The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly
TO ALEXANDER WILLIAM KINGLAKE, Esq. M.P., ETC., ETC.
My Dear Kinglake,—If you should ever turn over these pages, I have no greater wish than that they might afford you a tithe of the pleasure I have derived from your own writings. But I will not ask you to read me, but to believe that I am, in all sincerity your devoted admirer, for both your genius and your courage, and your attached friend,
CHARLES LEVER. Trieste, August 31, 1868.
Towards the close of the last century there was a very remarkable man, Bishop of Down, in Ireland: a Liberal in politics, in an age when Liberalism lay close on the confines of disloyalty; splendidly hospitable, at a period when hospitality verged on utter recklessness; he carried all his opinions to extremes. He had great taste, which had been cultivated by foreign travel, and having an ample fortune, was able to indulge in many whims and caprices, by which some were led to doubt of his sanity; but others, who judged him better, ascribed them to the self-indulgence of a man out of harmony with his time, and comtemptuously indifferent to what the world might say of him.
He had passed many years in Italy, and had formed a great attachment to that country. He liked the people and their mode of life; he liked the old cities, so rich in art treasures and so teeming with associations of a picturesque past; and he especially liked their villa architecture, which seemed so essentially suited to a grand and costly style of living. The great reception-rooms, spacious and lofty; the ample antechambers, made for crowds of attendants; and the stairs wide enough for even equipages to ascend them. No more striking illustration of his capricious turn of mind need be given than the fact that it was his pleasure to build one of these magnificent edifices in an Irish county!—a costly whim, obliging him to bring over from Italy a whole troop of stucco-men and painters, men skilled in fresco-work and carving,—an extravagance on which he spent thousands. Nor did he live to witness the completion of his splendid mansion.
Charles James Lever
THE BRAMLEIGHS OF BISHOP'S FOLLY
With Illustrations By W. Cubitt Cooke, And E. J. Wheeler.
THE BRAMLEIGHS OF BISHOP'S FOLLY.
CHAPTER I. THE BISHOP'S FOLLY
CHAPTER II. LADY AUGUSTA'S LETTER
CHAPTER III. “THE EVENING AFTER A HARD RUN.”
CHAPTER IV. ON THE CROQUET LAWN.
CHAPTER V. CONFIDENTIAL TALK.
CHAPTER VI. UP IN THE MOUNTAINS.
CHAPTER VII. AT LUNCHEON
CHAPTER VIII. THE ARRIVAL OF A GREAT MAN
CHAPTER IX. OVER THE FIRE.
CHAPTER X. THE DROPPINGS OF A GREAT DIPLOMATIST.
CHAPTER XI. A WINTER DAY'S WALK
CHAPTER XII. AN EVENING BELOW AND ABOVE STAIRS.
CHAPTER XIII. AT THE COTTAGE.
CHAPTER XIV. OFFICIAL CONFIDENCES.
CHAPTER XV. WITH HIS LAWYER.
CHAPTER XVI.. SOME MISUNDERSTANDINGS.
CHAPTER XVII. AT CASTELLO.
CHAPTER XVIII. A DULL DINNER.
CHAPTER XIX. A DEPARTURE.
CHAPTER XX. A MORNING OF PERPLEXITIES.
CHAPTER XXI. GEORGE AND JULIA.
CHAPTER XXII. IN THE LIBRARY AT CASTELLO.
CHAPTER XXIII. THE CURATE CROSS-EXAMINED.
CHAPTER XXIV. DOUBTS AND FEARS.
CHAPTER XXV. MARION'S AMBITIONS
CHAPTER XXVI. MR. CUTBILL ARRIVES AT CASTELLO.
CHAPTER XXVII. THE VILLA ALTIERI.
CHAPTER XXVIII. CASTELLO.
CHAPTER XXIX. THE HÔTEL BRISTOL
CHAPTER XXX. ON THE ROAD
CHAPTER XXXI. ON THE ROAD TO ITALY.
CHAPTER XXXII. THE CHURCH PATRONS AT ALBANO.
CHAPTER XXXIII. A SMALL LODGING AT LOUVAIN.
CHAPTER XXXIV. AT LOUVAIN
CHAPTER XXXV. MR. CUTBILL'S VISIT
CHAPTER XXXVI. AN EVENING WITH CUTBILL
CHAPTER XXXVII. THE APPOINTMENT
CHAPTER XXXVIII. WITH LORD CULDUFF.
CHAPTER XXXIX. AT ALBANO
CHAPTER XL. “A RECEPTION” AT ROME.
CHAPTER XLI. SOME “SALON DIPLOMACIES”
CHAPTER XLII. A LONG TÊTE-À-TÊTE
CHAPTER XLIII. A SPECIAL MISSION
CHAPTER XLIV. THE CHURCH PATRONS
CHAPTER XLV. A PLEASANT DINNER
CHAPTER XLVI. A STROLL AND A GOSSIP
CHAPTER XLVII. A PROPOSAL IN FORM.
CHAPTER XLVII. “A TELEGRAM”
CHAPTER XLIX. A LONG TÊTE-À-TÊTE
CHAPTER L. CATTARO.
CHAPTER LI. SOME NEWS FROM WITHOUT
CHAPTER LII. ISCHIA.
CHAPTER LIII. A RAINY NIGHT AT SEA.
CHAPTER LIV. THE LETTER BAG.
CHAPTER LV. THE PRISONER AT CATTARO
CHAPTER LVI. AT LADY AUGUSTA'S
CHAPTER LVII. AT THE INN AT CATTARO.
CHAPTER LVIII. THE VILLA LIFE.
CHAPTER LIX. A VERY BRIEF DREAM.
CHAPTER LX. A RETURN HOME
CHAPTER LXI. LADY CULDUFF'S LETTER
CHAPTER LXII. DEALING WITH CUTBILL
CHAPTER LXIII. THE CLIENT AND HIS LAWYER.
CHAPTER LXIV. A FIRST GLEAM OF LIGHT.
CHAPTER LXV. THE LIGHT STRONGER.
CHAPTER LXVI. SEDLEY'S NOTES.
CHAPTER LXVII. A WAYFARER
CHAPTER LXVIII. A MEETING AND A PARTING
CHAPTER LXIX. THE LAST OF ALL.
