Page:Tragical history of George Barnwell (1).pdf/16

 daughter, on the express condition of our residing with Mr Nutting, till her twenty-fifth year, unless she married before that time with his consent.--Mr Nutting was his sole Executor, and was to receive the interest of her property. The father died, Miss Ellison had visited him at his lodgings, and had heard of his intentions with respect to her. A day was fixed for her removal, and I was ordered by my master to take a coach from Hyde Park Corner to Kensington and bring Miss Ellison to the Strand. She was not a beauty, her complexion was rather tinged with an olive hue, but her features were the index of these inmates of the female breast, which charm the heart of man, sweetness of temper and conquering submission, while the expression of her eyes indicated a superior mind. I gazed and received an impression never to be erased, no never. Miss Ellison brought with her a large quantity of books which had been carefully selected for her use by Mrs Harries her late governess, among them were the works of the immortal Shakespear.--These Mr Nutting strictly prohibited his ward from reading, as he determined that none but works of a religious tendency, that accorded with his own ideas, should be perused by Ellinor; and I was ordered to replace them in a box and convey them to the lost. Here, my dear George, instead of retiring to my bed I passed most of each night.—I tasted every dish of knowledge, and found every dish a dainty. The spring of reason, that had been stretched to impotence by the bigotry which I had insensibly imbibed to this family, seemed, by this accident, to have recovered its elasticity, and once more resumed its operations to the prejudice of superstition."

Here Mental proposed breaking off his story to another opportunity. Barnwell took leave, with many thanks for the confidence he had obtained, and returned to his uncle's.