The Weird of the Wentworths: A Tale of George IV's Time, Vol. 2

"When hope is chidden That fain of bliss would tell, And love forbidden In the breast to dwell,-- When, fettered by a viewless chain, We turn and gaze and turn again, Oh! death...

"His heart was formed for softness--warped to wrong; Betrayed too early, and beguiled too long; Each feeling pure--as falls the dropping dew Within the grot--like that had harde...

"To begin, then, at the commencement I must sail back many years. I am an old man now, and have had a rough cruise through life. I was then a young lad just ready to be launched...

About two months after their arrival at the Towers, the Earl and Countess in the garb of deep mourning were walking together down the Holly Walk. We do not know why they chose t...

The Earl had been engaged, as we have before stated, on some business connected with the Government that was then in power and the Neapolitan interests; so busily was he engaged...

There is something peculiarly sad in the reflection that even the works of man are longer lived than himself. The gray castle, the ancestral residence of proud races, outlives i...

Mr. Lennox, about seven years after the events we narrated in the last chapter, was sitting in his drawing-room with several of his children, as well as his grandchildren, aroun...

"Oh! had I met thee then, when life was bright, Thy smile might still have fed its tranquil light; But now thou com'st, like sunny skies, Too late to cheer the seaman's eyes, Wh...

"'Tis long since I beheld that eye Which gave me bliss or misery; And I have striven, but in vain, Never to think of it again; For though I fly from Albion, I still can only lov...

When the Earl found himself thus mysteriously deserted, his next desire was to find out by what secret passage his guide had departed. He turned round, and saw a narrow passage...

"It has a strange quick jar upon the ear, That cocking of the pistol, when you know A moment more will bring the sight to bear Upon your person, twelve yards off, or so; A gentl...

From the time he heard the first shot up to the moment he saw his son pierced by the brigand's weapon, Mr. Lennox had sat as if he was an effigy and not a man, the father of him...

"Yet more! thy billows and thy depths have more: High hearts and brave are gathered to thy breast; They hear not now the booming waters roar, The battle thunders will not break...

"Your Lordship," continued the old sailor, "when tired of Juana pensioned her off, gave her apartments in London, and a handsome allowance, provided she would never more seek af...

On his restless couch lay Captain John de Vere, the dying brigand. He was mortally wounded, though the deep gash had been bound, and the outward flow of blood stayed, yet he fel...

We pass over the time spent at Claremont Castle, and again introduce our readers to the dining-room at the Towers, where a large party sat down to a very handsome repast. At the...

"Oh, do not look so bright and blest, For still there comes a fear, When brow like thine looks happiest That grief is then most near. There lurks a dread in all delight, A shado...

"His swarthy visage spake distress, But this might be from weariness; His garb with sanguine spots was dyed, But these might be from his courser's side; He drew the token from h...

Though we have not mentioned the grief of the Countess for her only brother's death, owing to the greater and more distracting woe of Lady Florence's engaging our attention, it...

"He knew himself detested, but he knew The hearts that loathed him, crouched and dreaded too. Lone, wild, and strange, he stood alike exempt From all affection and from all cont...

Perhaps the noble aspirations contained in the lines that head this chapter are misapplied to a murderer flying his just punishment, but even to the felon-convict liberty is swe...

"Farewell! if ever fondest prayer For other's weal availed on high, Mine will not all be lost in air, But waft thy name beyond the sky. 'Twere vain to speak, to weep, to sigh; O...