r the chief grace of my
cellars, and he gave up a canal navigation bill, which would have
enriched his whole county, when he knew that it would injure my
property. No, Brandon, curse public cant! we know what that is. But
we are gentlemen, and our private friends must not be thrown
overboard,--unless, at least, we do it in the civilest manner we can."

"Fear not," said the lawyer; "you have only to say the word, and the
Cabinet can cook up an embassy to Owhyhee, and send Raffden there with a
stipend of five thousand a year."

"Ah! that's well thought of; or we might give him a grant of a hundred
thousand acres in one of the colonies, or let him buy crown land at a
discount of eighty per cent. So that's settled."

"And now, my dear friend," said Brandon, "I will tell you frankly why
I come so early; I am required to give a hasty answer to the proposal I
have received, namely, of the judgeship. Your opinion?"

"A judgeship! you a judge? What! forsake your brilliant career for so
petty a dignity? You jest!"

"Not at all. Listen. You know how bitterly I have opposed this
peace, and what hot enemies I have made among the new friends of the
administration. On the one hand, these enemies insist on sacrificing
me; and on the other, if I were to stay in the Lower House and speak
for what I have before opposed, I should forfeit the support of a great
portion of my own party. Hated by one body, and mistrusted by the other,
a seat in the House of Commons ceases to be an object. It is proposed
that I should retire on the dignity of a judge, with the positive and
pledged though secret promise of the first vacancy among the chiefs.
The place of chief-justice or chief-baron is indeed the only fair
remuneration for my surrender of the gains of my profession, and the
abandonment of my parliamentary and legal career; the title, which
will of course be attached to it, might go (at least, by an exertion
of interest) to the eldest son of my niece,--in case she married a
commoner,--or," added he, after a pause, "her second son in case she
married a peer."

"Ha, true!" said Mauleverer, quickly, and as if struck by some sudden
thought; "and your charming niece, Brandon, would be worthy of any
honour, either to her children or herself. You do not know how struck I
was with her. There is something so graceful in her simplicity; and
in her manner of smoothing down the little rugosities of Warlock House
there was so genuine and so easy a dig