nd permanent effects on the condition of mankind.
It was easy therefore to conjecture that this mode had been pursued
under some mysterious modifications and conditions.

It had always excited my wonder that so obvious an expedient had been
overlooked. The globe which we inhabit was very imperfectly known. The
regions and nations unexplored, it was reasonable to believe, surpassed
in extent, and perhaps in populousness, those with which we were
familiar. The order of Jesuits had furnished an example of all the
errors and excellencies of such a scheme. Their plan was founded on
erroneous notions of religion and policy, and they had absurdly chosen a
scene [*] within reach of the injustice and ambition of an European tyrant.

It was wise and easy to profit by their example. Resting on the two
props of fidelity and zeal, an association might exist for ages in the
heart of Europe, whose influence might be felt, and might be boundless,
in some region of the southern hemisphere; and by whom a moral and
political structure might be raised, the growth of pure wisdom, and
totally unlike those fragments of Roman and Gothic barbarism, which
cover the face of what are called the civilized nations. The belief now
rose in my mind that some such scheme had actually been prosecuted, and
that Ludloe was a coadjutor. On this supposition, the caution with which
he approached to his point, the arduous probation which a candidate for
a part on this stage must undergo, and the rigours of that test by which
his fortitude and virtue must be tried, were easily explained. I was too
deeply imbued with veneration for the effects of such schemes, and
too sanguine in my confidence in the rectitude of Ludloe, to refuse my
concurrence in any scheme by which my qualifications might at length be
raised to a due point.

Our interview was frank and affectionate. I found him situated just as
formerly. His aspect, manners, and deportment were the same. I entered
once more on my former mode of life, but our intercourse became more
frequent. We constantly breakfasted together, and our conversation was
usually prolonged through half the morning.

For a time our topics were general. I thought proper to leave to him the
introduction of more interesting themes: this, however, he betrayed no
inclination to do. His reserve excited some surprise, and I began to
suspect that whatever design he had formed with regard to me, had been
laid aside. To ascertain this qu