Ah! excellent order of the world, which it is so wicked to disturb! How
miraculously beautiful must be that system which makes wine out of the
scorching tears of guilt; and from the suffocating suspense, the agonized
fear, the compelled and self-mocking bravery, the awful sentence, the
despairing death-pang of one man, furnishes the smirking expectation of
fees, the jovial meeting, and the mercenary holiday to another! "Of Law,
nothing less can be said than that her seat is the bosom of God."--
[Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity.]--To be sure not; Richard Hooker, you
are perfectly right. The divinity of a sessions and the inspiration of
the Old Bailey are undeniable!

The care of Sir William Brandon had effectually kept from Lucy's ear the
knowledge of her lover's ignominious situation. Indeed, in her delicate
health even the hard eye of Brandon and the thoughtless glance of
Mauleverer perceived the danger of such a discovery. The earl, now
waiting the main attack on Lucy till the curtain had forever dropped on
Clifford, proceeded with great caution and delicacy in his suit to his
purposed bride. He waited with the more patience inasmuch as he had
drawn in advance on his friend Sir William for some portion of the
heiress's fortune; and he readily allowed that he could not in the mean
while have a better advocate than he found in Brandon. So persuasive,
indeed, and so subtle was the eloquence of this able sophist, that often
in his artful conversations with his niece he left even on the unvitiated
and strong though simple mind of Lucy an uneasy and restless impression,
which time might have ripened into an inclination towards the worldly
advantages of the marriage at her command. Brandon was no bungling
mediator or violent persecutor. He seemed to acquiesce in her rejection
of Mauleverer. He scarcely recurred to the event. He rarely praised the
earl himself, save for the obvious qualities of liveliness and good-
nature. But he spoke, with all the vivid colours he could infuse at will