"Alas, Vincent," said I, "I am marked out for slaughter, for you cannot
convince me by words, and so, I suppose, you must conquer me by blows.
Adieu, this is my way to Lord Dawton's: where are you going?"

"To mount my horse, and join the parca juventus," said Vincent, with a
laugh at his own witticism, as we shook hands, and parted.

I grieve much, my beloved reader, that I cannot unfold to thee all the
particulars of my political intrigue. I am, by the very share which fell
to my lot, bound over to the strictest secrecy, as to its nature, and the
characters of the chief agents in its execution. Suffice it to say, that
the greater part of my time was, though furtively, employed in a sort of
home diplomacy, gratifying alike to the activity of my tastes, and the
vanity of my mind; and there were moments when I ventured to grasp in my
imagination the highest honours of the state, and the most lucrative
offices of power. I had filled Dawton, and his coadjutors, with an
exaggerated opinion of my abilities; but I knew well how to sustain it. I
rose by candle-light, and consumed, in the intensest application, the
hours which every other individual of our party wasted in enervating
slumbers, from the hesternal dissipation or debauch. Was there a question
in political economy debated, mine was the readiest and the clearest
reply. Did a period in our constitution become investigated, it was I to
whom the duty of expositor was referred. From Madame D'Anville, with whom
(though lost as a lover) I constantly corresponded as a friend, I
obtained the earliest and most accurate detail of the prospects and
manoeuvres of the court in which her life was spent, and in whose more
secret offices her husband was employed. I spared no means of extending
my knowledge of every the minutest point which could add to the
reputation I enjoyed. I made myself acquainted with the individual
interests and exact circumstances of all whom it was our object to