the vigorous mind of Mr Monckton had not yet suffered him to
experience; his time, therefore, was either devoted to the expensive
amusements of the metropolis, or spent in the country among the
gayest of its diversions.

The little knowledge of fashionable manners and of the characters of
the times of which Cecilia was yet mistress, she had gathered at the
house of this gentleman, with whom the Dean her uncle had been
intimately connected: for as he preserved to the world the same
appearance of decency he supported to his wife, he was everywhere
well received, and being but partially known, was extremely
respected: the world, with its wonted facility, repaying his
circumspect attention to its laws, by silencing the voice of
censure, guarding his character from impeachment, and his name from
reproach.

Cecilia had been known to him half her life; she had been caressed
in his house as a beautiful child, and her presence was now
solicited there as an amiable acquaintance. Her visits, indeed, had
by no means been frequent, as the ill-humour of Lady Margaret
Monckton had rendered them painful to her; yet the opportunities
they had afforded her of mixing with people of fashion, had served
to prepare her for the new scenes in which she was soon to be a
performer.

Mr Monckton, in return, had always been a welcome guest at the
Deanery; his conversation was to Cecilia a never-failing source of
information, as his knowledge of life and manners enabled him to
start those subjects of which she was most ignorant; and her mind,
copious for the admission and intelligent for the arrangement of