John de Lancaster: a novel; vol. II.Cumberland, Richard
General
John de Lancaster: a novel; vol. II.
Cumberland, Richard
Wales, North -- Fiction
the direction of my excellent preceptor I will henceforward so totally
devote myself, that if there was any early preference forming at my
heart, which time and opportunity might have ripened into positive
attachment, it is now the moment for me to suppress it, and by
application to acquirements, in which I am so glaringly deficient, give
them all my thoughts, and let no wandering wishes turn them from the
tract, they ought to follow and persist in.
Whilst our young heart-wounded hero was arguing himself into this wise
resolution, and proposing to derive profit from disappointment, he came
within sight of a cottage, whose lonely and desolate situation seemed
ill accordant with the neatness and studied comfort of every thing
about it. Two women were sitting at their needle-work in the little
garden in the front of it, and he was already near enough to distinguish
the features of the youngest before she had started from her seat, and
ran into the house. He was so struck with the resemblance, that she bore
to the daughter of Sir Owen’s minstrel, blind Ap-Rees, of whom we have
made former mention, that he stopped, and put that question to the
elderly dame, who kept her seat: the dame at first did not think fit to
answer, but upon the question being respectfully urged a second
time--Whether that young person was, or was not, Nancy Ap-Rees, she
briefly replied--That young person is my daughter, and my name is not
Ap-Rees.
Then I am mistaken, said John, and rode on.
Satisfied with this answer, which at the present time made but a slight
impression on his thoughts, he proceeded homewards, following his guide
step by step through all the sinuosities of a craggy road, ruminating
upon what had passed at Denbigh, at some times accusing, and at others
acquitting himself for his conduct upon that occasion. He formed a wild
and fanciful conception of those brilliant lights, that science would in
time unfold; but whilst he was enjoying this platonic vision, the
sylph-like image of Amelia would recur to his imagination in the
captivating attitude of standing at his elbow, as once she had been
seen, when, taken by surprise, he caught her in his arms, and
rapturously pressed her to his heart. Thus advancing onwards, though
not conscious of progression, he was at length recalled to recollection
by the sight of Kray Castle, and his reverie dispersed.
* * * * *
The awful character of the time, in which we now live, calls upon every
writer to be cautious how he appeals to the passions of mankind. The
novelist, who is professedly a writer of this description, has no
arbitrary power, independant of morality, over the characters he
exhibits merely because they are fictions of his own inventing: he has
duties, which he is bound to observe, and cannot violate without
offence.
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