Sedley

“ Sedley was much more equivocal, and almost baffled the penetration of the Viscountess. It always happened his engagements and theirs were the same, and wherever they went he became one of their immediate party; but his manner was so perfectly careless, that the rencontre seemed purely accidental. He admired Selina's beauty avowedly, but with apparently equal nonchalance, sometimes complimented Lady Eltondale on the elegance of Miss Seymour's dress, and much oftener finding fault with Selina herself, if any particular ornament or colour in it happened not to suit his fancy. ”

“ I can never forget her, but she refused me." "Refused you!" exclaimed Sedley, in a tone of unfeigned surprise; "well, no doubt your pride has cured your love; but upon my soul I almost pity you; for when a man is once fascinated by a pretty woman, it is devilish hard to get out of her toils." "So far from my pride being my cure, her refusal raised my love to a pitch that made my former attachment seem cold in comparison. You may smile, Sedley, but if you have a heart to be moved, it must be touched when I tell you of her noble conduct on that occasion. ”

“ We shall be glad to be away from Winchester, for while Peregrine Oakshott torments slyly, Sedley Archfield loves to frighten us openly, and to hurt us to see how much we can bear, and if Charley tries to stand up for us, Sedley calls him a puny wench, and a milksop, and knocks him down. ”

“ Sedley and I were one day conversing together about women. Sid was a very deep fellow in that game: no passion you know; no love on his own side; nothing of the sort; all done by rule and compass; knew women as well as dice, and calculated the exact moment when his snares would catch them, according to the principles of geometry. D——d clever fellow, faith; but a confounded rascal: but let it go no further; mum’s the word! must not slander the dead; and ‘tis only my suspicion, you know, after all. ”

“ When a parasite told him that the fire of the play had blown up the poet, house and all, Sedley replied, 'No; the play was so heavy that it broke down the house, and buried the poet in his own rubbish.' Latterly he sobered down, entered parliament, attended closely to public business, and became a determined opponent of the arbitrary measures of James II. To this he was stimulated by a personal reason. James had seduced Sedley's daughter, and made her Countess of Dorchester. ”

“ However I trust, thanks to you, my dear friend, we shall soon meet; and if her heart is still mine, what happiness!—Gracious Heaven! Miss Seymour!"—and the recollection of his situation regarding Selina glanced through his mind, turning all the past to pain—"I must not, dare not, think of her now." "And why not?" replied Sedley, with an agitation little inferior to his own, "You are not irrevocably engaged to Miss Seymour, Eltondale?" "I am as much as a man of honour can be, who has not received the lady's own consent from her own mouth. ”

“ Webberly's own design, or his ridiculous suspicions of Mr. Sedley's, amused Lady Eltondale or him most: however they both agreed, that it was quite impossible I should ever marry a commoner. I wish you knew Mr. Sedley well, as I am sure you would like him, and be convinced that your prejudice last autumn, and your idea that he was unprincipled, would soon vanish. He is uncommonly good natured, and always tells me all my faults, and I am not the least afraid of him as I am of Lady Eltondale; indeed he is the only person in town I have real pleasure in conversing with. ”

“ Supper was at length announced, and Sedley, who with his partner had been standing near Selina, offered her his arm, alleging, that Mr. Webberly was too busy just then to attend to her: "Yes, (replied Selina laughingly, passing her arm through his) my Achilles seems only vulnerable in the heel to-night." But Cecilia not choosing to lose any share of Sedley's attention, roared out, "Why, brother! brother John, what are you capering there for, like a great jack-ass, as you are, and leaving Miss Seymour to take care of herself?" ”

“ I know I had it this morning.” “You have not kept it long for my sake,” said his grandfather: “I dare say William and Nancy can both shew theirs.”—Miss Sedley pulled hers from her pocket. Her brother was going to do the same, but his conscience would not let him draw forth his hand. He held the medal between his finger and thumb, but did not dare to bring it out to view.—“Do not cry, Bob” said Mr. Graves, “you are a little boy, and are not used to be entrusted with money: I will get you another, and your brother shall take care of it. ”

