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  THE

  Weird of the Wentworths;

  A TALE OF GEORGE IV.'S TIME.


  BY
  JOHANNES SCOTUS.


    All nations have their omens drear.
    Their legends wild of woe and fear.
                              SIR WALTER SCOTT.

  [Illustration: SANS CHANGER]

  IN TWO VOLUMES.--VOL. I.


  LONDON: SAUNDERS, OTLEY, AND CO., 66 BROOK STREET, HANOVER SQUARE 1862.




  LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING
  CROSS.




PREFACE.


The objection may be raised that, as the major part of this Romance
takes place during the Regency, such a title as:--"The Weird of the
Wentworths; _a Tale of George IV.'s Time_,"--is inappropriate. When,
however, it is considered that the Regent was king in all but name, and
the manners, customs, and habits differed little after his accession,
the inadvertency will be explained.

In case of exception being taken to the language and sentiments of some
characters introduced into the tale, the Author thinks it sufficient to
say _he utterly repudiates them_! Oaths and ribaldry are, unfortunately,
the concomitants of a depraved mind; and, in delineating faithfully the
darker side of human nature, the Author felt himself compelled to sketch
much that has passed under his own observation, and much that he has
gleaned from the treatment of such characters by many distinguished
novelists, not omitting our northern luminary, Sir Walter Scott.

The moral of the Romance being the triumph of virtue over vice, and
truth over falsehood, he trusts that those fair readers, who may
indulge his work with a perusal, will avoid the dark, and embrace the
bright traits of the other sex; and, marking the gradual development of
rectitude in the character of his heroine, magnify their own by adhering
fixedly to the path of duty and moral conduct, amid all temptations to
swerve from it.

The Author trusts that those noble families, whose names he has chosen
as his _beaux ideals_, will kindly dismiss all personal associations
from their minds, and simply give to the synonyms (which his not
unpardonable preference led him to select) that weight which will ever
attach itself in the eyes of the world, to the great, when also good.

There is one more point which may give rise to discussion--the rapid and
violent deaths occurring in _one_ family. The WEIRD, which, though kept
in the background, is the mainspring of the tale, might explain this;
but that such catastrophes are not beyond the region of possibility, the
Author begs to remind his readers that in more than one family of rank,
whose names both his sympathy and delicacy forbid any allusion to, such
misfortunes and fates have actually happened.

Some of the death-scenes, and very many of the traditions and incidents
embodied in the work, are taken from real life, which often far
surpasses fiction.

_Portobello, near_ EDINBURGH.

    _June 19th, 1862._




THE WEIRD OF THE WENTWORTHS;

A TALE OF GEORGE IV.'s TIME.




CHAPTER I.

    "And a magic voice and verse
    Hath baptized thee with a curse."--_Manfred._


The extent of parents' influence on their offspring has long been a
matter of dispute; yet the fact remains incontestable that children _do_
suffer for their parents' faults, that the sins of the father _are_
visited not only to the third and fourth generation, but often to a
distance that can scarcely be conceived. The leprosy of Naaman cleaved
to Gehazi's seed _for ever_, and it is said many of these unhappy
sufferers still trace their misery to their ancestor's mendacity. We
read in Grecian history how Myrtilus, as he sank, cursed the faithless
Pelops and his race for ever; and we see its dire effects in the
misfortunes of Agamemnon and Iphigenia:--

    "Atoning for her father's sin,
    A joyless sacrifice."

We might cite the