had
fulfilled the essential condition of the political economists, the
jurists, the constitution-mongers, and all the "talents and decency,"
and had stakes in half the societies of the world. I was fit to govern,
I was fit to advise, to dictate to most of the people of Christendom;
for I had taken a direct interest in their welfares by making them my
own. Twenty times was I about to jump into a post-chaise, and to
gallop down to the rectory in order to lay my newborn alliance with the
species, and all its attendant felicity, at the feet of Anna, but
the terrible thought of monogamy, and of its sympathy-withering
consequences, as often stayed my course. I wrote to her weekly, however,
making her the participator of a portion of my happiness, though I never
had the satisfaction of receiving a single line in reply.

Fairly emancipated from selfishness, and pledged to the species, I now
quitted England on a tour of philanthropical inspection. I shall not
weary the reader with an account of my journeys over the beaten tracks
of the continent, but transport him and myself at once to Paris, in
which city I arrived on the 17th of May, Anno Domini 1819. I had seen
much, fancied myself improved, and, by constant dwelling on my system,
saw its excellences as plainly as Napoleon saw the celebrated star which
defied the duller vision of his uncle the cardinal. At the same time,
as usually happens with those who direct all their energies to a given
point, the opinions originally formed of certain portions of my theory
began to undergo mutations, as nearer and more practical views pointed
out inconsistencies and exposed defects. As regards Anna in particular,
the quiet, gentle, unobtrusive, and yet distinct picture of womanly
loveliness that was rarely absent from my mind, had for the past
twelvemonth haunted me with a constancy of argument that might have
unsettled the Newtonian scheme of philosophy itself. I already more than
questioned whether the benefit to be derived from the support of one so
affectionate and true would not fully counterbalance the disadvantage
of a concentration of interest, so far as the sex was concerned. This
growing opinion was fast getting to be conviction, when I encountered on
the boulevards one day an old country neighbor of the rector's, who
gave me the best account of the family, adding, after descanting on
the beauty and excellence of Anna herself, that the dear girl had
quite lately actually refused