anxiety, thinking 
 them perhaps worse than they are."
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 127 
 
 " Can you bear, then," said her brother, ** to 
 be told that suspicions are uttered, and that ru- 
 mours are afloat, \vhich say that your mother 
 bears a name to which she has no legal title ?" 
 
 Laura shook her head mournfully, and re- 
 pHed, — ''' I know that it is a reproach to which 
 our mother has been subjected ; but whatever 
 might have been the case in her younger days, 
 the reproach has not now any foundation." 
 
 " I hope it has not," answered the young man ; 
 " but I am very much at a loss to know why 
 the story should be revived now ; and I think it 
 can be no trifling annoyance that has driven my 
 father from his home in this strange manner." 
 
 *' Oh, Frederick, Frederick !" cried Laura ; 
 " you ought to do all in your power to comfort 
 me, but your harsh suspicions make the matter 
 worse. I know not what to think." 
 
 " Nor do I," answered the brother : *' but I 
 feel more and more convinced that the institu- 
 tions of society are most injurious and destruc- 
 tive. Man, in a state of civilization, becomes a
 
 128 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 self-tormentor. He makes ridiculous laws and 
 idle institutions, and fetters himself, and bows 
 down his soul to a mean and base subjection to 
 phantoms of his own creation." 
 
 Laura seized her brother's hand with pathetic 
 earnestness, and, with a tone of supplication, 
 said, '' Brother, let me implore you by all that 
 is good, not to give way to such pernicious 
 notions. Have you no regard to my feelings ? 
 Have you no compassion for your afflicted 
 father and mother .?" 
 
 '* Yes ; I have that compassion for them, that 
 I would willingly assist in extricating them from 
 ignoble servitude, and a base subjection to 
 narrow and contracted principles." 
 
 " This is not a time," said Laura, " to enter 
 into discussions of this nature ; it will be far 
 more to the purpose if you will seek after your 
 father, and endeavour to render him some assist- 
 ance, or afford him some consolation." 
 
 " But where shall I find him .?" 
 
 Scarcely were these words uttered, when a
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 129 
 
 servant from Nettlethorpe rectory came to re- 
 quest that Mr. Frederick Stratton would, as soon 
 as he conveniently could, favour the clergyman 
 with his presence. This reverend gentleman 
 was in many points one of the most useful and 
 valuable men that could possibly fill the situ- 
 ation of parish priest ; and the narrative will 
 not be needlessly suspended by a delineation of 
 his character. It is not usually and popularly 
 considered complimentary to describe a charac- 
 ter by negatives ; but there were some featui'es 
 in the moral aspect of Mr. Brownlow which had 
 what may be called a high negative value ; the 
 expression has a paradoxical sound, but it is 
 not unintelligible. He was a man who made no 
 noise, bustle, or parade ; he made no talk about 
 the dignity of his office, nor did he use himself 
 to grave and pompous declamation against vice, 
 and in favour of virtue ; yet he was honestly 
 and carefully attentive to his duties, and had a 
 nice and delicate apprehension of moral pro- 
 priety. He was highly liberal to his parish- 
 G 5
 
 130 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 ioners, but he did not advertise eleemosynary 
 coals by the bushel, nor immortalize a periodi- 
 cal bonus of blankets. He did not belong to 
 that party in the Church commonly called evan- 
 gelical, nor did he make long sermons or use 
 hard language against sectarians ; yet there 
 were no sectarians in his parish : and when, 
 occasionally, a visit of proselytism was made 
 to Nettlethorpe, by any neighbouring secta- 
 rian, this most tolerant pastor gave no inter- 
 ruption ; so that almost for very lack of op- 
 position, sectarianism gained no ground. In 
 his liberality he was unformal, and in his per- 
 sonal attention to his parishioners he was with- 
 out partiality. He did not expect to find 
 every individual perfectly and exquisitely cor- 
 rect ; and therefore, when he had occasion, as 
 of course he sometimes had, to rebuke a trans- 
 gressor, the rebuke was given in a spirit of 
 so much kindness and consideration, that the 
 transgressor, instead of feeling angry with In's 
 reprover, felt ashamed of himself. All the
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARK BEST. 131 
 
 people of the village liked him : and though he 
 might not in all matters of a ceremonial nature 
 have been quite so accurate as some very 
 ceremonious and ceremonial bishops might de- 
 sire; yet he did by his plain good sense and 
 honestly conscientious moral feeling, infinitely 
 more good in his parish, than many a dry, 
 formal, starched, prim regarder of every pos- 
 sible vagary of ecclesiastical discipline. Fur- 
 thermore, and still negatively to speak, he was 
 not a man of profound learning. He had a 
 library, and in his youth he had read some 
 books, and he still continued to read some pe- 
 riodicals : he had not taken a very high honour 
 at the University, nor had he ever obtained 
 any prize for any composition, Greek, Latin or 
 English, poetry or prose; yet he had an ex- 
 cellent understanding and a very clear head ; 
 and he was quite as useful to his parish as if 
 he had studied the Greek language till he had 
 forgotten the English. He did not know much 
 about Greek particles, but he knew the poor
 
 132 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 of the parish and they knew him. His political 
 character was also negative ; he did not profess 
 himself in opposition to the administrators of 
 the constitution by which and in which he 
 lived, nor did he lend himself to the noisy 
 brawlings of elections ; and when there was a 
 contested election in his county, he voted as 
 he pleased, and being pleased to have his own 
 way in the disposal of his vote, he suffered 
 others to do the same, asking no questions and 
 using no influence. He was not very highly 
 esteemed by people of strong party propensi- 
 ties ; but when there existed not any peculiar 
 cause of political agitation, he was in general 
 estimation and respect. To his other agreeable 
 qualities he added the pleasant, quiet manners 
 which are said to belong to a gentleman, but 
 which belong generally to men of good under- 
 standing and well-regulated passions. 
 
 A man like this was clearly a valuable friend 
 to rich or poor; and Mr. Stratton had, soon after 
 his first taking up his abode at Nettletliorpe,
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 133 
 
 discovered the excellent qualities of Mr. Brown- 
 low's mind, and to him he had confided what 
 could not be totally concealed ; but, like most 
 confessors, Mr. Stratton had confessed but 
 partially. Even in his humiliation man is 
 proud. The confession which had been made, 
 was, that peculiar circumstances had prevented 
 the solemnization of marriage, according to 
 the rites of the Church established by law, 
 between those two persons who bore the name 
 of Mr. and Mrs. Stratton, and who, to the 
 world, had appeared as man and wife for flve- 
 and-twenty years. The peculiar circumstances, 
 however, had not been stated. Every possible 
 and imaginable excuse was made for the pub- 
 lic ear, to account for the well-known fact, 
 that Mrs. Brownlow and Mrs. Stratton did 
 not visit ; and it so happened, that amidst a 
 multitude of plausible lies, the truth was not 
 visible. But the peculiar circumstances were 
 now to be developed. 
 
 When Frederick Stratton appeared at the
 
 134 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 rectory, Mr. Brownlow took him by the hand, 
 and, in his usual quiet manner, said, " I have 
 sent for you, Mr. Stratton, to speak to you 
 on a very unpleasant topic." 
 
 Frederick felt alarmed at this preface, not 
 because of any peculiar agitation in the speaker, 
 but rather because his deliberate manner im- 
 plied preparation for the meeting, and seemed 
 threatening, on account of its calmness. The 
 worst suspicions rushed tumultuously into the 
 young man's mind, and he passionately ex- 
 claimed, " You are alluding to my father, Sir. 
 Pray tell me where is — " 
 
 Mr. Brownlow interrupted him, saying, 
 " Your father is in this house, alive and well ; 
 but he has this morning received a letter 
 which occasions him great perplexity. You 
 are not aware, perhaps, of the full extent of 
 the peculiar situation in which Mr. Stratton 
 is placed." 
 
 '• Of the subject of the letter to which you
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 135 
 
 allude, I am not at all aware ; but I do know 
 that there are reports and rumours afloat, 
 which, to some minds, might be unpleasant ; 
 and so far are these rumours unpleasant to 
 me, that are exceedingly annoying to my 
 sisters." 
 
 " You are not, then, I presume," continued 
 Mr. Brownlow, " fully acquainted with the 
 particulars to which I refer ?" 
 
 " You speak mysteriously. Sir. Will you 
 be kind enough to be more explicit ?" 
 
 Mr. Brownlow felt somewhat embarrassed, 
 and replied, " It is not very easy, Mr. Strat- 
 ton, to speak very plainly and abruptly on a 
 matter of this kind. One requires a little pre- 
 face and preparation." 
 
 a Very likely," answered Frederick Stratton : 
 ** some little prefacing and introduction may be 
 necessary with some kind of people ; but, Mr. 
 Brownlow, I am above those little, foolish weak- 
 nesses, and liave not that reverence for wliat are
 
 136 SECOT<JD THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 called the institutions of society, that some men 
 have. You are speaking of the legal relation 
 which my father bears to my mother ?" 
 
 " And does it not, Sir, appear to you, that if 
 there were no legal relation, that would be pain- 
 ful for you to hear .?" 
 
 " Not in the least, not in the least. But this 
 cannot be all ; this is scarcely a new discovery, 
 and will not account for my father's bitterness 
 of spirit, and for his strange disappearance from 
 home." 
 
 " I am sorry to say that this is not all."' 
 
 " Then tell me the whole at once," inter- 
 rupted the young man. 
 
 " Do you know, or did you ever hear your 
 father speak of a man named Shepherd ?''' asked 
 Mr. Brownlow. 
 
 " Shepherd ? Shepherd ? — yes, I have heard 
 the name ; but I have no distinct recollection 
 of any thing peculiar connected with that name. 
 But speak out, Sir, speak out ; who is this Shep-
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 137 
 
 herd ? What is he ? and what has he to do in 
 the affair ?" 
 
 " You must be patient ; you shall hear the 
 whole truth in good time. I did not know but 
 that you might have had some suspicions, or 
 have received some intimation of the matter 
 from some quarter or other." 
 
 " Mr. Brownlow," replied Frederick, in a 
 tc/.ie of impatience, " I will be explicit with you, 
 and I beg you will be so with me. I do know 
 that my father and mother lived together be- 
 fore they were married, and I do know that 
 there is a rumour afloat, that they are not mar- 
 ried now. To me, all this is a matter of indif- 
 ference. Now tell me plainly what it is that 
 has occasioned the present agitation in my 
 father's feelings.*" 
 
 " As you are so very earnest in your wish to 
 hear the whole, I will tell you, then, explicitly ; 
 for your father has given me commission to in- 
 form you of it. It is true, that your father and 
 mother are not married."
 
 138 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 Mr. Brownlow made a short pause, which 
 the young man filled up, by saying, in a tone 
 of great indifference, " Well, Sir ! ' 
 
 The rector then proceeded. " Not only are 
 they not married to each other, but there is an 
 insuperable obstacle which prevents their marry- 
 ing." 
 
 With equal indifference, Frederick Stratton 
 then said, " Proceed, Sir. What is the na- 
 ture of that obstacle .?" 
 
 " That obstacle," said Mr. Brownlow, with 
 great seriousness of manner, " is, that the lady 
 called Mrs. Stratton is married to another." 
 
 The worthy rector, when he had said this, 
 looked at Frederick Stratton in expectation that 
 so mortifying a disclosure would throw him 
 into a fever and frenzy of passion, or stupify 
 him into a petrifaction of astonishment. It did 
 not, however, produce this effect, or very greatly 
 seem to disturb him. There was an emotion, 
 but it was exceedingly transient ; for the young
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 139 
 
 man, with a successful, though painful effort, 
 subdued it, and replied, 
 
 " You astonish me, Mr. Brownlow, I must 
 acknowledge. It is very strange that I should 
 never have heard of this." 
 
 ** From whom do you imagine you should 
 have heard of it ? Not from Mr. Stratton him- 
 self and scarcely any one else would dare to 
 mention the fact to you.'' 
 
 " And may I ask, Sir, how long it is since 
 you first came into possession of this secret ?" 
 
 " The rumour I had heard many years ago, 
 but it was only this morning that I heard the 
 fact from Mr. Stratton's own lips." 
 
 " And for what purpose did my father make 
 that acknowledgment to you, only so very 
 recently." 
 
 " Because a very serious difficulty had risen 
 from the circumstance, in which your father was 
 pleased to say he much wished to have my 
 advice. You know that Mr. Stratton received
 
 140 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 a letter this morning. That letter was from 
 Shepherd, to whom I alluded just now." 
 
 " Ah \" replied Frederick ; " I understand 
 you ; he has been making a claim to extort 
 money from my father. Yes, yes, I see now 
 how matters have stood. This explains what 
 hitherto has been so very unaccountable. Well, 
 Sir, and how do you advise my father to act. 
 I suppose he must comply with the demand ; 
 for he seems to be in the man's power. Now, 
 Mr. Brownlow, let me tell you, that you may 
 say what you please about social order, and the 
 well being of society, and so forth ; I do say and 
 will contend, that one half, ay, nine-tenths of the 
 evils which men suffer arise from their foolishly 
 fixing themselves down by laws and regulations, 
 and such like childish trumpery. What misery 
 now has my father suffered from these absurd 
 principles." 
 
 " Rather say, my young friend, what misery 
 is he suffering from having despised these laws 
 and ordinances of society. If he had not, in
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 141 
 
 the first instance, made light of them, he might 
 have lived in the enjoyment of that society 
 and those pleasures from which he has now 
 debarred himself." 
 
 " Yes, yes, Mr. Brownlow," answered Fre- 
 derick ; " these are your notions, I am well 
 aware : you are naturally and professionally 
 under the influence of prejudices, and you 
 cannot appreciate the principles and spirit of 
 independence." 
 
 Mr. Brownlow smiled, but not cheerfully 
 nor contemptuously, and replied, '' We cannot 
 now discuss this question, but we must attend 
 to business. This letter, which your father has 
 this morning received from Shepherd, is not 
 merely an importunate or threatening letter to 
 extort money, but it is in reference to an estate 
 devolving most unexpectedly to your mother, 
 which estate he now desires to claim by her 
 means, and for this purpose insists upon her 
 putting in her claims in her proper name." 
 Frederick Stratton at this announcement
 
 142 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 almost shuddered, for he felt much more mor- 
 tification than he was willing to acknowledge. 
 He had formed strange notions, and had taken 
 up wild opinions; but when he was called 
 upon to make proof of these notions, he found 
 that they were not quite so powerful and un- 
 questionable as he had imagined. There is a 
 wide difference between the plausibilities of a 
 young man's debating society, and the actual 
 condition of the living world. But there are 
 those who are martyrs to their own crotchets, 
 and such an one Frederick Stratton was dis- 
 posed to become. 
 
 Not only, however, were unpleasant facts 
 against him at this moment, but he was con- 
 versing with a man who had not the slightest 
 sympathy with extravagance of any description. 
 The young man was more shaken than he was 
 aware of. After a considerable struggle he 
 replied to Mr. Brownlow — 
 
 *' This is certainly a very perplexing affair. 
 If, indeed, I were alone, I should have no
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 14'i 
 
 difficulty ; but I feel for the unpleasant situa- 
 tion of my sisters. Women cannot be so in- 
 dependent of the world as men may; or at 
 least, they will not, which amounts very nearly 
 to the same thing." 
 
 *' Of course, in the present matter, we must 
 have regard to the world as it is," replied Mr. 
 Brownlow ; " and our business is to consult by 
 what means we may meet the difficulty. This 
 man Shepherd has already employed a legal 
 adviser, and this legal adviser, of course, will not 
 leave any stone unturned to benefit his client.'"* 
 
 " I hate lawyers," interrupted Frederick 
 Stratton. 
 
 '' Very likely," said Mr. Brownlow; " but that 
 will not do any thing to relieve your father from 
 his present perplexity. He has some notion of 
 going abroad for the present, and of suffering 
 the property to be claimed by your mother and 
 made over to Shepherd quietly, provided the 
 man will consent to that arrangement."
 
 144 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 Frederick Stratton again paused, and said, 
 " Will my father see me ?'' 
 
 " I have no doubt that he will, now that 
 you are in possession of the secret which has 
 troubled him so long." 
 
 Here the conversation between the ymrties 
 broke off, and the young gentleman was left 
 to his thoughts, while Mr. Brownlow went to 
 communicate to Mr. Stratton his son's wish to 
 see him.
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 145 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Mr Stratton was mortified, but not hum- 
 bled ; he felt that he was in a degraded state ; 
 but he was rather angry than contrite. He 
 had been in early life a spoiled child ; he was 
 an only one, and his father had been proud of 
 him ; but the father was too selfish in his fond- 
 ness ; he wished to make his son a greater man 
 than he had been himself, and, for this pur- 
 pose, had taken pains to prevent the young 
 man from hastily and inconsiderately placing 
 his affections on any one in humble life, or 
 even in his own rank. The young man was 
 clever, talented, and 'of good address, and 
 the father thought that there were good hopes 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 146 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 that his son might aggrandize himself by an 
 advantageous match. The young man was 
 impetuous, passionate, and self-willed; impa- 
 tient of control, and more disposed to resist 
 his father's authority, than to show any obedient 
 sense of gratitude for his indulgences. His 
 father was not sufficiently politic in the manage- 
 ment of the young man, but rather led him to 
 transgress by an over-anxiety. In spite, or 
 perhaps almost in consequence of his father's 
 cautions, he fixed his affections on a young 
 woman in humble life. To marry was, in the 
 ordinary acceptation of the word, utterly im- 
 possible, and, to live without her, was, to his 
 mind, quite as impossible. An arrangement 
 was made, and the secret was kept from 
 the father as long as such secrets usually 
 are kept ; but at length a discovery was 
 made, and his father was very angry, but 
 not quite so angry as he would have been had 
 the young man been legally married to the 
 young woman. The father insisted that the
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE liEST. 147 
 
 connexion should be broken off, the son in- 
 sisted that it should not ; but the father pre- 
 vailed, and a premium was given to a man 
 named Shepherd to marry the young woman 
 so repudiated. On the very day preceding 
 that appointed for the marriage, Mr. Strat- 
 ton's father died. The young man, whose 
 love for the young woman had not been 
 by any means diminished by opposition, im- 
 mediately sought out the man Shepherd ; but 
 he was not at his own home that evening; 
 and it was not till the following morning after 
 the marriage-service had been performed, that 
 Mr. Stratton could see the parties; but he 
 even then made a bargain with the husband, 
 who relinquished his bride as willingly as he 
 had taken her, and for the same reason, be- 
 cause he was paid for it. The negotiation was 
 so dexterously and privately done, that it was 
 scarcely talked about, and less believed, even 
 in the very neighbourhood in which it took 
 place. Some persons thought, and most candid 
 H 2
 
 148 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 people said, that Shepherd was to have been 
 married to the young woman, but that Mr. 
 Stratton had hastily procured a license, and 
 a substitution of persons was made before the 
 service commenced. Shepherd, however, made 
 a good bargain, went abroad, and had an an- 
 uity punctually remitted to him. Mr. Strat- 
 ton sold his estate in that neighbourhood, re- 
 tired for a while to London, formed new ac- 
 quaintances, and, by their introduction, pur- 
 chased an estate at Nettlethorpe, where he 
 hved in a secluded mode for many years. He 
 avoided society, and indeed there was not 
 much to avoid; but the people had, by some 
 means or other, gained some intelligence of 
 some irregularity in his early life, and they 
 thought, from his habits of seclusion, that he 
 himself was conscious that all was not right. 
 They, as is very common in such cases, made 
 the worst of the matter, though certainly it 
 was bad enough as it was. The children of 
 Mr. Stratton by degrees came to the know-
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 149 
 
 ledge that all was not right, but the utmost 
 of their knowledge was, that Mr. Stratton had 
 not been married so early as he ought to have 
 been . 
 
