“I have written on the same subject, and to the same purpose, to Signora Rivolta; and I wait to know hers and your lordship’s will and pleasure concerning the matter in question. “I have the honor to be, &c.” When the above letter arrived at Trimmerstone, his lordship was busily engaged in inspecting the progress of the operatives at the old hall. Part of the building had been promptly made fit for his lordship’s residence; and as his establishment was now very small, he was not reluctant to use the contracted residence assigned to him. We have already intimated that the Earl of Trimmerstone was depressed in spirits: it is indeed very natural that he should be. The life which he had led, the companions with whom he had associated, the disappointments which he had experienced, his foolish marriage, the disgraceful conduct of his silly countess, the taunts and reproaches of his opulent relative, the weariness and disgust that he felt in having nothing to do, and the annoyance of an empty title, which merely mocked him with the epithet of Right Honorable, all these things combined to render him almost disgusted with, and weary of life. In this humor he went to Trimmerstone, and took up his abode at the miserable old hall. The gloom of the building was quite in unison with the feelings of his mind, and he very contentedly set himself down to lament over the vanity of life, and to make amends for his past transgressions by growling right surlily at the sins of others. His solitude was soon invaded by a visit from the rector of Trimmerstone, who was rather fanatical in his theology, and finical in attire and address. Neither of these qualities were, in the first instance, agreeable to his lordship; but the Rev. Marmaduke Sprout had the capacity for flattery in a very high degree. He could presently render himself agreeable to any person of exalted rank by his very courteous and conciliating demeanour; and he possessed a peculiar softness and gentleness of manner, with which indeed the Earl of Trimmerstone would, in his past days of cock-fighting, horse-racing, and boxing, have been thoroughly disgusted. But his lordship was quite an altered man. He did not exactly know what was the matter with himself, till Mr. Sprout introduced to his fretful and fidgetty lordship the subject of fanaticism. That became an excellent antistagnator, and set all his fancies and vagaries at work in quite an opposite direction to that which they had hitherto taken. Formerly, the lowest pursuits under the name of sport or fancy had been agreeable to his lordship; and every species of religious sentiment he had regarded with the profoundest contempt and the most unmingled abhorrence. But now he was sick, and weary of all these things; and because one extreme was purely offensive and wearisome, he took it for granted that the opposite must be truly delightful and highly consistent, and so under the tuition of Mr.