Sir Brook Fossbrooke, Volume I.

places flow, is not remarkable for either the splendor or space it affords to the inmates beneath its roof. Upheld by a great prestige perhaps, as in the case of

by the meanness within; and even the very highest of those

t he took it as something to be corrected, changed, and ameliorated, and the result was a perpetual struggle to make the most ordinary traits and commonplace features appear the impress of one on whom Nature had written gentleman. It would have been no easy task to have imposed on him in a question of his duty. He was the private secretary of the Viceroy, who was his maternal uncle. It would have been a tough task to have misled or deceived him in any matter open to his intelligence to examine; but upon this theme there was not the inventor of a hair-wash, a skin-paste, a whisker-dye, or a pearl-powder that might not have led him captive. A bishop might have found difficulty in getting audience of him,-a barber mig

show its inefficiency by the superior skill with which he could wield its weapon. To be sure his office was a very minor one, its influence very restricted, but Mr. Balfour was ambitious; he was a Viceroy's nephew; he had sat for months in the House, from which he had been turned out on a petition. He had therefore social advantages to build on, abilities to display, and wrongs to aveng

, as he lay back in his chair, and b

send some one over to the packet-office about the phosphorus blacking; you

ting these twenty minutes. I told

d he, throwing a half-smoked ci

s not without traces of annoyance at the length of ti

with his back to the fire, the tails of his gorgeous dressing-gown hanging o

fectly willing to resign i

at are his terms? Have you a precedent of

peerage he insists on; he incl

There's a deep gap in our customs this quarter

a tone of impatience, "I certainly ought to be told

sh borough requires so little," said

" said Pemberton, stiffly; "and I might

gravity. "By the way, Pemberton, his Excellency is greatly disappointe

ed here than in England; the

u why? There certainly was littl

r, you will learn that there are other considerati

I remarked, 'If Pemberton comes into the House, he

m to enter Parliament that I have come

ron has joined his illustrious predecessors in that d

morning. He says that he has in all

archbishop. I believe a sedentary life does it; they say if

wheeling about directly in front of Balfour, said, "If his Exc

se,-not wish to b

, it is as a law-officer of the Crow

ep your secret safe, for I tell you f

able time here. It is now two o'clock, and I must go down to Court. I have only to say that if no arrangement be co

" asked Balfour,

he other, recovering, "on your skill in nice negotiati

family?" said Balfour,

nly hi

r," said he, c

m, I believe, for nigh thirty years, and the poor fellow i

r him? Men are often not averse to see those a

you 'll acquire his

re's a thing now at the Cape, an inspectorship of something,-Hottentots or hospitals, I for

Lendrick will be more obliged to you," said Pem-berton, with a sn

s son of his

ws his address. But let me warn you once more against the inutility of the

some one who knew how to make these negotiations successful,-a fellow of infinite readiness, a clever

is Excellency sends twice a day to inquire, and I 'll take the o

ne in your conversation; avoid the mention of any one whose career might be influenced by the Baron's retirement; and t

y a woman I had to deal with, the wh

the men they send over here to administer the country!" muttered he, as he descended the stairs,-"such are the intelligences that are to rule Ireland! Was it Voltair

s, he hastened on t