On the
comparative felicity of the town and country life; on the dignity,
utility, elegance, and interesting nature of their different
occupations, and general scheme of passing their time, Mr. Berryl and
Mr. Salisbury had one evening a playful, entertaining, and, perhaps,
instructive conversation; each party, at the end, remaining, as
frequently happens, of their own opinion. It was observed that Miss
Broadhurst ably and warmly defended Mr. Berryl's side of the question;
and in their views, plans, and estimates of life, there appeared a
remarkable, and as Lord Colambre thought, a happy coincidence. When she
was at last called upon to give her decisive judgment between a town and
a country life, she declared that 'if she were condemned to the extremes
of either, she should prefer a country life, as much as she should
prefer Robinson Crusoe's diary to the journal of the idle man in the
SPECTATOR.'
'Lord bless me! Mrs. Broadhurst, do you hear what your daughter is
saying?' cried Lady Clonbrony, who, from the card-table, lent an
attentive ear to all that was going forward. 'Is it possible that Miss
Broadhurst, with her fortune, and pretensions, and sense, can really be
serious in saying she would be content to live in the country?'
'What's that you say, child, about living in the country?' said Mrs.
Pages:
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98