Notwithstanding all my father's endeavours to the contrary, madam, pursued Sir George, I cherished those towering sentiments the knowledge of my birth inspired me with; and it was not without the utmost impatience that I brooked the private condition to which I found myself reduced.
Cruel fate! would I sometimes cry; was it not enough to deprive me of that kingdom which is my due, and subject me to a mean and inglorious state; but to make that condition infinitely more grievous, must thou give me a soul towering above my abject fortune? A soul, that cannot but disdain the base submission I must pay to those who triumph in the spoils of my ruined house? A soul, which sees nothing above its hopes and expectations? And, in fine, a soul, that excites me daily to attempt things worthy of my birth, and those noble sentiments I inherit from my great forefathers? Ah! pursued I, unhappy Bellmour, what hinders thee from making thyself known and acknowledged for what thou art? What hinders thee from boldly asserting thy just and natural rights; and from defying the usurper who detains them from thee? What hinders thee, I say?
What? interrupted Sir Charles; why the fear of a halter, I suppose: there is nothing more easy than to answer that question.
Such, madam, said Sir George, were the thoughts which continually disturbed my imagination; and, doubtless, they had not failed to push me on to some hazardous enterprise, had not a fatal passion interposed; and by its sweet but dangerous allurements, stifled for a while that flame which ambition, and the love of glory kindled in my soul.
Sir George here pausing, and fixing his eyes with a melancholy air on the ground, as if pressed with a tender remembrance,—
Mr. Glanville asked him, smiling, if the thoughts of poor Dolly disturbed him? Pray, added he, give us the history of your first love, without any mixture of fable; or shall I take the trouble off you? For you know, I am very well acquainted with your affair with the pretty milk-maid, and can tell it very succinctly.
It is true, sir, said Sir George, sighing, I cannot recall the idea of Dorothea into my remembrance, without some pain: that fair but unfaithful shepherdess, who first taught me to sigh, and repaid my tenderness with the blackest infidelity: yet I will endeavour to compose myself, and go on with my narration.
Be pleased to know then, madam, pursued Sir George, that having my thoughts, in this manner, wholly employed with the disasters of my family, I had arrived to my seventeenth year, without being sensible of the power of love; but the moment now arrived, which was to prove fatal to my liberty. Following the chase one day with my father and some other gentlemen, I happened to lag a little behind them; and, being taken up with my ordinary reflections, I lost my way, and wandered a long time, without knowing or considering whither I was going. Chance at last conducted me to a pleasant valley, surrounded with trees: and, being tired with riding, I alighted, and tying my horse to a tree, walked forward with an intention to repose myself a few moments under the shade of one of those trees that had attracted my observation: but while I was looking for the most convenient place, I spied, at the distance of some few yards from me, a woman lying asleep upon the grass. Curiosity tempted me to go nearer this person; and, advancing softly, that I might not disturb her, I got near enough to have a view of her person: but, ah! heavens! what wonders did my eyes encounter in this view!—--The age of this fair sleeper seemed not to exceed sixteen; her shape was formed with the exactest symmetry; one of her hands supported her head; the other, as it lay carelessly stretched at her side, gave me an opportunity of admiring its admirable colour and proportion. The thin covering upon her neck discovered part of its inimitable beauty to my eyes; but her face, her lovely face, fixed all my attention.
Certain it is, madam, that, out of this company, it would be hard to find any thing so perfect as what I now viewed. Her complexion was the purest white imaginable, heightened by the enchanting glow which dyed her fair cheeks with a colour like that of a new-blown rose: her lips, formed with the greatest perfection, and of a deeper red, seemed to receive new beauties from the fragrance of that breath that parted from them. Her auburn hair fell in loose ringlets over her neck; and some straggling curls, that played upon her fair forehead, set off by a charming contrast the whiteness of that skin it partly hid. Her eyes indeed were closed; and though I knew not whether their colour and beauty were equal to those other miracles in her face, yet their proportion seemed to be large; and the snowy lids, which covered them, were admirably set off by those long and sable lashes that adorned them.
For some moments I gazed upon this lovely sleeper, wholly lost in wonder and admiration.