 The consciousness that he was living in a 
 state which is very properly reprobated in civil 
 society, gave to his mind a feeling of perpetual 
 irritation, and the consciousness of her truly 
 and painfully dependent situation, rendered 
 Mrs. Stratton, for so we must call her, placid, 
 and acquiescent, and obedient. As time moved 
 on, their difficulties did not diminish ; for there 
 was necessity for introducing their children in 
 society, and there was a fear lest this intro- 
 duction might lead to detection. Shepherd 
 never troubled them, nor did he seem disposed 
 to do so, till there unfortunately appeared in 
 one or two of the English newspapers which 
 he was in the habit of seeing on the Continent, 
 an advertisement addressed to the next of kin 
 
 to . Shepherd knew immediately to what 
 
 it related ; and as by the premium which he
 
 150 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 had received, first for taking, then for reUnquish- 
 ing the lady, he had lived much better, and 
 in much greater ease, than otherwise he could 
 ever have expected, his tastes and appetites 
 had been rather excited than gratified, and 
 he thought it very desirable to have more 
 ample means of gratification. For this pur- 
 pose he made a journey to England ; and in 
 London he called upon Mr. Stratton's solici- 
 tor, and through him, found out Mr. Stratton's 
 residence. Thither he directed a letter, claim- 
 ing his wife and the property which devolved 
 
 to her as next of kin to . 
 
 This was the occasion of that distressing 
 agitation which was mentioned in the last 
 chapter. And then it became absolutely ne- 
 cessary that Frederick Stratton should know 
 the situation in which his father stood. This 
 mortified and irritated the poor man almost 
 beyond endurance. Now there would be a 
 complete exposure of the whole transaction to 
 the world : and all that which Mr. Stratton had
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 151 
 
 hitherto concealed, as he thought, with such 
 success, would be laid open to public gaze and 
 general execration. 
 
 When Frederick Stratton saw his father, he 
 was astonished beyond expression at his altered 
 aspect. That spirit which would not bend, was 
 broken. His eyes were fixed upon the ground, 
 his arms were folded across his bosom, his lips 
 were compressed, his colour gone, and his breath- 
 ing loud, short and difficult. Without raising 
 his eyes, and as if fearful of meeting the looks 
 of his own child, he said — 
 
 " Frederick, I suppose Mr. Brownlow has 
 told you every thing .?"" 
 
 " He has. Sir," replied the young man. 
 
 '^ And how am I to meet this difficulty ? 
 Must I suffer myself to be advertised to the 
 world—?" 
 
 " Sir," interrupted the young man, " you pay 
 too much deference to the world." 
 
 " The evil rather is, child, that I have paid 
 too little deference to it : for, had I not been
 
 152 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 reckless of it in my youth, I should not now 
 have been reduced to this miserable dilemma. 
 
 Frederick with youthful logic and alacrity 
 replied, " Nay, Sir, rather say, that if you 
 could now treat the world's opinion with as 
 much indifference as you did twenty years ago, 
 you would have nothing to lament. I have 
 heard the whole story from Mr. Brownlow, and 
 I see nothing which need disturb you. It is 
 altogether a matter of opinion, and the whole 
 evil lies in the imagination. The world has no 
 business with your affairs: and you need not 
 heed the talk which you will not hear. Let this 
 man have what he claims, it is no loss to you. It 
 is, I suppose, his legal right; so much for the 
 folly and absurdity of law. I am disgusted 
 with the follies of what is called the social prin- 
 ciple. Depend upon it. Sir, the world is in an 
 error. It will be to your honour to show your- 
 self above it." 
 
 " Boy," replied Mr. Stratton, " you talk 
 wildly and foolishly. I must not be trifled with."
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. Ii3'3 
 
 " I speak, Sir, according to my best and 
 firmest conviction. I am confident that I am 
 right, and I hope that the day is not far dis- 
 tant when I shall bring all sensible and re- 
 flecting people to think with me." 
 
 Mr. Stratton sighed bitterly, and took his 
 son's hand, and in a soothing tone said : " I 
 almost fear, my dear boy, that I have myself 
 to blame, that you have adopted these notions. 
 But let me tell you as a friend, that your opi- 
 nions in the course of a very few years must 
 and will change, and that if you act upon them 
 now in any matter which will not bear or admit 
 of change at your will, you will bitterly repent 
 your folly. I speak to you in pure friendship. 
 You may remember my word some day or 
 other when I shall be in the grave, and I only 
 hope that you will not remember them with any 
 feeling of self reproach. Be careful ; you are in 
 great danger." 
 
 The young man did not think himself in any 
 danger, and instead of suspecting the soundness 
 H 5
 
 154 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 of his notions, only wondered at the obstinacy 
 witli which people at a certain time of Hfe ad- 
 here to their prejudices. But, however well 
 satisfied he might be with his own logic, and 
 however confident in the accuracy of his theory, 
 he had sufiicient consideration for his father's 
 feelings not to urge the discussion any farther. 
 He directed his inquiries then to the matter in 
 question. 
 
 '^ Well, Sir,'' said the young man, " I will not 
 enter into the argument ; but will you say in 
 what I can be of service to you in the present 
 posture of affairs.? As a matter of general 
 benevolence I am willing to be useful. Can I 
 see the man and talk to him ? perhaps I may 
 bring him to hsten to reason.'' 
 
 Mr. Stratton had not so high an opinion of 
 his son's reasoning powers as the young gen- 
 tleman himself had ; nor did he think it very 
 certain that he who should listen to Mr. Fre- 
 derick Stratton, would of necessity listen to 
 reason. The very prospect of delay, however,
 
 SECOND THOUGPITS ARE BEST. loo 
 
 and the hope of gaining a little time for re- 
 flection and contrivance induced the father to 
 say : " I thank you, my boy, I thank you. Per- 
 haps, if you have no objection to see the man 
 and converse with him upon the subjects, you 
 may bring him to some arrangement by which 
 we may avoid a painful publicity. But still I 
 cannot see what motive the man can have for 
 abstaining from urging his claims." 
 
 " Let me see him," replied Frederick, " and 
 I will do my best to extricate you from your 
 perplexity. It will be better for me to see him 
 than for you. I will also see his legal adviser, 
 and will endeavour to get the matter settled. I 
 suppose the property in question is but a trifle." 
 
 Mr. Stratton again groaned, and said, " No, 
 no, that is the evil. If it were merely a trifle 
 I might make up the loss, but my whole estate 
 would not much more than purchase it." 
 
 "Indeed !" answered Frederick, "and what 
 can a man like that want with so large a pro- 
 perty ? it will be rather an incumbrance to him.
 
 156 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 It cannot increase the sum of his actual enjoy- 
 ment. Let me see him, let me see him ; and 
 make yourself quite easy ; I have no doubt that 
 every thing will be settled very quietly and 
 calmly. What is his address ?'* 
 
 Mr. Stratton, with a smile of incredulity, 
 handed Shepherd's letter to his son : the follow- 
 ing is a copy : 
 " Sir, 
 
 *'i see by the papers that thear is a larg es- 
 teat what corns to my wife as air at law and i 
 donnow whi i shudnt hav mi rites i cum to lon- 
 lun all the waie from parriss to mak enquiris 
 about the propetty and i hav sene a lawer what 
 tells me i av evvery bit as gud a rites to that 
 esteat as the King as to his crone god bles 
 him so sir pleas to tell missus as ou all about 
 it i lodges at Missis Wites tobackernist nere 
 wite chaple. 
 
 " Your most obedyent servant torn shep- 
 perd/'
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 157 
 
 Much as Frederick Stratton professed to de> 
 spise the forms and modes of civilized hfe, and 
 levelling as were his general notions and ordinary 
 language, he could not but feel a kind of aris- 
 tocratical contempt for the vulgar mind and 
 clumsy hand which penned the above epistle. 
 He thought his feeling was that of superiority 
 of intellect, and he felt convinced that his own 
 powerful mind was more than a match for the 
 weak and low simplicity of Tom Shepherd. 
 But an ignorant crafty rustic in the hands, and 
 under the direction of a practised metropolitan 
 attorney, or legal adviser, which is the most 
 courteous phrase of the two, is often too much 
 for even a philosopher to manage. All this the 
 elder Stratton well knew ; but he was willing to 
 have recourse to anything rather than to expose 
 himself to an immediate, mortifying, and de- 
 grading publicity. He therefore accepted the 
 young man's offer, adding, at the same time, 
 " If you can persuade him to keep the matter
 
 158 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 as private as possible, tell him that every faci- 
 ^Hy shall be afforded him ; and, above all 
 things, try and keep the matter out of the news- 
 papers." 
 
 There was a pause for a few moments, at the 
 end of which, Mr. Stratton took hold of his 
 son's hands, and with intense earnestness, said ; 
 '' Now, my dear boy, let me advise you, and 
 let my example have weight with you. At 
 your age, I was as indifferent as you are to the 
 opinions and habits of society ; I thought them 
 altogether arbitrary and ridiculous. And per- 
 haps they may be so ; but however absurd they 
 may be, no man can oppose them without 
 sooner or later suffering for it. I cannot, no I 
 cannot tell you what a bitterness of spirit is 
 mine at this moment. Little did I anticipate 
 five-and-twenty years ago, the pain of mind 
 which I now so deeply feel. You may yet 
 avoid such evils. Your destiny is not fixed, and 
 you are little aware how much is in your power. 
 I can only say that there is no pleasure which
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 159 
 
 the world can give, that can, by any means, 
 compensate for the pains of remorse." 
 
 Father and son parted. The former re- 
 turned to his melancholy home, and the latter 
 departed for London.
 
 160 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 When Frederick Stratton arrived in town, 
 he made his first visit to the shop of Mrs. 
 White the tobacconist. He had some difficulty 
 in finding it, and it is very probable that he 
 would not have found it at all, had it not been 
 a matter of great interest that he should find it. 
 
 Frederick was a young man of good address, 
 and pleasing manners, but he was very near 
 offending Mrs. White by his great lack of cour- 
 tesy in inquiring for Mr. Shepherd. For, in- 
 stead of asking if Mr. Shepherd was at home, 
 he was rude enough to say, " Does a man 
 named Shepherd lodge here ?''' 
 
 Mrs. White properly and indirectly reproved
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 161 
 
 him by answering with as much dignity as she 
 could well assume, " There is a gentleman, Sir, 
 named Shepherd who has our first floor. I be- 
 lieve he is at home." 
 
 Mrs. White then, in a voice in which strength 
 predominated over beauty, called out, " Is Mr. 
 Shepherd at home ?" And when an answer in 
 the affirmative was received, Mrs. White di- 
 rected the young gentleman to the stairs, which 
 led to her first floor, and on these stairs was 
 standing a female domestic who begged to be 
 informed what name was to be announced as 
 Mr. Shepherd's visitor. Frederick smiled at the 
 formality, and felt himself confirmed in his 
 theory of the utter absurdity and worthlessness 
 of all the forms of society. 
 
 When he was at last introduced to Mr. Shep- 
 herd, he saw a person whose look was by no 
 means prepossessing or threatening. Mr. Shep- 
 herd was apparently about fifty years old, of 
 middle stature, round shouldered, having a small 
 flat head covered with short, thick, straight,
 
 162 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 shining black hair, his eyes were small and 
 black, but rather dull. His dress, though he 
 had lived long at Paris, was not Parisian, but 
 was manifestly recently purchased in London, 
 and consisted of a long blue coat, with broad gilt 
 buttons, a black and yellow plush waistcoat, 
 little leather breeches with long strings at the 
 knees, and speckled worsted stockings peeping 
 above a pair of clumsy black gaiters. 
 
 As the name of Stratton was pronounced, 
 Mr. Shepherd made an effort to put on his best 
 manners, and endeavoured to unite courtesy of 
 demeanour with a manifestation of conscious 
 independence. But that sort of thing is more 
 easily said than done. Moreover, Frederick 
 Stratton, who was an unceremonious man at 
 best, felt very little disposed to be more than 
 usually courteous to Mr. Shepherd. The 
 meeting therefore was clumsy, and Mr. Shep- 
 herd was quite out in his calculations of his own 
 powers of address. He endeavoured to shake 
 hands with Frederick, but the young man did
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 163 
 
 not or would not see the movement. He also 
 was preparing to request the young gentleman 
 to be seated; but the young gentleman was 
 beforehand with him, and had reached himself 
 a chair, on which he immediately sat down 
 and then requested Mr. Shepherd to be seated. 
 This was all contrary to Mr. Shepherd's notions 
 of propriety ; but while he was somewhat mor- 
 tified by this abruptness, he was put somewhat 
 more at his ease by it. 
 
 Frederick commenced the negociation by 
 saying, " I understand your name is Shep- 
 herd. Now my father has received a letter 
 from you in which you say that you have a 
 claim upon certain property to which it is sup- 
 posed that my mother is heir." 
 
 Shepherd stammered out with a kind of sup- 
 pressed and half-concealed grin : " Why, Sir, 
 I 'spose you know how that your mother as is, 
 is my wife in matter o' law like; and I have 
 a right in law you know to all such property as 
 revolves to her."
 
 164 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 Frederick frowned and fixed his eyes upon 
 the man so as to puzzle him and put him a 
 little out in his oration ; he therefore directed 
 his look to the ground, and went muttering on. 
 
 " To be sure, and so I have a right, and my 
 friends all advised me to put in my claim; 
 though to be sure, Sir, I don't wish to do the 
 thing that 's onhandsome to Muster Stratton ; 
 he was alius wery kind to me and so wur his 
 father, no one need wish for a better master 
 than old Muster Stratton was, but right's 
 right all the world over, as the saying is." 
 
 Frederick did not in the commencement of 
 the negociation put on the air of a supphant, nor 
 did he feel induced by the manners of Mr. 
 Shepherd to humble himself down to the atti- 
 tude of one asking a favour. To the above 
 luminous statement the young gentleman re- 
 plied : " Then I am to understand that you 
 intend to claim your wife as a matter of legal 
 right." 
 
 " Why no, Sir," replied the man, " I don't
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 165 
 
 wish to take any unfair advantage ; only, you 
 know, when there is a good estate to be had 
 for asking for it, I don't see why I should 
 not have it as well as let it be thrown away." 
 
 " But have not you already quite as much as 
 you can spend and enjoy ? What can you 
 want with more ? A large estate can be of no 
 use to you, it will only give you a great deal of 
 trouble" 
 
 No two beings differ more widely from each 
 other than a man between fifty and sixty, who 
 is not a genius, and a man of tvvo-and-twenty, 
 who is a genius. They are reciprocally unin- 
 telligible. So felt Mr. Shepherd on the present 
 occasion. He had very serious doubts of the 
 sanity of Frederick Stratton. The poor man 
 felt it quite impossible to make any thing 
 of a reply to such an observation, so he did 
 not make the attempt ; he merely thought Mr. 
 Stratton one of the oddest men he had ever 
 seen. Frederick therefore continued: "Now 
 really it does appear to me that you can have
 
 166 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 no possible use for this property ; and if you 
 persist in the claim, you will only disturb the 
 peace of our family without doing yourself the 
 least good in the world." 
 
 " If I don't have it then, who will ? Muster 
 Stratton has no rights to it. My lawyer told 
 me 1 ought to persecute my claim. But I 
 don't want to take it all away from Missus. 
 She may have a share on it and welcome. 
 1 only want nothing more than what's right and 
 just. 
 
 " My father," replied Frederick, '' has no wish 
 whatever to claim the property : he is desirous 
 of avoiding any reference to the fact of your 
 marriage to my mother, which must be made 
 public if you persist in your claim. He does 
 not desire the property for himself; he would 
 let it pass to the next heir." 
 
 Hereat Mr. Shepherd almost laughed, and 
 said, ^' Well, that is a good one !" 
 
 Before he had time to descant more largely 
 on the subject of Mr. Stratton's unaccountable
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 167 
 
 indifference to wealth, the arrival of the legal 
 adviser was announced. 
 
 " Now," exclaimed Mr. Shepherd, " here is 
 my lawyer, and he will tell you all about it." 
 
 Whereupon a neat, dapper, spruce, smart, 
 lively looking man entered the apartment, and 
 bowed much more politely to Mr. Shepherd 
 than is usual for such well-dressed men to bow 
 to such ill-dressed men. The lawyer also 
 bowed to Frederick Stratton, but to him he 
 bowed doubtfully and hesitatingly, as not know- 
 ing whether he were friend or foe. Mr. Shep- 
 herd, however, soon relieved his doubts, by say- 
 ing to him, " This here gentleman. Sir, is the 
 son of that lady what is the heir to the estate, 
 and he is come to ask me to give up my claim 
 to the property." 
 
 The lawyer, with a pert, coxcomical air, and 
 a laugh of self-satisfaction, turned round to 
 Frederick Stratton and said, "And do you find. 
 Sir, that my client is moved by your arguments 
 to give up the property in question ? If he does.
 
 168 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 I shall set him down for the most extraordinary 
 client I ever had." 
 
 Frederick gave the lawyer one of those looks 
 which are not insolent and to be resented, but 
 which are nevertheless very mortifying to little 
 bustling coxcombs ; and if that sort of look 
 could be translated into words, it would be 
 equivalent to saying, " I have not quite so high 
 an opinion of you as you have of yourself.*' - 
 
 " And where, Sir," said Frederick Stratton to 
 the lawyer, " would be the wonder if a man who 
 had been raised from a state of dependence and 
 daily labour to comparative opulence by our fa- 
 mily, should, from a feeling of gratitude, abstain 
 from robbing that family of its peace and com- 
 fort by prosecuting a claim to a property which 
 cannot add to his enjoyment ?'' 
 
 " For that matter," said the legal adviser, " I 
 must take the liberty to differ from you. Sir. 
 It is my humble opinion that increase of pro- 
 perty does add to enjoyment. I have found it 
 so in my humble way."
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 169 
 
 " All enjoyment is in the mind,"" said Fre- 
 derick. 
 
 " Is it?" said the lawyer, who, without making 
 any farther comment, took from his pocket a 
 bundle of papers, and began to untie the red 
 tape that bound them. 
 
 " Now, Mr. Shepherd," said the legal advi- 
 ser, " I have procured the certificate of your 
 marriage to Jane Miller; and it appears that 
 this Jane Miller was the only child of Ephraim 
 Miller, son of Peter Miller, by his second wife 
 Rebecca Miller, formerly Rebecca Thompson, 
 spinster." 
 
 This kind of discussion or exposition of affi- 
 nities was by no means pleasant to Frederick 
 Stratton as a matter of taste, and far less so as 
 a matter of feeling. He also felt very much 
 inclined to manifest his sense of the lawyer's 
 rudeness in beginning this discourse, and pay- 
 ing such marked deference to Mr. Shepherd. 
 But he repressed his indignation as well as he 
 could, and merely said, 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 170 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 '^ Well, Sir, taking all this for granted, can 
 you not suggest any mode by which the busi- 
 ness may be done without making a public ex- 
 posure of what is and must be so exceedingly 
 painful and distressing to my father? In fact, 
 I think that this man is bound in honour not to 
 prosecute his claim, if the prosecution of it 
 makes public that which he has been paid to 
 conceal."" 
 
 The lawyer looked cunning and pert again, 
 and with one of his most conceited airs, replied, 
 " My dear Sir, you don'*t seem to understand 
 law : excuse my freedom, but you don't, in- 
 deed. No man can be legally bound to an 
 illegal act. Law is law."" 
 
 ** So I believe,'' said Frederick, rather an- 
 grily, " and that is the only definition that can 
 be given of it. And honour is honour." 
 
 ** Very likely," said the legal adviser ; " but 
 we must attend to business. Now, here is an 
 estate of twelve hundred a-year devolving to 
 the lawful wife of my friend Mr. Shepherd ;
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 171 
 
 and it appears that a Mr. Stratton, for certain 
 reasons best known to himself, wishes the claim 
 to this estate on the part of Mr. Shepherd's 
 wife to be waved, and the property suffered to 
 lapse to the next heir ; but in the mean time, 
 my good Sir, what title can the next heir show 
 while Mrs. Shepherd is living ?" 
 
 At hearing this, the young man felt perplex- 
 ed, and he saw that there was some truth in the 
 remark, that law is law. " But are you quite 
 sure that Mrs. Shepherd, as you are pleased to 
 call her, is actually the heir-at-law to this pro- 
 perty? The connexion seems to me very re- 
 mote, and the descent rather circuitous." 
 
 " Sir," interrupted the lawyer, " the law of 
 descent is — " 
 
 " Thank you, thank you,*" interposed Fre- 
 derick ; " I can't understand the matter, I dare 
 say, if you explain it ever so clearly ; I never 
 could understand law. I merely ask, are you 
 quite confident of the undoubted title of the 
 person in question to this estate ? You seem 
 I 2
 
 172 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 to have been collecting evidence to prove the 
 fact, but may there not be some individual now 
 living, who has not seen the advertisements, 
 and who has quite as good a claim as this Mrs. 
 Shepherd ? Have you searched all the registers 
 and all the records ?" 
 
