oved the degeneracy of the
new Countess from the antient stock of noble ladies who were better
pleased to act as faithful and provident stewards of the bounty of
Heaven, than, like greedy whirlpools, to absorb every thing within their
reach. He contrasted their circumspect liberality with her thoughtless
waste; the matronly sobriety and tempered magnificence of their attire
with her new fangled fickleness and wanton costliness; their modest
dignified courtesy with her wayward perverseness; their gravity with her
lightness, in acting at court-revels and maskings, familiar with every
gallant, and accepting praise from the most polluted sources. He spoke
to the winds; the full proof of that perfidy which Evellin had so long
struggled to disbelieve, fell like a thundering cataract on his mind,
and swept away all power of attention. Long-indulged sorrow had preyed
on his mental and corporeal functions, and rendered him ill able to
support that severe blow. Williams sincerely repented the circumstantial
disclosure he had made. A feverish listlessness seized on the unhappy
Evellin, which yielded only to the visitation of a more dreadful
calamity. It was not decided insanity, but it dispelled the hopes which
had been formed of his being able to reclaim his usurped birth-right.
His bodily health was in time restored, and his mental infirmity became
a wild humoursome eccentricity, preserving traces of his noble
character, but querulously impatient of controul, subject to extravagant
transports, and incapable of steady exertion or connected thought. Still
magnanimous, independent and honourable, but moody, rash, and
intractable, he was the automaton of generous instinct, no longer
animated by reason.

Such a situation required constant vigilance to prevent irritation and
supply soothing recreations and gratifying objects. Williams was a most
useful assistant to Mrs. Evellin. He was practically versed in
husbandry, he knew the world, and had a creditable share of literature;
he could thus amuse his master, direct the domestic management, and
instruct the children. Isabel in all these instances found him a
considerable relief to her cares. That excellent woman knew not what
immediately hastened her husband's malady. Williams had often stated the
possibility of his regaining his rights; but she, dreading every
proposal that might agitate his mind, solemnly urged that that topic
should be avoided. "In my prayers to Heaven," said she,