n on the sudden wide opening of the drawing-room doors
to see me enter, in full mediaeval costume of black satin and velvet, cut
Titian fashion, and with a long, sweeping train, for which apparition
she had not been previously prepared. Of Lord W---- I have already
spoken, and have only to add that, in spite of his character of a mere
dissipated man of fashion, he had an unusual taste for and knowledge of
music, and had composed some that is not destitute of merit; he played
well on the organ, and delighted in that noble instrument, a fine
specimen of which adorned one of the drawing-rooms at Heaton. Moreover,
he possessed an accomplishment of a very different order, a remarkable
proficiency in anatomy, which he had studied very thoroughly. He had
made himself enough of a practical surgeon to be able, on the occasion
of the fatal accident which befell Mr. Huskisson on the day of the
opening of the railroad, to save the unfortunate gentleman from bleeding
to death on the spot, by tying up the femoral artery, which had been
severed. His fine riding in the hunting-field and on the race-course was
a less peculiar talent among his special associates. Lady W---- was
strikingly handsome in person, and extremely attractive in her manners.
She was tall and graceful, the upper part of her face, eyes, brow, and
forehead were radiant and sweet, and, though the rest of her features
were not regularly beautiful, her countenance was noble and her smile
had a peculiar charm of expression at once winning and mischievous. My
father said she was very like her fascinating mother, the celebrated
Miss Farren. She was extremely kind to me, petting me almost like a
spoiled child, dressing me in her own exquisite riding-habit and
mounting me on her own favorite horse, which was all very delightful to
me. My father and mother probably thought the acquaintance of these
distinguished members of the highest English society advantageous to me.
I have no doubt they felt both pride and pleasure in the notice bestowed
upon me by persons so much my superiors in rank, and had a natural
sympathy in my enjoyment of all the gay grandeur and kindly indulgence
by which I was surrounded at Heaton. I now take the freedom to doubt how
far they were judicious in allowing me to be so taken out of my own
proper social sphere. It encouraged my taste for the luxurious
refinement and elegant magnificence of a mode of life never likely to be
mine, and undoubtedly increas