usually begins to make itself heard, have awakened to a more resolute and
aspiring temperament of mind. But, as it was, courted and surrounded by
all the enjoyments which are generally the reward to which exertion looks,
even an ambitious man might have forgotten his nature. No wound to his
vanity, no feeling that he was underrated (that great spur to proud minds)
excited him to those exertions we undertake in order to belie calumny. He
was "the glass of fashion," at once popular and admired; and his good
fortune in marrying the celebrated, the wealthy, the beautiful Countess of
Erpingham was, as success always is, considered the proof of his genius,
and the token of his merits.

It was certainly true, that a secret and mutual disappointment rankled
beneath the brilliant lot of the husband and wife. Godolphin exacted from
Constance more softness, more devotion, more compliance than belonged to
her nature; and Constance, on the other hand, ceased not to repine that
she found in Godolphin no sympathy with her objects, and no feeling for
her enthusiasm. As there was little congenial in their pursuits, the one
living for pleasure, the other for ambition, so there could be no
congeniality in their intercourse. They loved each other still; they
loved each other warmly; they never quarrelled; for the temper of
Constance was mild, and that of Godolphin generous: but neither believed
there was much love on the other side; and both sought abroad that
fellowship and those objects they had not in common at home.

Constance was a great favourite with the reigning king; she was constantly
invited to the narrow circle of festivities at Windsor. Godolphin, who
avoided the being bored as the greatest of earthly evils, could not bow
down his tastes and habits to any exact and precise order of life, however
distinguished the circle in which it became the rule. Thirsting to be
amused, he could not conjugate the active verb "to amuse." No man was