match-making aunt.--Yet Belinda was fond of amusement, and had imbibed
some of Mrs. Stanhope's prejudices in favour of rank and fashion. Her
taste for literature declined in proportion to her intercourse with the
fashionable world, as she did not in this society perceive the least use
in the knowledge that she had acquired. Her mind had never been roused to
much reflection; she had in general acted but as a puppet in the hands of
others. To her aunt Stanhope she had hitherto paid unlimited, habitual,
blind obedience; but she was more undesigning, and more free from
affectation and coquetry, than could have been expected, after the course
of documenting which she had gone through. She was charmed with the idea
of a visit to Lady Delacour, whom she thought the most agreeable--no, that
is too feeble an expression--the most fascinating person she had ever
beheld. Such was the light in which her ladyship appeared, not only to
Belinda, but to all the world--that is to say, all the world of fashion,
and she knew of no other.--The newspapers were full of Lady Delacour's
parties, and Lady Delacour's dresses, and Lady Delacour's _bon mots_:
every thing that her ladyship said was repeated as witty; every thing that
her ladyship wore was imitated as fashionable. Female wit sometimes
depends on the beauty of its possessor for its reputation; and the reign
of beauty is proverbially short, and fashion often capriciously deserts
her favourites, even before nature withers their charms. Lady Delacour
seemed to be a fortunate exception to these general rules: long after she
had lost the bloom of youth, she continued to be admired as a fashionable
_bel esprit_; and long after she had ceased to be a novelty in society,
her company was courted by all the gay, the witty, and the gallant. To be
seen in public with Lady Delacour, to be a visitor at her house, were
privileges of which numbers were vehemently ambitious; and Belinda Portman
was congratulated and envied by all her acquaintance, for being admitted
as an inmate. How could she avoid thinking herself singularly fortunate?