_A Ball._
Thus much it was necessary to premise, in order to acquaint the reader
with the situation of our heroine, and that of some other personages in
this history. Having discharged this task, we will return to the point
from which we set out.
It was at one of the balls at the races at Southampton--the company was
already assembled. The card tables were set, and our maiden ladies,
together with many other venerable pieces of antiquity, were assembled
around them. In another and more spacious room, appeared all that
Southampton could boast of youth and beauty. The squire and his sister,
Mr. Prattle, and lord Martin, formed a part of the company. The first
bustle was nearly composed, when Damon entered the assembly.
He appeared to be a stranger to every body present. And, as he is equally
a stranger to our readers, we will now announce him in proper form. Damon
appeared to be about twenty years of age. His person was tall, and his
limbs slender and well formed. His dress was elegance itself. His coat was
ornamented with a profusion of lace, and the diamond sparkled in his shoe.
His countenance was manly and erect. There appeared in it a noble
confidence, which the spectator would at first sight ascribe to dignity of
birth, and a perfect familiarity with whatever is elegant and polite. This
confidence however had not the least alloy of _hauteur_, his eye
expressed the most open sensibility and the kindest sympathy.
There is something undescribably interesting in the figure we have
delineated. The moment our hero entered the room, the attention of every
person present was fixed upon him. The master of the ceremonies
immediately advanced, and escorted him to the most honourable seat that
yet remained vacant. While Damon examined with an eager eye the gay
parterre of beauty that appeared before him, a general whisper was excited
upon his account. "Who is he?" "Who is he?" echoed from every corner of
the room. But while curiosity was busy in his enquiries, there was not an
individual capable of satisfying them.
The business of every one was now the choice of a partner. But as one
object had engrossed the attention of all, they were willing to see the
election he would make, though every one feared to lose the partner he had
destined for himself. Damon was therefore, however unwilling to
distinguish himself in so particular a manner, constrained to advance the
foremost. He passed slightly along before a considerable number, who sat
in expectation. At length he approached the seat of Delia. He bowed to her
in the most graceful manner, and intreated to be honoured with her hand.
She smiled assent, and they crossed the room among a croud of envious
rivals. Besides the lovers we had mentioned, there were four others, who
had secretly determined to dance with Delia.
But if the gentlemen were disappointed, to whose eyes the beauty of Delia,
however unrivalled, was familiar, the disappointment and envy of the fair
sex upon the loss of Damon, whose external and natural recommendations had
beside the grace of novelty, were inexpressible. The daughter of Mr.
Griskin, an eminent butcher in Clare-market, who had indeed from nature,
the grace of being cross-eyed, now looked in ten thousand more various
directions than she ever did before. Miss Prim, agitated in every limb,
cracked her fan into twenty pieces. Miss Gawky, who had unfortunately been
initiated by the chamber maid in the art of snuff-taking, plied her box
with more zeal than ever. Miss Languish actually fainted, and was with
some difficulty conveyed into the air. Such was the confusion occasioned
in the ball at Southampton, by the election of Damon.
Affairs being now somewhat adjusted, the dances began. Damon at every
interval addressed himself to his lovely partner in the easiest and most
elegant conversation. He talked with fluency, and his air and manner gave
a grace and dignity to the most trifling topics. The heart of Delia,
acknowledged the charms of youthful beauty and graceful deportment, and
secretly confessed that it had never before encountered so formidable an
enemy.
When the usual topics of conversation had been exhausted, the behaviour of
Damon became insensibly more particular, he pressed her hand with the most
melting ardour, and a sigh ever and anon escaped from his breast. He paid
her several very elegant compliments, though they were all of them
confined within the limits of decorum. Delia, on the other hand, though
she apparently received them with the most gay indifference, in reality
drank deep of the poison of love, and the words of Damon made an
impression upon her heart, that was not easily to be erased.
But however delicious was the scene in which they were engaged, it
necessarily drew to a conclusion. The drowsy clocks now announced the hour
of three in the morning. The dances broke up, and the company separated.
Delia leaped into the chariot that was waiting, and quickly arrived at the
parental mansion. Fatigued with the various objects that had passed before
her, she immediately retired to rest. For some time however a busy train
of thoughts detained her from the empire of sleep. "How lovely a stranger!
How elegant his manners, and how brilliant his wit! How soft and engaging
the whole of his behaviour! But ah! was this the fruit of reverence and
admiration? Might it not be no more than general gallantry? Oh that I were
mistress of his heart! That he would lay his person at my feet! What a
contrast between him and my former admirers! How doubly hateful does lord
Martin, the lover favoured by my father now appear! But ah! who is this
Damon? What is his fortune, and what his pretensions? His dress surely
bespoke him a man of rank. His elegant manners could have been learned in
no vulgar circle. How sweet, methinks is suspence! How delightful the
uncertainty that hangs about him! And yet, how glad should I be to have my
doubts resolved."
Soothed with these and similar reflections, the lovely maid fell asleep.
But even in sleep she did not forget the impressions she had received. She
imagined that Damon now approached her pillow. But how unlike the Damon
she had seen! His eyes had something in them superior to a mortal. His
shoulders were adorned with wings, and a vest of celestial azure flowed
around him. He smiled upon her with the most bewitching grace. But the
gentle maid involuntarily stretched out her arms towards him, and the
pleasing vision vanished from her sight.
Again she closed her eyes, and again she endeavoured to regain her former
object. Damon indeed appeared, but in how different a manner! his
countenance was impressed with every mark of horror, and he seemed to fly
before some who inveterately pursued him. They appeared with the
countenances of furies, and the snakes hissed around their temples. Delia
looked earnestly upon them, and presently recollected the features of the
admirers we have already celebrated. The noble peer under the figure of
Tisiphone, led the troop. Damon stumbled and fell. Sudden as lightning
Tisiphone reached the spot, and plunged a dagger in his heart. She drew it
forth reeking with blood, and the lovely youth appeared in the agonies of
death. Terrified beyond measure, Delia screamed with horror and awoke.
In the midst of reveries like these, now agitated with apprehension, and
now soothed with pleasure, Delia passed the night. The sun appeared, her
gold repeater informed her that it was twelve, and, assisted by the fair
hands of Mrs. Bridget, she began to rise.