The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-12-29

am EngIishman. He is himself one OF
the nOblest looking of Gods creatures.
Both father and mother, however, are
now dead; since then, he has hecOlne
the favOrite of his uncle, who detained
him in England after the Emperor had
departed as this uncle Is now In
the last stage of infirmity, Mr.. Wyud-
ham's succession to the vast family es-
tatps is inevitable, and probably near
at hand. Meantime, he is anxious for
some assistance in his studies. Incl
lectually he stands i'll the very hrsJ
rank of men, rs | am sure you Will not
be slow to discover; but his long mill
tary service. and the unparalled tumult
of our European history since 800,
have interferrd (as you may suppose
with the cultivation OF his MIND; Tor ne
entered the cavalry service OF a Geflnan
power when a mere boy, and SHIFTED
about from service to service as tue
hurricane of war blew from this point
or from that. During the French anab-
asis to Moscow he entered our service,
made himself prOdigiOuS fayOrlle with
the whole Imperial family, and even
now is only in his twenty-secOnd year.
His accomplishments Will speak for
themselves; they are infinite, and appll-
cable to every situation of life. Greek
is what he wants from you; never ask
about terms. He will acknowledge
any trouble he may give you, as he ac-
knOwledges all trouble, en- prince. And
ten years hence you Will look back Wllh
pride upon having. contributed your
part to the formation of one whom
all here at ST. Petersburg, not soldiers
only. but we diplOmates, look upon a.
certain to prove a great man, ANA
a leader amongst the intellectS OF Chris
tendOm."
Two or three other letters followed;
and at length it was arranged that Mr..
Macmillan Wyndham should take up
his residence at my mOnastlc abode for
one year. He was to keep table. aud
an establishment of servants, at his
own cost was to have an apartment suite
of a dozen or so of rooms; the unre-
stricted use of the library; with some
other public privileges willingly con-
ceded by the magistracy of the town:
in return for all which he was to pay
me a thousand guineas: and already
beforehand, by way of acknowledge
ment for the public ciyilities of the
town, he sent, through my hands, con-
tributiOn of three hundred guineaS to
the various local institutions for edu-
cation Of the poor, or for charity.
The Russian Secretary had latterly
cOrrespOnded with me from a little
German town not more than ninety
miles distant: and. as he had special
cOuriers at his service, the negotiation
advanced so rapidly, that all was closed
before the end of September. And,
when once that cOnsummatiOn was at
tained, |, that previously had breathed
no syllable of what was stirring, now
gave a loose to the interesting tidings,
and suffered them to spread through the
whole compass of the town. III Will be
easily imagined that such story,
already romantic enough i'll its first
outline, would lose nothing in the tell
ing. An Englishman to begin with,
which name of itself, and at all times,
is a passport into German favor, but
much more since the late memorable
wars that, but for Englishmen, would
have dropped into disconnected efforts
next, an Englishman of rank and of
the haute nOblesse, then a soldier COW
cred with brilliant distinctions, and in
the most brilliant arm of the service;
young, moreover, and yet veteran by
his experience. fresh from the most
awful battle of this planet since the
day Of Pharsalia, a,-radiant with the
favor of courts and of Imperial ladies'
finally (Which alone would have given
him an interest in all female hearts),
an AntinOus of faultless beauty, Gre
Cldll oUdluts d6 IL WCits illNO NlllOll IlLG
breath of life had been breathed by some
modern PygmaliOn,- such a pOmp of
gifts and endOwments settling upon
one mans head, should not have re-
Quired for its effect the vulgar cOnsum-
nation (and yet to many it was the con-
summation and crest of the whole that
he was Teputed to be rich beyond the
dreams of romance or the necessities of
a fairy tale. Unparalleled was the i'm
preston made upon our stagnant Soc
ETY.; every tongue was busy in discuss-
ing the marvellous young Englishman
from morning till night; every female
fancy was busy in depicting the per-
SOnal appearance of this gay apparitiOn.
On his arrival at my house, became
sensible of a truth which | had OBJ
served some years before. The com
mOnplace maxim iS-that it is danger
GUS to raise expectations too high. This,
which is thus generally expressed. and
without limitations, is true only cOndi-
tiOnally; it is true then and there only
where there is but little merit to sus-
tain and justify the expectation. But
in any case where the merit is tran
scendant of it's kind, it is always useful
to rack the expectation up to the
highest point; in anything which par
takes of the infinite, the most unlimit-
ed expectations will find ample room
for qualification; whilst it is certain
that ordinary observers, possessing lit
tie sensibility, unless where they have
been warned to expect, will often fail
to see what exists in the most cOnspic-
uOus splendOT. In this instance it GER
tainly did no harm to the subject of ex-
pectatiOn, that l had been warned to
look for so much. The warning, at any
rate, put me on the lookout for what
ever eminence there might be of gran
deur in his personal appearance; whilst,
on the other hand, this existed in such
excess, so far transcending anything L
had ever met with in my experience,
that no expectation which it is in
words to raise could have been disap-
pointed
These thoughts Travelled with the ra-
pidity of light through my brain as at
one glance my eye took in the suprem-
acy OF beauty and power which seemed
to have alighted from the clouds before
me. Power, and the contemplation of
power, in any absolute incarnation of
grandeur or excess, necessarily have
the instantaneous effect of quelling all
perturbation. My cOmpOsure was re-
stored in a moment. | looked steadily
at him. We both bowed. And, at the
moment when he raised his head from
that inclination, / caught the glance OF
his eye; an eye such as might have
been looked for in face of such noble