 " Upon my word. Sir," responded the law- 
 yer, " you seem very anxious to set up some 
 rival claimant ; but I can tell you, if that will 
 be any gratification to you, that there is a little 
 opposition attempted to be set up against us." 
 
 " Ay, indeed .?" said Frederick ; " and sup- 
 pose that Mrs. Shepherd does not feel disposed 
 to contest the point at law .?*" 
 
 ^' Oh, Sir, don'^t be alarmed on that head ; 
 we will contest the point for her. I assure you, 
 if you have any apprehensions about the ex- 
 pense, none of it will fall upon Mrs. Shepherd 
 or Mr. Stratton." 
 
 Wordsworth has said, " The world is too 
 much with us :" he is right ; the world has an
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 173 
 
 influence over us all, ay, over the very best and 
 most independent of us, which we cannot very 
 easily resist ; and one reason why we don't re- 
 sist it is, that we are hardly aware of it. — Frede- 
 rick Stratton had expressed a very hearty con- 
 tempt for the world and its opinions, but he did 
 feel not a little mortified at hearing the little 
 pert puppy of a lawyer speak of his mother and 
 father as Mrs. Shepherd and Mr. Stratton. So 
 hereby another shock was given to his feelings, 
 and another check to the confidence of his anti- 
 social theories. He felt that though the world 
 is exceedingly absurd in its notions, and though 
 there is great weakness in submitting to its 
 caprices, yet that it is not possible to oppose it in 
 every point. 
 
 He also found that Mr. Shepherd's legal ad- 
 viser was not to be argued with upon the prin- 
 ciples which had influenced the mind of Frede- 
 rick Stratton. Nevertheless, he impatiently re- 
 plied, " Sir, it is not the expense of the litiga-
 
 174 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 tion that I am alluding to, but I speak only of 
 the unpleasantness of an exposure of family 
 secrets." 
 
 *' Yes, yes/' responded the man of law ; " that 
 is unpleasant, very ; but it cannot always be 
 avoided. I have had, in the course of my 
 practice, which has been pretty extensive, seve- 
 ral instances of unpleasant exposures : but we 
 must make the best of them ; and one comfort 
 is, that the world soon forgets that sort of 
 thing." 
 
 " But in the present case, methinks you are 
 making the worst of the matter. You are about 
 making an exposure merely on the speculation 
 of the possibihty of success." 
 
 During this conversation Mr. Shepherd was 
 amusing himself with staring out of the window, 
 and to him Frederick directed neither his looks 
 nor his conversation ; for he perceived very 
 clearly that the lawyer was the principal person, 
 and strongly did he suspect that the claim was 
 not quite so good as it had at first been repre-
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 175 
 
 sented. The young gentleman had heard sto- 
 ries of the craftiness of hungry attorneys offici- 
 ously making themselves jobs of this nature, 
 and he not only believed all that he had heard, 
 but gave that part of the profession credit for 
 much more than they were guilty of. Hearing 
 now that there was another claimant for the 
 property in question, it occurred to him that it 
 was possible that this other claimant might have 
 the better title of the two, and most heartily 
 did he wish it might be the case. But there 
 was some difficulty in ascertaining this fact ; for 
 he had discernment enough to see that though 
 Mr. Shepherd's legal adviser might be a very 
 honest man, he was also an acute man, and es- 
 pecially so where his own interest was concerned. 
 Frederick Stratton also could discern that Mr. 
 Shepherd was no conjurer, and that he was a 
 very fit client for such a legal adviser ; and he 
 strongly suspected that, though no part of the 
 expense would fall upon Mr. Stratton, yet a 
 very heavy portion of it would fall upon poor
 
 176 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 Mr. Shepherd, who might thereby, and through 
 the instigation of his legal adviser, render him- 
 self somewhat troublesome to the family at 
 Nettlethorpe. 
 
 Considering this, he thought it most advisable 
 to endeavour to have some conversation with 
 Shepherd in the absence of his legal adviser. 
 He contented himself with asking how soon the 
 trial would come on, and when he was informed 
 that it would not take place for several weeks, 
 he had hopes that he might, in the mean time, 
 discover who was the rival claimant, and ascer- 
 tain whether the whole difficulty might not be 
 got rid of without the publicity which his father 
 dreaded.
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 17' 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 When, after the interview with Captain 
 Hartley, which took place at Frederick Strat- 
 ton's lodgings, the young man resolved upon re- 
 turning home, it was not because he had altered 
 his view, or recanted his theory ; but it was, ac- 
 cording to his own view of the movement, an 
 act of momentary impulse of compassion. A 
 discipline, however, had been previously to that 
 impulse gradually weaning him from some of the 
 wildest of his extravagancies, and preparing 
 him to act and think a little more like the 
 rest of the world. After he had returned home, 
 the pleasures, though melancholy, of his pa- 
 rental dwelling, and the winning kindness of his 
 I 5
 
 178 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 sisters, and the agreeable, common-place, sober 
 manners of Captain Hartley, contributed still 
 farther to humanize and quiet his restless soul. 
 There had not been any set talk or regular dis- 
 cussion on these topics, on which he was in 
 error, and probably the very absence of that 
 kind of talk was favourable to his amendment. 
 Argumentation, as almost every body has had 
 occasion to observe, is by no means omnipotent; 
 and Butler, in his Hudibras somewhere has it — 
 
 " He that 's convinced against his will 
 Is of the same opinion still." 
 
 For the crotchets which get into the human 
 brain do not ascend thither by the ladder of 
 logic, nor will they be dismounted by the tedi- 
 ous process of reasoning. 
 
 Frederick Stratton, though a change, or at 
 least an abatement, had taken place in the sin- 
 gularity of his humour, was not himself con- 
 scious of the change ; and had any individual, 
 either congratulated or reproached him, as the
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 179 
 
 case might be, for having abated some of the 
 strength or violence of his notions, he would 
 have been seriously offended, and perhaps even 
 much astonished. And when the distressing 
 and mortifying circumstance of Shepherd's let- 
 ter had compelled Mr. Stratton to expose to his 
 son the condition of his life, however gallantly 
 the young man might affect to bear up against 
 it, it is a fact, that he did wish that it had 
 been otherwise ; and while he was discoursinjr 
 with Tom Shepherd and his legal adviser, 
 though he imagined that it was on his father's 
 account solely, and as a mere gratuitous act of 
 benevolence that he was endeavouring to abate 
 the evil, or prevent the exposure, yet there was 
 a feeling in his own mind, hardly recognized, 
 certainly not acknowledged, that the prevention 
 of publicity would also be a blessing to himself. 
 The sight of, and conversation with two such 
 men as Shepherd and his lawyer, did not, in- 
 deed, lead Frederick to suppose that the world 
 needed less rectification than he had previously
 
 180 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 imagined ; but it tended to lead him to the con- 
 clusion, that there were in the world some indi- 
 viduals who were not very susceptible of philo- 
 sophical regeneration. Farthermore, in con- 
 versing with these men he had his natural feel- 
 ings of pride very much excited ; for, with all 
 his levelling notions, he had a little reserve to 
 make for himself. He felt towards the world 
 as Catiline did towards his fellow-conspirators, 
 when in a fine speech which he made them, or 
 which is more likely, Sallust made for him, he is 
 represented as saying, "Use me either as your ge- 
 neral or your fellow-soldier." They all knew very 
 well which he liked best. Frederick Stratton also 
 was not a perfect leveller, he had an inclination 
 towards a little distinction for himself; and he 
 did not feel a whit the less inclined to be distin- 
 guished from the common herd, after he had 
 had his interview with the stupid Tom Shep- 
 herd and his crafty solicitor. 
 
 With feelings of contempt for both of them, 
 and fears that the world contained too many
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 181 
 
 such, he retired to his hotel, from whence he 
 directed a letter to his father, stating all that 
 had taken place relative to the unpleasant busi- 
 ness, and putting, in the strongest light, his 
 own bright hopes that the threatened storm 
 would pass innocuously by them. 
 
 At the hotel where Frederick lodged, there 
 was in the public coiFec-room a middle-aged 
 gentleman of good presence, and comely appear- 
 ance, wearing a wholesome aspect of contented 
 cheerfulness, and apparently satisfied with all 
 that is or can be. But though his brow was 
 clear so far as care was concerned, it did not 
 manifest the apathy of indifference, or any Avant 
 of thought. On the contrary, he appeared like 
 a man who had thought much, but who had 
 thought successfully ; who had contemplated 
 life and its interests, not for the sake of making 
 riddles and of tying knots, to show his own 
 wisdom and sagacity ; but had endeavoured, 
 and that successfully, to solve the difficulties 
 which did exist.
 
 18^ SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 Frederick was Englishman enough not to be 
 very hasty in making advances to conversation 
 with a stranger ; but not quite so English as 
 to look sulkily at one whom he knew not. He 
 was then in tolerably good spirits, and so, very 
 clearly, was the stranger, who was also an Eng- 
 lishman, and therefore somewhat shy. But it 
 was manifest to both parties that there was 
 desire on both sides to be sociable. So by means 
 of a newspaper politely handed, and pohtely re- 
 ceived ; by means of a word on the weather and 
 so forth, the ice of formality was broken, and 
 the parties not reluctantly entered into conver- 
 sation. After a very few words had been ex- 
 changed, it was manifest to Frederick that he 
 was not conversing with one as stupid as Tom 
 Shepherd, or as crafty as Tom Shepherd's 
 lawyer. In fact, the young gentleman thought 
 that he had never before met with an indivi- 
 dual so purely rational, and so superior to com- 
 mon-place prejudices. He made no difficulty, 
 therefore, of introducing mention of his views
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 183 
 
 of society, and his wishes and hopes for the com- 
 plete rectification of things in general. The 
 stranger smiled at the young man's earnestness 
 of manner. There had been a time when any 
 one might have laughed outright at Frederick 
 Stratton and his schemes of rectification, and he 
 would not have noticed or heeded it. But his 
 confidence was now a little abated, and a tran- 
 sient smile cooled his ardour. Thinking, how- 
 ever, that his present companion was not a pre- 
 judiced or stupid man, he ventured to say, rea- 
 soning Socratically, 
 
 "But are you not of opinion that there is 
 something wrong in the state of society .?" 
 
 The stranger good-humoured ly answered him 
 accordingly, " There is." 
 
 " And is it not desirable that that which is 
 wrong should be corrected and made right?'' 
 
 " It is desirable." 
 
 " If there be something wrong, and if it be 
 desirable that it should be made right, by what 
 means can it be so made right but by directing
 
 184 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 the attention of the world to the means of cor- 
 recting evil." 
 
 " Clearly that must be the first step to im- 
 provement."" 
 
 " And is not that which is right more advan- 
 tageous than that which is wrong ?" 
 
 " There can be no doubt of it." 
 
 " When, therefore, men know what is wrong, 
 and how it may be corrected ; and when they 
 know that the right is more advantageous than 
 the wrongs will they not naturally pursue that 
 which is right .?" 
 
 " No." 
 
 " No ?" echoed the young gentleman. '* Are 
 not all men guided in their conduct by that 
 which they perceive to be their interest ?" 
 
 " Not one in a thousand,'' said the stranger. 
 " Human beings do not act upon calculation ; 
 they act from impulse, from passion, from ca- 
 price, from any thing, in short, than calculation. 
 All the moral and religious exhortations which 
 are addressed to mankind, all the passionate and
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 185 
 
 earnest appeals that are made to their feeUngs 
 in favour of virtue, are on the supposition that 
 they do not act upon calculation. If virtue, 
 and religion, and propriety of demeanour, and 
 benevolence in conduct, were the result of cal- 
 culation, they might be taught as easily as the 
 multiplication-table, and their influence over 
 the mind would be as permanent and universal 
 as the knowledge of figures. When a man has 
 learned the multiplication-table, he knows as 
 long as he lives, and he uniformly acts upon 
 the knowledge, that three times three are nine ; 
 he never has a moment's doubt of the fact. In 
 matters of calculation there is also a complete 
 and unwavering uniformity of opinion ; on other 
 topics you can scarcely find two people to think 
 alike." 
 
 Frederick Stratton, who was much more open 
 to conviction than he had been before his return 
 to Nettlethorpe, now began to think that it 
 was possible that the same arguments would 
 differently affect the two persons with whom he
 
 186 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 had been conversing at the house of Mrs. White, 
 the tobacconist. Moreover, there came into his 
 recollection the aristocratic pride of Mrs. White 
 herself, who was angry that her first-floor 
 lodger had not been designated as a gentleman. 
 The young man thought, if one who had so 
 apparently little to sacrifice on the score of 
 rank as Mrs. White the tobacconist, should 
 still stickle for dignity and consideration, there 
 would be a very serious difficulty in bringing the 
 world at large to rational thought and con- 
 duct on the subject of the distinctions of rank. 
 Again, there came into the young man's thoughts 
 the fact, that Tom Shepherd, who had as much 
 to live upon as he could possibly enjoy, was 
 yet miserably anxious for more ; and that, in 
 order to obtain that, he would risk what he had, 
 and put himself to trouble and inconvenience, 
 and inflict a painful wound upon one whom he 
 acknowledged as a benefactor. Thinking of 
 that fact, and of the eagerness of the legal 
 adviser after the acquisition of wealth through
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 187 
 
 thick and thin ; thinking of these things and 
 of much more that he had seen before without 
 thinking, there sprang up in his mind another 
 cloud of doubt, obscuring his prospects and 
 abating his hopes of regenerating society. 
 
 He did not, however, feel all this very vividly 
 and distinctly ; he regarded the matter slightly 
 and doubtingly, considering these things merely 
 as exceptions and difficulties. And when 
 he observed the confidence with which the 
 stranger spoke, he felt his own confidence some- 
 thing abated. It is an exceedingly unpleasant 
 thing to be convinced by another's arguments, 
 and that is the reason why so few people are 
 convinced by argument; they don't hke it. 
 Frederick Stratton did not hke it; and therefore, 
 as his Socratic mode of reasoning did not bid 
 fair to convince his opponent, he attempted 
 the English mode of reasoning in order to 
 defend himself. 
 
 " But >surely. Sir, when the world is manifestly 
 and avowedly wrong, and it is in your power
 
 188 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 to correct its errors, you must think it a duty 
 to do so." 
 
 " If I felt confident that it was in my power 
 to correct it, I should certainly think it my 
 duty to correct it. But do you not think that 
 there have existed in the lapse of past years 
 and ages, many individuals who have seen the 
 world's errors, and have endeavoured, and have 
 fancied themselves able, to remove or rectify 
 these errors, and yet have failed in the at- 
 tempt ?" 
 
 " Very likely. But it does not follow from 
 that, that the principle of reformation ought to 
 be given up, because it has not succeeded to its 
 full and most desirable extent. Itisadutywe 
 owe to society, to do good to society." 
 
 " Clearly so," said the stranger ; " and it is 
 my humble opinion, that general declamations, 
 on general topics of complaint, are not the best 
 mode of doing good to society. Society con- 
 sists of individuals, and to individuals we may 
 definitely extend our usefulness. A man does
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 189 
 
 good, who fills his station in life with propriety. 
 A country clergyman, for instance ; I know such 
 a one, and I trust there are many such. A coun- 
 try clergyman, who has a feeling and spirit of 
 genuine benevolence, and is really desirous of 
 serving his fellow-creatures, may, without setting 
 his foot out of his own parish, or suffering his 
 name to be heard of beyond his own immediate 
 neighbourhood, be a greater blessing to society 
 than multitudes whose names are public pro- 
 perty, and who make a loud noise in the world. 
 I am not speaking disparagingly of public and 
 extensive benefactors, I am merely contending for 
 the honour and utility of private benefactors. He 
 that undertakes to change the whole aspect of 
 society, and to produce comprehensive revolu- 
 tions in the human mind, may labour to the end, 
 and never be thanked for his pains : but he that 
 with less ambition, and with equal benevolence, 
 uses his moral and mental energies for the ob- 
 vious and palpable benefit of them with whom 
 he is immediatelv connected, is certain that he
 
 190 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 is doing good ; he sees for himself the fruit of 
 his labours.'' 
 
 "But may not a man do good at once," 
 asked Frederick, " to the small society in which 
 he immediately lives, and also to the world at 
 large ?" 
 
 " He may, but it is doubtful," replied the 
 stranger. '* I know many instances of persons 
 mightily anxious to benefit the world at large, 
 and from this, their comprehensive benevolence, 
 their own families have suffered serious loss ; 
 and while they have been of little or no service 
 to those whom they have attempted to benefit, 
 they have been greatly injurious to those whom 
 it was their duty to cherish and protect. I just 
 now alluded to a benevolent clergyman, and, I 
 am proud to say, I was speaking of my own 
 brother : from him I heard a story of a young 
 man of good family and good abilities, and 
 altogether of good feelings, but he had taken it 
 into his head that the world needed rectification 
 and improvement, and for the purpose of
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS A.RE BEST. 191 
 
 effecting that improvement, he left his father's 
 roof, wandered about the country, nobody 
 knew where, connected himself, at one time 
 with strolling players, at another with a gang 
 of gypsies, scoffed at parental advice, and 
 spurned parental authority : he once, I am 
 told, went so far, as to take upon himself to 
 subvert the Christian religion, because he fan- 
 cied that it was injurious to society ; and then 
 suddenly another freak seized him, and he set 
 himself up as a kind of preacher, or prophet, de- 
 claring that the world would in a few weeks 
 come to an end. Now can you think that such 
 conduct as this, is by any means adapted to do 
 good, either to the world at large, or to the in- 
 dividual himself? Real good can only be ef- 
 fected where there is steadiness of purpose, and 
 definiteness of application ; but when any in- 
 dividual, especially a young and inexperienced 
 person, attempts a great and comprehensive 
 change, he finds, and indeed he must find, that 
 there will be frequent changes in his opinion ;
 
 192 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 and what at one time appeared to him very pe- 
 culiarly desirable, at another may seem to be 
 injurious, and altogether to be avoided.**"* 
 
 The stranger paused, and begged pardon for 
 having made so long an harangue. " You need 
 not make any apologies,'' replied Frederick, '* I 
 am pleased to hear you : I hope I am open to 
 conviction ; and perhaps you will allow that I 
 am indeed candid and open to conviction, when 
 I tell you that I am the person whom you have 
 been describing." 
 
 The stranger felt, and looked confused. " I 
 beg your pardon, Sir," he replied, " but I was 
 not by any means aware of that : you might 
 have thought me personal.*" 
 
 '* No such thing," replied Frederick ; " and 
 even if you had been personal, you were not to 
 be blamed. You thought, or you might have 
 thought, that a little good advice might be 
 useful to me.*" 
 
 *' I assure you. Sir,'' answered the gentleman, 
 " you were altogether a stranger to me. But
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 193 
 
 judging from present appearances, I suppose 
 that you have, in a great measure, reformed 
 your feelings and opinions on these matters." 
 
 " I cannot say, Sir, that any great revolution 
 has taken place in my opinions ; though I have 
 consented, as a matter of benevolence to my own 
 family, to reside with them again, and I have 
 certainly thought differently on some minor to- 
 pics. I will agree with you, that when the ques- 
 tion of general reformation is taken up, there 
 will be occasional changes in our opinions of 
 what may be expedient." • 
 
 " Well, Sir, if you please, we will drop the 
 discussion ; and 1 beg again to assure you that 
 I had not the least intention or thought of 
 wounding your feelings, when I introduced a 
 reference to you. I hope we shall be better ac- 
 quainted. How long do you stay in town .?"" 
 
 Frederick then told his companion, whom we 
 may now call Mr. Brownlow, that the time of 
 his stay was uncertain, depending on events 
 over which he had no control. 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 194 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 " I reside," said Mr. Brownlow, " not many 
 miles from London ; and if you can find lei- 
 sure to favour me with your company, I have 
 a bed at your service.'' 
 
 The young gentleman took the card that was 
 offered him, and the parties separated.
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 195 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 As there was no immediate necessity for his 
 calling again very early on Mr. Shepherd, and 
 as he recollected that Hartley had been very 
 strangely and abruptly sent away from Nettle- 
 thorpe, Frederick Stratton, on the following 
 morning, found his way to the Captain's lodg- 
 ings. Him he found surrounded with books 
 and studying mathematics, as a preparatory 
 exercise to taking holy orders. We are in- 
 debted to the wisdom of our ancestors for many 
 things, and among others for having found out 
 that no man can inculcate religious principles 
 without previously and closely studying ma- 
 thematics. 
 
