Accordingly, in addition to the usual number of fêtes given by a family of their rank, a regular weekly supper was established, on the nights of those days when there had been a drawing-room at Court, to the unspeakable joy of Lady Elizabeth and all the Partridges, as well as Clayton, who never failed in their attendance upon it. The house, also, was thrown open on stated evenings to a select society, (but, particularly, those of any political consequence,) who were sure to find elegant amusement, and what was meant to be agreeable conversation.

These parties (still by Lord Cleveland's advice, though the adviser kept himself concealed from Constance,) were made by degrees more and more select; so as to be, what, in the present day, would be called exclusive, with the exceptions of members of parliament and persons of parliamentary influence. Admission to them, therefore, became more and more an object of desire, from difficulty; while the fashion, accomplishments, and beauty of the Lady Constance became the theme of every tongue. In short, the politic Earl's plan succeeded, and Lord Mowbray was in ecstacy to think, that to be invited to the suppers or parties of his daughter, was deemed fully equal in itself to the value of a vote upon all difficult questions.

But all this was without the knowledge of her who was the load-star that set every thing in motion; for of the exact views of her father in promoting, and still more of the share which Lord Cleveland had in advising it, she was absolutely unconscious. She only observed, and (for why should we deny it?) her heart dilated with pleasure in doing so, that the petits soupers, the music, the foreigners of distinction, and, above all, the party associations to be found in the society of Mowbray House, had become the delight of the haute noblesse, and the admiration of all who pretended to be of any fashion in the metropolis.

In effecting this, Lord Mowbray had but a single object: and, as we have seen, was the blind follower of another's genius. But the policy of that other had a double aspect. He had proposed to himself, for reasons which have been glanced at, to plunge Constance

into a dangerous dissipation; and he had also observed on the Continent, the powerful influence of female attraction, diffused, as it might be, through a variety of channels, in subserviency to the views of ambition. Both his objects were promoted by the advice he gave to Lord Mowbray. Nor, in respect to politics, let any one think this either out of nature, or unprecedented. To be sure, our downright ancestors seldom gave assemblies. The rivals for power in the state, wrestled for it in the Council-chamber or the Senate, almost as toughly as if really tugging in an arena, like regular Pancratiasts. They had no idea of the influence of a woman's smile, except as it led them to arms and battle. But while the power of the smile continued the same, other roads had been opened to obtain it. The tournament blazed no more; but the palm of eloquence, and the victory in political contest, might still be laid at woman's feet; and lovely woman still excited our youth to exertion, though of a different nature. How many, indeed, of our struggling statesmen have animated their own prowess, and kept a sometimes vacillating band together, by the adroit application of this potent instrument!

Cold

In the time we speak of, the enchantress of most power in this respect-she who afterwards so delighted the ear by her accomplishments, and the eye by her manners-she who made her house one glow of fascinating elegance, had not appeared, though she has now sunk from the scene, and left no peer behind. and mouldered are those limbs, and mute that tongue, and glazed that eye, which once dazzled by their grace, won by their sweetness, or kindled by their lustre. But the exciting instrument of party even now remains; and is still used, even in this matter-of-fact age; when, either from the changed hearts of the men, or the inferior powers of the women, it has lost much of its influence.

But at the epoch we are commemorating, Constance, though only a morning star which preceded suns in full glory, was already gazed at with fervour; and the adroit Lord Cleveland, while he worshipped this brilliant star himself, converted its brilliancy skilfully to

his purpose with others. In doing this, however, he had another and still deeper view than even to serve his ambition. By abstracting Constance (through the seductive amusements, and the flattery or self-consequence which we have mentioned) from that serious and reflective disposition which was always his enemy, he thought he might remove a powerful bar to his own still unabandoned wishes. He might even rid himself of the most powerful obstacle of all; for such, Clayton had confirmed him in fearing De Vere to be.

"If I can but make her thoroughly dissipated," said he to himself, "De Vere will fly.'

With this charitable view, he watched every movement at Mowbray House, and, always out of sight as a director, though always present as a spectator, the wheel went round for some time as he wished, and Constance had nearly been (we will not say lost, but) made giddy by its whirl.

