was shut up
in his delicious Belvedere, he had complained much of the state of his
health, and one of his principal pursuits was consulting the faculty on
this interesting subject. The faculty were unanimous in their opinion
that the disorder from which their patient was suffering was _Ennui_.
This persistent opinion irritated him, and was one of the elements
of his decision to leave the country. The unexpected distraction that
followed his return to his native land had made him neglect or forget
his sad indisposition, but it appears that it had now returned, and in
an aggravated form. Unhappily the English physicians took much the
same view of the case as their French brethren. They could find nothing
organically wrong in the constitution or condition of Lord Montfort,
and recommended occupation and society. At present he shrank with some
disgust at the prospect of returning to France, and he had taken it into
his head that the climate of Montfort did not agree with him. He was
convinced that he must live in the south of England. One of the most
beautiful and considerable estates in that favoured part of our country
was virtually in the market, and Lord Montfort, at the cost of half a
million, became the proprietor of Princedown. And here he announced that
he should dwell and die.

This state of affairs was a bitter trial to the proudest woman in
England, but Lady Montfort was also one of the most able. She resisted
nothing, sympathised with all his projects, and watched her opportunity
when she could extract from his unconscious good-nature some reasonable
modification of them. And she ultimately succeeded in establishing a
_modus vivendi_. He was to live and die at Princedown; that was settled;
but if he ever came to town, to consult his physicians, for example, he
was always to inhabit Montfort House, and if she occasionally required a
whiff of southern air, she was to have her rooms always ready for her at
Princedown. She would not interfere with him in the least; he need not
even see her, if he were too unwell. Then as to the general principle of
his life, it was quite clear that he was not interested in anything, and
never would be interested in anything; but there was no reason that he
should not be amused. This distinction between interest and amusement
rather pleased, and seemed to satisfy Lord Montfort--but then it was
difficult to amuse him. The only thing that ever amused him, he said,
were his wife's lette