Classic tales Author:Maria Edgeworth Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE MIMIC. CHAPTER I. Mr. and Mrs. Montague spent the summer of the year 1795 at Clifton, with their son Frederick, and their two daughters, Sophia and Mar... more »ianne. They had taken much care of the education of their children; nor were they ever tempted by any motive of personal convenience or temporary amusement to hazard the permanent happiness of their pupils. Sensible of the extreme importance of early impressions, and of the powerful influence of external circumstances in forming the character and the manners, they wei;e now anxious that the variety of new ideas and new objects which would strike the minds of their children should appear in a just point of view. " Let children see and judge for themselves," is often inconsiderately said. Where children see only a part, they cannot judge of the whole; and, from the superficial view which they can have in short visits and desultory conversation, they can form only a false estimate of the objects of human happiness, a false notion of the nature of society, and false opinions of characters. For the above reasons, Mr. and Mrs. Montague were particularly cautious in the choice of their acquaintance ; as they were well aware, that whatever passed in conversation before their children became part of their education. When they came to Clifton they wished to have a house entirely to themselves : but as they came late in the season, almost all the lodging-houses were full, and for a few weeks they were obliged to remain in a house where some of the apartments were already occupied. During the first fortnight they scarcely saw or heard anything of one of the families who lodged on the same floor with them. An elderly Quaker, and his sister Bertha, were their silent neighbors. The blooming complexion of the lady had indee...« less