GODOLPHIN'S SOLILOQUY.--HE BECOMES A MAN OF PLEASURE AND A PATRON OF
THE ARTS.--A NEW CHARACTER SHADOWED FORTH; FOR AS WE ADVANCE, WHETHER IN
LIFE OR ITS REPRESENTATIONS, CHARACTERS ARE MORE FAINT AND DIMLY DRAWN
THAN IN THE EARLIER PART OF OUR CAREER.

"Yes," said Godolphin, the next morning, as he soliloquised over his
lonely breakfast-table--lonely, for the hours of the restless Constance
were not those of the luxurious and indolent Godolphin, and she was
already in her carriage, nay, already closeted with an intriguing
ambassadress--"yes, I have passed two eras of life--the first of
romance, the second of contemplation; once my favourite study was
poetry--next philosophy. Now, returned to my native country, rich,
settled, yet young, new objects arise to me; not that vulgar and
troublous ambition (which is to make a toil of life) that Constance
suggests, but a more warm and vivid existence than that I have lately
dreamed away. Let luxury and pleasure now be to me what solitude and
thought were. I have been too long the solitary, I will learn to be
social."

Agreeably to this resolution, Godolphin returned with avidity to the
enjoyment of the world; he found himself courted, he courted society in
return. Erpingham House had been for years the scene of fascination: who
does not recollect the yet greater refinement which its new lord threw
over its circles? A delicate and just conception of the fine arts
had always characterised Godolphin. He now formed that ardour for
collecting, common to the more elegant order of minds. From his beloved
Italy he imported the most beautiful statues--his cabinets were filled
with gems--his walls glowed with the triumphs of the canvas--the showy
but heterogeneous furniture of Erpingham House gave way to a more
classic and perfect taste. The same fastidiousness which, in the affairs
of the heart, had characterised Godolphin's habits and sentiments,
characterised his new pursuits; the same thirst for the Ideal, the same
worship of the Beautiful, and aspirations after the Perfect.

It was not in Constance's nature to admit this smaller ambition; her
taste was pure but not minute; she did not descend to the philosophy of
detail. But she was glad still to see that Godolphin could be aroused to
the discovery of an active object; and, although she sighed to perceive
his fine genius fritted away on the trifles of the virtuoso--although
she secretly regretted the waste of her great wealth (w