Sir William Staunton into the
family living of Willingham. The revenue was a matter of consequence to him, for
he derived little advantage from the estate of his late wife; and his own
fortune was that of a younger brother.
    He took his son to reside with him at the rectory, but he soon found that
his disorders rendered him an intolerable inmate. And as the young men of his
own rank would not endure the purse-proud insolence of the Creole, he fell into
that taste for low society, which is worse than »pressing to death, whipping, or
hanging.« His father sent him abroad, but he only returned wilder and more
desperate than before. It is true, this unhappy youth was not without his good
qualities. He had lively wit, good temper, reckless generosity, and manners,
which, while he was under restraint, might pass well in society. But all these
availed him nothing. He was so well acquainted with the turf, the gaming-table,
the cock-pit, and every worse rendezvous of folly and dissipation, that his
mother's fortune was spent before he was twenty-one, and he was soon in debt and
in distress. His early history may be concluded in the words of our British
Juvenal, when describing a similar character: -
 
Headstrong, determined in his own career,
He thought reproof unjust, and truth severe.
The soul's disease was to its crisis come,
He first abused, and then abjured, his home;
And when he chose a vagabond to be,
He made his shame his glory, »I'll be free!«
 
»And yet 'tis pity on Measter George, too,« continued the honest boor, »for he
has an open hand, and winna let a poor body want an he has it.«
    The virtue of profuse generosity, by which, indeed, they themselves are most
directly advantaged, is readily admitted by the vulgar as a cloak for many sins.
    At Stamford our heroine was deposited in safety by her communicative guide.
She obtained a place in the coach, which, although termed a light one, and
accommodated with no fewer than six horses, only reached London on the afternoon
of the second day. The recommendation of the elder Mr. Staunton procured Jeanie
a civil reception at the inn where the carriage stopped, and, by the aid of Mrs.
Bickerton's correspondent, she found out her friend and relative Mrs. Glass, by
whom she was kindly received and hospitably entertained.
 

                             Chapter Thirty-Fourth

 My name is Argyle,