sentation of the civilities she had received from them at Hastings; as also, perhaps, a little influenced by the impression her indulgent parents had, by some means, acquired, that young Barton was not absolutely disagreeable to Fanny; and as the first wish of their hearts was to see her happily and worthily married, they were anxious to become better acquainted with one to whom they saw no reasonable objection.

Mrs. Temple had pronounced it utterly impossible to cultivate the intimacy of persons committing the atrocity of dining at three o'clock. The good-natured Mrs. Stapleton was, happily, less refined; and having ascertained the early habits of the elder Barton to be almost essential to his comfort, she ordered, for the unheard-of hour of four, the dinner they otherwise took at the equally unfashionable one of five; and the drysalter being somewhat flattered by this compromise, with avidity accepted her summons, and determined to play his "very most agreeable."

How the dinner went off, and to what other engagements it led, must be left either to the imagination of the reader, or to some future chapter. At present, affairs recall us to Montague Place.

CHAPTER XIII.

The Cousins Pearson.

"I HAVE been thinking, James," said Miss Jones to her brother, "we really ought to invite our cousins Pearson-the girls, I mean-to town for a few weeks this winter. They were very kind to you in Swaledale, two years ago, when you went down shooting, you know: I have felt in their debt ever since, I am sure."

"I doubt not you would find them a great bore, Grizzle; recollect, they have never seen any thing like society."

"That I am certain she would," said Miss Julia. "For my part, I think it horrid to have raw cousins to lionize, particularly when, as in this case, they are decidedly worse off than ourselves."

"Well, now, Julia, you surprize me. I know nothing so delightful, as to witness the enjoyment and admiration of strangers in London. The Pearsons have never set foot in it, you know. I declare, I think it would be quite a

treat to shew them every thing, which we could so well do, now that we are quite settled, and the spare bed would do for them both; and hearing all their remarks and delight-I should enjoy it amazingly."

"Remember, my dear Grizzle, their remarks would often be very derogatory to our feelings, and would doubtless be given at dinner, before the man-servant, and all that sort of thing. Besides, you can form no notion of the antediluvian style in which they dress; and, moreover, must expect to be perpetually addressed as cuzzen Grizzle; which, in their horrid dialect, is no joke. I am sure, I never was so tired of any thing in my life, as of my own name cuzzened forth, in the uncouth accents of cousin Nancy, and cousin Betsey Pearson."

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Still, you know, James, we did invite them to return your visit, and I do not see how we can, honourably, avoid pressing the invitation; and their mother, you know, being our mother's sister, makes a difference."

"In what respect, Grizzle?"

"Why, I do not know that one can explain it exactly; but I am sure I feel it; and so, I dare say, does Julia."

"Excuse me, sister, by no means: on this

subject I have but two feelings-those of dissent and assent: the first, most certainly, predominates in a powerful degree.”

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Julia," said James, "is like the little child, who, on being told her grandmother was dead, and asked what she felt in consequence of the communication, very simply inquired, Is it hungry, mamma?' 'No, my dear, not hungry,' returned her mother. Oh, then,' said the little girl, it must be thirsty. Now Julia neither hungers nor thirsts for her cousins Pearson."

"Most assuredly I do not, James; though, perhaps, I do possess more than two feelings: however, if Grizzle and you chose to have them, I suppose I must submit, as usual."

The "must submit," was a case presumptive; the "as usual," a positive invention.

Miss Jones argued that there could be no time more favourable to the purpose than the present, inasmuch as "Thomas, the new man, was very young, had seen but little of the world, and would not, therefore, be qualified to quiz the cousins, as too many footmen might do." Then she really "quite longed to see Yorkshire; and, of course, if they had the Pearsons in Montague Place, they could do no less than give them, in

return, an offer of spending the autumn in Swaledale."

"You little think what Swaledale is, and that they positively dine at twelve o'clock. I suppose my worthy uncle Pearson would raise the whole parish about their ears, if he did not see his dinner on the table within five minutes after twelve."

"How dreadful! What can they possibly do with themselves the rest of the day: they pay their visits after dinner, of course. How very

odd and eat suppers, I should not wonder. Well, I must say, it is beyond me to imagine what we are to do with them!"

"As to visits, Julia, I believe there is not much visiting within their reach. Their nearest neighbours are three miles off, and only approachable during a long fit of dry weather, the cross road between them being unattemptable nine months of the year. They have a chapel within half a mile, to which they, and all within the distance of a walk, flock every evening, and three times on a Sunday. Then between dinner and supper, so called-but, in point of fact, the noontide and eight o'clock meals-they retire now and then to their separate rooms to say a few prayers,' as they express it."