ary
that the reader should know something more about this young man, who will
frequently appear in the course of these pages, I will state in a few
words who and what he was. He was born of an ancient Roman Catholic
family in Ireland; his parents, whose only child he was, had long been
dead. His father, who had survived his mother several years, had been a
spendthrift, and at his death had left the family property considerably
embarrassed. Happily, however, the son and the estate fell into the
hands of careful guardians, near relations of the family, by whom the
property was managed to the best advantage, and every means taken to
educate the young man in a manner suitable to his expectations. At the
age of sixteen he was taken from a celebrated school in England at which
he had been placed, and sent to a small French university, in order that
he might form an intimate and accurate acquaintance with the grand
language of the continent. There he continued three years, at the end of
which he went under the care of a French abbe to Germany and Italy. It
was in this latter country that he first began to cause his guardians
serious uneasiness. He was in the heyday of youth when he visited Italy,
and he entered wildly into the various delights of that fascinating
region, and, what was worse, falling into the hands of certain sharpers,
not Italian, but English, he was fleeced of considerable sums of money.
The abbe, who, it seems, was an excellent individual of the old French
school, remonstrated with his pupil on his dissipation and extravagance;
but, finding his remonstrances vain, very properly informed the guardians
of the manner of life of his charge. They were not slow in commanding
Francis Ardry home; and, as he was entirely in their power, he was forced
to comply. He had been about three months in London when I met him in
the coffee-room, and the two elderly gentlemen in his company were his
guardians. At this time they were very solicitous that he should choose
for himself a profession, offering to his choice either the army or
law--he was calculated to shine in either of these professions--for, like
many others of his countrymen, he was brave and eloquent; but he did not
wish to shackle himself with a profession. As, however, his minority did
not terminate till he was three-and-twenty, of which age he wanted nearly
two years during which he would be entirely dependent on his guardians,
he deemed it expedient