They
were inseparable companions. Independently of the natural sympathy
between two highly imaginative minds, there were in the superior
experience, the noble character, the vast knowledge, and refined taste
of Herbert, charms of which Cadurcis was very susceptible Cadurcis had
not been a great reader himself, and he liked the company of one whose
mind was at once so richly cultured and so deeply meditative: thus he
obtained matter and spirit distilled through the alembic of another's
brain. Jealousy had never had a place in Herbert's temperament; now he
was insensible even to emulation. He spoke of Cadurcis as he thought,
with the highest admiration; as one without a rival, and in whose
power it was to obtain an imperishable fame. It was his liveliest
pleasure to assist the full development of such an intellect, and to
pour to him, with a lavish hand, all the treasures of his taste, his
learning, his fancy, and his meditation. His kind heart, his winning
manners, his subdued and perfect temper, and the remembrance of the
relation which he bore to Venetia, completed the spell which bound
Cadurcis to him with all the finest feelings of his nature. It was,
indeed, an intercourse peculiarly beneficial to Cadurcis, whose career
had hitherto tended rather to the development of the power, than the
refinement of his genius; and to whom an active communion with an
equal spirit of a more matured intelligence was an incident rather to
be desired than expected.
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