incapable of that sort of delicacy,
and that the graceful manner in which he withdrew his addresses was of
my invention.

As soon as he withdrew, it became my business to step forward; but
cautiously and gently, so as not to alarm the lady, and yet firmly, so
as to convince her of the hopelessness of her design of uniting herself
with her shabby lover, the sub-lieutenant. The Princess Olivia was good
enough to perform this necessary part of the plan in my favour, and
solemnly to warn the Countess Ida, that, though Monsieur de Magny had
retired from paying his addresses, his Highness her guardian would
still marry her as he thought fit, and that she must for ever forget her
out-at-elbowed adorer. In fact, I can't conceive how such a shabby rogue
as that could ever have had the audacity to propose for her: his birth
was certainly good; but what other qualifications had he?

When the Chevalier de Magny withdrew, numbers of other suitors, you
may be sure, presented themselves; and amongst these your very humble
servant, the cadet of Ballybarry. There was a carrousel, or tournament,
held at this period, in imitation of the antique meetings of chivalry,
in which the chevaliers tilted at each other, or at the ring; and on
this occasion I was habited in a splendid Roman dress (viz., a silver
helmet, a flowing periwig, a cuirass of gilt leather richly embroidered,
a light blue velvet mantle, and crimson morocco half-boots): and in this
habit I rode my bay horse Brian, carried off three rings, and won
the prize over all the Duke's gentry, and the nobility of surrounding
countries who had come to the show. A wreath of gilded laurel was to
be the prize of the victor, and it was to be awarded by the lady he
selected. So I rode up to the gallery where the Countess Ida was seated
behind the Hereditary Princess, and, calling her name loudly, yet
gracefully, begged to be allowed to be crowned by her, and thus
proclaimed myself to the face of all Germany, as it were, her suitor.
She turned very pale, and the Princess red, I observed; but the Countess
Ida ended by crowning me: after which, putting spurs into my horse, I
galloped round the ring, saluting his Highness the Duke at the opposite
end, and performing the most wonderful exercises with my bay.

My success did not, as you may imagine, increase my popularity with the
young gentry. They called me adventurer, bully, dice-loader, impostor,
and a hundred pretty names; but I had a way