Page:Modern Literature Volume 3 (1804).djvu/256

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

of Etterick had been always distinguished for honour and reputation, and its present representative had a very high idea of its dignity. Kind and affectionate he had loved his grandchild, but could not help repining, that the child of such a miscreant eventually was to be proprietor of Etterick. His nephew, Hamilton, he loved and admired to adoration; and now would sometimes dwell on the elevation of the house of Etterick, when William should be its head: and the fourth day after Mrs. O'Rourke's decease, when the clergyman was administering the soothing comforts of religion, the laird heard him with the most profound gravity, and after some cessation, asked if there was not a talk about a vacancy in the county: "Willie, now that he is heir of Etterick, I think might stand a good chance; and if he were in parliament, would be an extraordinary