His Lordship was a man of uncommon ability and intense energy when his mind was drawn to an interesting topic, regrettably united with an habitual lethargy of temperament that limited his achievement and advancement in the world. His sole passion was rocks, or, more precisely, the study of the various minerals and examples of stones as were to be found throughout the Kingdom and the world; his energies as a child—and now as a man—were in pursuit of new specimens for his collection and any new-written book upon the science. With the exceptions of family suppers and the occasional claims of the neighbourhood which his mother—in her natural occupation as teacher of those gentle accomplishments which mark good-breeding—would insist upon his attending with her, his cabinet had always been the first occupation of his morning and his principal companion throughout the day. His business at-home was comprised in writing to his brother collectors, enquiring, buying, and comparing; his pleasures in town encompassed the various societies of scientifical gentlemen, and his custom to one particular merchant who dealt in specimens of the highest quality.

The Viscount was a curious admixture of parts. His father had, without success, long wearied of trying to interest his son in the usual pursuits of a gentleman: hunting, fishing, and attending to the plantations and farms which comprised the family estates. Whilst it is not to be imagined that His Lordship actually wished for the more typical anxieties of a parent—gaming, duels, drunkenness, and the other regular pastimes of the sons of the neighbouring gentry—his inability to understand the occupation which so wholly engrossed his only son was a source of daily disappointment. His wife’s chief occupations were to soften the displeasure of the father, and, if unwilling to steer her son into more manly employments, to ensure that his conversation was pleasing, his cloathing presentable, and his manners unexceptional, so as to render him fit for the society of gentlemen and, more particularly, gentle ladies.

His Countess, actuated as she was by love and not disgust, was also more likely to see success. She had an additional advantage: the neighbourhood was sufficiently generous as to encompass several families of quality, some with eligible daughters. Her son was found to be generally agreeable to all the neighbourhood, regardless of sex; however, it was not within the power of the most discerning observer to impute his partiality to any one of its daughters, owing simply to their being none. Her Ladyship at length grew discouraged in the pursuit and spoke to her husband:

“My Lord,” she began one evening as they were sitting at the supper table, their son having already removed to his study.

“Yes, my love?”

“We have been to the Duttons’ this day.” “Yes, and they are well?”

“Quite,” replied his wife, “but our visit was for naught, I fear.”

“Oh?” her husband enquired, catching instantly her meaning.