rt of
fluttering inclination to unburthen itself, by linking destinies with
the merry Mrs. Margaret; the prospect of a handsome legacy, or perhaps
an annuity, gave an additional spur to John's affectionate feelings, and
that night he resolved to put the question. All this Mrs. Margaret
had anticipated, and as she was now on the verge of forty, she very
prudently thought there was no time to lose. "They are a pair of
oddities," continued the waiting-maid; "I have sometimes surprised them
both crying, as if their hearts would break, over a new book: I suppose
they have got something very interesting, as my lady calls it and Mr.
Horatio is sermonizing as usual."--Mrs Margaret was not far wrong in her
conjecture, for when my aunt and Horatio were again alone, she rallied
him on the serious complexion of his style.

[Illustration: page025]

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CHARACTER OF BERNARD BLACKMANTLE.

BY HORATIO HEARTLY.

You shall have it from his own pen, said Horatio. In my portfolio, I
have preserved certain scraps of Bernard's that will best speak his
character; prose and poetry, descriptive and colloquial, Hudibrastic and
pastoral, trifles in every costume of literary fancy, according with the
peculiar humour of the author at the time of their inditing, from these
you shall judge my eccentric friend better than by any commendation of
mine. I shall merely preface these early offerings of his genius with a
simple narrative of our school-boy intimacy.

I had been about three months at Eton, and had grown somewhat familiar
with the characters of my associates, and the peculiarities of their
phraseology and pursuits, when our dame's party was increased by the
arrival of Bernard Blackmantle. It is usual with the sons of old Etona,
on the arrival of a fresh subject, to play off a number of school-boy
witticisms and practical jokes, which though they may produce a little
mortification in the first instance, tend in no small degree to display
the qualifications of mind possessed by their new associate, and give
him a familiarity with his companions and their customs, which
otherwise would take more time, and subject the stranger to much greater
inconvenience. Bernard underwent all the initiatory school ceremonies
and
~26~~
humiliations with great coolness, but not without some display of that
personal courage and true nobleness of mind, which advances the new
comer in the estimation of his school-fellows. First impressions are
almost