very art to magnify the merit of her daughter. If the
cakes at tea ate short and crisp, they were made by Olivia: if the
gooseberry wine was well knit, the gooseberries were of her gathering:
it was her fingers that gave the pickles their peculiar green; and in
the composition of a pudding, it was her judgment that mixed the
ingredients. Then the poor woman would sometimes tell the 'squire, that
she thought him and Olivia extremely of a size, and would bid both stand
up to see which was tallest. These instances of cunning, which she
thought impenetrable, yet which everybody saw through, were very
pleasing to our benefactor, who gave every day some new proofs of his
passion, which, though they had not risen to proposals of marriage, yet
we thought fell but little short of it; and his slowness was attributed
sometimes to native bashfulness, and sometimes to his fear of offending
his uncle. An occurrence, however, which happened soon after, put it
beyond a doubt that he designed to become one of our family; my wife
even regarded it as an absolute promise.

My wife and daughters happening to return a visit to neighbor
Flamborough's, found that family had lately got their pictures drawn by
a limner, who travelled the country, and took likenesses for fifteen
shillings a head. As this family and ours had long a sort of rivalry in
point of taste, our spirit took the alarm at this stolen march upon us,
and notwithstanding all I could say, and I said much, it was resolved
that we should have our pictures done too. Having, therefore, engaged
the limner, for what could I do? our next deliberation was to shew the
superiority of our taste in the attitudes. As for our neighbor's family,
there were seven of them, and they were drawn with seven oranges, a
thing quite out of taste, no variety in life, no composition in the
world. We desired to have something in a brighter style, and after many
debates, at length came to an unanimous resolution of being drawn
together in one large historical family piece. This would be cheaper,
since one frame would serve for all, and it would be infinitely more
genteel; for all families of any taste were now drawn in the same
manner. As we did not immediately recollect an historical subject to hit
us, we were contented each with being drawn as independent historical
figures. My wife desired to be represented as Venus, and the painter was
desired not to be too frugal of his diamonds in her stomacher and ha