ring
combinations of genius, and the sublime pictures of imagination. Dick
is an isolated being, a book-worm, who never embarks in any party
of pleasure, from the fear of expense; he has no talents for general
conversation, while his ridiculous affectation of learning subjects
him to a constant and annoying fire from the batteries of Etonian wit.
Still, however, Dick perseveres in his course, till his blanched cheeks
and cadaverous aspect, from close study and want of proper exercise,
proclaim the loss of health, and the probable establishment of some
pulmonary affection that may, before he scarcely reaches maturity,
blight the ambitious hopes of his father, and consign
~38~~
the son "to that bourne from whence no traveller returns."

Horatio Heartly. At the lower end of the room, observe a serene-looking
head displaying all the quiet character of a youthful portrait by the
divine Raphael, joined to the inspiring sensibility which flashes from
the almost breathing countenance and penetrating brilliancy of eye, that
distinguishes a Guido. That is my bosom friend, my more than brother, my
mentor and my guide. Horatio is an orphan, the son of a general officer,
whose crimsoned stream of life was dried up by an eastern sun, while
he was yet a lisping infant. His mother, lovely, young, and rich in
conjugal attachment, fell a blighted corse in early widowhood, and left
Horatio, an unprotected bud of virtuous love, to the fostering care of
Lady Mary Oldstyle, a widowed sister of the general's, not less rich in
worldly wealth than in true benevolence of heart, and the celestial
glow of pure affection. Heartly is a happy combination of all the
good-humoured particles of human nature blended together, with sense,
feeling, and judgment. Learned without affectation, and liberal without
being profuse, he has found out the secret of attaching all the school
to himself, without exciting any sensation of envy, or supplanting
prior friendships. Horatio is among the alumni of Eton the king of good
fellows: there is not a boy in the school, colleger, or oppidan, but
what would fight a long hour to defend him from insult; no--nor a
sparkling eye among the enchanting daughters of old _Etona_ that does
not twinkle with pleasure at the elegant congee, and amiable attentions,
which he always pays at the shrine of female accomplishment. Generous to
a fault, his purse--which the bounty of his aunt keeps well supplied--is
a public bank, _pro bon