We trust that the reader has already perceived that, despite his early circumstances, his manner and address were not such as to unfit him for a lady's love.

The comparative refinement of his exterior is easy of explanation, for he possessed a natural and inborn gentility, a quick turn for observation, a ready sense both of the ridiculous and the graceful; and these are materials which are soon and lightly wrought from coarseness into polish.

He had been thrown, too, among the leaders and heroes of his band; many not absolutely low in birth, nor debased in habit.

He had associated with the Barringtons of the day,--gentlemen who were admired at Ranelagh, and made speeches worthy of Cicero, when they were summoned to trial.

He had played his part in public places; and as Tomlinson was wont to say after his classic fashion, "the triumphs accomplished in the field had been planned in the ball-room." In short, he was one of those accomplished and elegant highwaymen of whom we yet read wonders, and by whom it would have been delightful to have been robbed: and the aptness of intellect which grew into wit with his friends, softened into sentiment with his mistress.