Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin — Read

. She sat, and thought / Of what a sailor suffers. / - Cowper

The intelligence that was the cause of old Sir Roger's death, who might be said to be conducted from this world to the next by a blessed euthanasia (a kind of passing with a light and lofty step from a narrow entry to a spacious and glorious apartment, without ever feeling he trod the dark and rugged threshold that lies between), was the signal and pledge to this ancient family of the restitution of their faded honours, and fast-declining possessions. Grants, reversals of fines, restoration of land and chattels, and offers of pensions, and provisions, and remunerations, and all that royal gratitude, in the effervescence of its enthusiasm, could bestow, came showering on the Mortimer family, as fast and faster than fines, confiscations, and sequestrations, had poured on them in the reign of the usurper. In fact, the language of King Charles to the Mortimers was like that of the Eastern monarchs to their favourites -- "Ask what thou wilt, and it shall be granted to thee, even to the half of my kingdom. " The Mortimers asked only for their own -- and being thus more reasonable, both in their expectations and demands, than most other applicants at that period, they succeeded in obtaining what they required.