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BY ORDER OF THE CZAR. 211

in the perfect romance and beauty of his idealization of the city of the sea, and that was to his mind the impos- sibility of telling its story on canvas. Turner had sug- gested it, Canaletti had tried to give it all its realistic beauty, but even these masters did not rise to the pro- saic muse of Rogers, whose lines you could treat as texts to build palaces upon, and set to dreams of sea and sky and old romance. Philip was a poet in sentiment and feeling, and Chetwynd, his friend and art-adviser, believed he would one day bring a noble creative power into his work ; at present Philip was rather embarrassed with something like a material interpretation of the poet according to Festus poets are all who love, who feel great truths and tell them and the truth of truths is love ; and he made up his mind to love Dolly with all his heart, and if Mrs. Milbanke had had any doubts previously about Philip's devotion to Dolly they were all dispelled on this evening.

Philip had even astonished and delighted his mother by the earnest and even enthusiastic efforts he made to please his betrothed and to shine in the eyes of her family. One says family without considering it necessary to bring in Dolly's father and mother, who lived at Norwood in a quiet suburban way, two old people with their old servants, and their old-fashioned ways, and with whom Dolly spent some of her time, who occasionally visited at Westbury Lodge ; but they considered their day was over ; they had brought up a family of three, well and successfully ; their eldest son was a Judge of the Supreme Court of India, and their two daughters were the happy sisters of this truthful narrative ; and this is all that it is necessary to say of Mr. and Mrs. Norcott, very worthy and well-to-do, kind, pleasant people, whom Lady Forsyth expressed a desire to call upon, and to see whom Mrs. Milbanke pro- mised to drive to Norwood any day Lady Forsyth pleased,