marriage was publicly talked of, the day was fixed, and every
thing prepared for the nuptials.

It is impossible to describe the happiness of our lovers, when they saw
every obstacle thus unexpectedly removed. Damon was beside himself with
surprise and congratulation. Delia, at intervals, rubbed her eyes, and
could scarcely be persuaded that it was not a dream. They saw each other
at least once every day. Together they wandered along the margin of the
ocean, and together they sought that delicious alcove, which now appeared
ten times more beautiful, from the recollection it suggested of the
sufferings they had passed.

Lord Martin was in the mean time most grievously disappointed. "The devil
damn the fellow!" said he, "he crosses me like my evil genius. I have a
month's mind to send him a challenge. He is a tall, big looking fellow to
be sure. But then if I could contrive to kill him. Ah, me! but fortune
does not always favour the brave. My reputation is established. I do not
want a duel for that. And for any other purpose, it is all a lottery. Fire
and furies, death and destruction! something must be done. Let me
think--_About my brain_."

But lord Martin was not the only one whose hopes were disappointed, by the
expected marriage of Delia. He loved her not, he felt not one flutter of
complacency about his heart. It was vanity that first prompted him to
address her. It was disappointed pride that now stung him. Even Mr.
Prattle viewed her with a more generous affection. His genius was not
indeed a daring one, but it was active and indefatigable. Squire Savage
did not feel the less, though he did not spend many words about it. He was
a blustering hector. He had the reputation of fearing nothing, and caring
for nothing, that stood in his way. There were also other lovers beside
these, _whom the muse knows not, nor desires to know_.

In this manner gins and snares seemed, on every side, to surround our
happy and heedless lovers. They sported on the brink. They sighed, and
smiled, and sang, and talked again. At length the eve of the day, from
which their future happiness was to be dated, arrived. They had but one
drawback, the continued averseness of lord Thomas Villiers. Damon was
however now obliged, together with Mr. Hartley, to attend the lawyers at
Mr. Moreland's, in order to complete the previous formalities.

CHAPTER VII.

_Containing what will terrify the reader._

At such a moment as this, a mind of