“ But sure we all mistake this pious man, Who mortifies his person all he can What we uncharitably take for sin, Are only rules of this odd capuchin; For never hermit, under grave pretence, Has lived more contrary to common sense.” These verses, however, have been applied to Sir Charles Sedley, whose name was originally spelt Sidley. ”

“ And, indeed, I often wonder how people have time to think and write so much about such a foolish girl as I am.—Do you know, the milliners have called a new cap, and a little satin hat, by my name?—Could you have believed, that your poor Selina would ever have been godmother to such bantlings? Mais le vrai n'est pas toujours vraisemblable; and I verily am installed, without any probation, into all the dignities of the ton. Mr. Sedley always tells me, I must be more than ever attentive to my manners ”

“ Mrs. Sedley, wife of Mr. Sedley. A homely, kind-hearted motherly woman in her prosperous days, but soured by adversity, and quick to take offence.
Amelia Sedley, daughter of the stock-broker, educated at Miss Pinkerton’s academy, Chiswick Mall, and engaged to Captain George Osborne, son of a rich London merchant. After the ruin of old Sedley, George married Amelia, and was disinherited by his father. He was adored by his young wife, but fell on the field of Waterloo. ”

“ Even the vigilance of Lady Eltondale was for once baffled. Mr. Sedley's situation in life was exactly in that mean, which least attracted her notice: his paternal estate was sufficient, as she believed, to render even Selina's fortune of no vital importance to him; and judging of Selina by herself, she believed it almost impossible, that a girl so universally admired, as she undoubtedly was, would be content to remain a commoner all her life. ”

“ Lines addressed to Pope
INDEX SPECIMENS, WITH MEMOIRS, OF THE LESS-KNOWN BRITISH POETS. * * * * *
THIRD PERIOD. FROM DRYDEN TO COWPER. * * * * *
SIR CHARLES SEDLEY. Sedley was one of those characters who exert a personal fascination over their own age without leaving any works behind them to perpetuate the charm to posterity. He was the son of Sir John Sedley of Aylesford, in Kent, and was born in 1639. When the Restoration took place he repaired to London, and plunged into all the licence of the time, shedding, however, over the putrid pool the sheen of his wit, manners, and genius. ”

“ Sedley has received some papers”—here a look of intelligence passed between Augustus and Jack—“which he imagines may be of consequence, but being in Italian, he can't read them. He needs a translator—”
“I am equal to that,” broke she in, “but why don't we do it in committee, as you political people call it? Five heads are better than one.”
“Mr Sedley is absolute, and will have but one.”
“And am I to be closeted for a whole morning with Mr. Sedley? I declare it seems compromising. Jack frowns at me. There is nothing so prudish as a sailor. ”

“ Meantime Selina proceeded towards Somerset House. It was a delightful day; and the rapid motion of the carriage, the gaiety of the streets, and even a faint hope that she might, perhaps, meet Mordaunt in her drive, all contributed to raise her spirits. At last, as the carriage experienced a momentary stop in Bond-street, Selina heard her own name pronounced by a voice not unfamiliar to her ear, and hastily turning to the speaker, she recognized Mr. Sedley. ”

“ The Grumbler, a Comedy of three acts, scene Paris.
The Tyrant King of Crete, a Tragedy.
Sedley's poems, however amorously tender and delicate, yet have not much strength; nor do they afford great marks of genius. The softness of his verses is denominated by the Duke of Buckingham, Sedley's Witchcraft. It was an art too successful in those days to propagate the immoralities of the times, but it must be owned that in point of chastity he excels Dorset, and Rochester ”

“ If a wise and good father could choose between having his son a hopeless drunkard or villain, and laying his cold form in the dark grave, never more to see him on earth, he would no doubt choose the latter. Almost all parents say so; and their words are so earnest, their tears so eloquent, that we cannot but believe it. Such was the father of Frank Sedley, and it was such a father that made so good a son.
Charles Hardy was the son of one of the factory agents, who was Captain Sedley's nearest neighbor ”

