ABSTRACT
Mr. Prior was descended from a noble family in Scotland; his parents having many children, and only a slender fortune, had educated him for the profession of a clergyman, which perfectly coincided with his wishes; being passionately fond of study and polite literature; and this allowed him to devote himself to his favourite pursuit. But this was not the best road to gain preferment in the world: sel shness and dissimulation gain far in nitely more than either ne abilities or rectitude:58 and Mr. Prior, with the most correct principles – a mind highly cultivated, and a heart and morals, the most pure, could not gain a situation which was su cient to a ord him a maintenance. Chance, however, procured him the acquaintance of Mrs. Burton, in a journey she made to Edinburgh. She had sense su cient to appreciate the merit of such a being as Mr. Prior; and attered with the idea of gaining a man of noble family to reside with her, she made him the o er of being chaplain to her family, at the castle, with a salary of one hundred guineas per annum. Prejudiced in favour of Mrs. Burton, from her a ability and politeness, accompanied by the delightful hope of dedicating all his leisure to study, he accepted her o er with rapture. – Charmed with the solitary and retired situation of his new asylum; his astonishment on beholding the luxuries of its interior, exceeded Malvina’s; and the elegance and grandeur of this castle created suspicions in him, which experience soon proved were not without foundation. But he never divulged his opinion of Mrs. Burton to any person: Malvina alone may have the power of gaining his unlimited con dence.
