Memorials and Other Papers | Page 9

ennui, all at once Lord Massey had fallen
passionately in love with a fair young countrywoman, well connected,
but bringing him no fortune (I report only from hearsay), and endowing
him simply with the priceless blessing of her own womanly charms, her
delightful society, and her sweet, Irish style of innocent gayety. No
transformation that ever legends or romances had reported was more
memorable. Lapse of time (for Lord Massey had now been married
three or four years), and deep seclusion from general society, had done
nothing, apparently, to lower the tone of his happiness. The expression
of this happiness was noiseless and unobtrusive; no marks were there
of vulgar uxoriousness--nothing that could provoke the sneer of the
worldling; but not the less so entirely had the society of his young wife
created a new principle of life within him, and evoked some nature
hitherto slumbering, and which, no doubt, would else have continued to
slumber till his death, that, at moments when he believed himself
unobserved, he still wore the aspect of an impassioned lover.
"He beheld A vision, and adored the thing he saw. Arabian fiction
never filled the world With half the wonders that were wrought for him.
Earth breathed in one great presence of the spring Her chamber window

did surpass in glory The portals of the dawn."
And in no case was it more literally realized, as daily almost I
witnessed, that
"All Paradise Could, by the simple opening of a door, Let itself in upon
him." [Footnote: Wordsworth's "Vandracour and Julia."]
For never did the drawing-room door open, and suddenly disclose the
beautiful figure of Lady Massey, than a mighty cloud seemed to roll
away from the young Irishman's brow. At this time it happened, and
indeed it often happened, that Lord Carbery was absent in Ireland. It
was probable, therefore, that during the long couple of hours through
which the custom of those times bound a man to the dinner-table after
the disappearance of the ladies, his time would hang heavily on his
hands. To me, therefore, Lady Carbery looked, having first put me in
possession of the case, for assistance to her hospitality, under the
difficulties I have stated. She thoroughly loved Lady Massey, as,
indeed, nobody could help doing; and for her sake, had there been no
separate interest surrounding the young lord, it would have been most
painful to her that through Lord Carbery's absence a periodic tedium
should oppress her guest at that precise season of the day which
traditionally dedicated itself to genial enjoyment. Glad, therefore, was
she that an ally had come at last to Laxton, who might arm her
purposes of hospitality with some powers of self-fulfilment. And yet,
for a service of that nature, could she reasonably rely upon me? Odious
is the hobble-de-hoy to the mature young man. Generally speaking, that
cannot be denied. But in me, though naturally the shyest of human
beings, intense commerce with men of every rank, from the highest to
the lowest, had availed to dissipate all arrears of _mauvaise honte_; I
could talk upon innumerable subjects; and, as the readiest means of
entering immediately upon business, I was fresh from Ireland, knew
multitudes of those whom Lord Massey either knew or felt an interest
in, and, at that happy period of life, found it easy, with three or four
glasses of wine, to call back the golden spirits which were now so often
deserting me. Renovated, meantime, by a hot bath, I was ready at the
second summons of the dinner-bell, and descended a new creature to
the drawing-room. Here I was presented to the noble lord and his wife.
Lord Massey was in figure shortish, but broad and stout, and wore an
amiable expression of face. That I could execute Lady Carbery's

commission, I felt satisfied at once. And, accordingly, when the ladies
had retired from the dining-room, I found an easy opening, in various
circumstances connected with the Laxton stables, for introducing
naturally a picturesque and contrasting sketch of the stud and the
stables at Westport. The stables and everything connected with the
stables at Laxton were magnificent; in fact, far out of symmetry with
the house, which, at that time, was elegant and comfortable, but not
splendid. As usual in English establishments, all the appointments were
complete, and carried to the same point of exquisite finish. The stud of
hunters was first-rate and extensive; and the whole scene, at closing the
stables for the night, was so splendidly arranged and illuminated, that
Lady Carbery would take all her visitors once or twice a week to
admire it. On the other hand, at Westport you might fancy yourself
overlooking the establishment of some Albanian Pacha. Crowds of
irregular helpers and grooms, many of them totally unrecognized by
Lord