y, and the younger son of the humble rector who was now its
representative. The gentleman then introduced himself to me as the Earl
of Rainsforth, the principal proprietor in the neighborhood, but who had
so rarely visited the country during my childhood and earlier youth that
I had never before seen him. His only son, however, a young man of great
promise, had been at the same college with me in my first year at the
University. The young lord was a reading man and a scholar, and we had
become slightly acquainted when he left for his travels.

"Now, on hearing my name Lord Rainsforth took my hand cordially, and
leading me to his daughter, said, 'Think, Ellinor, how fortunate!--this
is the Mr. Caxton whom your brother so often spoke of.'

"In short, my dear Pisistratus, the ice was broken, the acquaintance
made; and Lord Rainsforth, saying he was come to atone for his long
absence from the county, and to reside at Compton the greater part of
the year, pressed me to visit him. I did so. Lord Raipsforth's liking to
me increased; I went there often."

My father paused, and seeing my mother had fixed her eyes upon him with
a sort of mournful earnestness, and had pressed her hands very tightly
together, he bent down and kissed her forehead.

"There is no cause, my child!" said he. It was the only time I ever
heard him address my mother so parentally. But then I never heard him
before so grave and solemn,--not a quotation, too; it was incredible:
it was not my father speaking, it was another man. "Yes, I went there
often. Lord Rainsforth was a remarkable person. Shyness that was wholly
without pride (which is rare), and a love for quiet literary pursuits,
had prevented his taking that personal part in public life for which he
was richly qualified; but his reputation for sense and honor, and his
personal popularity, had given him no inconsiderable influence even, I
believe, in the formation of cabinets, and he had once been prevailed
upon to fill a high diplomatic situation abroad, in which I have
no doubt that he was as miserable as a good man can be under any
infliction. He was now pleased to retire from the world, and look at it
through the loopholes of retreat. Lord Rainsforth had a great respect
for talent, and a warm interest in such of the young as seemed to him to
possess it. By talent, indeed, his family had risen, and were strikingly
characterized. His ancestor, the first peer, had been a distinguished
lawyer; his