 K 2
 
 196 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 Captain Hartley did not much like the study 
 of mathematics, but he bore patiently with it, 
 because he knew, that when he had once passed 
 an examination, he might very safely, as he 
 would very surely, forget all that he had 
 learned. The Captain was such a quiet man 
 that nothing disturbed him; and when Fre- 
 derick Stratton presented himself, instead of 
 looking coldly and drily at the young man 
 before the explanation was given, he received 
 him very cordially, thinking it quite time 
 enough to be offended when he had heard 
 whether or no there was any thing worth being 
 offended at. 
 
 Frederick, as in this case was proper, began, 
 and said, '' Captain Hartley, I have to beg ten 
 thousand pardons for our most extraordinary 
 behaviour ; but there was a cause for it.'* Here 
 the young man's voice trembled, and his hand 
 shook, and he could not proceed so glibly as he 
 had begun.
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 197 
 
 Hartley was grieved for him, and said, ''No 
 serious misfortune, I hope?" 
 
 Frederick shook his head and replied, '* I am 
 sorry to say that my father received on the 
 morning of your departure from Nettlethorpe 
 a letter which he felt to be a very serious mis- 
 fortune." Then fixing his eyes upon Hartley, 
 he continued with great earnestness, " Dare I 
 tell you ?" 
 
 Hartley replied, " Tell me, if it will be any 
 relief, or if I can be of any service to you." 
 
 " No," said Frederick; " no, you cannot be of 
 any service in the affair. It is a difficulty, a 
 perplexity." 
 
 Frederick was unable to proceed ; Hartley 
 rose and went to him, taking his hand, and in a 
 very earnest and serious tone said, " My good 
 friend, excuse, excuse the liberty I am about to 
 take. I know it is a matter of great delicacy, 
 and I am aware of your father's high spirit and 
 of yours too ; but I know you will forgive me : 
 I have it, or very shortly shall have it in my
 
 198 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 power to be of more service to Mr. Stratton 
 than you are aware of. Since I saw you, I 
 have had intelligence of an agreeable nature, by 
 which I learn that a very considerable property 
 devolves to me." 
 
 " Oh, my worthy friend," interrupted Fre- 
 derick Stratton, " I thank you most heartily 
 for your kind intentions, but that is not the 
 matter. It is not a pecuniary difficulty that 
 perplexes us." 
 
 '* Is it," asked Hartley, who could not help 
 thinking of Laura Stratton — " is it a difficulty 
 in which I can be of any service ? Tell me, 
 perliaps I may." 
 
 Frederick, after much more hesitation, told 
 liim the whole story from beginning to end. 
 Hartley listened with astonishment, and almost 
 incredulity ; and when the narrative was ended, 
 he again took hold of the young man's hand, 
 and with exulting cheerfulness exclaimed, 
 " Then I can assist you; I can extricate you 
 from the whole difficulty at once : the property
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 199 
 
 in question is mine ; mine beyond the shadow 
 of a doubt." 
 
 " Yours ?" ejaculated Frederick, in wild as- 
 tonishment, — " Yours? Impossible !'' 
 
 " No ; not at all impossible ; and I can very 
 soon demonstrate the truth of the assertion. 
 There is a dirty fellow of an attorney who has 
 set up another claimant, of whom he designs 
 to make a booty, but he can never bring the 
 cause into court. The man is a most outrage- 
 ous simpleton, and has already thrown away up- 
 on this business more than he can well afford." 
 
 " But had we not better undeceive him ?" 
 said Frederick. 
 
 " If it were possible, it is certainly desirable. 
 But he is one of those whom it is more easy to 
 deceive than to undeceive." 
 
 " Well, do you really think that the matter 
 will not be brought into court?" asked Frederick. 
 
 " I am almost sure it will not," said the Cap- 
 tain. " This attorney is merely making a fool 
 of the man to plunder him."
 
 200 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 " What an infamous shame it is," exclaimed 
 Frederick, " that such things should be per- 
 mitted." 
 
 " True," replied Hartley ; " but the shame 
 that they exist is not any greater than the dif- 
 ficulty of preventing them. This, however, I 
 will do ; I will direct my solicitor to call upon 
 the other, and use certain arguments which will 
 prevent, I think, any farther prosecution of the 
 claim. But come, you must spend the remain- 
 der of the day with me, and I will lay aside my 
 studies, and give you my best attention." 
 
 Frederick willingly accepted the offer, and 
 felt his mind not a little relieved at this turn 
 of affairs. " Now," said Hartley, " where shall 
 we go first ? I must introduce you to some of 
 my literary acquaintance. Suppose we call 
 upon Spratt." 
 
 " Spratt !" repeated Frederick ; " Who is 
 Spratt ?'' 
 
 " What ! did you never hear of Spratt ?" 
 said the Captain, with an accent of astonish-
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 201 
 
 ment ; " I thought everybody knew him. Well, 
 I will introduce you, and I think you will say 
 he is a very clever fellow." 
 
 The two friends accordingly set out in search 
 of the celebrated Spratt ; who, by the way, was 
 not quite so celebrated as Captain Hartley 
 thought he was. The Captain having resolved 
 to change his profession, had begun to feel a 
 powerful sympathy with every thing that wore 
 the aspect of literature, and it was his greatest 
 happiness and pride to be acquainted with any 
 one connected with the press ; and he knew so 
 little of the literary world, that he looked upon 
 any one who had written and printed as a being 
 of superior order. 
 
 Spratt was at home ; not quite disengaged, 
 for Theodore Clarke was with him ; but Cap- 
 tain Hartley was such a valued friend that he 
 was always welcome. 
 
 " Let nie introduce my friend Mr. Stratton,"' 
 said the Captain. And forthwith Mr. Spratt 
 was very glad to see Mr. St rat ton. 
 K 5
 
 202 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 '' Hartley," said Spratt, " are you going to 
 Riddleton's conversazione to-night ? I can give 
 you cards for yourself and your friend."" 
 
 The offer was cheerfully and thankfully 
 accepted. 
 
 ** Are you upon anything new ?"" asked the 
 Captain. 
 
 '^ New !" repHed Spratt, " I am reviewing a 
 new book, and I am at a loss how to go on ; 
 for our editor sent me the book last night, witli- 
 out any title-page, and desired me to have it 
 done by the time that he returns from Brighton, 
 to which place he set off this very morning. 
 Now, I don't know what to say about it, for 
 here is neither bookseller's nor author's name 
 to it." 
 
 The critic handed the book to Captain Hart- 
 ley, and said, " Perhaps you can tell me ?^'' 
 
 Hartley knew that he did not know, but did 
 not like to say so ; nobody does. So he took the 
 book and looked at it as wisely as if he might 
 be able to ascertain or plausibly to conjecture
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 203 
 
 whose the book was ; and he, after a few minutes, 
 returned it to Spratt, and professed himself at a 
 loss ; though he could not help thinking, as he 
 said, that he had heard something about it. 
 
 *' Well," said Frederick, *' can you not write 
 your review of the book, and leave space for 
 the insertion of the title and author's name 
 afterwards." 
 
 " Yes, but then I may blame where I ought 
 to praise, and praise where I ought to blame." 
 
 " And does not your review,^' said Captain 
 Hartley, " profess most explicitly to give a fair 
 and honest review of all literary productions, 
 without any partiality, and only judging by the 
 merits of the book." 
 
 " And what review," said Spratt, " professes 
 to the contrary. Now there was one of our 
 best writers the other day, for some crotchet or 
 other, turned his back upon us, and went over 
 to the enemy. Suppose this work should be 
 his, and suppose I should praise it, what 
 would our editor and proprietors say to me ?
 
 204 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 And how foolish we should look in the eyes of 
 the world." 
 
 "- Then you are by no means impartial," said 
 Frederick Stratton : " you are not reviewing the 
 book, but the writer, or the pubhsher." 
 
 " Why," replied Spratt, " we are mortal and 
 human, and all have our hkes and dislikes, and 
 it is not easy to help expressing them." 
 
 " I can easily imagine," interposed Hartley, 
 " that a feeling of friendship towards an author 
 personally, may induce you to think sincerely 
 favourably of his work, and I can also think it 
 very possible that you may not discern in the 
 writings of an enemy or opponent those beauties 
 which another person might discover. But I can- 
 not understand upon what principle you adopt 
 not only the language of severe condemnation, 
 but sometimes of almost personal insult, towards 
 writers of whom you personally know nothing," 
 
 '' That is easy enough to be understood," 
 answered Spratt. '* The severity of our con-
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 205 
 
 demnation of some books gives force to our 
 praise of others. Besides that, there is a great 
 pleasure to the reader in a severe and pungent 
 article, it is as good fun as a bull-bait or a 
 badger hunt." 
 
 " Ay," said Frederick Stratton, somewhat 
 pettishly and sharply, " the comparison is good. 
 It is a cruel sport.'' 
 
 " Not so cruel as you imagine," said the 
 critic ; *' for there is great pleasure in writing 
 the article, and multitudes have pleasure in 
 reading it ; while there is only one individual 
 who suffers pain, and that is the poor author. 
 And perhaps, after all, he does not suffer 
 much ; for he can easily persuade him- 
 self that the critic wants judgment. Again, 
 who would think of reading a review which 
 did not abound in the sharpness of satire. 
 A good-humoured review is the dullest of all 
 dull books. The writer of a severe critique 
 gains also with the multitude a great repu-
 
 206 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 tation as a very clever fellow ; as Candida 
 says, ' What a prodigious genius this Signer 
 Pococurante must be, nothing pleases him.' 
 And what was it that formed the ground of 
 Peter Pindar's popularity, but the severity and 
 home-thrusts of his satire." 
 
 Frederick Stratton thought little better of 
 critics than he did of lawyers, and he thought 
 of both of them, that their necessity was greater 
 than their probability of reform. Nor was he 
 by any means more favourably disposed towards 
 the system, when Mr. Spratt laughed heartily 
 at his own enunciation of his own merits. 
 
 The visit to the critic was brought to a con- 
 clusion by the arrival of other visitors ; and, as 
 Hartley and Stratton left the house, the latter 
 remarked, " I cannot imagine how these people 
 can find time for the study which is essential to 
 make them good critics, if they have their morn- 
 ings occupied by callers, and their evenings by 
 entertainments." 
 
 Hartley was about to answer, but he was an-
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 207 
 
 ticipated by one much better qualified to speak 
 upon the subject ; that was Theodore Clarke, 
 who had followed them out of the house unper- 
 ceived, and who joined them uninvited. 
 
 " I can explain the matter to you easily 
 enough," said he, " or, more properly speaking, 
 you may explain it yourself, if you will take the 
 trouble to read one of their criticisms, and then 
 to read the book which they have criticised. 
 About twenty years ago, a bookseller, by way 
 of joke, advertised for some literary gentlemen 
 who could review books v/ithout cutting them 
 open ; how many applications he had I do not 
 remember, but I know that he had a great 
 many. I myself was requested to write in a re- 
 view when I was scarcely out of my teens, and 
 when I declined, on the ground of incompe- 
 tency, my friend laughed at me, and asked if I 
 had ever read the review in question." 
 
 " I remember," said Frederick, " hearing you 
 make some such remarks when I lived in Lon- 
 don, but I hardly thought you were serious."
 
 208 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 " Oh yes,'' replied Theodore Clarke, '' seri- 
 ous enough ; don't you remember that I was 
 continually telling you that you could see every 
 thing but that which was immediately before 
 your eyes ?" 
 
 " I do remember," said Frederick, smiling, 
 ^' that you used to make many impertinent ob- 
 servations, but I have not any distinct recollec- 
 tion of them." 
 
 " Well, I shall see you in the evening, so 
 I will take my leave of you for the present." 
 
 Theodore Clarke was of those unaccount- 
 able beings of whom we scarcely know what to 
 think, and to whom we scarcely know how to 
 behave. He was impertinent, chattering, and 
 intrusive, and, in his absence, we think him 
 troublesome and disagreeable ; but, when he is 
 in our company, we cannot have the heart to 
 behave rudely to him, or to give him a hint to 
 be gone. He seemed to have an especial license 
 to say what he pleased, to come and go just 
 as the humour took him. He lived, as we have
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 209 
 
 already seen, in most humble style, but, by 
 some means or other, found his way into all 
 manner of society. Whenever men of letters, 
 as such, were at all admissible, Theodore Clarke 
 was there. He knew every body, and was as 
 familiar with one as another. Every body that 
 he conversed with was, for the time being, his 
 particular friend ; and he seemed to take an 
 interest in what concerned them, and, for the 
 time, to live more for them than for himself. 
 When once he had made an acquaintance, he 
 would not easily relinquish it. As for quar- 
 relling or coolness, he hardly knew what the 
 words meant. He certainly was good-humoured, 
 and was most ready to do any one a service 
 if it lay in his power. His whole character 
 was singular, and he appeared to throw away, 
 by a perpetual frivolity and trifling of manner, 
 those powers which might have distinguished 
 him in society, or which, at all events, might 
 have put it into his power to enjoy better fur- 
 nished lodgings.
 
 210 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Without following Hartley and Frederick 
 Stratton through their morning's ramble, we 
 meet them at Mr. Riddleton's conversazione 
 in the evening. They went there together ; 
 the spectacle was new to them both. They 
 were both prepared with looks, and thoughts, 
 and words of wisdom. They were admitted 
 by two tall, tawdry, polite, insolent footmen. 
 Others of the party came at the same time ; 
 and these others also looked wise. The rooms 
 were very full, and there was hardly standing- 
 room to be had near the pier-glasses. They 
 neither of them dared to talk common-place, 
 even to another ; they scarcely thought com-
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 211 
 
 mon-place; in short, they did not know what 
 to think or what to say. They moved slowly 
 about the rooms, and looked at the company ; 
 and they saw several young gentlemen very 
 smartly dressed, and manifestly conscious that 
 they were so; and these young gentlemen 
 walked about with their hats under their arms, 
 ever and anon poking their fingers through 
 their hair. Frederick Stratton thought for a 
 moment that they had come to the wrong 
 house ; but his embarrassment was relieved by 
 meeting at last with Theodore Clarke and the 
 celebrated Spratt. Theodore Clarke was never 
 so welcome as at this moment; and the four 
 clustered together, and their conversazione be- 
 gan as follows ; not, perhaps, much worth re- 
 cording, but quite as good as the major part 
 of that which composed the then existing buzz. 
 
 '' How long have you been here .''" 
 
 " Oh, not long." 
 
 '' There 's nobody come yet." 
 
 " Who is expected ?"
 
 21S SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 " Can't say." 
 
 " Do you think that Silversides will be 
 here?'' 
 
 " No doubt he will, but he always comes 
 late." 
 
 ^' Who is that with his hands behind him, 
 in black, a stout man, wears powder V 
 
 " That is Riddleton himself: have not you 
 been introduced ? Come, I '11 introduce you."" 
 
 The party were moving for the purpose, 
 when Silversides himself entered the room, 
 and bustled up to Mr. Riddleton, and the 
 major part of the multitude urged their steps 
 that way. And Silversides nodded to one, and 
 shook hands with another, ay, with a great 
 many ; and he shrugged up his shoulders and 
 looked pleased, and the whole party seemed 
 quite alive. Then Silversides rubbed his hands, 
 and then he took out his snuff-box, and so 
 many fingers and thumbs were thrust into it, 
 that it appeared as if he would not have any 
 left for himself. And Silversides, having re-
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 2l3 
 
 turned his snuff-box to his pocket, said in a 
 half-whisper to Riddleton, 
 
 " Have you heard any thing to-day from — ?" 
 
 Mr. Riddleton seemed to understand him, 
 and answered, " Oh yes ; that 's all settled,*" 
 
 " I am glad of it," replied Silversides ; and 
 then, in a louder tone, as if for the instruction 
 of the rest of the company, he added, *' It 
 is a pleasant thing to get rid of an unpleasant 
 business." 
 
 At which those of the company who knew 
 Mr. Silversides laughed, because they could see 
 the wit of it ; and those who did not know him, 
 did not laugh, because they could not see the 
 wit of it. Moving towards a sofa, Mr. Silver- 
 sides then took a seat ; and Frederick Stratton 
 observing that he was a person of some conse- 
 quence in the estimation of the party, endea- 
 voured to get near enough to him to hear 
 and profit by his conversation. But, in order 
 to profit by a wise man's wisdom, it is ne- 
 cessary to believe him to be a wise man ; and
 
 214 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 in order to speak witli confidence, it is neces- 
 sary to believe that one shall be heard with 
 deference. The latter requisite Mr. Silversides 
 had in abundance ; but in the former, Frederick 
 Stratton was sadly deficient : for he took no- 
 thing for granted, save and except his own 
 peculiar crotchets and theories. The party 
 that was clustered round Silversides was evi- 
 dently expecting something brilliant. And one 
 of the party began to talk about Lord Byron ; 
 for in those days every body talked about him. 
 The question apparently started was the secret 
 of poetical impression. 
 
 *' It certainly is not in poetry," said Silver- 
 sides. 
 
 *^ Do you intend," said a young gentleman, 
 who was leaning over the end of the sofa, " to 
 affirm that poetry, as poetry, will not force its 
 own way to public approbation .?'' 
 
 " I do," answered Silversides. " Pure poetry, 
 like virgin gold, requires something of an alloy 
 to fit it for public use. The poetical alloy is of
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 215 
 
 various kinds. Sometimes harmony and beauty 
 of cadence, sometimes religion, sometimes scan- 
 dal, sometimes sensuality, — 'twould be invidious 
 to give instances." 
 
 *' But which of these is the alloy which gives 
 popularity to Lord Byron's poetry ?"" 
 
 " None of these," replied Silversides : *' I 
 should rather incline to say that the popularity 
 of Lord Byron proceeds from his thoroughly 
 English feelings.'' 
 
 '' You are joking.'' 
 
 "No; I am as serious as ever I was in my 
 life." 
 
 '* That you may be, and yet not mean what 
 you say." 
 
 Silversides laughed, for he liked that com- 
 pliment, and pursued : " I am indeed serious. I 
 think Lord Byron thoroughly English. Does 
 not he grumble most gloriously ? Is there not 
 in all his verses a fine and noble spirit of dis- 
 content and peevishness? Does he not rail in 
 good set terms against clouds and fogs and
 
 216 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 damps ; and is it not the glory of an English- 
 man to be highly susceptible of the influences 
 of dull weather? Lord Byron, again, has all 
 the English pride of rank, and all the English 
 frumpish impatience of authority ; railing 
 against kings with all his might, yet manifestly 
 proud of that distinction of title which has 
 its existence only where kings are cultivated. 
 Lord Byron, again, is English in his love of 
 solitude, and in his efforts to make the groans 
 of his solitude reach the ear of society. Lord 
 Byron, again, is English inasmuch as he raves 
 about ancient Greece in a style which can only 
 be learned and imbibed in an English public 
 school. These are the circumstances which 
 give an impetus to his popularity. I don^t 
 deny his genius ; I don't question it ; I don't 
 doubt it. I merely say, it is not the essence of 
 poetry, but it is the accident, which gives it 
 popularity and power. The accident will not 
 do without the essence, nor the essence without 
 the accident."
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 217 
 
 When Silversides had finished this harangue, 
 he happened to turn his eyes towards Frede- 
 rick Stratton, who had been one of his most 
 attentive auditors, and Frederick felt himself 
 almost as much invited as he was incHned 
 to speak. He therefore said, *' I have been 
 accustomed to regard Lord Byron as a citizen 
 of the world, without prejudices or partialities, 
 except that he felt somewhat disgusted with the 
 intense nationality of the English people." 
 
