ABSTRACT
Chap.XXXVI. Lord Ravensdale was not yet composed enough to join the company in the parlour; but when tea was over, he sent down his compliments to Mr. Evans, and desired to see him in his library: he advanced to receive that youth with the most engaging condescension; and a er paying him the justest compliments on his spirit, and expressing the warmest sense of the obligation/ it had laid him under, he adverted to the strange conduct of Lord Squander eld to Ned, a er dinner, the whole of which had been related to him by Lord Rivers and the captain. Ned was going to o er something or another in excuse for Lord Squander eld, and to express that for his own part he did not feel the smallest uneasiness, and far less any resentment for any neglect that might be shewn him by that nobleman. ‘I know,’ says Lord Ravensdale, ‘that great minds are not moved by tri ing causes; and an author, whom I know you revere, has told us, that it is the glory of a man to pass over a transgression: – but though his lordship’s ill manners have made no impression on your temper, yet his meanness, as I am informed, has made a very deep one on your purse, which however it is my duty to repair, and therefore I request your acceptance of these notes.’ Ned Evans, somewhat embarrassed, would have declined this present, assuring his lordship that he had already/ done so much for him as to prevent his being distressed by Lord Squander eld’s demand. ‘ at is of no consequence,’ said his lordship; ‘this is a matter of justice, and not of favour, so put up the y guineas as your right; but know, my young friend, that nothing I have yet done for you does at all acquit me in my own mind of the debt I owe you, which the adventure of this day has so much increased. I do therefore from this day take you under my particular patronage, which, if it pleases God to spare both our lives, will, I hope, be able to push you up in your profession. Amid the scenes in which you will shortly be involved, you will nd many demands for necessaries, more I fear than your pay, however wisely managed, will be able to furnish. I will therefore add to it two hundred guineas a-year, which will be paid quarterly to the agent of the regiment, along
with the allowance which I give my son, and which you may draw for as you nd occasion. And that you may not lose/ an opportunity of rising when it o ers,1 for want of a little money on the spot, you may consider yourself as possessed of one thousand guineas in my hands, for which I will order a bond to be made out and given you, bearing interest at ve per cent. and which may lie and accumulate till you can lay it out to advantage.’
