There also occurred to his mind the thought that it was possible for Mr Darnley to make a journey to London for a personal explanation, if the letter to Mr Primrose should not be answered. This consideration suggested to his lordship the necessity of taking prompt and decided measures. He saw that no chance remained for him but in the way of matrimony. He certainly dreaded the encounter with his right honorable parents; but, if he could not live without Penelope, it was absolutely necessary that he should take steps to live with her. This is a very proper place wherein to make a digression concerning the omnipotence of love; and here we ought to be extremely pathetic, shewing and demonstrating with heart-rending eloquence, how irresistible is this universal passion: and perhaps some of our readers, not many we hope, may think that we ought to make a very sentimental defence of Lord Spoonbill, as some of our predecessors in the history of lovers have made of those idle cubs who have shewn their refinement and sensibility by seducing engaged or betrothed affections. But we do not believe in the omnipotence of love; and we do not think Lord Spoonbill at all deserving of pity. Falling in love with Penelope was on his part perfectly voluntary, deliberate, wilful, and intentional. It is all very possible and very plausible for an inexperienced and thoughtless youth to find himself mightily attached to a young woman before he is aware almost of the existence of the passion; but this was not the case with Lord Spoonbill. When he saw Miss Primrose he admired her; when he became more acquainted with her, he liked her; and, from pursuing, he loved her. But he knew from the first that she was otherwise engaged; and his designs towards her had been degrading. We have dwelt long, and perhaps tediously, on Lord Spoonbill's embarrassment; we have done so intentionally, because that embarrassment dwelt tediously on his mind, and it was necessary, for the sake of accuracy in the picture, to represent the case not transiently, but copiously. The result of the right honorable hereditary legislator's meditation was, that as it was not possible for him to live without Penelope, and as delay might expose him to the danger of being compelled to do that which he knew to be impossible, he would take the earliest opportunity of making regular and deliberate overtures of marriage. And he felt satisfied that the fascination of title and the splendour of opulence would be too much for a female heart to withstand. There was also another thought on which he grounded his hopes: he considered that the affection which Penelope had for her father would induce her more readily to accept an offer which would provide her with the means of assisting him.