it inflamed his pride almost to madness. Finding she refused to appear, he quitted the house, but not his design. His applications have since been repeated, but though he has met with the firmest repulse, both from the parents and the daughter, he cannot be prevailed upon to relinquish his hope. It is so far a misfortune to us, as Lucilla now, never comes near us, except he is known not to be in the country. Had the objection been to his person or fortune, he says, as it would have been substantial, it might have been insuperable; but where the only ground of difference is mere matter of opinion, he is sure that time and perseverance will conquer such a chimerical objection."

I returned to the Grove, not only cured of every jealous feeling, but transportedwith such a decisive proof of the dignity and purity of Miss Stanley's mind.

MISS

CHAP. XXXII.

ISS SPARKES, a neighbouring lady, whom the reputation of being a wit and an Amazon, had kept single at the age of five and forty, though her person was not disagreeable, and her fortune was considerable, called in one morning while we were at breakfast. She is remarkable for her pretension to odd, and opposite qualities. She is something of a scholar, and a huntress, a politician, and a farrier: She outrides Mr. Flam, and outargues Mr. Tyrrel; excels in driving four in hand, and in canvassing at an election. She is always anxious about the party, but never about the candidate, in whom she requires no other merit but his being in the opposition, which she accepts as a pledge for all other merit. In her adoption of any talent, or her exercise of any quality, it is always

always sufficient recommendation to her that it is not feminine.

From the window we saw her descend from her lofty Phaeton, and when she came in, The cap, the whip, the masculine attire,

the loud voice, the intrepid look, the independent air, the whole deportment indicated a disposition, rather to confer protection than to accept it.

She made an apology for her intrusion, by saying that her visit was rather to the stable than the breakfast-room. One of her horses was a little lame, and she wanted to consult Mr. Stanley's groom, who it seems was her oracle in that science, in which she herself is a professed adept.

During her short visit, she laboured so sedulously, not to diminish by her conversation the character she was so desirous to establish, that her efforts defeated the end they aimed to secure. She was witty with a her might, and her sarcastic turn, for wit it was not, made little amends for her want of simplicity. I perceived that

she

she was fond of the bold, the marvellous and the incredible. She ventured to tell a story or two, so little within the verge of ordinary probability, that she risked her. credit for veracity, without perhaps really violating truth. The credit acquired by such relations seldom pays the relater for the hazard run by the communication.

As we fell into conversation, I observed the peculiarities of her character. She never sees any difficulties in any question. Whatever topic is started, while the rest of the company are hesitating as to the propriety of their determination, she alone is never at a loss. Her answer always follows the proposition, without a moment's interval for examination herself, or for allowing any other person a chance of delivering an opinion.

Mr, Stanley, who always sets an example of strict punctuality to his family, had today come in to perform his family devotions somewhat later than usual. I could perceive that he had been a little moved.

His countenance wanted something of its placid serenity, though it seemed to be a seriousness untinctured with anger. He confessed while we were at breakfast, that he had been spending above an hour, in bringing one of his younger children to a sense of a fault she had committed. "She has not," said he, " told an absolute falsehood, but in what she said there was prevarication, there was pride, there was passion. Her perverseness has at length given way. Tears of resentment are

changed into tears of contrition. But she is not to appear in the drawing-room to-day. She is to be deprived of the honour of carrying food to the poor in the evening. Nor is she to furnish her contingent of nosegays to Rachel's basket. This mode of punishment we prefer to that of curtailing any personal indulgences; the importance we should assign to the privation, would be setting too much value on the enjoyment."

"You should be careful, Mr. Stanley," said Miss Sparkes, not to break the

child's