you to deport yourself with becoming dignity
and reserve during our visit to the Deane family. Mr Deane is, I own,
a man of credit and honour, and would never desire to injure a human
being. I am, moreover, indebted to him for certain sums advanced on my
estate, and of dire necessity only accepted; so that I wish he should be
treated with all courtesy and respect. But he is an obstinate supporter
of this vile government, and with him and one or two other exceptions,
as I feel is my duty to my order and party, I hate them all, root and
branch; they are a money-making, mean-spirited, trading set. It
surprises me that any of the nobility and old families of the country
can adhere to them. What, however, can be expected from
stocking-weavers and such like? Well, well! I was speaking of that
worthy man Deane. There is his wife, a good dame and a careful mother,
and his two daughters. You know them better than I do--passable girls
though, they seem to me; not exactly such as I might have chosen as your
companions; but _tempora mutantur_, as we used to say at college!
I'faith, most of my Latin has slipped out of my memory. And then there
are those two sons. The eldest, Jasper, seems a quiet, proper-behaved
young man enough. College has polished him up a little, but of the
other I know but little; a broad-shouldered lad he seemed, not ill
fitted to fight his way through life, as far as outward figure goes.
And Master Jasper, what is to be his course in life? Will his father
bring him up as a gentleman?"

"His sister Polly told me that Master Jasper is to become a physician,
to follow in the footsteps of their esteemed cousin, Dr Nathaniel
Deane," answered Alethea. "I suppose that might be considered the
calling of a gentleman."

"Humph!" ejaculated the Squire, as if he had not quite made up his mind
on the subject. "That, according to my notions, depends on the original
position of a person. It is better than that of some others, my lord's
chaplain, or the reverend vicar's curate, as was the lot of some of my
college chums; however, I dare say, with so renowned a guide, Master
Jasper will prove an honour to the profession. But the breeze feels
cool beneath these trees; we will canter on, or you will not have time
to change your habit, and be in readiness for Mistress Deane's
entertainment."

At a touch of Alethea's whip, her palfrey broke into an easy canter, and
her father's steed moving on at a trot, they