rld, or women of fashion, are rivalled in all their boasted
knowledge and discernment by young creatures, whose faculties they may deem
very inefficient, and which are indeed so in all the higher requisites of
mind and the attainments of knowledge.

The parents of Miss Holdup, the young lady in question, had acquired a
large fortune, but were both called, at a very early period, from the
enjoyment of it; and this their only child was placed, by the will of her
father, under the sole guardianship of his solicitor, a man of integrity
and of large fortune, and without any children of his own; so that the
little girl had apparently every blessing her desolate situation demanded,
for kindness was accorded to her in the family, as an orphan, without a
rival, and her fortune was well secured by the skill of her guardian.

But, alas! false judgment and mistaken indulgence rendered this situation
totally subversive of her improvement and her happiness; the lady to whose
care she was immediately consigned was a vain and dissipated woman, who had
no greater pleasure than in spending the fortune, laboriously acquired by
her industrious spouse, in all the various amusements the metropolis
presents to the idle and extravagant part of the community; and although
she was what is generally termed a very good-natured woman, yet the moment
her schemes of diversion or expense were thwarted, she could be as pettish,
sullen, or even vulgar and violent, as the lowest servant. She piqued
herself on being a woman of family, and when little Miss Holdup came into
her household, the first care she took with her was to eradicate, as far as
possible, the memory of her parents, and all their former connections, from
her mind.--"My dear child, now you are, by great good fortune, got into a
gentleman's family, remember you must never mention those creatures in the
city your mamma used to visit. I must have no cheese-factor cousins
introduced at my table; no, nor even the great linen-draper's daughter that
gave you the doll; you have money enough to buy dolls of your own, and must
have no more concern with those kind of people now."

"But," said the child, "I suppose I may talk about Miss Turner and her
sister Anne, because they nursed me through the measles, and my father said
I must always be grateful--I suppose he meant thankful, ma'am, for their
kindness."

"Who are they, child? if they are decent people, it alters the case
entirely."

"They are