Produced by Mirjam, Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) TRANSCRIBER NOTE: Words that were printed in italics are marked with _ _. Obvious inconsistencies, printing and spelling errors in the original have been corrected. THE Weird of the Wentworths; A TALE OF GEORGE IV.'S TIME. BY JOHANNES SCOTUS. All nations have their omens drear. Their legends wild of woe and fear. SIR WALTER SCOTT. [Illustration: SANS CHANGER] IN TWO VOLUMES.--VOL. I. LONDON: SAUNDERS, OTLEY, AND CO., 66 BROOK STREET, HANOVER SQUARE 1862. LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. PREFACE. The objection may be raised that, as the major part of this Romance takes place during the Regency, such a title as:--"The Weird of the Wentworths; _a Tale of George IV.'s Time_,"--is inappropriate. When, however, it is considered that the Regent was king in all but name, and the manners, customs, and habits differed little after his accession, the inadvertency will be explained. In case of exception being taken to the language and sentiments of some characters introduced into the tale, the Author thinks it sufficient to say _he utterly repudiates them_! Oaths and ribaldry are, unfortunately, the concomitants of a depraved mind; and, in delineating faithfully the darker side of human nature, the Author felt himself compelled to sketch much that has passed under his own observation, and much that he has gleaned from the treatment of such characters by many distinguished novelists, not omitting our northern luminary, Sir Walter Scott. The moral of the Romance being the triumph of virtue over vice, and truth over falsehood, he trusts that those fair readers, who may indulge his work with a perusal, will avoid the dark, and embrace the bright traits of the other sex; and, marking the gradual development of rectitude in the character of his heroine, magnify their own by adhering fixedly to the path of duty and moral conduct, amid all temptations to swerve from it. The Author trusts that those noble families, whose names he has chosen as his _beaux ideals_, will kindly dismiss all personal associations from their minds, and simply give to the synonyms (which his not unpardonable preference led him to select) that weight which will ever attach itself in the eyes of the world, to the great, when also good.