1826.] | 
is 'a*moralist; a woman of fashion 4s a metaphysi- 
clan; ‘armed with all the topics; a pretty woman in 
Paris; who was not also a blve-stocking, would make 
little'figure in the circles. It would be in vain for 
her to’ know how to dispose a knot of ribands or a 
bunch of flowers in her hair, unless she could ar- 
range a/eritical and analytical argument in all the 
forms. It'is nothing against her, if she excels in 
personal and mental accomplishments at the same 
time. This turn for literary or scientific topics in 
the women may indeed be accounted for in part from 
the modes of\social intercourse in France; but what 
does this very circumstance prove, but that an inter- 
change of ideas is considered as one great charm in 
the society between men and women, and that the 
thirst of knowledge is not banished by a grosser pas- 
sion? Knowledge and reason, however, descend; 
and where the women are philosophers, the men 
are not quite blockheads or petit-maitres.. They are 
far from being the ignorant smatterers that we pre- 
tend; they are not backward at asking for reasons, 
nor slow in giving them. 
The Story of Isabel; by the Author of 
the Favourite of Nature. 1826.—We sup- 
pose this must be called an evangelical 
novel: for under a plentiful acquaintance 
with. worldly principles, an easy deli- 
neation of general manners, and no mean 
knowledge of all the avenues by which 
fascination finds its way to man, a spirit of 
straitest intolerance, combined with all the 
usually associated doctrines of that party, 
erects its. unyielding neck perpetually — 
catching our eye, and meeting our steps, 
and disappointing our hopes in the midst 
of seenes and conversations, which but for 
this ingredient would irresistibly chain the 
interest, and compel the admiration of the 
reader. 
_Reasoning,—by which we understand a 
debate upon some unascertained question 
by opponents, who rest. on mutually ac- 
knowledged axioms, is entirely set at nought, 
and made foolishness of, by a sect, who 
will allow of no test of worth and ability, 
but the profession of a certain set of no- 
tions. 
**T have but one standard,” says Miss 
Delmond—the author’s main organ, in 
- reply. to a young lady, who was endeayour- 
ing to vindicate another from the charge of 
utter worthlessness—‘“‘ I have but one 
standard against all that can be urged, 
touching the fascinations of Miss Stanley 
—is she a Christian?’ We consider the 
tone of despotic coritempt, with which 
occasionally a churchman thinks to hurl a 
man’s character down to all that is sordid, 
vulgar, loathsome, when he says, “‘ He is 
a rank Methodist,” is rather the least re- 
volting of the two specimens of exclusiye-, 
ness. 
» Miss Melville, an orphan, resides in the 
country with an indulgent uncle and aunt, 
yhom, at k same time, she is entirely 
ent. erson of som what 
al valine ne Amie tai mien ofr 
ns aHely fal- 
digonerneble temper, and ¢ 
Bp Unde foe the impetuosity of her feelings 
into very reprehensible deviations from the 
earorticnce of life. She felt, as we suppose 
Domestic and Foreign. 
‘before he knew her ; 
427 
all such characters do feel, the daily.incon-. 
venience, the occasional misery, and inward. 
uproar attendant upon. the want) ofyself- 
discipline—having advanced to the age-of 
eighteen or nineteen, without employing’ 
any attempt, or meeting with any aid, to-, 
ward abating this wild deminion »of; the 
passions. 
Suddenly she falls in love’; andfora con 
siderable time, the accession of stimulus’ 
afforded by that state of existence (clogged 
as it is with its own peculiar vicissitudes) 
gives an impulse to her faculties which lullg 
her into a temporary elysium. No wonder 
that uncle and aunt’s deliberate disapproval , 
of the object of her affection—a. Mr, 
Leslie—was utterly contemned, and. the 
connexion persisted in. Alas! this most 
enchanting of delusions partook of the 
clay. An uncle and aunt’s delicate anxie- 
ties for her welfare might be wounded 
without compune but she was trem- 
blingly alive in nile: quarter, and in that. 
quarter she experiences neglect. He goes 
away—his absence unexplained... In the 
meanwhile a rumour reaches her of another 
attachment, more ancient than her own;. 
and lately renewed! And now, indeed, a 
cloud of dense misery, far and wide stretch- 
ing itself, and urging its threatening way 
over her, calls up terror and. dismay from. 
every corner of her heart. . Alone, occupied. 
with apprehension, and conjecture, and 
vague resolves, her moments are expanded 
into ages, and her bosom-friend and con-. 
fidante—a Miss Russel—finds her affection. 
sorely tasked by Tsabel’s importuning anx- 
iety. When agonizing uncertainty had 
reached its ultimatum, Leslie comes again, 
and offers explanation. Rolls away, now 
the desolating tempest ;—the sun-beams 
play again, but—for one moment only. The 
rumour was true; he had been engaged, 
his heart is now her’s 
alone ; although the precarious state of the 
lady’s health, who was nearly falling a 
victim to his inconstancy, had greatly em- 
barrassed his plans. He throws himself 
upon Isabel’s mercy—avowing a finally 
settled determination not to marry the 
oer and urging his devotion to herself. 
Ve have spoken of Isabel as a being, 
zh wayward impulses. Her generosity 
equalled the less amiable peints of her 
character ; and she could not accept Leslie 
on these terms; she could not sign ¢ another’s 
death-warrant by an act—the relinquish- 
ment of which act was still too much for 
her own strength. In this mental conflict, 
glimpses of religious resources dart oyer her 
soul. Maddened by each contending per-, 
suasion,.of mere impulse; alarmed and 
shocked at' the canviction, that this in- 
ternal chaos had no seeds of order, which 
might hereafter mature into a wise resolye ; 
and goaded by the necessity for action, she 
flies to a religious lady—a maiden, not a 
young, lady of the neighbourhood,—ex- 
pressly to open her soul, and seek a remedy 
312 
