 to gratitude, principle, or generosity, her tongue was very reluctantly reined in whenever she heard any thing in his commendation; but at length, considering Lady Hazard was a new, though a very intimate acquaintance, and that the office she longed to undertake was rather a thankless one, she took a

little time for reflection, during which interval a circumstance happened which decided her wavering resolution. As however it was of sufficient consequence to require that Sir Sidney should be consulted, the reader is of course anxious to know what it was, and the result of their deliberations. The latter I am very ready to say was, that to arm Lord and Lady Hazard against the machinations of Mr. Standfast was treading on very tender ground, and therefore they ought not to take any material steps in so weighty a business till their arrival in the country, where Sir Sidney said he would begin this Herculean labour. This then they resolved. As to the circumstance which procured this resolution, it will come better hereafter. To have mentioned it here would have been premature, and not to have said something on the suspicions of Sir Sidney and his lady, would have been tacitly to have accused the reader of a deficiency in penetration, for it is hardly possible that any one who knew Mr. Standfast should believe him capable of devoting himself so suddenly to the practise of real virtue, when his whole life had been an artful study how to keep up the appearance of it.
Standfast has been seen very solicitous to get at the particulars of Lord Hazard's unfortunate intrigue, for which I have assigned the real motive;

and, to say truth, he was not pleased with the relation: for in his absence—to carry on the allusion I used at that time—his peice had been mutilated by the managers, and ill performed by the actors; a material incident had been cut out of his projecting, and another, by no means condusive to the catastrophe he wished to take place, introduced.—These alterations were principally owing to the heroine, who in real life, as well as upon the stage, is generally apt to take these sort of liberties; and though Mr. Standfast had not been present at the representation of his performance, yet, being a consummate judge of effect, he saw plainly it would have had more striking success could he have been on the spot to have conducted it.
To drop this allusion, Standfast plainly saw that Mrs. O'Shocknesy had taken the liberty to alter his plan, no doubt for private ends of her own. He had left orders for an anonymous letter to
