CHAPTER II.
"Methinks I see, as thrown from her high sphere,
The glorious fragments of a soul immortal,
With rubbish mix'd and glittering in the dust."
Young.
Captain Douglas was the younger son of a noble Scottish family, and his elder brother, Lord Deloraine, was his only surviving relation. Cast early on the world, he was left to embark on the wide ocean of life, and to seek his fortune, with no other guide but his passions, at a time when they were calculated to gain a complete ascendancy over him; and every propensity, whether of good or evil tendency, alike met with unrestrained indulgence. The higher qualities of candour, warmth of heart, and generosity, were eminently possessed by Douglas; seeming as if inherent in him, as if he could not act in opposition to them,—proceeding not from any notions he entertained of moral rectitude.
Douglas also possessed a high sense of honour; perhaps nothing could have prevailed on him to violate that integrity which he conceived due from