 " He feels that nationality, I believe, as 
 strongly as any one; and he knows that without 
 the sympathy of the English nation he is no- 
 thing; for it is only by the English that he 
 can be thoroughly understood, and his poetry 
 heartily enjoyed. 1 don't find fault with him for 
 grumbhng and railing — that is part of his in- 
 spiration, whereby he makes himself agreeable. 
 There is, however, one more circumstance by 
 which he has strongly laid hold of the public 
 sympathy ; that circumstance is, to use a fa- 
 miliar phrase, a bit of gossip, a laying open of 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 218 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 domestic and personal matters. Himself is in 
 his poetry ; and whether under the character of 
 Childe Harold he designs to draw his own 
 portrait or not, it is very evident that he has a 
 strong fellow-feeling with the Childe ; and by 
 means of his minor poems, compared with Childe 
 Harold, much of his own personal history may 
 be inferred. And there is nothing in the world 
 that men love so well as a bit of gossip. Even 
 in the daily newspapers, the editors of which 
 understand the public taste exceedingly well, 
 how minutely attentive are they to giving all 
 that they possibly can of the private history of 
 such, as are by any accident held up to pubhc 
 gaze. If a loving couple in St. Giles's are had 
 up to a public office, for the magisterial rec- 
 tification of any domestic grievance, the whole 
 particulars are recorded for the edification of 
 the public. But the higher the rank, the 
 greater the interest that is taken in the thoughts, 
 words, and deeds recorded of them. What can 
 be a more tempting title than '* private me- 
 moirs ?" It is not, perhaps, every individual
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 219 
 
 who could make his private memoirs interesting ; 
 but I do verily believe, if almost any individual 
 bearing a title of nobility, or in any manner dis- 
 tinguished from the Smiths, Browns, Greens, 
 and Jacksons, of the multitudinous world, were 
 to write his own private history, and record his 
 family quarrels, and publish his love-letters, he 
 would find myriads of readers." 
 
 Frederick and the rest of the party listened 
 very patiently, for Mr. Silversides was always 
 listened to with much deference. Frederick, 
 however, when an interval was allowed him to 
 speak, said, *' But is it not an evil tliat such 
 an idle curiosity should exist, and that there 
 should not be a more comprehensive and ex- 
 tensive feeling for the welfare of society ?*" 
 
 " I think not," said Silversides : " I am of 
 opinion that there can be no general sympathies 
 antecedent to particular ones. The good feel- 
 ings of the mind are gradually developed—- cha . 
 rity begins at home ; it is only wrong that it 
 too frequently ends where it ought to begin. 
 L 2
 
 220 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 If any man imagines that, without any home 
 affections, he can have an affection for society 
 at large, I think he mistakes. I wish no harm 
 to the people of China, or to the copper-co- 
 loured Indians ; but I cannot, in the nature of 
 things, have the same sympathy with them, as 
 I have with people whom I see and converse 
 with every day." 
 
 In the group that surrounded Mr. Silver- 
 sides, there was standing a young lady of 
 graceful form and lovely aspect, leaning upon 
 the arm of an elder one, who might be her mo- 
 ther or aunt. Frederick Stratton had not seen 
 her, and Mr. Silversides had been so occupied 
 with talking, that he had not observed her; 
 but at that moment, by an accidental movement 
 in the party, she became visible ; and Mr. Sil- 
 versides sprang from his seat with polite haste, 
 and addressing himself to the ladies with great 
 cordiality, said, 
 
 '* I beg your pardon, you have not been in 
 the room long ?'*
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 221 
 
 " Just long enough," replied the elder 
 lady, " to hear your declamation in favour of 
 gossip.'* 
 
 " And in vindication of the particular affec- 
 tions," added he, bowing at the same time to 
 the young lady, who blushed and smiled, and 
 whose blush and smile gave additional loveli- 
 ness to features, which, in repose, seemed beau- 
 tiful enough already. 
 
 " And I think," said Mr. Silversides, still 
 addressing himself to the young lady, '' that 
 you can yourself afford me an illustration." 
 
 The young lady looked serious, and made no 
 reply. 
 
 *' You have no wish, I apprehend," conti- 
 nued the gentleman, " to hear of the death of 
 any bird that flies ; yet, if myriads should pe- 
 rish in the Canary Islands, you would not feel 
 half so much grief as you would, were you to 
 lose your own pet canary-bird." 
 
 " And yet," responded the young lady, in a
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 voice as sweet as her looks, " I should feel 
 more for the death of canary-birds, than for the 
 death of any other birds." 
 
 " That, you see," said Mr. Silversides, ad- 
 dressing himself to Mr. Stratton, " still farther 
 corroborates what I have been saying ; the par- 
 ticular not only precede but produce the gene- 
 ral affections. This lady has a bird, cherishes 
 it, and feeds it, and loves it ; and from loving, 
 the individual feels a sympathy in some degree 
 with the species." 
 
 Frederick Stratton paid more attention to the 
 lovely looks of the young unknown, than he 
 did to the talking of Mr. Silversides ; and so 
 pleased was he with the amiable and gentle 
 expression of the lady's countenance, that he 
 found a difficulty in withdrawing his attention. 
 Such was the power of that fair and lovely face, 
 with its inteUigent and kind aspect, that a revo- 
 lution was produced in the mind of Frederick 
 Stratton on two points at once. In the first 
 place, from thinking a co?iversazione a most ab-
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 2S3 
 
 surd and stupid occupation, he began to believe 
 it to be the most rational of all possible modes 
 of spending an evening; and in the second 
 place, though he had hitherto considered the 
 keeping of canary, or any other birds, as a foolish 
 waste of time, and an idle and useless direction 
 of the attention, yet now he began to have an 
 affection for the very bird in possession of the 
 fair unknown. 
 
 The revolutions of the multitudinous assem- 
 blage brought Frederick and his party into 
 contact with another haranguer, who was de- 
 claiming in good set terms against all manner 
 of common-place, past, present, and to come. 
 This said haranguer was exceedingly eloquent 
 and very striking ; his eloquence was of that 
 nature, that it was impossible for any report to 
 do it justice. And yet, though the talker was 
 railing against the institutions of society, in 
 such wise as would formerly have delighted 
 Frederick Stratton, and have gratified him to 
 his heart's content, yet there was a harshness
 
 2M SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 and ill humour, with which his then humanized 
 feelings had no sympathy. Frederick envied 
 the man's eloquence, but pitied his malignity. 
 
 How strangely constituted is human nature ! 
 And if the grosser and more sensual part of the 
 species be aptly compared to the grovelling 
 swine, not with less aptitude may a comparison 
 be taken from the same animal to the freaks 
 and vagaries of the human mind ; for, after rea- 
 soning has exhausted its powers, and persuasion 
 has preached itself hoarse, when eloquence has 
 not a single trope, figure or metaphor left, 
 when nothing seems to remain but to sit down 
 in despair of producing conviction — in the very 
 stillness of that hopeless moment, up starts the 
 mind, and away it runs freely, merrily, cheer- 
 fully, in that very direction into which it seemed 
 that no power on earth could force it. 
 
 It had thus fared with Frederick Stratton. 
 He had been argued with, and talked to over 
 and over again, and he had heard all possible 
 reasonings against the absurdity of his notions
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 225 
 
 and his crotchets, and nothing seemed to touch 
 him. He is let alone, and then he is quietly 
 and steadily coming round to rationality. Not, 
 however, was a complete revolution at this mo- 
 ment wrought in his feelings and opinions, but 
 he felt that there was a change, and he was 
 open to conviction. He so far coincided with 
 Mr. Silversides in the notion, that the particu- 
 lar not only precede, but also produce the ge- 
 neral affections, that he would fain learn from 
 the loveliness of the unknown fair one, how to 
 regard humanity in general with extensive be- 
 nevolence. None, however, of his companions 
 could give him information, as to the name of 
 the young lady, or her residence. Spratt only 
 knew that he had seen her at the same house 
 before, and believed that she was related to Mr. 
 Riddleton, or was a visitor residing under his 
 roof. 
 
 L 5
 
 226 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 By the events and thoughts of the preceding 
 day, Frederick Strattoa, on the morning after 
 he had accompanied his friend Hartley to Mr. 
 Riddleton's conversazione, felt himself conscious- 
 ly and decidedly revolutionized in his notions 
 of things in general ; and he revolved many 
 things in his mind, and felt at once pleasure 
 and pain in his thoughts. For that which had 
 been to him a matter of indifference in former 
 days, became to him a source of uneasiness and 
 anxiety ; and he also derived pleasure from the 
 fact, that his friend the Captain was likely to 
 inherit a property which would be a means of 
 good to the one acquiring it, and a satisfaction
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 227 
 
 to the one losing it. Most of all, however, were 
 his thoughts occupied with a recollection of the 
 young lady who possessed a favourite canary 
 bird. He was thoroughly convinced that she 
 was adorned and blessed with every possible and 
 desirable mental and moral grace; he recol- 
 lected with the utmost distinctness and vivid- 
 ness the exquisitely lovely expression of her 
 features ; and he heard over again the sweet 
 tones of her gentle voice; but who she was, and 
 where, when, and how he could ever find an 
 opportunity of seeing her again, was among 
 those matters which were to him inexplicable. 
 
 His first employment in the morning was 
 making inquiry of the landlord of his hotel 
 concerning the gentleman from whom he liad 
 received so polite an invitation. It depends 
 much on circumstances whether such an in- 
 vitation be complimentary or not. Generally 
 speaking, a young man may consider himself 
 honoured by gratuitous notice and voluntary 
 of friendship on the part of an elder one.
 
 228 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 From the answers which the landlord gave to 
 Frederick's inquiries concerning Mr. Brownlow, 
 it appeared to the young man that he had 
 reason to think himself honoured by the atten- 
 tion which had been paid him. He therefore 
 wrote a note to his new friend, accepting his in- 
 vitation, and fixing an early day for a visit. 
 
 In the meantime, he was most happy in 
 having it in his power to give to his father 
 so good and favourable an account of the pros- 
 pect of getting rid of the unpleasant business ; 
 and while he was meditating to what em- 
 ployment he should devote the day then be- 
 ginning, his never-failing friend, Theodore 
 Clarke, made his appearance. This genius 
 seemed to have a species of ubiquity ; he was 
 always visible to all his acquaintance, and it 
 was considered by them a great rarity if they 
 missed seeing him for a day or two. 
 
 Whether Theodore thought it or not, in 
 good truth, he always looked as if he thought 
 himself welcome to whomsoever he presented
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 2^9 
 
 himself, and when he felt inchned to bestow 
 his tediousness upon any one, it was always 
 done with the air of one conscious of bestow- 
 ing an agreeable and welcome favour. 
 
 " How did you like your amusement last 
 night ?" was his first question. 
 
 Frederick, with great sincerity, replied, "Ex- 
 ceedingly ! I felt obliged to Mr. Spratt for 
 introducing me, though I cannot say I like the 
 man ; at least, not altogether ; he may have 
 some good qualities, but his notions of criticism 
 do not quite please me." 
 
 " Oh, nonsense !" answered Clarke, " you 
 must not mind all he says. He is no worse 
 than any of the rest ; and if he does now and 
 then say a severe thing, he means no harm. 
 Besides, who minds criticism ? nobody believes 
 in it now." 
 
 " There may be something in that,'' an- 
 swered Frederick Stratton ; " but it may per- 
 haps be also necessary now and then to be 
 a little severe, just as it were by way of
 
 230 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 purifying the atmosphere of literature, and in 
 order to check the too great increase of worth- 
 less books." 
 
 " Oh, my most candid and considerate 
 friend," cried Clarke, almost laughing aloud, 
 " you are now carrying the joke rather too 
 far. I cannot believe that any one in his 
 senses ever thinks that critics, or more pro- 
 perly speaking, writers of reviews, can fix the 
 fate of a book. Their best wit is to form 
 a shrewd guess of what the public will think 
 of it, and use it accordingly." 
 
 '' But I have ever considered criticism as 
 directing the public taste, and pointing out 
 the true standard of a correct judgment." 
 
 " Ay, then," repHed Theodore, " you have 
 never considered at all. Pray did you ever 
 hear of one Dr. Johnson, who wrote a» little 
 book called ' Rasselas Prince of Abyssinia .?' " 
 
 '* To be sure I have," said Frederick ; '^ and 
 what of him ?" 
 
 '' Merely I was going to say, that three or
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 231 
 
 four days ago I met with a criticism on that 
 book, written when it was first published, and 
 before the critic knew who was the author of it. 
 And never liave I seen in any modern review, 
 language more insulting and degrading than 
 was used to that author and of that book ; yet 
 the book has been read, and lives, and must 
 live. Several years ago also I read in the 
 Edinburgh Review a most hearty and con- 
 temptuous vituperation of Mongomery's poem 
 called the ' Wanderer of Switzerland.' But 
 the public would not suffer its taste to be 
 influenced and directed in that instance by 
 the Edinburgh Review ; and though the critic 
 predicted the speedy extinction and utter ob- 
 livion of the book, yet it has passed through 
 several editions since that time, and it yet lives, 
 and the author's reputation stands high on the 
 pedestal which that has raised for him." 
 
 "Well," replied Frederick, who was bent 
 upon being pleased with every thing, *' it matters 
 not. And it is one consolation to think that
 
 232 SECOND THOUGHTS ARR BEST. 
 
 I have not so much suffering to sympathize 
 with as I had imagined." 
 
 " But stay, my good friend," interrupted 
 Theodore Clarke ; " let us have done with 
 criticism, and give our attention to something 
 better. You remember the young lady with 
 whom you were so struck at Mr. Riddleton's 
 conversazione yesterday .?" 
 
 " To be sure,'" said Frederick, with a little 
 coolness of manner, and an effort of indifference, 
 for he was not best pleased that Theodore 
 Clarke should be so far in his confidence as to 
 be in the secret of his affairs of the heart. 
 
 '^ Because,'" answered Theodore, noticing his 
 indifference, "you were anxious last night to 
 know who and what she was, and I can tell 
 you now." 
 
 " Indeed !" replied the young gentleman ; 
 '^ and pray who is she ?^'' 
 
 Frederick Stratton thought he had uttered 
 that inquiry with a very proper tone of in- 
 difference. And so he had, for Mr. Clarke
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. S33 
 
 thought by his manner of speaking that he was 
 not so much interested as he had been the 
 preceding evening. But Theodore was never 
 in tlie habit of suppressing any information 
 that he was in possession of, for if others had 
 no pleasure in hearing it, he always had a plea- 
 sure in teUing it — and therefore, for his own 
 satisfaction he said, " I breakfasted this morn- 
 ing with Spratt, and I learn from him that the 
 young lady is a ward of Mr. Riddleton, and 
 that her name is Brownlow ; her other guar- 
 dian with whom she generally resides is a Mr. 
 Brownlow of Hertfordshire." 
 
 Frederick Stratton barely condescended to 
 thank his friend for the information thus com- 
 municated ; nor did he say a word on the subject 
 of his intended visit to the young lady*s guardian. 
 And now there was a sad perplexity rising in 
 the mind of the young gentleman, who, from 
 having recently been a social Quixote, and a 
 species of martyr to the cause ^^f what he 
 considered rationality and rectification, was
 
 2S4 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 becoming a sentimental lover; and the per- 
 plexity by which he was so disturbed was, that 
 it was probable that his visit to Mr. Brownlow 
 might be paid and finished before the young 
 lady returned. Moreover, another difficulty or 
 doubt presented itself, and that was to account 
 for the fact of Brownlow himself being resident 
 at a hotel, while his ward was at the house 
 of a relative. It was possible there might be 
 two persons of the name of Brownlow in the 
 county of Hertford. 
 
 All these perplexities and doubts were useful 
 to the young man, inasmuch as they withdrew 
 his mind from its crotchets, and brought him 
 within the influence and action of the ordinary, 
 and, therefore, useful and valuable sympathies 
 of our nature. 
 
 Theodore Clarke was, to all intents and pur- 
 poses, a most disinterested man ; he was pleased 
 with any one who would tolerate his company, 
 and he would readily give up his time to any 
 of his ten thousand friends. When, therefore,
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 235 
 
 Frederick Stratton said to him, "What are 
 you going to do with yourself to-day ?*" he re- 
 pHed, very readily, " I have no engagement ; I 
 am q uite at your service." 
 
 It would have been very barbarous, and 
 altogether rude, indeed, if, after this, Frederick 
 Stratton had said or intimated that he was in 
 no need of his services ; it was not in Stratton's 
 nature to be so rude, he therefore said, " Then 
 you must spend the day with me." 
 
 To this proposal, of course, a ready assent 
 was given, and the two were just on the point 
 of leaving the hotel for a morning's ramble, 
 when Captain Hartley presented himself in 
 apparent hurry and great agitation. 
 
 " Stratton I" he exclaimed, '^you must come 
 with me this moment."' 
 
 " Where?" cried he; "What is the matter ? 
 You alarm me. Hartley. What can you mean ? 
 Have you heard any thing from Nettle thorpe ?" 
 
 As hastily as the questions were asked, Hart- 
 ley replied, " No, no, I have no ill news, but
 
 236 SECOND THOUGHTS ARK BEST. 
 
 you must come with me : Mr. Clarke, I know, 
 will excuse us, but it is a matter of moment.'* 
 
 Mr. Clarke was the most excusing man alive, 
 and he had, in the course of his life, much of 
 this nature to excuse. Hartley and Frederick 
 Stratton were in a few minutes seated in a 
 hackney coach, which was ordered by the former 
 to Whitechapel. 
 
 As soon as they were seated, and Frederick 
 heard the order, he asked, '' Are we going to 
 see this man Shepherd .?" 
 
 '' We are," answered Hartley ; " and unless 
 we make good haste there, and good use of our 
 time when we get there, we shall find the man 
 and his rascally attorney on their way to Net- 
 tlethorpe."" 
 
 " On their way to Nettlethorpe ?" exclaimed 
 Frederick ; " Are they mad ? What would they 
 have .?" 
 
 " They would have," replied Hartley, " at 
 least the attorney would, more than you or I 
 can give them, I fear. They have found out,
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 237 
 
 at last, that there is not any thing of a founda- 
 tion for their claim, and now the attorney is 
 presenting a bill of costs, which Shepherd can- 
 not possibly pay : and unless we can do or say 
 something to prevent it, they will go to Nettle- 
 thorpe.'' 
 
 " It must not be," said Frederick ; " the 
 sight of that man would be the death of my 
 father." 
 
 Then the young man folded his arms and sat 
 in silent meditation, ruminating over the past, 
 and mourning inwardly at the perversity and 
 painfulness of his destiny. Most provoking 
 and perplexing were all these occurrences, and 
 every thing seemed to go wrong. All nature 
 and all being appeared to him in this moment 
 miserable, and painful, and deplorable. He 
 thought again of his. past indifference, and yet 
 with no wish to recall it. He saw no end to 
 his perplexities, and no solution of his diffi- 
 culties. He felt as the greatest calamity that 
 condition of his birth, of which formerly he
 
 239 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 had taken no heed. He was lamenting his 
 hard lot that, just as he seemed to be about to 
 enjoy the pleasures and reputations of society, 
 he should be placed in a situation which, for 
 the first time in his life, he felt to be humiliating. 
 He was out of humour with every body, and 
 every thing. 
 
 But his agitations and meditations were soon 
 brought to a pause by the arrival of the coach 
 at the house of Mrs. White the tobacconist. 
 Frederick left his friend Captain Hartley to be 
 spokesman, and did not again offend Mrs. White, 
 by inquiring irreverently for the gentleman who 
 occupied her first floor. They were very soon 
 introduced to the troublesome Tom Shepherd, 
 who was sitting in a stupid state waiting for 
 the arrival of his lawyer. They knew it would 
 be next to labour lost to discuss the subject 
 with him. But they thought it possible, per- 
 haps, to extract some information from him as 
 to the extent of the knave's demand, and the 
 probability of his own readiness to go abroad 
 
 I
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 238 
 
 again and reside in the quiet which he had 
 preserved unbroken till this unpleasant affair 
 was started. Frederick and the Captain both 
 thought it advisable to behave towards the man 
 with the utmost civility and courtesy, and in 
 their presence, without the aid and countenance 
 of his legal adviser, he felt embarrassed. 
 
 " I am sorry to hear, Mr. Shepherd," said 
 Frederick Stratton, " that you have any inten- 
 tions of going to Nettlethorpe. It cannotan- 
 swer any good purpose.'' 
 
 Mr. Shepherd hung his head sheepishly on 
 one side, and said, " Why, Sir, for the matter 
 of that, I don't want to be troublesome to Mus- 
 ter Stratton, only my lawyer says how he must 
 be paid, and I am sure I don't see how I am 
 to pay him out of my allowance. And he says 
 how he will send me to gaol, if so be as I don't 
 settle with him ; and I am sure I thought the 
 business would have been all done and over by 
 this time. And I have got a fine sight of 
 money to pay for my lodging here. I am sure
 
 240 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 I wish I had never corned over about it ; I wish 
 with all my heart I was back again, and I— I — '' 
 
 Towards the latter part of his speech he 
 was confused, and Frederick Stratton saved 
 him from the trouble of proceeding, by saying, 
 " It certainly is a pity that you should have 
 taken such a step as this, for by so doing 
 you have violated the secrecy which you were 
 bound in honour to preserve. You have now 
 divulged the affair to your lawyer, and he 
 may talk of it every where."" 
 
