weary you," continued he, "by my egotism; and did not powerful
emotions draw me to you,"--his eyes glistened as he spoke, and a
trembling seemed to run through his manly frame,--"I would not waste
these precious moments in talking of myself.

"My father and mother were people of fashion; married by their parents.
He was fond of the turf, she of the card-table. I, and two or three other
children since dead, were kept at home till we became intolerable. My
father and mother had a visible dislike to each other, continually
displayed; the servants were of the depraved kind usually found in the
houses of people of fortune. My brothers and parents all dying, I was
left to the care of guardians, and sent to Eton. I never knew the sweets
of domestic affection, but I felt the want of indulgence and frivolous
respect at school. I will not disgust you with a recital of the vices of
my youth, which can scarcely be comprehended by female delicacy. I was
taught to love by a creature I am ashamed to mention; and the other women
with whom I afterwards became intimate, were of a class of which you can
have no knowledge. I formed my acquaintance with them at the theatres;
and, when vivacity danced in their eyes, I was not easily disgusted by
the vulgarity which flowed from their lips. Having spent, a few years
after I was of age, [the whole of] a considerable patrimony, excepting a
few hundreds, I had no recourse but to purchase a commission in a
new-raised regiment, destined to subjugate America. The regret I felt to
renounce a life of pleasure, was counter-balanced by the curiosity I had
to see America, or rather to travel; [nor had any of those circumstances
occurred to my youth, which might have been calculated] to bind my
country to my heart. I shall not trouble you with the details of a
military life. My blood was still kept in motion; till, towards the close
of the contest, I was wounded and taken prisoner.

"Confined to my bed, or chair, by a lingering cure, my only refuge from
the preying activity of my mind, was books, which I read with great
avidity, profiting by the conversation of my host, a man of sound
understanding. My political sentiments now underwent a total change; and,
dazzled by the hospitality of the Americans, I determined to take up my
abode with freedom. I, therefore, with my usual impetuosity, sold my
commission, and travelled into the interior parts of the country, to lay
out my money to advantage. Added to t