dwardine, who listened with eagerness to his remarks upon literature,
and showed great justness of taste in her answers. The sweetness of her
disposition had made her submit with complacency, and even pleasure,
to the course of reading prescribed by her father, although it not only
comprehended several heavy folios of history, but certain gigantic tomes
in High Church polemics. In heraldry he was fortunately contented to
give her only such a slight tincture as might be acquired by perusal of
the two folio volumes of Nisbet. Rose was indeed the very apple of her
father's eye. Her constant liveliness, her attention to all those little
observances most gratifying to those who would never think of exacting
them, her beauty, in which he recalled the features of his beloved wife,
her unfeigned piety, and the noble generosity of her disposition, would
have justified the affection of the most doting father.

His anxiety on her behalf did not, however, seem to extend itself
in that quarter, where, according to the general opinion, it is most
efficiently displayed; in labouring, namely, to establish her in life,
either by a large dowry or a wealthy marriage. By an old settlement,
almost all the landed estates of the Baron went, after his death, to a
distant relation; and it was supposed that Miss Bradwardine would remain
but slenderly provided for, as the good gentleman's cash matters had
been too long under the exclusive charge of Bailie Macwheeble, to admit
of any great expectations from his personal succession. It is true, the
said Bailie loved his patron and his patron's daughter next (although at
an incomparable distance) to himself. He thought it was possible to
set aside the settlement on the male line, and had actually procured
an opinion to that effect (and, as he boasted, without a fee) from an
eminent Scottish counsel, under whose notice he contrived to bring the
point while consulting him regularly on some other business. But
the Baron would not listen to such a proposal for an instant. On the
contrary, he used to have a perverse pleasure in boasting that the
barony of Bradwardine was a male fief, the first charter having been
given at that early period when women were not deemed capable to hold a
feudal grant; because, according to Les COUSTUSMES DE NORMANDIE, C'EST
L'HOMME KI SE BAST ET KI CONSEILLE; or, as is yet more ungallantly
expressed by other authorities, all of whose barbarous names he
delighted to quote at f