 *' I am sorry for it, I am sure,"' said Mr. 
 Shepherd ; " but he told me it was a large 
 estate what was my rights, and I did not 
 want not to have all for myself ; I should have 
 let madam had her own share on it quietly 
 enough, and should have gone back to France, 
 and never have troubled Muster Stratton no 
 more about nothing.'^ 
 
 '* But,'' said Frederick, " you must, first of 
 all, have told this lawyer of the nature of
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 241 
 
 your claim : he could only have known it from 
 you r 
 
 " Why to be sure, and for certain, and 
 that's what he did, no doubts ; but then when 
 I see in the English newspapers such an ad- 
 vertisement, and I knowM Madam was akin 
 to them people, I thought that it might e'en 
 be all as well, if the matter was looked after ; 
 and so, as — as — a friend of mine said how she 
 knowd of a lawyer, — he knowd — he said he 
 knowd of a lawyer, what did that kind of 
 business, so as not to put one to any charges 
 if he did not succeed, I thought I might as 
 well, you know, have what was to be had like, 
 'cause it was my rights in law, and then I should 
 never have wanted any thing more from Muster 
 Stratton ; but I must have something now to 
 pay the lawyer." 
 
 " But," said Frederick, '' I understood you 
 to say this very moment, that your lawyer was 
 not to put you to any expense if he did 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 942 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 not succeed ; and yet in the same breath you 
 say, you must have something to pay your law- 
 yer ?" 
 
 •*Why, Sir/' answered Mr. Shepherd, " you 
 don't understand. The thing is, the lawyer 
 don't charge me nothing for law like, only as he 
 says, and to be sure that's fair enough, that he 
 must be paid for his own incidental expenses, 
 and for travelling and the like, and he speaks 
 very fair, that 's for certain. And he says that 
 there 's some lawyers what would have made me 
 pay a great deal more, and he says he is one of 
 the most reasonable as ever was, and belike he 
 may be, for he speaks very fair : that you would 
 say yourself if you was to hear him." 
 
 To all this most excellent logic and most elo- 
 quent defence of the lawyer's fairness, Frederick 
 Stratton made no reply : for in fact it was un- 
 answerable and incontrovertible. But he could 
 not help thinking that there w-as in the present 
 connexion of lawyer and client as fine an illustra- 
 tion of flat and sharp as ever was seen. However,
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 243 
 
 he was desirous of knowing how much this pre- 
 cious one was fair enough to charge, and he 
 therefore put the question directly and plainly to 
 Mr. Shepherd. " And may I ask you how much 
 your friend the lawyer is pleased to demand as 
 a remuneration for his incidental expenses ?"" 
 
 " I can't say exactly," answered Mr. Shep- 
 herd, " but he said that as how that he should 
 be very much out of pocket if I could not ma- 
 nage to raise a matter of a hundred and fifty 
 pounds, and he said that when I had paid him 
 that I should have had all the law for nothing ; 
 and I know very well that law is not to be had 
 for nothing every day. I assure you, Sir, no- 
 body can speak fairer than my lawyer ; and he 
 says I am under great obligations to him, and 
 no doubts but what I am ; only you know I 
 don't exactly understand the matter." 
 
 Frederick saw plainly enough that the poor 
 
 man did not understand the matter, and he saw 
 
 too plainly that the lawyer did. And though 
 
 one hundred and fifty pounds might not be 
 
 M 2
 
 244 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 quite so much as some lawyers would charge, 
 yet it seemed that the amount was serious enough 
 from one who professed to make no charge. 
 
 " But," said Frederick, " if my father will 
 send you the money, why need you go down to 
 Nettlethorpe to trouble him about the matter ?" 
 
 " If so" be. Sir,'"* answered Shepherd, '* that, 
 Muster Stratton will send me the money, I don't 
 see why I need go down. Only my lawyer, who 
 is a very fair spoken man as ever was, and has 
 my interest very much at heart, he said perhaps 
 it was better that I should see Muster Stratton 
 hisself, and then we might come to an under- 
 standing like." 
 
 *' I tell you what, Mr. Shepherd," said Fred- 
 erick, more firmly, " it is more likely you will 
 come to a misunderstanding. I cannot answer 
 for wl.at my father may say or do if you should 
 go down to Nettlethorpe to endeavour to compel 
 him to give you money. You know you have 
 already betrayed the secret, and now it is once
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE liEST. f245 
 
 divulged there is no saying where it may stop. 
 You will look very foolish if my father should 
 refuse to give you a single shilling, and discon- 
 tinue the annuity you have had so long. I can- 
 not at all answer for what he may do should he 
 be provoked. You had better consider all this. 
 Now let me advise you, as a friend, don't be in 
 too great a hurry to go to Nettlethorpe : you 
 may repent it." 
 
 Mr. Shepherd hstened to this discourse with 
 more than usual gravity, and looked when it 
 was finished more than usually silly. At length, 
 after much perplexity of look, and many at- 
 tempts to speak, he said, almost crying, '' Well, 
 but lau ! Sir, how shall I get back to France if 
 my lawyer sends me to prison here in England .^" 
 
 That was a question which few but such 
 geniuses as Tom Shepherd would think of ask- 
 ing, and which greater geniuses than Frederick 
 Stratton could not very satisfactorily answer. 
 Frederick made the reply which most naturally
 
 246 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 occurred to him. ^' You should have thought 
 of that, Mr. Shepherd, before you came to Eng- 
 land." 
 
 Upon this Mr. Shepherd was most sadly 
 
 perplexed, and he found himself altogether un- 
 comfortable, and in a word, he knew not which 
 way to turn. Had he been a man of education, 
 he would have been in this present conjuncture 
 reminded of the fable of the dog and the sha- 
 dow ; but as he was not a man of education 
 he knew of no parallel case, and he thought 
 himself the most unfortunate man living. Now 
 indeed did he want an adviser, — not a legal 
 adviser, he had already had too much of that 
 sort of thing. 
 
 By way of terminating the interview, Fre- 
 derick Stratton said ; " Well, Mr. Shepherd, 
 I will say thus much, if you will promise me 
 that you will not go to Nettlethorpe, I will 
 write to my father and state the circumstances, 
 and endeavour to persuade him to do something 
 for you. But if you go to Nettlethorpe it will
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 247 
 
 be at your peril ; and I would recommend 
 you to intimate to your fair-spoken friend the 
 lawyer, that he will not be likely to reap any 
 benefit from that excursion." 
 
 "Well, but Sir," Shepherd added, still 
 whining, " when shall I hear? because I wants 
 to go home, that is I mean, back to France." 
 
 " Oh, you shall hear in a very few days; 
 but as you have brought yourself into this per- 
 plexity, you must wait to be extricated from it 
 as patiently as you can.''
 
 248 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Captain Hartley and Frederick Stratton 
 then departed from the gentleman who occupied 
 the first-floor at Mrs. White's, and as they de- 
 parted they were in better spirits than as they 
 went ; for the Captain very heartily and sincerely 
 sympathized with Frederick in his cares and 
 troubles, and most willingly would make any 
 sacrifice or exertion to render his friend a 
 service. The Captain liked Frederick Stratton 
 from the very first moment of their acquaintance, 
 even when the young man was in all the heiglit 
 and wildness of his most extravagant fancies ; 
 but now that he had come to what the world 
 calls a more rational way of thinking, the
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 249 
 
 Captain VA^as still n^ore pleased with him. 
 Hartley had begun to regard the Stratton 
 family as his principal and indeed almost only 
 acquaintance ; not that he had absolutely cut 
 all his city friends, but his habits and theirs 
 differed so widely that there was not much 
 sympathy between them. 
 
 By this excursion of the friends from 
 Frederick Stratton 's hotel to Mr. Shepherd's 
 lodgings, the whole of the day had not been 
 exhausted, and when they returned Theodore 
 Clarke was of course not there. Now neither 
 of them cared much for Theodore, therefore 
 they did not anxiously seek him ; they took it 
 of course for-granted, that he would not be 
 much at a loss how to dispose of his time 
 amongst the many myriads of his friends: 
 and it is a fact, that though Theodore knew 
 every body, he could sometimes scarcely find 
 one of the every body at leisure to give him 
 their time and attention ; still it was his hap- 
 piness never to feel weary or disappointed. He 
 M 5
 
 250 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 would go from street to street, from Temple- 
 bar to Paddington, and back again, making ten 
 thousand calls, and finding nobody at home, and 
 yet remaining all the while in perfect good 
 humour and placid self-possession. So it hap- 
 pened to him on the present occasion. 
 
 But though on this occasion, Theodore could 
 find nobody at home, it was his happiness to 
 meet somebody abroad, and this was no other 
 than his ingenious and versatile friend Dr. 
 Grimwood, whose name has been already men- 
 tioned in this narrative. The Doctor, notwith- 
 standing his multifarious occupations in tra- 
 gedy, comedy, epic poetry and county history, 
 could find time to walk to and fro in the streets 
 of the great metropolis, and oftentimes did he 
 observe to his friends in his own peculiar style 
 of humour, that the world was his study ; and 
 undoubtedly a very good study it is ; for there 
 is plenty of room in it, and it is as much 
 calculated to suggest variety of thoughts as a 
 whole library of books.
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 251 
 
 Generally speaking, Theodore Clarke cared 
 as little for Dr. Grimvvood, as he did for any of 
 his acquaintances, but as a companion to pass 
 away a few hours when no one else was within 
 reach, Theodore was very glad of him. At this 
 moment the parties met very opportunely, for 
 the Doctor had picked up a piece of gossip, and 
 Theodore wanted to find some one to talk to ; 
 when therefore, they encountered each other, 
 it was with more than usual cordiality. " You 
 are the very man I was wishing to see," was 
 the exclamation that burst spontaneously and 
 unanimously from the lips of them both ; and 
 therefore they rapidly tumbled over the com- 
 mon places of the day, and they talked of news- 
 papers, and magazines, and new plays, and epic 
 poems, and county histories. 
 
 " But pray," said the Doctor, " have you seen 
 or heard any thing of late, of your friend 
 Stratton ?" 
 
 " Yes," replied Theodore, " I saw him tliis 
 very morning, and was to have spent the day
 
 252 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 with him, but he was unexpectedly called into 
 the city upon business." 
 
 " And have you any notion, what that bu- 
 siness was?" 
 
 " I can't say," answered Clarke, " that I 
 have. You know I never trouble my head 
 about other people''s affairs." 
 
 " And therefore, peradventure," said the 
 Doctor smiling, " you don't wish to know : and 
 if I were to begin to tell you some curious 
 passagess in that young gentleman''s history? 
 you would hardly hsten to me with patience, 
 but tell me to hold my tongue and mind my 
 own business." 
 
 " No, I am not quite so indifferent and 
 incurious as that ; but you know I don't give 
 myself much trouble about matters which do 
 not concern me." 
 
 " Yes, and I also know that you are not over 
 partial to taking much trouble in matters which 
 do concern you ; so do not, I pray you, 
 make a merit of your indolence. All people
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. ^53 
 
 are pleased enough with a bit of private history, 
 though some may take more trouble to find it 
 out than others do. Now, Master Clarke, ob- 
 serve me ; I tell you, that there are myriads of 
 indolent blockheads who pass for very good 
 sort of people by virtue of their indolence." 
 Dr. Grimwood here caught hold of Theodore's 
 button, and proceeded : " There is your con- 
 tented man, who is proud of his virtue of con- 
 tentment, when he ought to be ashamed of his 
 vice of idleness. He will saunter about the 
 streets in a threadbare coat, and shoes that can 
 scarcely resist the wet, and indulge himself with 
 sneers at the well-dressed busy ones that pass 
 him on foot, or the more opulent ones who ride 
 in their carriages. He will sit down to a 
 ricketty table, and a dirty table-cloth, and an 
 ill-dressed dinner, and say that he is no epicure, 
 and sneer at those who cannot make as good a 
 dinner of a mutton-chop as of three courses. 
 Why, Sir, this man has the same a])petites as 
 the rest of the world, and the same desires, but
 
 254 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 he is too lazy to exert himself, and he calls this 
 contentment. I think, I will write an essay on 
 this subject." 
 
 '« I think you said so about ten years ago, 
 Doctor," replied Theodore Clark. 
 
 " Why, yes, yes, yes," repHed the Doctor, 
 almost angrily, " perhaps I did ; but I can do 
 it better now than I could then, for I have col- 
 lected more materials, and my judgment is more 
 matured now than it was then." 
 
 " But don't you think that ten years hence 
 you may be able to do it better still ? Will not 
 your judgment be yet more matured, and your 
 materials more abundant ?'" 
 
 The Doctor smiled, and said, " Ay, ay, you 
 are a wag. I don"'t mind what you say. But 
 is it not true, what I am saying?" 
 
 " Certainly," answered Theodore; " so true, 
 that it has been said and written ten thousand 
 times over during the last hundred years." 
 
 " Yes,'' replied the Doctor, " no doubt ; but
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 255 
 
 there is a peculiar mode of saying things of this 
 kind." 
 
 " Undoubtedly," said Theodore, with affect- 
 ed gravity, and looking at the same time at the 
 Doctor's threadbare coat, " and there is also a 
 peculiar mode of illustrating them." 
 
 " There is so," answered the Doctor, " and 
 I think I have that peculiar mode. I don't 
 take any merit to myself; it is only a knack, you 
 know ; but still I think I have it." 
 
 " Clearly so," answered Theodore; *' but all 
 this time, what is become of your secret con- 
 cerning my friend Mr. Stratton ? You just 
 now threatened me with a piece of information, 
 and I do not find that it is forthcoming." 
 
 '* Oh, you are beginning to be impatient 
 now ; — well, well ! I will set you at rest. You 
 must know then that I happened to call this 
 morning upon our friend Spratt, and from him 
 I heard that Stratton was at Riddleton's con- 
 versazione last night.""
 
 ^56 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 " You might have learnt that from me," in- 
 terrupted Theodore, " for I was there with him." 
 
 "But that 'snot all." 
 
 " If it is, it is no great secret." 
 
 " Well, well ! but let me go on. Spratt told 
 me that there was also a young lady in the 
 room who attracted his notice very much." 
 
 " That also I know,"" added Theodore. 
 
 " But do you also know," asked the Doctor, 
 *' that the young lady is an heiress, and that 
 your friend Stratton is not worth a shilling in 
 the world r 
 
 " The former may be true enough," said 
 Theodore, " but as for Stratton having no pro- 
 perty, I don't believe a word of it ; he is an 
 only son, and his father has a very handsome 
 estate." 
 
 " Say rather that he had," replied Dr. 
 Grimwood, " but every sixpence of it is gone ; 
 and that is the business that brings him up to 
 London now." 
 
 " And may I ask you," said Theodore
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 257 
 
 Clarke, with a tone of incredulity, " where you 
 obtained this curious intelligence ?" 
 
 " From Spratt," answered the Doctor, " and 
 Spratt had it from the best authority, from 
 an intimate friend of the lawyer who has been 
 employed to settle Mr. Stratton's affairs. And 
 now this young Stratton is, for want of better 
 employment, turned fortune-hunter. Spratt 
 says that he shall make a point of informing 
 Mr. Riddleton, that he may send the young 
 lady out of the way." 
 
 Theodore Clarke hardly knew whether to 
 believe or to disbelieve this story ; he certainly 
 had in the first instance some suspicion of 
 pecuniary embarrassment on the part of Mr. 
 Stratton the elder, and he also thought that 
 there was something ominous in the alarmed 
 state of mind in which Hartley and his friend 
 did that morning leave the hotel. But The- 
 odore was generally a very candid man, and 
 he looked upon Frederick Stratton as one of 
 his most valuable friends, inasmuch as not-
 
 258 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 withstanding his former vagaries he was a 
 man of good family, and apparently of con- 
 sideration. Therefore did not Mr. Clarke 
 very readily believe any thing to the disrepute 
 of the young gentleman ; but in the present 
 instance, had not the means of flatly and 
 pointedly contradicting what the Doctor had 
 asserted. As Theodore had made the world 
 his study, as well as the Doctor, he did not 
 start with great incredulity from the insinu- 
 ation that Frederick had turned fortune-hunter ; 
 but still he knew so much of that young gen- 
 tleman, that he thought him of all men least 
 likely to stoop to such a pursuit. Yet after all 
 it was no business of his, and he therefore said, 
 " Well, and if it be the case, I cannot say that 
 I see any great evil in it. Frederick Stratton 
 is a man of good sense and good manners, and if 
 he had a fortune he would spend it like a gen- 
 tleman. As for the young lad}^ I did not 
 see her, but if she has a good understanding 
 and agreeable manners, she will not be ill-
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 259 
 
 matched, and where there is fortune enough for 
 two, it is all very well that it should be so dis- 
 posed of." 
 
 " That is very easy talk, Master Clarke, but 
 the world does not generally approve of such 
 disposals, and if you were the guardian of a 
 young lady of fortune, you would not approve 
 of her bestowing her hand on a gay young man, 
 who had nothing but his own confidence to 
 recommend him." 
 
 " If I were guardian to a young lady of for- 
 tune, I should not approve of her bestowing 
 her hand on any one b ut myself." 
 
 The Doctor shrugged up his shoulders, shook 
 his head, and took a pinch of snuff, saying; 
 " Yes, yes, young man, I know that your 
 ideas are very strange, but you are young, you 
 will know better when you grow older." 
 
 '^ I shall fancy that I know better, whether 
 I do or not. I don't apprehend that any one 
 imagines that he changes his mind for the worse. 
 But at all events, I think it very impertinent
 
 260 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 of Spratt to interfere or trouble his head about 
 the matter." 
 
 With this remark, the narrative must now 
 dismiss these speakers, and turn again its at- 
 tention to the Captain and his young friend. 
 On their return to the hotel, they found letters 
 from Nettle thorpe, and these gave a much more 
 pleasing account of the state of Mr. Stratton's 
 mind than Frederick had expected, and the 
 young man had great pleasure in replying to 
 the communication from home, in such terms, 
 and with such information, as would still more 
 revive the spirits of his father. There was also 
 a letter from Laura to her brother, in which a 
 wish was expressed on behalf of her mother 
 that some farther apology should be made to 
 Captain Hartley for the uncourteous beha- 
 viour of Mr. Stratton ; and, what was at that 
 moment of still greater importance than all 
 else, means were abundantly supplied by Mr. 
 Stratton for satisfying or at least pacifying the 
 legal adviser of Mr. Shepherd.
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 261 
 
 So delighted was P'rederick at this opportune 
 arrival, that he resolved immediately on re- 
 turning to Shepherd's lodgings, and getting rid 
 of the business at once ; and when he did 
 return there, he saw a scene which he little 
 anticipated. 
 
 Before he entered the room, he heard loud 
 voices, and one much louder than the rest, that 
 sounded to his ear like the voice of a female. 
 As he was not particularly partial to broils, he 
 would fain have waited on the outside of the 
 door till the storm should be a little abated ; 
 but there did not appear any great symptoms 
 of a calm ; and in some of the words which he 
 imperfectly and indistinctly heard, there seemed 
 to be a meaning of a curious nature, which was 
 highly interesting to him. He thought that he 
 heard the female say, " He knows I am his 
 lawful wife." 
 
 Frederick listened more attentively, and he 
 was confident that he heard these words. 
 AVithout more delay he opened the door and
 
 262 SETCOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 let himself into Mr. Shepherd's apartment. 
 There stood Mr. Shepherd as pale as an addled 
 egg, and protesting by all that was good, bad 
 and indifferent/'' that he never had no intention 
 to deceive nobody.'"' Opposite to him on the 
 other side of the table, stood a middle-aged 
 vulgar woman, with unusually gay decorations 
 of dress, but, as if totally regardless of her 
 splendid attire, swearing to the poor frightened 
 man ; ** You know you are, willan ! What bu- 
 siness had you to come over to England for ? 
 You never intended to come back, you 
 didn't." 
 
