continued through life the same; circumstances have strengthened, not
altered it. So has it been with you; the temper, the habits, the tastes,
so strongly contrasted with mine in boyhood, have lost nothing of that
contrast. Your ardour for the various ambition of life is still the
antipodes to my indifference; your daring, restless, thoughtful,
resolution in the pursuit, still shames my indolence and abstraction. You
are still the votary of the world, but will become its conqueror--I its
fugitive--and shall die its victim.

"After we parted at school, I went for a short time to a tutor's in--
shire. Of this place I soon grew weary; and my father's death leaving me
in a great measure at my own disposal, I lost no time in leaving it. I
was seized with that mania for travel common enough to all persons of my
youth and disposition. My mother allowed me an almost unlimited command
over the fortune hereafter to be my own; and, yielding to my wishes,
rather than her fears, she suffered me, at the age of eighteen, to set
out for the Continent alone. Perhaps the quiet and reserve of my
character made her think me less exposed to the dangers of youth, than if
I had been of a more active and versatile temper. This is no uncommon
mistake; a serious and contemplative disposition is, however, often the
worst formed to acquire readily the knowledge of the world, and always
the most calculated to suffer deeply from the experience.

"I took up my residence for some time at Spa. It is, you know, perhaps, a
place dull enough to make gambling the only amusement; every one played--
and I did not escape the contagion; nor did I wish it: for, like the
minister Godolphin, I loved gaming for its own sake, because it was a
substitute for conversation. This habit brought me acquainted with Mr.
Tyrrell, who was then staying at Spa; he had not, at that time, quite
dissipated his fortune, but was daily progressing to so desirable a