BOOK VII.


CHAPTER I.

VIGNETTES FOR THE NEXT BOOK OF BEAUTY.

"I quite agree with you, Alban; Honoria Vipont is a very superior young
lady."

"I knew you would think so!" cried the Colonel, with more warmth than
usual to him.

"Many years since," resumed Darrell, with reflective air, "I read Miss
Edgeworth's novels; and in conversing with Miss Honoria Vipont, methinks
I confer with one of Miss Edgeworth's heroines--so rational, so prudent,
so well-behaved--so free from silly romantic notions--so replete with
solid information, moral philosophy and natural history--so sure to
regulate her watch and her heart to the precise moment, for the one to
strike, and the other to throb--and to marry at last a respectable steady
husband, whom she will win with dignity, and would lose with decorum! A
very superior girl indeed."

["Darrell speaks--not the author. Darrell is unjust to the more
exquisite female characters of a Novelist, admirable for strength of
sense, correctness of delineation, terseness of narrative, and
lucidity of style-nor less admirable for the unexaggerated nobleness
of sentiment by which some of her heroines are notably
distinguished.]