The baronet's entrance into town life had
been celebrated for his graceful vivacity; he was the animating
spirit of every party, till an inexplicable metamorphosis suddenly
took place. Soon after his return from abroad, he had married Miss
Beaufort (a woman whom he loved to adoration), When, strange to say,
excess of happiness seemed to change his nature and give his
character a deep tinge of sadness. After his wife's death, the
alteration in his mind produced still more extraordinary effects, and
showed itself more than once in all the terrors of threatened mental
derangement.
His latest attack of the kind assailed him during the last winter,
under the appearance of a swoon, while he sat at breakfast reading
the newspaper. He was carried to bed, and awoke in a delirium which
menaced either immediate death or the total extinction of his
intellects. However, neither of these dreads being confirmed, in the
course of several weeks, to the wonder of everybody, he recovered
much of his health and his sound mind. Notwithstanding this happy
event, the circumstances of his danger so deeply affected his family,
that he ceased not to be an object of the most anxious attention.
Indeed, solicitude did not terminate with them: the munificence of
his disposition having spread itself through every county in which he
owned a rood of land, as many prayers ascended for the repose of his
spirit as ever petitioned Heaven from the mouths of "monkish
beadsmen" in favor of power and virtue.
Pages:
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534