It was not that her heart was at all changed by the excitements or the tumult of her life; it was not that she had become incapable of those lovely emotions which had so endeared her to those who knew and honoured her most: but, like the bewildered Rinaldo, she felt the influence of an enchanted garden; and so rapid was the vortex in which she found herself involved, that she had not time to be the Constance of the retirement, nor even of the revelries of Castle Mowbray, whom De Vere had so adored.

If any one wonder at this, after all that has been said of her, my only answer is, that Constance was a human creature, not one-and-twenty years of age, surrounded by admirers of every kind; some of them paying court to her rank, some to her elegance, many to her gaiety, all to her beauty. The old approved her dignity; the high, her refinement; the young, her cheerfulness; the gay, her taste for pleasure. Whereever she trod, flowers seemed to spring under her feet, and whichever way she turned, she was garlanded with admiration. Her presence thus diffusing happiness, and her every movement commanding applause, what wonder then, if her heart should for awhile have nearly forgotten its sobriety, or that she should drink

(some might say largely) of the cup of pleasure thus presented to her! On the other hand, there was no restraint on any part of her conduct; no monitress but her own bosom; while some very high dames, friends of Lord Cleveland, devotees of this world, and reckless of another, urged on her career by the most assailing flatteries.

This did not hurt her; but, left to herself, the danger was nearer home. For the reflective habit which Cleveland most feared, fell by degrees, at least into disuse; and she saw no harm in the temporary splendour of her life, because, knowing it had nothing to do with mind, she had resolved it should be but tempo

rary.

Thus surrounded, thus plunged, Lord Cleveland deemed her already in the toils; and as London pleasures were his element, in which, to say the truth, he was by all considered as the Arbiter elegantiarum, he shone in his element, as other spirits shine. We must not be surprised, then, at the reports which daily gained ground, that the great Lord Cleveland and the beautiful heiress were soon to be united.

Mere report, however, did not satisfy many of those who fluttered about her; eminently, among the rest, the young Duke of Bellamont. Undaunted by the reputation, and, what is more, the alleged success of Lord Cleveland, he resolved to take neither report, nor denial, except from the lady's father, or herself. To the former, he opened his pretensions in form; to the latter he strove (and seemed to succeed) to make himself agreeable, by those attentions which, from one of his rank, youth, and real accomplishments, can never be regarded but with complacency by any wellbred female, whatever the result.

This filled Lord Cleveland with alarm: he even feared Lord Mowbray's fidelity. But he feared the lady more; for the Duke was the flower of the Court. Cleveland therefore redoubled his attentions; assumed the guise of a lover broke down with despair; talked of Lord Mowbray as a future Secretary of State; and every where watched Constance with the most keen anxiety.

VOL. II. -4

And did no one else watch her? And had no one besides, observed her through the career we have been describing! Yes! and with an attention, though with very different motives, at least equal to that of Lord Cleveland. In fact, it is not easy to describe the intense, and almost painful interest with which De Vere now observed his cousin.

On their first arrival in London, he had not been surprised at, he had even promoted, that moderate dissipation, if it may be so called, which is not merely agreeable, but is sometimes even held to be salutary to those who have been much secluded. But when he found the whirl increase, without any great reluctance; when the revelry seemed to proceed upon system, and even assumed to be a sort of principle, he was startled, uneasy, and (as he said, without any right to be so) displeased. His heart, indeed, felt with pleasure the universal admiration which was paid to Constance; and he was not devoid of pride, when he saw the consequence, which, without intending, and almost without knowing it, she had communicated to her father in his party views. The wavering opinion of many a young man had been often fixed by a dinner or ball at Mowbray House; and that dinner or ball had been gladly accepted, because of the syren attraction of the beautiful hostess. With his own feelings, he could scarcely wonder at this.

Nor was the influence confined to politics, to subjects, to one sex, or one nation. The Sovereign and his Queen had talked of the grace of Constance, and had spoken of her as a favourite; and ladies who themselves were at the supreme head of society, were therefore emulous to have her as the partner of their reign. Foreigners who were at the head of Europe, and with whom, from her residence abroad, she felt much at her ease, proclaimed her the jewel of England. It was treason for them to depart the kingdom without having seen and conversed with her. Even the literati, as well as the dilettanti of the day, sought her auspices; and to behold her, as she sometimes was, surrounded by them, one would have supposed her either actually, or in danger of becoming, that anomalous character