itted into its heaven--I was more--I was one of its saints. I became
imitated as well as initiated. I was the rage--the lion. Why?--was I
better--was I richer--was I handsomer--was I cleverer, than my kind?
No, no;--(and here Russelton ground his teeth with a strong and
wrathful expression of scorn);--and had I been all--had I been a very
concentration and monopoly of all human perfections, they would not have
valued me at half the price they did set on me. It was--I will tell you
the simple secret, Mr. Pelham--it was because I trampled on them, that,
like crushed herbs, they sent up a grateful incense in return.

"Oh! it was balm to my bitter and loathing temper, to see those who
would have spurned me from them, if they dared, writhe beneath my lash,
as I withheld or inflicted it at will. I was the magician who held the
great spirits that longed to tear me to pieces, by one simple spell
which a superior hardihood had won me--and, by Heaven, I did not spare
to exert it.

"Well, well, this is but an idle recollection now; all human power, says
the proverb of every language, is but of short duration. Alexander did
not conquer kingdoms for ever; and Russelton's good fortune deserted him
at last. Napoleon died in exile, and so shall I; but we have both had
our day, and mine was the brightest of the two, for it had no change
till the evening. I am more happy than people would think for--Je ne
suis pas souvent ou mon corps est--I live in a world of recollections, I
trample again upon coronets and ermine, the glories of the small great!
I give once more laws which no libertine is so hardy not to feel exalted
in adopting; I hold my court, and issue my fiats; I am like the madman,
and out of the very straws of my cell, I make my subjects and my realm;
and when I wake from these bright visions, and see myself an old,
deserted man, forgotten, and decaying inch by inch in a foreign village,
I can at least summon sufficient of my ancient regality of spirit not
to sink beneath the reverse. If I am inclined to be melancholy, why, I
extinguish my fire, and imagine I have demolished a duchess. I steal up
to my solitary chamber, to renew again, in my sleep, the phantoms of my
youth; to carouse with princes; to legislate for nobles; and to wake in
the morning (here Russelton's countenance and manner suddenly changed to
an affectation of methodistical gravity,) and thank Heaven that I have
still a coat to my stomach, as well as to my back,