Euphemia blushed at this reproof, more than at her conduct; and Miss Dundas added to her confusion, by giving her a second reprimand. Thaddeus, who pitied the evident embarrassment of the little beauty, to relieve her, presented to her the page in the German grammar with which they were to begin. This had the desired effect, and for an hour and a half they prosecuted their studies with close attention.

Whilst the count continued his directions to her sister, and then turned his address to herself, Miss Euphemia, wholly unseen by him, with a bent head, was affecting to hear him, though at the same time she looked obliquely through her thick flaxen ringlets; and gazing with wonder and admiration on his face, as it inclined towards her, said to herself, " If: this man were a gentleman, I should think him the most charming creature in the world."

"Will your task be too long, madam ?” enquired

enquired Thaddeus, "will it give you any inconvenience to remember?"

"To remember what?" asked she, for in truth she had neither seen what he had been pointing at, nor heard what he had been saying.

"The lesson, madam, that I have just been proposing."

"Shew it to me again, and then I shall be a better judge."

He did as he was desired; and was taking his leave, when she called after him,

Pray, Mr. Constantine, come to-morrow at two. I want you particularly." The count bowed and withdrew.

"And what do you want with him to morrow, child?" asked Miss Dundas, you are not accustomed to be so fond of improvement."

Euphemia knew very well what she was accustomed to be fond of; but not chusing to let her austere sister into her predilection for the contemplation of superior beauty,

beauty, she merely answered, "You know, Diana, that you often reproach me for my absurd devotion to novel reading, and my repugnance to graver books; now I want at once to be like you, a woman of great erudition; and, for that purpose, I will study day and night at the German, till I can read all the philosophers, and be a fit companion for my sister."

This speech from Euphemia, (who had always been so declared an enemy to pedantry, as to affirm, that she learnt German, merely, because it was the fashion,) would have awakened Miss Dundas to some suspicion of a covert design, had she not been in the habit of taking down such large draughts of adulation, that where herself was the subject of encomium, she gave it full confidence. Euphemia, who seldom administered these doses, but to serve particular views, seeing, in the present case, that a little flattery was necessary, felt no compunction in sacrificing sincerity to the gratification of her caprice.

Weak

Weak of understanding, she had fed on works of imagination, until her mind loathed all other kind of food. Not content with devouring the elegant pages of Mackenzie, West, and De Genlis, she flew with voracious appetite, to sate herself on the "garbage" of any circulating library that fell in her way.

The effects of such a taste, were soon exhibited in her manners. Being very pretty, she became very sentimental. She dressed like a wood nymph; and talked, as if her soul were made up of love and sorrow: though neither of these emotions she knew by experience, nevertheless, she was ever the victim of some ill-fated passion; at least she fancied herself, at different periods, in love with all the fine men about town.

By this management, she kept faithful to her favourite principle, that " love was a want of her soul!" As it was the rule of her life, it ever trembled on her tongue; ever introduced the confession of any new

attach

attachment, which usually happened three times a year, to her dear friend, Miss Arabella Rothes. Fortunately for the longevity of their mutual friendship, owing to the compulsion of an old uncle, this young lady lived in an ancient house, forty miles to the north of London. This latter circumstance proved a pretty distress for their pens to descant on, and Arabella remain-ed a most charming sentimental writing stock, to receive the catalogue of Miss Euphemia's lovers; indeed, that gentle creature might have matched every lady in Cowley's calendar with a gentleman: Every throb of her heart could have acknowledged a different master. First, the fashionable sloven, Augustus Somers, lounged and sauntered himself into her good graces: but his dishevelled hair, soiled linen, and dirty great coat, not exactly meeting her ideas of an elegant lover, she gave him up at the end of three wecks. The next object her eyes fell upon, as most opposite to her former fancy, was

the