a very unlucky case where there is weak judgment, little or no keenness
of observation, a treacherous memory, and a boundless longing for the
good things of life. Of all gifts, imagination, being the greatest, is
least worth having, unless it is well backed either by moral culture or
by other intellectual qualities. It is the crown of all thoughts and
powers; but you cannot wear a crown becomingly if you have no head
(worth mentioning) to put it on.

Miss Laura Melcombe thought most of the young farmers in the
neighbourhood were in love with her. Accordingly, at church or at the
market-town, where she occasionally went on shopping expeditions, she
gave herself such airs as she considered suitable for a lady who must
gently, though graciously, repel all hopeless aspirations. She was one
of those people to whom a compliment is absolute poison. The first man
who casually chanced to say something to her in her early youth, which
announced to her that he thought her lovely, changed her thoughts about
herself for ever after. First, she accepted his compliment as his
sincere and fervent conviction. Secondly, she never doubted that he
expressed his continuous belief, not his feeling of the moment. Thirdly,
she regarded beauty in her case as thenceforward an established fact,
and not this one man's opinion. Fourthly, she spent some restless months
in persuading herself that to admire must needs be to love, and she
longed in vain to see him "come forward." Then some other casual
acquaintance paid her a compliment, and she went through the same
experience on his account, persuading herself that her first admirer
could not afford to marry; and this state of things had now gone on for
several years.