invite her to spend the winter with her in London. Soon after her arrival
in town, Belinda received the following letter from her aunt Stanhope.

"Crescent, Bath.

"After searching every place I could think of, Anne found your bracelet in
your dressing-table, amongst a heap of odd things, which you left behind
you to be thrown away: I have sent it to you by a young gentleman, who
came to Bath (unluckily) the very day you left me--Mr. Clarence Hervey--an
acquaintance, and great admirer of my Lady Delacour. He is really an
uncommonly pleasant young man, is highly connected, and has a fine
independent fortune. Besides, he is a man of wit and gallantry, quite a
connoisseur in female grace and beauty--just the man to bring a new face
into fashion: so, my dear Belinda, I make it a point--look well when he is
introduced to you, and remember, what I have so often told you, that
nobody _can_ look well without taking some pains to please.

"I see--or at least when I went out more than my health will at present
permit--I used to see multitudes of silly girls, seemingly all cut out
upon the same pattern, who frequented public places day after day, and
year after year, without any idea farther than that of diverting
themselves, or of obtaining transient admiration. How I have pitied and
despised the giddy creatures, whilst I have observed them playing off
their unmeaning airs, vying with one another in the most _obvious_, and
consequently the most ridiculous manner, so as to expose themselves before
the very men they would attract: chattering, tittering, and flirting; full
of the present moment, never reflecting upon the future; quite satisfied
if they got a partner at a hall, without ever thinking of a partner for
life! I have often asked myself, what is to become of such girls when they
grow old or ugly, or when the public eye grows tired of them? If they have