Vanity Fair - Page 495/573

Example: The selfishness of Achilles, as remarked by the poet Homer,

occasioned a thousand woes to the Greeks--muri Achaiois alge

etheke--(Hom. Il. A. 2). The selfishness of the late Napoleon Bonaparte

occasioned innumerable wars in Europe and caused him to perish,

himself, in a miserable island--that of Saint Helena in the Atlantic

Ocean.

We see by these examples that we are not to consult our own interest

and ambition, but that we are to consider the interests of others as

well as our own.

George S. Osborne Athene House, 24 April, 1827 "Think of him writing such a hand, and quoting Greek too, at his age,"

the delighted mother said. "Oh, William," she added, holding out her

hand to the Major, "what a treasure Heaven has given me in that boy!

He is the comfort of my life--and he is the image of--of him that's

gone!"

"Ought I to be angry with her for being faithful to him?" William

thought. "Ought I to be jealous of my friend in the grave, or hurt

that such a heart as Amelia's can love only once and for ever? Oh,

George, George, how little you knew the prize you had, though." This

sentiment passed rapidly through William's mind as he was holding

Amelia's hand, whilst the handkerchief was veiling her eyes.

"Dear friend," she said, pressing the hand which held hers, "how good,

how kind you always have been to me! See! Papa is stirring. You will

go and see Georgy tomorrow, won't you?"

"Not to-morrow," said poor old Dobbin. "I have business." He did not

like to own that he had not as yet been to his parents' and his dear

sister Anne--a remissness for which I am sure every well-regulated

person will blame the Major. And presently he took his leave, leaving

his address behind him for Jos, against the latter's arrival. And so

the first day was over, and he had seen her.

When he got back to the Slaughters', the roast fowl was of course cold,

in which condition he ate it for supper. And knowing what early hours

his family kept, and that it would be needless to disturb their

slumbers at so late an hour, it is on record, that Major Dobbin treated

himself to half-price at the Haymarket Theatre that evening, where let

us hope he enjoyed himself.