and partisans, were in
arms to suppress insurrection, and apprehend such stragglers from the
Highland army as had been left in England, The surrender of Carlisle,
and the severity with which the rebel garrison were threatened, soon
formed an additional reason against venturing upon a solitary and
hopeless journey through a hostile country and a large army, to carry
the assistance of a single sword to a cause which seemed altogether
desperate.

In this lonely and secluded situation, without the advantage of company
or conversation with men of cultivated minds, the arguments of Colonel
Talbot often recurred to the mind of our hero. A still more anxious
recollection haunted his slumbers--it was the dying look and gesture
of Colonel Gardiner. Most devoutly did he hope, as the rarely occurring
post brought news of skirmishes with various success, that it might
never again be his lot to draw his sword in civil conflict. Then his
mind turned to the supposed death of Fergus, to the desolate situation
of Flora, and, with yet more tender recollection, to that of Rose
Bradwardine, who was destitute of the devoted enthusiasm of loyalty,
which, to her friend, hallowed and exalted misfortune. These reveries he
was permitted to enjoy, undisturbed by queries or interruption;--and it
was in many a winter walk by the shores of Ullswater, that he acquired
a more complete mastery of a spirit tamed by adversity than his former
experience had given him; and that he felt himself entitled to say
firmly, though perhaps with a sigh, that the romance of his life was
ended, and that its real history had now commenced. He was soon called
upon to justify his pretensions by reason and philosophy.

CHAPTER LXI

A JOURNEY TO LONDON

The family at Fasthwaite were soon attached to Edward. He had,
indeed, that gentleness and urbanity which almost universally attracts
corresponding kindness; and to their simple ideas his learning gave him
consequence, and his sorrows interest. The last he ascribed, evasively,
to the loss of a brother in the skirmish near Clifton; and in that
primitive state of society, where the ties of affection were highly
deemed of, his continued depression excited sympathy, but not surprise.

In the end of January, his more lively powers were called out by the
happy union of Edward Williams, the son of his host, with Cicely Jopson.
Our hero would not cloud with sorrow the festivity attending the wedding
of two persons to who