in humble and active life, would necessarily be humble and
active herself. _Her_ reason for accepting _him_ was because she
thought that as every clergyman was a _gentleman_, she of course, as his
wife, should be a _gentlewoman_, and fit company for any body.

"'He instructs my parish admirably,' said Dr. Barlow, 'but his own
little family he can not manage. His wife is continually reproaching
him, that though he may know the way to heaven, he does not know how to
push his way in the world. His daughter is the finest lady in the
parish, and outdoes them all, not only in the extremity, but the
immodesty of the fashion. It is her mother's great ambition that she
should excel the Miss Stanleys and my daughters in music, while her good
father's linen betrays sad marks of negligence. I once ventured to tell
Mrs. Jackson that there was only one reason which could excuse the
education she had given her daughter, which was that I presumed she
intended to qualify her for getting her bread; and that if she would
correct the improprieties of the girl's dress, and get her instructed in
useful knowledge, I would look out for a good situation for her. This
roused her indignation. She refused my offer with scorn, saying, that
when she asked my charity, she would take my advice; and desired that I
would remember that one clergyman's daughter was as good as another. I
told her that there was indeed a sense in which one clergyman was as
good as another, because the profession dignified the lowest of the
order, if, like her husband, he was a credit to that order. Yet still
there were gradations in the church as well as in the state. But between
the _wives_ and _daughters_ of the higher and lower clergy, there were
the same distinction which riches and poverty have established between
those of the higher and lower orders of the laity; and that rank and
independence in the one case, confer the same outward superiority with
rank and independence in the other."

CHAPTER XVI.

Among the visitors at Stanley Grove, there was a family of ladies, who,
though not particularly brilliant, were singularly engaging from their
modesty, gentleness, and good sense. One day when they had just left us,
Mr. Stanley obliged me with the following little relation: Mrs. Stanley
and Lucilla only being present.

"Lady Aston has been a widow almost seven years. On the death of Sir
George, she retired into this neighborhood with her daughters, the
eldest