“You must come, Vivian: so make your fellow put your worldly goods into my barouche, which is at the door; and we are to have a great party at Glistonbury, and private theatricals, and the devil knows what; and you must see my little Julia act, and I must introduce you to _the Rosamunda_. Come, come! you can’t refuse me!--Why, you have only a bachelor’s castle of your own to go to; and that’s a dismal sort of business, compared with what I have _in petto_ for you--‘the feast of reason, and the flow of soul,’ in the first style, I assure you. You must know, I always--even in the midst of the wildest of my wild oats--had a taste for the belles-lettres, and philosophy, and the muses, and the _literati,_ and so forth--always a touch of the Mecaenas about me.--And now my boy’s growing up, it’s more particularly proper to bring these sort of people about him; for, you know, clever men who have a reputation can sound a flourish of trumpets advantageously before ‘a Grecian youth of talents rare’ makes his appearance on the stage of the great world--Ha! hey!--Is not this what one may call prudence?--Ha!--Good to have a father who knows something of life, and of books too, hey? Then, for my daughters, too--daughter, I mean; for Lady Sarah’s Lady Glistonbury’s child: her ladyship and Miss Strictland have manufactured her after their own taste and fashion; and I’ve nothing to say to that--But my little Julia--Ah, I’ve got a different sort of governess about her these few months past--not without family battles, you may guess. But when Jupiter gives the nod, you know, even Juno, stately as she is, must bend. So I have my Rosamunda for my little Julia--who, by-the-bye, is no longer my _little_ Julia, but a prodigious fine woman, as you shall see. But, all this time, is your fellow putting your things up? No!--Hey? how? Oh, I understand your long face of hesitation--you have not seen the ladies since the Wharton affair, and you don’t know how they might look.--Never fear! Lady Glistonbury shall do as I please, and look as I please. Besides, _entre nous_, I know she hates the Whartons; so that her morality will have a loophole to creep out of; and you’ll be safe and snug, whilst all the blame will be thrown on them--Hey!--Oh, I understand things--pique myself on investigating the human heart. Come, we have not a moment to lose; and you’ll have your friend Russell, too--Come, come! to have and to hold, as the lawyers say--” Seizing Vivian’s arm, Lord Glistonbury carried him off before he had half understood all his lordship had poured forth so rapidly; and before he had decided whether he wished or not to accept of this invitation. CHAPTER VIII.