mposing,
showy girl, of some considerable talent, and she had been assiduously
trained to make a sensation as a woman of ability and intellect. Her
mind had been filled with information on all sorts of subjects, much
faster than she had power to digest or employ it; and the standard which
her ambitious mother had set for her being rather above the range of her
abilities, there was a constant sensation of effort in her keeping up to
it. In hearing her talk you were constantly reminded, "I am a woman of
intellect--I am entirely above the ordinary level of woman;" and on all
subjects she was so anxiously and laboriously, well and
circumstantially, informed, that it was enough to make one's head ache
to hear her talk.

Isabella, the second daughter, was, _par excellence_, a beauty--a tall,
sparkling, Cleopatra-looking girl, whose rich color, dazzling eyes, and
superb figure might have bid defiance to art to furnish an extra charm;
nevertheless, each grace had been as indefatigably drilled and
manoeuvred as the members of an artillery company. Eyes, lips,
eyelashes, all had their lesson; and every motion of her sculptured
limbs, every intonation of her silvery voice, had been studied,
considered, and corrected, till even her fastidious mother could discern
nothing that was wanting. Then were added all the graces of _belles
lettres_--all the approved rules of being delighted with music,
painting, and poetry--and last of all came the tour of the continent;
travelling being generally considered a sort of pumice stone, for
rubbing down the varnish, and giving the very last touch to character.

During the time that all this was going on, Miss Fanny, whom we now
declare our heroine, had been growing up in the quietude of her mother's
country seat, and growing, as girls are apt to, much faster than her
mother imagined. She was a fair, slender girl, with a purity and
simplicity of appearance, which, if it be not in itself beauty, had all
the best effect of beauty, in interesting and engaging the heart.

She looked not so much beautiful as lovable. Her character was in
precise correspondence with her appearance; its first and chief element
was feeling; and to this add fancy, fervor, taste, enthusiasm almost up
to the point of genius, and just common sense enough to keep them all in
order, and you will have a very good idea of the mind of Fanny Grey.

Delightfully passed the days with Fanny during the absence of her
mother, while,