THE BROTHERS; OR, THE CASTLE OF NIOLO. CHAPTER I. Prepare to hear A story, that shall turn thee into stone; IT is a tale of the times of old !-Death has long since had its victims, and corruption its tributethe deeds of the virtuous are numbered-the acts of the criminal stand in record against him; -When the dreaded book is opened-well for the former!-Woe to the latter! On the eastern shore of the Lake of Geneva, stood in proud but decaying magnificence the VOL. 1, No. 1. Castle of Niolo. It stood in gloomy grandeur frowning on the scene around it. The upper branches of the oaks which surrounded it, declared their third century was come, for seldom the axe had been heard in the woods, and seldom were the forests stripped to satisfy the extravagance of a spendthrift heir. During a long course of generations, it had been the abode of the powerful family of the Lindamores, and since their accession to the estates, it had been their pride and boast, that they had descended from heir to heir uninjured and unincumbered. The present proprietor, Count Frederic Lindamore, was far advanced in years, and of the most sober and retired pursuits. He had been a widower from an early age, and the loss of the woman whom he loved, rendered the solitude in which he lived doubly dear to him. He was the father of two sons, Frederic and Leopold, and it was his hope, that they would be the support of his declining age, and smooth his passage to another world. As, however, they advanced towards manhood, that hope by degrees was blighted. The vicious and untractable dispositions of Leopold manifested themselves at an early age, and parental controul appeared to him an usurpation of power not to be endured. The temper of the two brothers was most opposite that of Frederic was mild, peaceable, and conciliating-whilst on the other hand, that of Leopold was stubborn, boisterous, and pas sionate; the former founded his delight in the exercise of his charitable and benevolent dispositions; it was his greatest pleasure to relieve the needy; the wanderer never went unrefreshed from the Castle, nor the mendicant without support. He was not merely the passive benefactor, but he sought for objects whose hearts were oppressed with grief, or who were bending beneath the weight of accumulated affliction. He knew and practised the delicate mode of alleviating the burthen, without inflicting a wound on the sensitive mind, and thus the obligation appeared to rest upon the giver, not upon the receiver. On the other hand, Leopold dissipated his youth in every species of of debauchery; there was no vice in which he had not waded deep-there was no crime, with which his soul was not acquainted. When a stripling, he was placed by his father in the service of the Prince of Ysenburg, from which however he was soon expelled, on account of the gross irregularity of his conduct, and the dangerous example which he exhibited to his youug associates. He then passed over into Italy, and aided by the pecuniary supplies which were remitted to him by his too indulgent parent, he launched forth into all the profligacies of that luxurious country. His nights were passed at the gaming table; his days in forming plans for the seduction of female innocence, or in hiring bravoes to dispatch the objects of his resentment. His depraved and turbulent |