which I had left so dark and
dilapidated, changed, as if by a fairy wand, into pomp and elegance. The
duke was renowned for splendid extravagance, and the table was covered
with rich plate, the walls glittered with a profusion of gilt lamps, and
all round me had the look of regal luxury. But one object suddenly
caught my gaze, and left me no power to glance at any other. In a
recess, which had hitherto been obscure, but over which now blazed a
brilliant girandole, hung a full-length portrait of a nun, which, but
for the dress, I should have pronounced to be Clotilde; the same Greek
profile, the same deep yet vivid eye, the same matchless sweetness of
smile, and the same mixture of melancholy and enthusiasm, which had made
me think my idol fit to be the worship of the world. I stood wrapped in
astonishment, delight, pain, a thousand undefined feelings, until I
could have almost imagined that the canvass before me lived. I saw its
eye all but glisten, its lips all but open to speak; the very marble of
its cheek begin to glow; when I was awakened by a lively voice, saying,
in French--"Ah, Mr Marston, I perceive that you are a connoisseur." I
turned, and saw the speaker, a man somewhat above the middle size; a
remarkably noble-looking personage; in full dress even at that hour,
powdered and perfumed, and altogether a court figure; his hands loaded
with jewels, and a diamond star of the order of the garter upon his
breast. It required no introducer to tell me that I was in the presence
of the Duke of Brunswick.

"Come," said he, "we have no time for etiquette, nor indeed for any
thing else to-night--we must sup first, and then talk of your mission."

We sat down; a double file of valets, in liveries, loaded with
embroidery, attended at the table; though the party consisted of but
four; Varnhorst, and a Colonel Guiseard, chief of the secret diplomacy,
a pale Spanish-featured officer--to whom his highness did me the honour
of introducing me, as the son of one of his old friends.

"You remember Marston," said he, "at Brunswick, five-and-twenty years
ago, in his envoyship--a capital horseman, a brilliant dresser, and a
very promising diplomatist. I augured well of his future career,
but" ----the infinite elevation of the ducal shoulders, and the infinite
drooping of the ducal eyes, completed the remainder of my unfortunate
parent's history; but whether in panegyric or censure, I was not
sufficiently versed in the science of s