and
some of them men of piety.

My mother, when she was in tolerable spirits, was now frequently
describing the kind of woman whom she wished me to marry. "I am so
firmly persuaded, Charles," would she kindly say, "of the justness of
your taste, and the rectitude of your principles, that I am not much
afraid of your being misled by the captivating exterior of any woman who
is greatly deficient either in sense or conduct; but remember, my son,
that there are many women against whose characters there lies nothing
very objectionable, who are yet little calculated to taste or to
communicate rational happiness. Do not indulge romantic ideas, of
super-human excellence. Remember that the fairest creature is a fallen
creature. Yet let not your standard be low. If it be absurd to expect
perfection, it is not unreasonable to expect _consistency_. Do not
suffer yourself to be caught by a shining quality, till you know it is
not counteracted by the opposite defect. Be not taken in by strictness
in one point, till you are assured there is no laxity in others. In
character, as in architecture, proportion is beauty. The education of
the present race of females is not very favorable to domestic happiness.
For my own part I call education, not that which smothers a woman with
accomplishments, but that which tends to consolidate a firm and regular
system of character; that which tends to form a friend, a companion, and
a wife. I call education not that which is made up of the shreds and
patches of useless arts, but that which inculcates principles, polishes
taste, regulates temper, cultivates reason, subdues the passions,
directs the feelings, habituates to reflection, trains to self-denial,
and, more especially, that which refers all actions, feelings,
sentiments, tastes, and passions, to the love and fear of God."

I had yet had little opportunity of contrasting the charms of my native
place with the less wild and romantic beauties of the south. I was
passionately fond of the scenery that surrounded me, which had never yet
lost that power of pleasing which it is commonly imagined that novelty
can alone confer.

The priory, a handsome Gothic mansion, stands in the middle of a park,
not extensive, but beautifully varied. Behind are lofty mountains, the
feet of which are covered with wood that descends almost to the house.
On one side a narrow cultivated valley winds among the mountains; the
bright variegated tints of its meadows and