against which even the barriers, which her imagination had created,
could hardly have stood. If she had, however, expected any determined
opposition from me, she was agreeably disappointed; my heart was
perfectly free, and all my feelings of liking and preference were in
favour of Lord Glenfallen, and I well knew that in case I refused to
dispose of myself as I was desired, my mother had alike the power and
the will to render my existence as utterly miserable as any, even
the most ill-assorted marriage could possibly have done. You will
remember, my good friend, that I was very young and very completely
under the controul of my parents, both of whom, my mother
particularly, were unscrupulously determined in matters of this kind,
and willing, when voluntary obedience on the part of those within
their power was withheld, to compel a forced acquiescence by an
unsparing use of all the engines of the most stern and rigorous
domestic discipline. All these combined, not unnaturally, induced me
to resolve upon yielding at once, and without useless opposition, to
what appeared almost to be my fate. The appointed time was come,
and my now accepted suitor arrived; he was in high spirits, and, if
possible, more entertaining than ever. I was not, however, quite in
the mood to enjoy his sprightliness; but whatever I wanted in gaiety
was amply made up in the triumphant and gracious good humour of my
mother, whose smiles of benevolence and exultation were showered
around as bountifully as the summer sunshine. I will not weary you
with unnecessary prolixity. Let it suffice to say, that I was married
to Lord Glenfallen with all the attendant pomp and circumstance of
wealth, rank, and grandeur. According to the usage of the times, now
humanely reformed, the ceremony was made until long past midnight, the
season of wild, uproarious, and promiscuous feasting and revelry. Of
all this I have a painfully vivid recollection, and particularly of
the little annoyances inflicted upon me by the dull and coarse jokes