eached me. Wretched boy! what have
you done? What frightful career of imprudence have you entered upon?
Write to me at once; for although I shall take immediate steps for your
recall, I shall be in a fever of impatience till you tell me all about
it. Poor dear Lord Dudley de Vere, how I love him for the way he speaks
of you! for although, evidently, your conduct to him has been something
very gross, yet his language respecting you is marked not only by
forbearance, but by kindness. Indeed, he attributes the spirit you have
manifested to the instigation of another member of the staff, whose
name, with his habitual delicacy, we could not prevail upon him to
disclose. His account of that wretched country is distressing indeed;
the frightful state of society, the barbarism of the natives, and the
frequency of bloodshed. I shall not close my eyes to-night thinking of
you; though he has endeavoured to reassure me, by telling us, that as
the Castle is a strong place, and a considerable military force always
there, you are in comparative safety. But, my dear child, who are these
frightful Rooneys, with the odious house where all this gambling and
ruin goes forward? How feelingly poor Lord Dudley spoke of the trials
young men are exposed to! His parents have indeed a treasure in him.
Rooney appears to be a money-lender, a usurer--most probably a Jew.
His wretched wife, what can she be? And that designing minx, niece,
daughter, or whatever this Miss Belloo--what a shocking name!--may be?
To think you should have fallen among such people! Lord George's debts
are, they say, very considerable, all owing, as he assures me, to his
unfortunate acquaintance with this Rooney, with whom he appears to have
had bill transactions for some time past. If your difficulties were only
on the score of money I should think little of it; but a quarrelsome,
rancorous spirit, a taste for low company, and vulgar associates, and
a tendency to drink--these, indeed, are very shocking features, and
calculated to inflict much misery on your parents.

'However, let us, as far as possible, endeavour to repair the mishap.
I write by this post to this Mr. Rooney, requesting him to send in his
account to your father, and that in future any dinners, or wine, you may
have at his house will not be paid for, as you are under age. I shall
also let him know that the obscurity of his rank in life, and the
benighted state of the country he lives in, shall prove no safegu