14 CHARACTER OF MR. PALMER. 



LETTER IV. 



FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. 



DEAR EMILY, 



Mr. and Mrs. Palmer are a pleasing couple : 

 superior to the flippancy of modish politeness, they 

 are sufficiently refined for the society of any rank, 

 whilst they possess an ease and simplicity which are 

 quite charming. He is the father of his parish. His 

 business is to instruct the ignorant, relieve the dis- 

 tressed, visit the sick, comfort the afflicted, and re- 

 form the vicious. When these important and inter- 

 esting duties give him leisure, the study of nature is 

 his recreation. His wife is young and pretty : she is 

 a model of domestic management, and is the governess 

 as well as the mother of the children. We spent a 

 long afternoon with them yesterday : the conversation 

 turned upon instinct, and since you express an incli- 

 nation to profit by my studies, I shall give you ]\Ir. 

 Palmer's opinion on the subject, in the clearest man- 

 ner I am capable of expressing it. 



"Thesubject of animal instinct," said he, "comprises 

 many other interesting subjects, and requires an accu- 

 rate investigation of the habits of animals. Dr. 'Paley, 



