tal violence, his spirit fled.

At a far later period I chanced to speak of these particulars with a
doctor of medicine, a man of so high a reputation that I scruple to
adduce his name. By his view of it, father and son both suffered from
the same affection: the father from the strain of his unnatural
sorrows--the son, perhaps in the excitation of the fever; each had
ruptured a vessel in the brain, and there was probably (my doctor added)
some predisposition in the family to accidents of that description. The
father sank, the son recovered all the externals of a healthy man; but
it is like there was some destruction in those delicate tissues where
the soul resides and does her earthly business; her heavenly, I would
fain hope, cannot be thus obstructed by material accidents. And yet,
upon a more mature opinion, it matters not one jot; for He who shall
pass judgment on the records of our life is the same that formed us in
frailty.

The death of my old lord was the occasion of a fresh surprise to us who
watched the behaviour of his successor. To any considering mind, the two
sons had between them slain their father, and he who took the sword
might be even said to have slain him with his hand; but no such thought
appeared to trouble my new lord. He was becomingly grave; I could scarce
say sorrowful, or only with a pleasant sorrow; talking of the dead with
a regretful cheerfulness, relating old examples of his character,
smiling at them with a good conscience; and when the day of the funeral
came round, doing the honours with exact propriety. I could perceive,
besides, that he found a solid gratification in his accession to the
title; the which he was punctilious in exacting.

* * * * *

And now there came upon the scene a new character, and one that played
his part, too, in the story; I mean the present lord, Alexander, whose
birth (17th July 1757) filled the cup of my poor master's happiness.
There was nothing then left him to wish for; nor yet leisure for him to
wish for it. Indeed, there never was a parent so fond and doting as he
showed himself. He was continually uneasy in his son's absence. Was the
child abroad? the father would be watching the clouds in case it rained.
Was it night? he would rise out of his bed to observe its slumbers. His
conversation grew even wearyful to strangers, since he talked of little
but his son. In matters relating to the estate, all was designed with a