UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 207 



slight thing I would not offend opinions that I 

 am sure deserve respect." 



" Indeed, 5 * she replied, " I feel, just as you do, 

 great pleasure in seeing young people cheerful, 

 and enjoying amusements suited to their age ; 

 nor can I find in any part of that Book which 

 should be our guide, one word to indicate the 

 impropriety of social amusement if moderately 

 indulged in, and not made the business of life. 

 Moderation, in all things, I do indeed enjoin. 

 My daughters, I fear, can ill take a part in a 

 dance with yours but I shall be delighted to see 

 my good, homely girls amused. I must add," 

 continued she, " that I should be sorry you 

 mistook my opinions ; misfortune has made me 

 think seriously, but not harshly. It has given me 

 deeper views of religion than I had in the care- 

 less hours of prosperity, but at the same time it 

 has convinced me how much more there is of 

 affected singularity than of real religion, in pro- 

 hibiting a moderate degree of amusement. It 

 is very probable that I might have become en- 

 thusiastic or melancholy, had it not been for the 

 friendship of Mr. Benson, that good clergyman 

 who lives near us. It is not too much to say, 

 that in his conduct, as well as in his sentiments, 

 he shews the happiest union of Christian piety 

 with all the social virtues ; and that his profound 

 learning on the most important of all subjects, 



T 2 



