his grace completed his stud, and became one of the most distinguished votaries of the turf. sir lucius was the inspiring divinity upon this occasion. our hero, like all young men, and particularly young nobles, did everything in extremes; and extensive arrangements were made by himself and his friend for the ensuing campaign. sir lucius was to reap half the profit, and to undertake the whole management. the duke was to produce the capital and to pocket the whole glory. thus rolled on some weeks, at the end of which our hero began to get a little tired. he had long ago recovered all his self-complacency, and if the form of may dacre ever flitted before his vision for an instant, he clouded it over directly by the apparition of a bet, or thrust it away with that desperate recklessness with which we expel an ungracious thought. the duke sighed for a little novelty. christmas was at hand. he began to think that a regular country christmas must be a sad bore. lady afy, too, was rather exigeante. it destroys one’s nerves to be amiable every day to the same human being. she was the best creature in the world; but cambridgeshire was not a pleasant county. he was most attached; but there was not another agreeable woman in the house. he would not hurt her feelings for the world; but his own were suffering desperately. he had no idea that he ever should get so entangled. brighton, they say, is a pleasant place.
to brighton he went; and although the graftons were to follow him in a fortnight, still even these fourteen days were a holiday. it is extraordinary how hourly, and how violently, change the feelings of an inexperienced young man.
sir lucius, however, was disappointed in his brighton trip. ten days after the departure of the young duke the county member died. sir lucius had been long maturing his pretensions to the vacant representation. he was strongly supported; for he was a personal favourite, and his family had claims; but he was violently opposed; for a novus homo was ambitious, and the baronet was poor. sir lucius was a man of violent passions, and all feelings and considerations immediately merged in his paramount ambition. his wife, too, at this moment, was an important personage. she was generally popular; she was beautiful, highly connected, and highly considered. her canvassing was a great object. she canvassed with earnestness and with success; for since her consolatory friendship with the duke of st. james her character had greatly changed, and she was now as desirous of conciliating her husband and the opinion of society as she was before disdainful of the one and fearless of the other. sir lucius and lady aphrodite grafton were indeed on the best possible terms, and the whole county admired his conjugal attentions and her wifelike affections.
the duke, who had no influence in this part of the world, and who was not at all desirous of quitting brighton, compensated for his absence at this critical moment by a friendly letter and the offer of his purse. by this good aid, his wife’s attractions, and his own talents, sir lucy succeeded, and by the time parliament had assembled he was returned member for his native county.
in the meantime, his friend had been spending his time at brighton in a far less agitated manner, but, in its way, not less successful; for he was amused, and therefore gained his object as much as the baronet. the duke liked brighton much. without the bore of an establishment, he found himself among many agreeable friends, living in an unostentatious and impromptu, though refined and luxurious, style. one day a new face, another day a new dish, another day a new dance, successively interested his feelings, particularly if the face rode, which they all do; the dish was at sir george sauceville’s, and the dance at the duke of burlington’s. so time flew on, between a canter to rottindean, the flavours of a perigord, and the blunders of the mazurka.
but february arrived, and this agreeable life must end. the philosophy of society is so practical that it is not allowed, even to a young duke, absolutely to trifle away existence. duties will arise, in spite of our best endeavours; and his grace had to roll up to town, to dine with the premier, and to move the address.
