Love Romances of the Aristocracy

its fitting climax of horror at the exact moment foretold to him by a ghostly visitor. Various and somewhat conflicting accounts are given of this singular tragedy; but in them all the chief i

dant of five centuries of Lyttelton ancestors, who had held their heads among the highest in the county of Worcester s

having died the victim of the coarsest debauchery, and leaving behind hi

is old schoolfellow in mind when he dedicated his Diaboliad "to the worst

asted every v

oke a noble p

ily boast h

dow and the v

o have been one long record of profligacy; at least, until that day, but six year

on the discovery of the vicious life he had led in his travels in France and Italy, he had been a source of shame and trouble to his family.... To measure the d

ess of his life, was the brazen openness with

he was at Eton Dr Barnard, the headmaster, predicted a great future for the boy, whose talents he declared were superior to those of young Fox. In literature and art his natural endowment was such tha

ave made an effort to reform his ways; but the vice in his blood was quick to reassert itself; he abandoned his wife under the

till a young man (he was but thirty-five when he died), he was a nervo

is tether the following story proves. One day in the last month of his life

room a little while, I will get up and go out with you.' He did so, and the two young men walked out into the streets. In the course of their walk they crossed the churchyard of St James's, Piccadil

few days he, too, would be lying among the "vulgar

f singular eloquence and statesmanlike grasp-the speech of a man in the prime of his powers. Such efforts as this, however, were but as the spas

, at Epsom (in those days a fashionable health resort), where he had invited a house-party, including several ladies, to join him. And, it should be said, no host could possibly

ollowing incident-which may or may not have had a be

ry with Lady Affleck and the Misses Affleck, a robin perched on an orange-tree close to them. Lord Lyttelton attempted to catch it, but failing, and being laughed at by the ladies, he said

ed awake for some time, I heard what sounded like the tapping of a bird at my window, followed by a gentle fluttering of wings about my chamber. I raised myself on my arm to learn the meaning of these strange sounds, and was amazed at seeing a lovely female, dressed in white, with a small bird perc

cheer him, and to laugh away his fears. They could make no impression on the despondency that had settled on him; they could not shake

n hand, the preparation of a speech on the disturbed condition in Ireland which he was to deliver in the House of Lords that very day-a speech which should enhance his great and rapidly growing reput

spoken with more eloquence and lucidity or with m

l and maritime people-lost-for ever lost to us; the West Indies abandoned; Ireland ready to part from us. Ireland, my lords, is armed; and what is her language? 'Give us fr

f one crying in the wilderness," Lord Lyttelton felt that he had done his duty and h

ng in St James's Park, as Mr Makower tells us, "with the i

t of your brother peers, paid you such fi

jority who voted with him were wrong; and I was right with my minority. They don't know Ireland as I do. But a Government which can lose Ameri

of Lyttelton's dream, something in the manner of t

ed it so much if I believed in nothing. With me sin has been conscientious; and I enjoyed the wrong thing not o

too seriously," in

" said Lyttelton. "Then you shal

arity. One hour he was plunged into the depths of despair, the next he was the soul of

us high spirits; and, when the cloth was removed, he exclaimed jubilantly, "Ah, Richard is himself again!" But his gaiety was short-lived. A

s watch every few moments to note the passage of time. At last, when his watch pointed to half-past eleven, he retired, without a word of farewell to his guests, to his bedr

te hand slowly but surely drew near to twelve he asked to see his valet's watch, and was relieved to find that it marked the same time as his own. With beating heart and straining eyes he watched the hand draw nearer and nearer. A minute more

. "And now give me my medicine; I will wait no longer." The valet proceeded to mix his usual medicine, a dose of rhubarb, stirring it,

g, "Help! Help! My lord is dying!" The alarmed guests rushed frantically to the chamber, only to find their host almost at his last gasp. A few moments later he was dead, with

ral causes, to the effect of fear on a diseased heart, none can say with certainty. That his heart was diseased, that he had had many former seizures, during which his life seemed in danger, is beyond question; but if

t follows. Among Lord Lyttelton's boon companions was a Mr Andrews, with whom he had often discussed the possibilities of a

the promise would be fulfilled. On the night of Lord Lyttelton's death Mr Andrews, who expected his l

e to tell him all was over. It seems that Lord Lyttelton was fond of horseplay; and, as he had often made Andrews the subject of it, the latter had threatened his lordship with physical chastisement the very next time that it should occur. On the present occasion, thinking that the annoyance was being renewe

ng for his servant, and asked if Lord Lyttelton had not arrived. The man answered: "No, sir." "You may depend upon it," said Mr Andrews, thoroughly mystified and out of humour, "that he is som

oon of the following day news came to him that Lord Lyttelton had died the previous night at the very time that he (Mr Andrews) was searching for his midnight visitant, and abusing him roundly for what he co