ite as
dangerous to give up your faculties to the guidance of the author you are
perusing, as it is unprofitable to be captiously scrutinizing every
syllable he may happen to advance; and Sir Edward was, if anything, a
little inclined to the dangerous propensity. Unpleasant, Sir Edward
Moseley never was. Lady Moseley very seldom took a book in her hand: her
opinions were established to her own satisfaction on all important points,
and on the minor ones, she made it a rule to coincide with the popular
feeling. Jane had a mind more active than her father, and more brilliant
than her mother; and if she had not imbibed injurious impressions from the
unlicensed and indiscriminate reading she practised, it was more owing to
the fortunate circumstance, that the baronet's library contained nothing
extremely offensive to a pure taste, nor dangerous to good morals, than to
any precaution of her parents against the deadly, the irretrievable injury
to be sustained from ungoverned liberty in this respect to a female mind.
On the other hand, Mrs. Wilson had inculcated the necessity of restraint,
in selecting the books for her perusal, so strenuously on her niece, that
what at first had been the effects of obedience and submission, had now
settled into taste and habit; and Emily seldom opened a book, unless in
search of information; or if it were the indulgence of a less commendable
spirit, it was an indulgence chastened by a taste and judgment that
lessened the danger, if it did not entirely remove it.

The room was filled with gentlemen and ladies; and while John was
exchanging his greetings with several of the neighboring gentry of his
acquaintance, his sisters were running nastily over a catalogue of the
books kept for circulation, as an elderly lady, of foreign accent and
dress, entered; and depositing a couple of religious works on the counter,
she inquired for the remainder of the set. The peculiarity of her idiom
and her proximity to the sisters caused them both to look up at the
moment, and, to the surprise of Jane, her sister uttered a slight
exclamation of pleasure. The foreigner was attracted by the sound, and
after a moment's hesitation, she respectfully curtsied. Emily, advancing,
kindly offered her hand, and the usual inquiries after each other's
welfare succeeded. To the questions asked after the friend of the matron
Emily learnt, with some surprise, and no less satisfaction, that she
resided in a retired cottage, about