Tales of fashionable life 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: X love her with all the fearless enthusiasm of a young, generous mind, which accepts of obligation without any idea, that gratitude may become burdensome. Mrs... more ». Semers excited not only affection—she inspired admiration. Capable of the utmost exertion and of the most noble sacrifices for her friends, the indulgence of her generosity seemed not only to he the greatest pleasure of her soul, but absolutely necessary to her nature. To attempt to restrain her liberality was to provoke her indignation, or to incur her contempt. To refuse her benefits was to forfeit her friendship. She grew extremely fond of her present guests, because, without resistance, they permitted her to load them with favours : according to her custom, she found a thousand perfections in those, whom she obliged. She had considered la comtesse de Cou- langes, when she knew her at Paris, as a very well bred woman, but as nothing more: yet now she discovered, that ma- dame de Coulanges had a superiorunderstanding and great strength of mind;—and EmiEe, who had pleased her when a child, only by the ingenuous sweetness of her disposition and vivacity of her manners was now become a complete angel — no angel had ever such a variety of accomplishments—none but an angel could possess such a combination of virtues. Mrs. Somers introduced her charming and noble emigrants to all her numerous and fashionable acquaintance; and she would certainly have quarrelled with any one, who did not at least appear to sympathise in her sentiments. Fortunately, there was no necessity for quarrelling; these foreigners were well received in every company, and Emilie pleased universally; or, as madame de Conlanges expressed it, " Elle avoit des grands succes dans la soeie'te'." The French comtesse herself could hardly give more emphatic imp...« less