CHAPTER XII.
"Sure there are poets that did never dream Upon Parnassus."-- DENHAM.
"Walk sober off, before a sprightlier age Come tittering on, and shove you from the stage."-- POPE.
"Hence to repose your trust in me was wise." DRYDEN'S _Absalom and Achitophel_.
MR.

FREDERICK CLEVELAND, a younger son of the Earl of Byrneham, and therefore entitled to the style and distinction of "Honourable," was the guardian of Ernest Maltravers.

He was now about the age of forty-three; a man of letters and a man of fashion, if the last half-obsolete expression be permitted to us, as being at least more classical and definite than any other which modern euphuism has invented to convey the same meaning.

Highly educated, and with natural abilities considerably above mediocrity, Mr.Cleveland early in life had glowed with the ambition of an author....

He had written well and gracefully--but his success, though respectable, did not satisfy his aspirations.