that society which he might have commanded.

This is all that I need recapitulate of my
uncle's history, and I now recur to my own.
Although my father had never, within my
recollection, visited, or been visited by, my
uncle, each being of sedentary, procrastinating,
and secluded habits, and their respective
residences being very far apart--
the one lying in the county of Galway, the
other in that of Cork--he was strongly
attached to his brother, and evinced his
affection by an active correspondence, and
by deeply and proudly resenting that
neglect which had marked Sir Arthur as
unfit to mix in society.

When I was about eighteen years of
age, my father, whose health had been
gradually declining, died, leaving me in
heart wretched and desolate, and, owing to
his previous seclusion, with few acquaintances,
and almost no friends.

The provisions of his will were curious,
and when I had sufficiently come to myself
to listen to or comprehend them,
surprised me not a little: all his vast property
was left to me, and to the heirs of my
body, for ever; and, in default of such