within their
reach.

I naturally inferred, that she who eagerly grasped at every petty
provincial dissipation, would with increased alacrity have plunged into
the more alluring gayeties of the metropolis had it been in her power. I
thought she had even less apology to plead than the town lady; the fault
was equal, while the temptation was less: and she who was as dissipated
as her limited bounds permitted, where there was little to attract,
would, I feared, be as dissipated as she possibly could be, when her
temptations were multiplied, and her facilities increased.

I had met with several young ladies of a higher description, daughters
of our country gentlemen, a class which furnishes a number of valuable
and elegant women. Some of these, whom I knew, seemed unexceptional in
manner and in mind. They had seen something of the world, without having
been spoiled by it; had read with advantage; and acquitted themselves
well in the duties which they had been called to practice. But I was
withheld from cultivating that degree of intimacy which would have
enabled me to take an exact measure of their minds, by the injunction of
my father, that I would never attach myself to any woman till I had seen
and consulted Mr. Stanley. This direction, which, like all his wishes,
was a law to me, operated as a sort of sedative in the slight
intercourse I had with ladies; and resolving to postpone all such
intimacy as might have led to attachment, I did not allow myself to
come near enough to feel with interest, or to judge with decision.

As soon as I got to town I visited some of my father's friends. I was
kindly received for his sake, and at their houses soon enlarged the
sphere of my acquaintance. I was concerned to remark that two or three
gentlemen, whom I had observed to be very regular in their attendance on
public worship in the country, seldom went to church in London; in the
afternoon never. "Religion," they said, by way of apology, "was entirely
a thing of example; it was of great political importance; society was
held together by the restraints it imposed on the lower orders. When
they were in the country it was highly proper that their tenants and
workmen should have the benefit of their example, but in London the case
was different. Where there were so many churches, no one knew whether
you went or not, and where no scandal was given, no harm was done." As
this was a logic which had not found its way into my father's rel