t, with persons who kept their
politics as a school-boy does his pocket-money, never to spend, and
always ready to change, it was unpleasant to dispute. Such taunts as
these I submitted to, as well I might; secretly resolving, that as I
now knew the meaning of Whig and Tory, I'd contrive to spend my life,
after marriage, out of the worthy dean's diocese.

"Time wore on, and at length, to my most pressing solicitations it was
conceded that a day for our marriage should be appointed. Not even the
unlucky termination of this my second love affair can deprive me of the
happy souvenir of the few weeks which were to intervene before our
destined union.

"The mornings were passed in ransacking all the shops where wedding
finery could be procured--laces, blondes, velvets, and satins, littered
every corner of the deanery--and there was scarcely a carriage in a
coach-maker's yard in the city that I had not sat and jumped in, to try
the springs, by the special direction of Mrs. Eversham, who never
ceased to impress me with the awful responsibility I was about to take
upon me, in marrying so great a prize as her daughter--a feeling I
found very general among many of my friends at the Kildare Street club.

"Among the many indispensable purchases which I was to make, and about
which Fanny expressed herself more than commonly anxious, was a
saddle-horse for me. She was a great horse-woman, and hated riding
with only a servant; and had given me to understand as much about
half-a-dozen times each day for the last five weeks. How shall I
acknowledge it--equestrianism was never my forte. I had all my life
considerable respect for the horse as an animal, pretty much as I
dreaded a lion or a tiger; but as to any intention of mounting upon the
back of one, and taking a ride, I should as soon have dreamed of taking
an airing upon a giraffe; and as to the thought of buying, feeding, and
maintaining such a beast at my own proper cost, I should just as soon
have determined to purchase a pillory or a ducking-stool, by way of
amusing my leisure hours.

"However, Fanny was obstinate--whether she suspected anything or not I
cannot say--but nothing seemed to turn her from her purpose; and
although I pleaded a thousand things in delay, yet she grew each day
more impatient, and at last I saw there was nothing for it but to
submit.

"When I arrived at this last bold resolve, I could not help feeling
that to possess a horse, and not be able to