How happily the days Of Thalaba went by!

And, having thus left the principal characters of our tale in a situation
which, being sufficiently comfortable to themselves, is, of course,
utterly uninteresting to the reader, we take up the history of a person
who has as yet only been named, and who has all the interest that
uncertainty and misfortune can give.

CHAPTER XXI
What say'st thou, Wise One? that all powerful Love
Can fortune's strong impediments remove,
Nor is it strange that worth should wed to worth,
The pride of genius with the pride of birth.

CRABBE.

V. Brown--I will not give at full length his thrice unhappy name--had
been from infancy a ball for fortune to spurn at; but nature had given
him that elasticity of mind which rises higher from the rebound. His form
was tall, manly, and active, and his features corresponded with his
person; for, although far from regular, they had an expression of
intelligence and good-humour, and when he spoke, or was particularly
animated, might be decidedly pronounced interesting. His manner indicated
the military profession, which had been his choice, and in which he had
now attained the rank of captain, the person who succeeded Colonel
Mannering in his command having laboured to repair the injustice which
Brown had sustained by that gentleman's prejudice against him. But this,
as well as his liberation from captivity, had taken place after Mannering
left India. Brown followed at no distant period, his regiment being
recalled home. His first inquiry was after the family of Mannering, and,
easily learning their route northward, he followed it with the purpose of
resuming his addresses to Julia. With her father he deemed he had no
measures to keep; for, ignorant of the more venomous belief which had
been instilled into the Colonel's mind, he regarded him as an oppressive
aristocrat, who had used his power as a commanding officer to deprive him
of the preferment due to his behaviour, and who had forced upon him a
personal quarrel without any better reason than his attentions to a
pretty young woman, agreeable to herself, and permitted and countenanced
by her mother. He was determined, therefore, to take no rejection unless
from the young lady herself, believing that the heavy misfortunes of his
painful wound and imprisonment were direct injuries received from the
father, which might dispense with his using much ceremony towards hi