She had pointed out Morgan as an enemy whom she dreaded.
Sedley recollected the civilities he had received from him, and blamed
himself for having been remiss in endeavouring to conciliate a man, who
had power over the fortunes of his best beloved. He considered
therefore, that it was a duty he owed to Isabel to call on Morgan, and
try to discover if he had laid any hostile schemes against the
Beaumonts.
Though Morgan affected to be made of the most stern republican
materials, a visit from a nobleman, and an ostensible favourite of
Cromwell's, was a high gratification. He received his guest with
boisterous hospitality, and without any regard to his diminished
strength, dragged him over his demesne, and shewed him all its beauties.
It was, he said, a mere dog-hole, when he bought it for a song; his
ponds, now well stocked with carp, were originally tan-pits; his garden
was a slate-quarry; the phillireas now clipped into well-proportioned
dragons, grew just as nature shaped them; and the hall he had neatly
plaistered and white-washed was then disfigured with painted saints, and
carved tracery.
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