Paul Clifford — Volume 04Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
General
Paul Clifford — Volume 04
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
Brigands and robbers -- Fiction
band with whom he was connected, when once inflamed and elevated by a
higher passion, were likely to arouse his ambition from the level of his
present pursuits, and reform him, ere too late, into a useful, nay, even
an honourable member of society. We trust that the reader has already
perceived that, despite his early circumstances, his manner and address
were not such as to unfit him for a lady's love. The comparative
refinement of his exterior is easy of explanation, for he possessed a
natural and inborn gentility, a quick turn for observation, a ready sense
both of the ridiculous and the graceful; and these are materials which
are soon and lightly wrought from coarseness into polish. He had been
thrown, too, among the leaders and heroes of his band; many not
absolutely low in birth, nor debased in habit. He had associated with
the Barringtons of the day,--gentlemen who were admired at Ranelagh, and
made speeches worthy of Cicero, when they were summoned to trial. He had
played his part in public places; and as Tomlinson was wont to say after
his classic fashion, "the triumphs accomplished in the field had been
planned in the ball-room." In short, he was one of those accomplished
and elegant highwaymen of whom we yet read wonders, and by whom it would
have been delightful to have been robbed: and the aptness of intellect
which grew into wit with his friends, softened into sentiment with his
mistress. There is something, too, in beauty (and Clifford's person, as
we have before said, was possessed of even uncommon attractions) which
lifts a beggar into nobility; and there was a distinction in his gait and
look which supplied the air of rank and the tone of courts. Men, indeed,
skilled like Mauleverer in the subtleties of manner, might perhaps have
easily detected in him the want of that indescribable essence possessed
only by persons reared in good society; but that want being shared by so
many persons of indisputable birth and fortune, conveyed no particular
reproach. To Lucy, indeed, brought up in seclusion, and seeing at
Warlock none calculated to refine her taste in the fashion of an air or
phrase to a very fastidious standard of perfection, this want was
perfectly imperceptible; she remarked in her lover only a figure
everywhere unequalled, an eye always eloquent with admiration, a step
from which grace could never be divorced, a voice that spoke in a silver
key, and uttered flatteries delicate in thought and poetical in word;
even a certain originality of mind, remark, and character, occasionally
approaching to the bizarre, yet sometimes also to the elevated, possessed
a charm for the imagination of a young and not unenthusiastic female, and
contrasted favourably, rather than the reverse, with the dull insipidity
of those she ordinarily saw. Nor are we sure that the mystery thrown
about him, irksome as it was to her, and discreditable as it appeared to
others, was altogether ineffectual in increasing her love for the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account