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284 But, as the reader will conceive, it was no part of his nature to be a sighing swain; and, although he had heard many good stories told on board of manœuvring dowagers and slighted younger brothers, and had witnessed a specimen of such circumstances occurring, it yet could not enter his head that he could long cruise in any seas without securing the prize he sought. There was not a shadow of self-conceit in this conclusion; he might have said, with great truth, "she had eyes and she chose me;" but his personal advantages, great as they were, never crossed his mind. His point to stand upon was the circumstance of being a sailor; he did not underrate noble alliance and ancient blood, for he thought them capital ballast; but he had so often cheered, in his heart, as well as by his tongue, "the lass that loves a sailor," that she had become to him the "queen of beauty;" and, of all other good and great qualities, therefore, in order to render poor Georgiana the perfection of her sex, she must be and should be the said "lass," the "Black-eyed Susan," the "lovely Nan," the "bright particular star," for whose sake he could, like Romeo, have been "cut up into little ones." As every thought and wish was told to his brother as they rose, and it was evident that the power of rambling and talking greatly increased that passion which Dr. Johnson truly observed was "much less prevalent in London than the country," Lord Meersbrook looked anxiously for the time in which he could