 The legal adviser, who, though endeavouring 
 to pacify the noisy woman, was the first of the 
 party who saw Frederick Stratton enter the 
 room, and fain would he have stopped the wo- 
 man's eloquence and have recalled what she had 
 said ; but it was manifestly too late. Not many 
 seconds^ however, had elapsed, before the whole 
 party were conscious of the presence of Fre- 
 derick Stratton ; but the lady knew not who he
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. ^63 
 
 was; she took him for another lawyer, and 
 having been very angry at the exorbitant 
 demands of the lawyer she had first seen, she 
 felt no great sentiment of courtesy towards 
 another. Very abruptly and rudely, therefore, 
 did she exclaim, as soon as she saw him : " Is 
 this another of your imposing attorneys P"' 
 
 " No, my dear," thoughtlessly said Mr. 
 Shepherd, "this is ^^ 
 
 -'Pray!" interrupted Frederick Stratton ; 
 " may I take the liberty to ask who this 
 lady is ?" 
 
 The lawyer and Mr. Shepherd both began 
 at once to answer the question, but the lady 
 caught the speaker"'s eye, and as her voice was 
 the shrillest, and her utterance the quickest, 
 she manifestly had the advantage of them, and 
 she over-crowed them both, saying, " I am that 
 fcllow^s lawful wedded wife, that's what I am, 
 and I was married to him in Shoreditch church, 
 as he knows," 
 
 Tlic lawyer and his client interrupted the
 
 264 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 poor woman in the flow of her eloquence, pro- 
 testing that she was an impostor ; but the 
 lady would not be persuaded of any such thing, 
 and in proportion to the protestations of the 
 others, were her exclamations and almost 
 execrations. " Impostor ! yes, yes," cried she, 
 "3^ou're a pretty fellow to talk about impos- 
 tors. Oh, you willan ! Sir,'' said she, '' turning 
 to Frederick Stratton, " I '11 tell you how that 
 willan has sarved me. I'll tell you all his 
 history.'' 
 
 Here the legal adviser interposed, and said 
 that the gentleman did not wish to know the 
 history ; but the gentleman did wish to know 
 it, and moreover, he was determined he would 
 know it if he possibly could, for it occurred 
 to him that here were some secrets worth 
 knowing. When the lawyer therefore took 
 him aside, and said, " Mr. Stratton, give me 
 leave to send this poor woman away, and then 
 I will explain every thing to your satisfac- 
 tion,*" Mr. Stratton could not help saying
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 265 
 
 in reply, *' I should also like to hear what 
 this woman has to say for herself." 
 
 " You see, Sir," said the lawyer, " that 
 the poor creature is in a state of intoxication ; 
 she absolutely does not know what she is talk- 
 ing about." 
 
 Though it was manifest that the lady was 
 not perfectly sober, it did not follow in Frede- 
 rick's mode of reasoning that she did not know 
 what she was talking about. He had, however, 
 no doubt that the lawyer knew well enough 
 what he was talking about. Sufficient, in fact 
 had passed, to let Frederick see that there 
 was a something which the lawyer wished to 
 conceal. Frederick, therefore, said to the law- 
 yer, in a low but firm voice, " You will lose 
 nothing by letting me come at the truth, and 
 you may perhaps find me quite as profitable 
 a client as that simpleton." 
 
 There was something in the tone of the 
 young gentleman's voice, and something in the 
 prospect of a cHent that had money to pay 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 ^66 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 withal, which contributed much to soften and 
 convert the man of law. He suffered himself 
 to be persuaded, and he returned to Mr. Shep- 
 herd, who was patiently enduring the volumi- 
 nous rebukes of the finely-dressed lady, and 
 said to him, '* Now, Mr. Shepherd, as matters 
 stand, and as the discovery has been unfor- 
 tunately made, you had better throw your- 
 self on the liberality of Mr. Stratton." 
 
 On hearing the name of Stratton, the lady 
 started and screamed with overwhelming sur- 
 prise, and exclaimed — " Mr. Stratton? Law, Sir, 
 I 'm sure I didn't know you ; and how should 
 I, for I never see you afore ? And I never 
 would have been so ill-mannerly, if I had 
 known it had been you.'' 
 
 "And I suppose. Madam," replied Frederick, 
 " that you would not have protested that you 
 were the lawful wife of that gentleman, if you 
 had known that I had been present to hear 
 you ?'' 
 
 Mrs. Shepherd, for that verily was the lady's
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 267 
 
 name, looked very foolish, but had cunning 
 enough to assume a look of mock humility, and to 
 say, " Why, Sir, I ought almost to be ashamed 
 of myself, to have told such a wicked story, 
 as to say that I am that gentleman's lawful 
 wife ; though where we lives, which is abroad, 
 you know, I certainly pass as his wife." 
 
 " You pass as that gentleman's wife, Madam?'" 
 
 " Yes, Sir." 
 
 " And if you only pass as that gentleman's 
 wife, will you be kind enough to inform me 
 why you just this moment reminded that gen- 
 tleman that you were married at Shoreditch 
 Church ?" 
 
 " Did I say so, Sir .^" replied the lady, who 
 seemed quite at a loss how to get out of the 
 difficulty. 
 
 *' Yes, Madam, you did say so; and I shall 
 very shortly make the necessary inquiries. I 
 have heard and seen enough to convince n.e 
 that my father has been infamously imposed 
 upon." Then directing his speech to Mr. Shep- 
 
 N 2
 
 ^68 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 lierd, he said, " Look you here, Mr. Shep- 
 herd ; you have completely outwitted yourself ; 
 for if you had remained abroad, your annuity 
 would have been remitted to you, and you might 
 have enjoyed yourself quietly ; but your covet- 
 ousness has now been the ruin of you." 
 
 Thereupon Mr. Shepherd^s hair would have 
 stood on end, but it had never been used to that 
 sort of thing : the poor man turned paler and 
 paler, and trembled like an aspen-leaf, as the 
 saying is. Mrs. Shepherd also put on a look 
 of pathetic supplication, and poured forth a 
 flood of extempore tears, and sobbed and hic- 
 cupped, and sighed, and groaned, till she almost 
 sobered herself. 
 
 Frederick Stratton was not so partial to 
 pathos as to wish to be long a witness to this 
 •exhibition ; he therefore calmly turned, and 
 addressed himself to Mr. Shepherd's legal ad- 
 viser, saying, " Now, Sir, if you will accept of 
 me for a client, I will discharge the bill which 
 this foolish man has contracted, and I will
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. J^69 
 
 thank you, at your earliest convenience, to pro- 
 cure me a certificate of the marriage of this 
 worthy couple/' 
 
 Shepherd then faintly exclaimed, " Sir, Sir, 
 I will confess all, I will indeed. Sir." Shepherd 
 then fell on his knees, and confessed that the 
 lady then present was his first and only lawful 
 wife. And thereupon Frederick Stratton was 
 beyond measure astonished : he who had so 
 lately ridiculed and despised the institutions 
 of civil society, now felt shocked at the unprin- 
 cipled conduct of one who had violated these 
 institutions.
 
 S70 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 There is a truth in the remark, that we 
 never think closely till we have felt deeply ; 
 and there is an intellectual as well as a moral 
 discipline in the pains bodily and mental to 
 which mortals are exposed. Of many of the 
 habits and institutions of society, Frederick 
 Stratton thought nothing, or worse than nothing, 
 till he had felt, at least by sympathy, the pains 
 and troubles arising from a violation and neg- 
 lect of them. Then, however, was he convinced 
 of their value, when he felt how great a relief 
 rose to his mind from the consideration that his 
 father was now rescued from a perplexity that 
 had long painfully weighed upon his spirits.
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 271 
 
 And now the young gentleman would fain have 
 returned home to enjoy the pleasure and satis- 
 faction of having brought the business to some- 
 thing of a conclusion, but the promise which 
 he had given Mr. Brownlow of paying him a 
 visit before returning to Nettlethorpe, and the 
 hope of again meeting the lovely one whom he 
 had seen at the conversazione, induced him to 
 delay his journey to Nettlethorpe. Previously, 
 however, to his visit to Mr. Brownlow, he took 
 care to have possession of such documents as 
 might be necessary to satisfy his father of the 
 verity of the discovery which had been made ; 
 and when these, with all proper vouchers had 
 been dispatched to Nettlethorpe, Frederick has- 
 tened to pay his respects to his newly formed 
 acquaintance. 
 
 The house in which Mr. Brownlow resided 
 was a plain, modern, brick- built mansion, not 
 very large nor by any means ostentatious ; but 
 it had a comfortable appearance, and to tlie 
 imagination of the young man, which by recent
 
 272 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 events had been somewhat subtilized and ex- 
 cited, its aspect was that of welcome and cor- 
 diahty, and he thought the look of it far more 
 comfortable than a gypsey's tent. Mr. Brown- 
 low was a truly courteous man, and he met his 
 visitor on the threshold and took him cordially 
 by the hand, thanking him for the visit. 
 
 " Now, my good Sir," said Mr. Brownlow, 
 after the first salutation, " I have made free to 
 invite a party of friends to dine with us to-day, 
 and I have one favour to ask of you, and that 
 is, as my guests are all thoroughly loyal and 
 orthodox, that you will not say a word about 
 rectification of the principles and habits of 
 society." 
 
 Frederick smiled, and said, " I will take 
 care to govern myself on that point as well 
 as I can ; but I have not relinquished the 
 opinion that there is need of rectification ; 
 though, as to the nature of the rectification that 
 is required, my opinion is very much changed 
 indeed."
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. Tl^ 
 
 " Well," answered Mr. Brownlow, " you 
 will excuse the liberty I take, but we shall- 
 have at table to-day a curate who does the duty 
 of two parishes for an income of about one-tenth 
 of what is paid to the rector for the duty of 
 one of the parishes ; that rector will also dine 
 with us.""* 
 
 This was rather provoking and exciting to 
 Frederick Stratton. With a little cadence of 
 expostulation, he said, " Really, Sir, do you 
 not think that is a matter which needs correc- 
 tion ?" 
 
 " The curate thinks so no doubt, and the 
 rector thinks not, quite as positively," answered 
 Mr. Brownlow ; " of this we may be sure, that 
 you and I can do little towards it by discussing 
 the matter at or after dinner to-day." 
 
 They had scarcely seated themselves, when 
 it was observed, that it was time to prepare 
 for dinner ; and though Frederick took it for 
 granted, that the party to be collected at the 
 dinner-table was for the purpose of cntertain- 
 n5
 
 S74 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 ment, yet he could not help thinking that he 
 should be much better entertained by Mr. 
 Brownlow himself, than by an assemblage of 
 most loyal people living in the country. Fre- 
 derick was not to be called disloyal, radical, or 
 Jacobinical, in the most ungentlemanlike sense 
 of the terms ; but, on the other hand, he did 
 not quite sympathize with that blind, blunder- 
 ing, go-cart loyalty, which flourishes to such 
 high perfection among comfortable people in 
 the country. Nevertheless, with whatever plau- 
 sibility the young gentleman might reason with 
 himself, as touching the emptiness of common- 
 place people, he was manifestly wrong, either 
 in his estimate of the species, or in his arrange- 
 ment of the individuals. It is easy enough, es- 
 pecially for young men, to talk with fluency, 
 about common-place people. All people at a 
 little distance, and of whom we know nothing, 
 are common-place; but when inspected more 
 closely, and watched more narrowly, and con- 
 versed with more freely and sociably, they
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 275 
 
 forthwith start up into character. It is com- 
 mon enough to hear some individuals designated 
 as characters ; in trutli, all are characters, but it 
 is not every eye that can or will see it. There 
 are, perhaps, no two persons in the universe pre- 
 cisely alike in every trait and feature ; there may 
 be much similarity in many pointSj but there is 
 not a perfect coincidence in all. But young 
 men, and especially those young men who fancy 
 themselves to be geniuses, or have an ambition 
 after intellectual distinction, which they nn's- 
 take for intellectual eminence, do sneer con- 
 temptuously on such as sympathize not with 
 their own peculiar curve of singularity. There 
 was something of this fault in Frederick Strat- 
 ton. As, however, he had oftentimes conversed 
 with would-be geniuses, he did not estimate 
 them quite so highly as he had done; and in 
 proportion to his abatement of reverence for 
 one class was the rise of his regard for another. 
 It was not, therefore, with a perfect and utter 
 abhorrence of liis expected company that he
 
 276 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 met them, as, one by one, they were introduced 
 to him. 
 
 It is good for us that there is in the world 
 such an interesting variety of character ; it 
 gives a wonderful interest to our being, and 
 a mighty stimulus to our thoughts; and while, 
 by exercising and even provoking our powers 
 of discrimination, it strengthens the under- 
 standing, it also gives us moral improvement, 
 by affording us lessons of charity and candour. 
 Not any one thing in the whole compass of the 
 moral world tends more to soften the rigidity 
 of our judgment, than what is called a consi- 
 deration of circumstances ; that is, a reference 
 to the variety of essential character. 
 
 The first individual of the party who was 
 introduced to Frederick Stratton, was a tall 
 well-proportioned, cheerful-looking man, ob- 
 viously a clergyman. Now the young man did 
 not know whether this was the rector or the 
 curate ; he wished it might be the curate, 
 for he liked the looks of the man so well, that
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 277 
 
 he could not feel as angry with him as he ought 
 to feel with one who had a large income for 
 not doing any duty. Another clerical stranger 
 was introduced to him ; and this second was 
 not a contrast to the first. There was a dif- 
 ference, but it was not so marked a difference 
 as between black and white. The one did not 
 look ten times better clothed, ten times better 
 fed, ten times more cheerful, or ten times more 
 polite than the other ; in fact, there did not 
 appear to be that difference between them, 
 which Frederick Stratton thought there should 
 be between a rector and a curate ; between one 
 who has every thing for doing nothing, and the 
 man who has nothing for doing every thing. 
 All the difference that Frederick could im- 
 mediately discern was, that the second was 
 not so tall as the first, and that he carried 
 himself rather more stiffly than the other did. 
 This might probably be owing to his shortness 
 of stature, and his reluctance to lose an inch 
 in height. On entering the drawing-room, the
 
 278 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 first of these gentlemen had been introduced to 
 Frederick Stratton by the name of Wright, 
 and the second by the name of Green. In 
 these names there was nothing distinctive, and 
 the young gentleman was not informed by his 
 host as to the rank in which they respectively 
 were situated. Other gentlemen soon arrived, 
 and the party was completed. There were no 
 ladies present ; nor was the young man aware 
 whether his host was a married man or not, 
 till Mr. Brownlow expressed to his friends his 
 regret that his young housekeeper was not at 
 home ; and the remarks, to which this expression 
 of regret gave rise, led to the information that 
 he was a bachelor, and that his young house- 
 keeper was his ward and niece, in the person of 
 the young lady whom Frederick had seen at 
 Riddleton's conversazione. 
 
 Frederick Stratton now felt himself peculiar- 
 ly desirous to make himself agreeable to Mr. 
 Brownlow, and he was scarcely conscious of tlie 
 excess of compliance to which this desire led
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 279 
 
 him. There had been a time in which he 
 would have reprobated most cordially the line 
 of conduct which he now pursued. Alas! how 
 many of the human species are guilty of this 
 kind of transgression, moulding their opinions, 
 and fashioning their feelings, not according to 
 the rectitude of unerring logic, and incontro- 
 vertible reason, but according to a more palpa- 
 ble and obvious rule, in which there is no acci- 
 dent of hallucination or blunder; for while the 
 man of logic and pure reason has for his guide 
 the reasonino-s and movements of the under- 
 standing, he may, by an inadvertency and 
 want of thought, overlook some link in the 
 chain of the reasoning, and so be led to an erro- 
 neous conclusion, and upon after-examination 
 may regret his want of accuracy : but he that 
 reasons as he feels to be his interest, and as he 
 is led by sympathy with those whom he loves 
 or esteems, is not liable to these errors and 
 inadvertencies ; he sees, or at least he feels, his 
 way plainly and distinctly. And in these ob-
 
 280 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 servations there is not intended any vindication 
 of the morality of such conduct, but simply an 
 exposition and explanation of the fact. The 
 individuals too, thus modulated in their feel-' 
 ings, though clearly enough aware of the fact of 
 a revolution of opinion, are by no means so 
 clearly aware of the causes which have effected 
 that revolution ; therefore, they do not heed 
 the noisy blarings of those who proclaim the 
 great sin of their apostacy. 
 
 It was not, however, in any very decided 
 and positive manner that such effect was pro- 
 duced on the mind of Frederick Stratton. All 
 that is here intended to be affirmed is, simply, 
 that he felt disposed to render himself as 
 agreeable as possibly he could to his new ac- 
 quaintance Mr. Brownlow ; and when, after the 
 cloth was removed, and when Mr. Wright was 
 saying, in tones of satisfaction, to Mr. Brown- 
 low, " I suppose you have heard that I have 
 gained my cause;" and when Mr. Brownlow 
 made answer, saying, " I am very happy to
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 281 
 
 hear it : now, that makes your living worth a 
 good fifteen hundred a-year ;" Frederick Strat- 
 ton did not feel outrageous, and ready to burst 
 with a mighty indignation ; but he heard it all 
 with patience, more especially, since during 
 the time of dinner, Mr. Wright and he had had 
 friendly conversation, and the clergyman had 
 appeared to him as a man of really good feel- 
 ings and kind heart. 
 
 As, however, Frederick was most decidedly 
 of opinion that there was something essentially 
 and fundamentally wrong in the distribution of 
 ehurch property, and as he felt it almost a duty 
 not to suppress his opinion, from motives of 
 private and personal feeling, he ventured to 
 express, in a rather distant manner, that it 
 would be desirable that the ministers of 
 religion should be remunerated for their ser- 
 vices by some mode, which would obviate the 
 necessity of litigation, and prevent those dis- 
 agreements between a pastor and his flock, 
 which were clearly injurious to religion.
 
 282 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 Mr. Brownlow smiled at the very gentle 
 manner in which the young man alluded to 
 that most delicate topic, and seeing that there 
 was not any great danger of his using lan- 
 guage which should be offensive to the reve- 
 rend gentleman, he very readily took up the 
 subject, and replied, " I have little doubt 
 that they who pay tithes would be glad to 
 be excused the payment; and that they who 
 receive them would be as glad to have the 
 same amount in another form ; but whether 
 the nation at large would be thereby a gainer, 
 I have my doubts. The clergy are, as a body, 
 much less rigid in exacting their rights, than 
 any other set of men in the kingdom. Can 
 you tell me, Mr. Wright, what would be the 
 probable amount of your living, if you were 
 to take all the law would give you .^" 
 
 In a low voice, and with a tone of indiffe- 
 rence, the reverend gentleman said, '^ Perhaps 
 a lay impropriator might make about fuur 
 hundred a-year more."
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 283 
 
 Frederick heard and believed the remark ; 
 yet he considered that the system was never- 
 theless a bad one, though he felt not any 
 violent emotion of indignation against the per- 
 son then speaking. There came, however, into 
 his mind a very useful and wholesome thought ; 
 namely, it occurred to him, that though there 
 were evils in the distribution and arrangement 
 of church property, yet those evils might be 
 not quite so great, nor quite so avoidable, 
 as the declaimers mi^jht imamne. 
 
 And while he was yet meditating, Mr. 
 Green, who was the curate doing the duty 
 of two parishes, smiled, and said, " It is a 
 remarkable fact, Mr. Brownlow, that the laity 
 who declaim against the clergy for their al- 
 ledged rapacity and covetousness, should not 
 perceive that they themselves are quite as 
 covetous, and that they are declaiming with 
 selfish feelings against selfishness." 
 
 " Clearly so, Mr. Green," answered Mr. 
 Brownlow : *' but you know my opinion on
 
 284 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 all these matters perfectly well. The English 
 people are commercial; they are a money-get- 
 ting people, and their whole notions, and the 
 range of their opinions, are all more or less 
 influenced by this. The clergy are not ex- 
 empt from it; I am not wishing to flatter you, 
 gentlemen of the cloth, yet I think that the 
 clergy are rather less addicted to this pro- 
 pensity than most other men." 
 
