oiced to hear you are so well entertained at Paris--that you
have been so often to the D--s and C--s; that Coulon says you are his
best pupil--that your favourite horse is so much admired--and that you
have only exceeded your allowance by a L1,000; with some difficulty I
have persuaded your uncle to transmit you an order for L1,500, which
will, I trust, make up all your deficiencies.

"You must not, my dear child, be so extravagant for the future, and
for a very good reason, namely, I do not see how you can. Your uncle, I
fear, will not again be so generous, and your father cannot assist you.
You will therefore see more clearly than ever the necessity of marrying
an heiress: there are only two in England (the daughters of gentlemen)
worthy of you--the most deserving of these has L10,000 a year, the other
has L150,000. The former is old, ugly, and very ill tempered; the latter
tolerably pretty, and agreeable, and just of age; but you will perceive
the impropriety of even thinking of her till we have tried the other.
I am going to ask both to my Sunday soirees, where I never admit any
single men, so that there, at least, you will have no rivals.

"And now, my dear son, before I enter into a subject of great importance
to you, I wish to recal to your mind that pleasure is never an end, but
a means--viz. that in your horses and amusements at Paris--your visits
and your liaisons--you have always, I trust, remembered that these were
only so far desirable as the methods of shining in society. I have now
a new scene on which you are to enter, with very different objects in
view, and where any pleasures you may find have nothing the least in
common with those you at present enjoy.

"I know that this preface will not frighten you as it might many silly
young men. Your education has been too carefully attended to, for you to
imagine that any step can be rough or unpleasant which raises you in the
world.

"To come at once to the point. One of the seats in your uncle's borough
of Buyemall is every day expected to be vacated; the present member, Mr.
Toolington, cannot possibly live a week, and your uncle is very desirous
that you should fill the vacancy which Mr. Toolington's death will
create. Though I called it Lord Glenmorris's borough, yet it is not
entirely at his disposal, which I think very strange, since my father,
who was not half so rich as your uncle, could send two members
to Parliament without the least trouble in the