THE ABSENTEE is not intended as a censure upon those whose duties, and employments, and superior talents, lead them to the capital; but to warn the thoughtless and the unoccupied from seeking distinction by frivolous imitation of fashion and ruinous waste of fortune. A country gentleman, or even a nobleman, who does not sit in parliament, may be as usefully and as honourably employed in Yorkshire, Mid Lothian, or Ireland, as at a club-house or an assembly in London. Irish agents are here described as of two different species. That there have been bad and oppressive Irish agents, many great landed English proprietors have felt; that there are well-informed, just, and honourable Irish agents, every-day experience can testify. MADAME DE FLEURY points out some of the means which may be employed by the rich for the real advantage of the poor. This story shows that sowing gold does not always produce a golden harvest; but that knowledge and virtue, when early implanted in the human breast, seldom fail to make ample returns of prudence and felicity. EMILIE DE COULANGES exposes a fault into which the good and generous are liable to fall. Great sacrifices and great benefits cannot frequently be made or conferred by private individuals; but, every day, kindness and attention to the common feelings of others is within the power, and may be the practice, of every age, and sex, and station. Common faults are reproved by all writers on morality; but there are errors and defects that require to be treated in a lighter manner, and that come, with propriety, within the province of essayists and of writers for the stage. R. L. EDGEWORTH. _May_, 1812. CHAPTER I. “To see the best, and yet the worse pursue.” “Is it possible,” exclaimed Vivian, “that you, Russell, my friend, my best friend, can tell me that this line is the motto of my character!--’ To see the best, and yet the worse pursue.--Then you must think me either a villain or a madman.” “No,” replied Russell, calmly; “I think you only weak.” “Weak--but you must think me an absolute fool.” “No, not a fool; the weakness of which I accuse you is not a weakness of the understanding. I find no fault either with the logical or the mathematical part of your understanding. It is not erroneous in either of the two great points in which Bacon says that most men’s minds be deficient in--the power of judging of consequences, or in the power of estimating the comparative value of objects.” “Well,” cried Vivian, impatiently, “but I don’t want to hear just now what Bacon says--but what _you_ think. Tell me all the faults of my character.” “All!--unconscionable!--after the fatigue of this long day’s journey,” said Russell, laughing.