 " There is an observable fact,'' said Mr. 
 Wright, *^ connected with money, which shows 
 how dearly the English people love it, and 
 how closely they regard it. I allude to the 
 language in which they speak of it. They 
 have a kind of euphemism to hide, as it were, 
 the gross sensuality of it. If a person wishes 
 to borrow money, he asks for a little assistance, 
 or he requests to be accommodated with a trijie, 
 or he begs the favour of a loan. If he asks for 
 payment of money owing, he speaks of settling 
 that small account; if he be employed, and 
 wishes for any money from his employer, he
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 285 
 
 solicits an advance. When a man is rich, he 
 is said to be a warm man, or a good man ; to 
 say nothing of the various slang phrases, such 
 as coming doicn xoith the dust, forking out, 
 and a variety of others, which it is more easy 
 to remember, than polite to repeat ; this lan- 
 guage shows the feeling with which money is 
 commonly regarded." 
 
 *' And is not all this an evil?"" said Frederick 
 Stratton ; " is it not desirable that some means 
 should be used to rectify it ?" 
 
 At the word rectify, Mr. Brownlow smiled 
 and Frederick faltered. 
 
 Mr. Wright replied, " To say that an evil 
 ought to be rectified, is little more than an 
 identical proposition. Every body, of course, 
 wishes every thing to be according to his own 
 mind. This feeling abates, as life advances, 
 and comes upon us again in our second child- 
 hood. Infants and children take time to learn 
 that everything will not submit to them ; and 
 when people come to the years of maturity,
 
 286 * SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 they have, for the most part, ascertained the 
 obstinacy of men and things ; and when they 
 grow old they forget it, and are again as impa- 
 tient as children at any thing which contradicts 
 their humour." 
 
 " But, Sir," said Frederick, seriously, and 
 with an earnestness which he could not welJ 
 suppress, " surely you will not say, that when 
 men arrive at years of maturity and discretion, 
 they are of necessity indifferent to truth and 
 falsehood, and careless of good or evil. You 
 surely will not, as a clergyman, affirm that it 
 is not the duty of ever}^ individual to do all 
 in his power to remove the evils that are in the 
 world, and to correct the abuses of society/"' 
 
 " Certainly, my friend, I would not, by any 
 means, affirm so wicked a proposition. On the 
 contrary, I do think, and do avow that I think 
 it the duty of every individual to do all the 
 good in his power, to remove as many evils 
 from society as he possibly can; and if any 
 individual, neglecting altogether his own per-
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE UEST. S87 
 
 sonal benefit and advantage, and heedless of his 
 own comfort, should give up the whole of his 
 time, and energies, and talents, for the welfare 
 of society ; that man would deserve honour from 
 society, and would procure the commendation 
 of all good men. My fear is, that too few are 
 to be found who will direct their attention to 
 the welfare of society." 
 
 " But, Sir,'" answered Frederick, " you will 
 excuse nie, when I say, that from the language 
 which you just now used, I apprehended that 
 you were of that class who regard every grand 
 effort for the welfare of mankind as a piece of 
 mere Quixotism." 
 
 " Very far from it, I as^sure you," said Mr. 
 Wright; "and, so ^r from blaming you, I 
 rather honour you for the suspicion, because it 
 speaks well for your feelings. I only think 
 that it is desirable, and highly important, that 
 we should be very certain that our efforts are 
 really for that which is good. Don Quixote, 
 you know, fought with a windmill ; there was
 
 288 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 something commendable in his zeal, though he 
 lacked judgment. He was confident that he 
 was fighting with a giant, but he was not cer- 
 tain of the fact. He ought first to have been 
 sure that the object against which he directed 
 his military yjrowess was really an assailable 
 object, and that there was some probabiHty 
 that he should vanquish the enemy. Now that 
 only is to be called Quixotism which directs a 
 blind, unknowing energy against that which is 
 absolutely no evil ; or which, being in a degree 
 evil, is either not to be subdued by the means 
 applied, or which can be only removed by- 
 greater evil. There is in the world such abun- 
 dant opportunity for doing real good, and for 
 positively increasing human happiness, and add- 
 ing to human comfort, that I think it a pity 
 to waste oner's time and energy upon uncertain 
 and problematic evils." 
 
 '' Certainly, Sir," replied Frederick, " you 
 speak rationally and plausibly ; but yet it does 
 appear to me, that such kind of reasoning is
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 289 
 
 rather likely to be made use of for the purpose 
 of moral apathy. For the removal of great 
 evils there is necessity for the use of great ex- 
 ertions ; and men are never likely to become de- 
 cided benefactors to their species, without feeling 
 something of that ardour which may perhaps be 
 denominated Quixotism. To excel in the fine 
 arts, a certain degree of poetical fervour or 
 inspiration seems essential ; and I should appre- 
 hend that it does not require less of that feeling 
 to become a distinguished benefactor to man- 
 kind." 
 
 " But mankind," answered the clergyman, 
 '' have many benefactors who are not dis- 
 tinguished, and the more it has of these the 
 better for it ; it is for want of undistinguished 
 benefactors that it seems to be in want of dis- 
 tinguished ones. You know the proverb, that 
 if every one mends one, we shall all be mended. 
 This is not, as of course you see, a proposition 
 merely, but it is also a precept. Now only 
 imagine every clergyman, or at least a very 
 
 VOL. I. O
 
 290 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 great proportion of them, paying every possible 
 attention to their flocks ; imagine heads of fa- 
 milies doing all in their power to promote the 
 welfare of their dependents ; and imagine per- 
 sons in opulent or comfortable circumstances 
 keeping a vigilant and benevolent eye upon 
 their poorer neighbours. Would not much 
 good be done to society ? And, on the other 
 hand, conceive of one impatient of this ob- 
 scure and humble form of usefulness, leaving 
 his own family, neglecting their moral improve- 
 ment, heeding not his poorer neighbours, but 
 running wildly through the world to i-emedy 
 what he only imagines to be an evil; uncer- 
 tain, perhaps, at the same time, that the evil is 
 so great as he imagines it to be, and not know- 
 ing whether he may not be doing more harm 
 than good by attempting to remove it. He is 
 uncertain of doing any good to the world at 
 large, but is very certain that he is doing a 
 serious injury to his own family and neighbour- 
 hood. He attempts what he cannot accom-
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 291 
 
 plish, and neglects what he can and ought to 
 do ; to him, therefore, is apphcable the reproof, 
 which says, ' That to him that knoweth to do 
 good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin/ '* 
 
 Frederick listened very attentively to Mr. 
 Wright's homily, and, if it produced no other 
 effect upon the young man's mind, it contri- 
 buted to give him a more favourable opinion 
 of the opulent rector's good feeling than he 
 had entertained before he saw him. Closely 
 looking at mankind robs us of much of the 
 pleasure of romance ; we do not see so many 
 monsters as we suspected were in being. Ne- 
 vertheless, there is something beautiful in the 
 prismatic division of colours melting into each 
 other, which more than counterbalances the 
 loss of the heroic broad lines of black and 
 white. 
 
 The conversation was interrupted by an ar 
 rival, which must be narrated in the next 
 chapter.
 
 292 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Mr. Wright had scarcely finished the 
 speech recorded in the last chapter, when a 
 carriage was heard driving up to the door. 
 *' This is a late hour for visitors," said Mr. 
 Brownlow, and presently he was called out of 
 the room, which summons, with an apology to 
 his guests, he obeyed. 
 
 The newly-arrived party consisted of Amelia 
 Brownlow, her widowed mother, and Mr. Rid- 
 dleton. 
 
 *^ What's the meaning of all this.?" exclaim- 
 ed Mr. Brownlow. 
 
 Mr. Riddleton, then addressing himself to 
 Amelia, said, " My dear, you had better retire
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 293 
 
 to your own room, and your mamma will, per- 
 haps, have the goodness to accompany you." 
 
 The advice was immediately taken, and Mr. 
 Riddleton, with a bustling and consequential air, 
 closed the door after them as they departed ; 
 and then desired Mr. Brownlow to be seated, 
 which Mr. Brownlow would have done without 
 being desired, seeing that he was in his own 
 house ; moreover, he knew Mr. Riddleton so 
 well, that he would never have commenced a 
 conversation with him without sitting, knowing 
 that if he did he would be tired before it was 
 over. When they were seated, Mr. Riddleton 
 rubbed his hands very briskly, looked towards 
 the door very earnestly, and to Mr. Brownlow 
 very mysteriously. 
 
 " Cousin," said Mr. Riddleton, " you hardly 
 expected to see us here to-night, I presume.''" 
 
 " I certainly did not," answered Mr. Brown- 
 low, " but I am very glad to see you." 
 
 " That 's as it may be, cousin, that 's as it 
 may be ; but you don't know all yet." 
 o 3
 
 294 SECO^JD THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 Mr. Brownlow was aware that he did not 
 know all, and he greatly suspected that it 
 would be some time before he should know all, 
 and he moreover conceived that when he should 
 know all it might not be much worth knowing. 
 *' Cousin," continued Mr. Riddleton, " it is an 
 unpleasant business, a very unpleasant business, 
 I wish it could have been avoided, indeed I 
 do ; but I have done what I thought for the 
 best, and if the world blames me, I certainly 
 shall not reproach myself." 
 
 " May I ask, then, what it is that has brought 
 you here r" 
 
 " Why, cousin, the matter is, — the matter is, 
 that I certainly would have prevented it if I 
 could. And I am sure that nobody could have 
 been more careful than I and Mrs. Riddleton 
 have : we could not have been more attentive and 
 vigilant, if she had been our own child, and 
 indeed not so much so ; for there is a responsi- 
 bility, cousin — there is a responsibility in the 
 case of a ward."
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 295 
 
 " I hope nothing has happened to AmeHa," 
 said Mr. Brownlow, without any particular 
 agitation, for he did not perceive any great 
 symptoms of sorrow or calamity, either in her 
 looks, or in those of her mother. 
 
 *' Oh no, no I" answered Mr. Riddleton, with 
 great energy and pomposity of manner, " but 
 you know, cousin, as I said before, there is 
 a responsibility, in the case of a ward — a very 
 serious responsibility ; and therefore that has 
 made me more particularly attentive to prevent 
 any thing improper." 
 
 " You have always taken very great care of 
 Amelia, that cannot be denied ; but is there 
 any danger in the way, that has led you to 
 bring her home at this time.?'' 
 
 '* Why yes, cousin, yes, there is danger.*' 
 Saying thus, Mr. Riddleton again looked to- 
 wards the door, and drew his seat closer to Mr. 
 Brownlow, and said in a very low tone, as if 
 he was afraid of being heard even by the person 
 to whom he was speaking ; " Cousin, I would
 
 296 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 not for all the world that Amelia should know 
 any thing about it — I would not for the world, 
 cousin, I would not for the world!'" 
 
 " But what is it, Mr. Riddleton? what is it ?'' 
 
 " I don't know that I shall be doing quite 
 right even to tell you ; and yet, as you are one of 
 her guardians, you ought to be informed of the 
 matter, that you may know how to act.'' 
 
 " I think you may trust me," said Mr. 
 Brownlow, smilingly. 
 
 " Most undoubtedly, cousin, most undoubt- 
 edly ; you are the most proper person to be 
 informed about it." 
 
 In order to expedite the delivery of the 
 secret, Mr. Brownlow said, " But it may take 
 some time to give the whole narration, and as 
 I have some friends in the dining-room, perhaps 
 you will join the party, and the ladies will 
 receive us in the drawing-room; and you and I 
 can then talk the matter over in the evening ; 
 for, of course, you will not return to town to- 
 night."
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. ^97 
 
 " Why, cousin, there are objections to that 
 arrangement ; I see many objections to that. 
 You know I am by no means partial to your 
 country company, since I have been accustomed 
 to the intellectual society of the metropolis. 
 And then, I think, it will not be advisable for 
 Amelia to show herself to the company, for 
 remarks may be made on the singular fact 
 of her return so unexpectedly : I know that 
 the people in the country are very much given 
 to gossip, and to talk about other people's 
 affairs. But don't let me keep you from your 
 company ; I fear I have detained you already." 
 
 Mr. Brownlow feared the same, but he knew 
 that all attempts to rectify the evil would only 
 make it worse, so he sat with patience waiting 
 till it should please Mr. Riddleton to unfold 
 the mighty secret. Making a great effort for 
 that purpose, the narrator proceeded, saying, 
 " Well then, cousin, not to detain you any 
 longer ; you know that I frequently have a 
 conversazione at my house, and that my ob-
 
 298 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 ject is to bring together men of letters and of 
 genius, without any particular reference to rank 
 in life ; but, of course, I wish to have the thing 
 tolerably select. Now among these men of letters 
 there is no such thing as drawing a line, they 
 thrust themselves so much into the society of 
 their superiors. There is, however, a distinction 
 to be made, and I wish to make that distinction. 
 But let that pass. Now no one, I imagine, 
 would have the asurance to think, that by 
 being tolerated at such parties, he was thereby 
 admitted to a footing of equality. Should you 
 think so yourself, cousin .?" 
 
 " Certainly not," said Mr. Brownlow, most 
 patiently. 
 
 " But, however, you shall hear. You must 
 know Spratt, the man who wrote the cele- 
 brated Prize-Essay, to prove the possibility of 
 geese laying golden eggs ?" 
 
 " I can't say that I do," answered Mr. 
 Brownlow, who saw that it was necessary for 
 him to make some answer.
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 299 
 
 " That^s nothing to the purpose," pursued 
 Mr. Riddieton ; " but he is a very clever fellow 
 I assure you, cousin, a very clever fellow. And 
 when I have a conversazione at my house, I 
 generally employ him and Silversides — of 
 course, you know Silversides .^" 
 
 " I have heard the name," answered Mr. 
 Brownlow, calmly and resignedly as before. 
 
 " Only heard the name !" exclaimed Mr. 
 Riddieton ; " bless me, cousin Brownlow, you 
 know absolutely nothing, living in the country 
 all your life ! You are buried alive, buried 
 alive." 
 
 " Well," replied Mr. Brownlow, " that is 
 better than being squeezed to a mummy in a 
 London crowd." 
 
 " Ah, very good, cousin, very good ! PU re- 
 peat that to Silversides. But let me see, what 
 was I saying — ay, ay, yes — I employ Silver- 
 sides and Spratt to get me literary recruits, 
 and I accommodate them with an opportunity 
 of introducing their friends, who of course are
 
 300 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 strangers to me. A few days ago I had one 
 of these parties at my house ; and I had given 
 cards to Spratt as usual, and I had as usual a 
 miscellaneous party. Silversides was there, and 
 talked delightfully, quite delightfully, cousin. 
 You never heard him, did you ?" 
 
 " Never," answered Mr. Brownlow, " nor 
 saw him. Does he talk intelligibly." 
 
 " I cannot deny," said Mr. Riddleton in a 
 tone of concession, " that he is intelligible ; I 
 know he is not so much admired on that ac- 
 count by some persons, but I like him all the 
 better for it.*' 
 
 " So should I," said Mr. Brownlow : •' but 
 has this Mr. Silversides taken any advantage 
 of your invitations ?" 
 
 " Oh, dear no, cousin !" replied Mr. Rid- 
 dleton ; " no such thing : he is the last man 
 in the world to do so. A more respectful and 
 well-behaved man cannot be found than Silver- 
 sides.""
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 301 
 
 « Then," replied Mr. Brownlow, " Mr. Sil- 
 versides has introduced some improper person.''" 
 
 '^No, cousin, no; not Silversides, but Spratt 
 — Spratt, I believe, was the man. Not that he 
 had any suspicion of what would occur ; I 
 firmly believe him to be perfectly innocent. 
 Spratt is a very well-behaved man, and of very 
 sound notions on political subjects. But it 
 did so happen — I am sure I cannot account 
 for it — but it did so happen that an individual 
 introduced by Spratt did see Amelia at the 
 conversazione and fell in love with her." 
 
 Thereupon Mr. Riddleton stopped and look- 
 ed at his cousin with astonishment, because 
 his cousin did not look at him with astonish- 
 ment. 
 
 Mr. Brownlow, at the pause, said, '* And 
 has he made her an offer ?'^ 
 
 The astonishment of Mr. Riddleton was in- 
 creased tenfold at the question, and at the 
 coolness with which it was put, and he said, 
 
 VOL. I. P
 
 302 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 in tones of expostulation, " Cousin, cousin, do 
 you think that I should suffer such a thing 
 under my roof?" 
 
 " Why, cousin," replied Mr. Brownlow, 
 " I do not see how you could well help it." 
 
 " It is my opinion, cousin — I do not know 
 what other people may think of the matter — 
 but it is my opinion, that the first duty of a 
 guardian is to see that his ward does not 
 improperly fall in love." 
 
 " Who is the gentleman,'' asked Mr. Brown- 
 low, " who has fallen in love with our ward ?'''* 
 
 " That,'' replied Mr. Riddleton, " I cannot 
 tell ; for I only know that he is a man of 
 ruined fortune, and seeking for the means of 
 restoring his fortune by marriage.'' 
 
 '' Does Amelia know him ,^" 
 
 " By no means ; she is not aware of any 
 thing of the kind. I endeavoured to ascer- 
 tain that, after I had heard the story." 
 
 " From whom, then, did you hear the story?" 
 
 « From Spratt ; and Spratt had it from
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 303 
 
 the individual himself. And Spratt, as a 
 friend, gave me a hint to be upon my guard ; 
 for he had heard that there had been inquiries 
 made about Amelia by a person of no property 
 and of very dubious connexions. And, cousin, 
 I thought it the wisest step I could take, im- 
 mediately to bring our ward home to you ; 
 and, as your mode of living is more retired 
 than mine, I thought that she might be safest 
 under your roof, which is, indeed, her regular 
 and stated home." 
 
 Having so spoken, Mr. Riddleton again 
 rubbed his hands, and looked as if expecting 
 to hear his wisdom duly and gravely com- 
 mended. Mr. Brownlow merely replied with 
 his usual indifference, " But you will not think 
 of returning to-night ?" 
 
 " Oh yes, cousin, I must indeed, and I must 
 beg you to order the carriage immediately. 
 But let me implore you, my good and wor- 
 thy cousin, let me beg and entreat of you, that 
 you do not introduce Amelia to your party to- 
 p 2
 
 304 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 night. Suspicions, you know, may be excited, 
 rumours may fly abroad, perplexities may be 
 occasioned. Indeed, I think it would be best — 
 but of course you know better than I do what 
 steps ought to be taken, — but still, if I might be 
 permitted to suggest, and it is only for Amelia*'s 
 own good that I do suggest it, — she knows that 
 I have her interest at heart, — it is only for her 
 good, cousin, — it is only for her good that I ven- 
 ture to suggest, that perhaps it might be advi- 
 sable for a time, only for a time, to keep her 
 in a state of perfect seclusion. But you know 
 best." 
 
 " Do you mean," said Mr. Brownlow, " to 
 advise me to lock her up ?^' 
 
 " Why, no," answered Mr. Riddleton ; '* no, 
 my cousin, I would hardly go so far as that, 
 for that would be attended with many inconve- 
 niences, and the poor child might pine or get 
 out of the window. Don't lock her up, poor 
 thing, don't lock her up." 
 
 Mr. Brownlow did not laugh, and some ere-
 
 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 805 
 
 dit is due to him for that ; he said, " Depend 
 upon me, Mr. Riddleton, I will take especial 
 care of her ; you know that she has never fallen 
 in love since she has been under my roof.'"* 
 
 *' No, cousin," said Mr. Riddleton eagerly, 
 " she never has, she never has ; and therefore I 
 thought it best to bring her to you. Well, 
 now I am detaining you, so I will take my 
 leave ; let me hear from you as soon as you 
 have leisure to write. I feel an interest in the 
 poor child's welfare : I wish her well with all my 
 heart ; I do indeed, cousin ; and for her sake, if 
 it were necessary, I would give up all my con- 
 versaziones ; but then, what would the world 
 say, cousin ; what would the world say, that 's 
 the matter ?'' 
 
 The carriage was announced, and Mr. Brown- 
 low was most happy, for he saw some probabi- 
 lity that the conference would terminate before 
 midnight. Anybody but Mr. Riddleton would 
 have observed symptoms of impatience in his 
 auditor, but there was with him no suspicion of
 
 306 SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST. 
 
 anything of the kind, and he departed most 
 highly delighted with his own dexterity and 
 diplomatic skill. 
 
 In compliance with Mr. Riddleton's request, 
 and also at the desire of Amelia herself, Mr. 
 Brownlow did not introduce the young lady to 
 his party that evening, nor did Frederick Strat- 
 ton know that she was in the house till the 
 party was gone. 
 
 END OP THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEV, 
 Dorset Street, Fleet Street.
 
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