He became an adventurer in the Greek wars.  His reckless courage and comprehensive genius brought him into notice.  He became the darling hero of this rising people.  His foreign birth, and he refused to throw off his allegiance to his native country, alone prevented him from filling the first offices in the state.  But, though others might rank higher in title and ceremony, Lord Raymond held a station above and beyond all this.  He led the Greek armies to victory; their triumphs were all his own.  When he appeared, whole towns poured forth their population to meet him; new songs were adapted to their national airs, whose themes were his glory, valour, and munificence.  A truce was concluded between the Greeks and Turks.  At the same time, Lord Raymond, by some unlooked-for chance, became the possessor of an immense fortune in England, whither he returned, crowned with glory, to receive the meed of honour and distinction before denied to his pretensions.  His proud heart rebelled against this change.  In what was the despised Raymond not the same?  If the acquisition of power in the shape of wealth caused this alteration, that power should they feel as an iron yoke.  Power therefore was the aim of all his endeavours; aggrandizement the mark at which he for ever shot.  In open ambition or close intrigue, his end was the same—­to attain the first station in his own country.

This account filled me with curiosity.  The events that in succession followed his return to England, gave me keener feelings.  Among his other advantages, Lord Raymond was supremely handsome; every one admired him; of women he was the idol.  He was courteous, honey-tongued—­an adept in fascinating arts.  What could not this man achieve in the busy English world?  Change succeeded to change; the entire history did not reach me; for Adrian had ceased to write, and Perdita was a laconic correspondent.  The rumour went that Adrian had become—­how write the fatal word—­mad:  that Lord Raymond was the favourite of the ex-queen, her daughter’s destined husband.  Nay, more, that this aspiring noble revived the claim of the house of Windsor to the crown, and that, on the event of Adrian’s incurable disorder and his marriage with the sister, the brow of the ambitious Raymond might be encircled with the magic ring of regality.

Such a tale filled the trumpet of many voiced fame; such a tale rendered my longer stay at Vienna, away from the friend of my youth, intolerable.  Now I must fulfil my vow; now range myself at his side, and be his ally and support till death.  Farewell to courtly pleasure; to politic intrigue; to the maze of passion and folly!  All hail, England!  Native England, receive thy child! thou art the scene of all my hopes, the mighty theatre on which is acted the only drama that can, heart and soul, bear me along with it in its development.  A voice most irresistible, a power omnipotent, drew me thither.  After an absence of two years I landed on its shores, not daring