“ Meanwhile, the empty chair on the Duke’s right awaited her.
They were a very merry company, and as time passed they grew merrier. There was Etheredge, of course, the real promoter of the whole affair, and this elegant, talented libertine who was ultimately—and at a still early age—to kill himself with drinking was doing the fullest justice to the reputation which the winecup had already earned him. There was Sedley, that other gifted profligate, whose slim, graceful person and almost feminine beauty gave little indication of the roistering soul within. ”

“ Here Sedley made a short pause. He felt that all was at stake: the effects of a few minutes' conversation might decide his fate for life. He hastily revolved in his mind Lord Eltondale's Sicilian letters, which he had lately read for the base purpose of divulging their contents to the Viscountess, and calling to mind the points on which Frederick's admiration had been founded, endeavoured to paint Miss Wildenheim's charms in those terms which he judged most likely to raise his friend's love and regrets to their acmé, and thus for ever defeat Lady Eltondale's schemes for uniting him to Selina. ”

“ Sedley had received the first of the following letters, and seven months after its arrival the two latter, though of different dates, reached him on the same day: of course they did not meet the eye of the viscountess, so that she remained ignorant of their contents; but even had she known them entirely, no consideration for Frederick's happiness would for an instant have caused her to waver in her plan for promoting his prosperity, as on the fulfilment of her long meditated scheme for this purpose depended the possibility of her future continuance in the London world. ”

“ Webberly cast a glance on his lovely partner, in which real exultation was ridiculously blended with affected contempt; and shrugging his shoulders, replied, "She is half wild now, we must give her a little fashion when she comes amongst us." Sedley turned on his heel, and joined a groupe of young men, who were loudly expatiating on the charms he affected to despise. Sedley also joined in her praise; for as yet, though his warm admiration was excited, his heart was not sufficiently interested to create a wariness in the expression of its feelings ”

“ It may be supposed, the gentlemen strenuously seconded her solicitations: their united entreaties having obtained Sir Henry's consent, they at length withdrew, whilst Selina reiterated her thanks and her joy with equal earnestness and naïveté.
"Well, Sedley, what do you think of Miss Seymour?" exclaimed Webberly, as they rode leisurely home. "By Heavens! she is quite beautiful," returned his friend.—"She has the finest eyes and teeth I ever beheld."—"And fine oaks too, or she'd never do for me," rejoined her calculating admirer. ”

“ There would be no great difficulty for Sedley to lift the trap without noise and, when it was lifted, to swing himself through to the ground, to creep until he came to the thick tangle upon the creek banks, then to swim across and escape into the shelter of the woods beyond. That would be simple enough, and Mammy, full of hopeful thoughts, was walking briskly forward, when suddenly a turn in the path brought [Pg 147] into view a small body of Federals, all mounted, and evidently coming from the direction of the mill. ”

“ When I talk to any body else, I am always afraid of their misconstruing either my vivacity or my gravity. But Mr. Sedley's conversation is always adapted to the turn of the moment. If I am gay, he does not accuse me of levity; and if I am inclined to talk rationally, he does not call it pedantry. Would you believe it, the other night, when I know Mr. Webberly thought he was making love to me, we were literally talking of Montesquieu's Esprit des Loix, which you may remember was one of the last books we read together—I mean with Mr. Temple. Lady Eltondale is to give a great ball next week ”

“ I was prodigiously haughty in my youth. She will never act naturally anything but what's cruel and unnatural, as the men call it.
Sev. But, madam, can't she repeat any verses, any parts of a play? It's strange she should have an inclination to the stage, and yet nothing by heart.
Mrs. Fen. Oh, I have inured her to get as many things as possible to arm her against the wiles of men; as those concerning Sir Charles Sedley—Say on, good Betty.
Daughter. "Sedley has that prevailing gentle art,
That can with a resistless charm impart
The loosest wishes to the chastest heart." [140]
Sev. ”