68 PRIDE. 



inhabitants was very much circumscribed; 

 and there being no resident gentry in the 

 neighbourhood, it was not all who had 

 opportunities of cultivating the rules in- 

 tended to enhance the value of social 

 and intellectual intercourse. It was im- 

 possible for an observer to reside there 

 without comparisons obtruding that did 

 not tend to exalt their good breeding, 

 extend their understanding, or swell the 

 amount of their hospitality. Indeed, where 

 the accumulation of wealth is the chief 

 object, and a rigid economy in guarding 

 it the most esteemed virtue, there is little 

 room for the display of those kindly 

 demonstrations of the human heart that 

 render society agreeable. 



To enumerate instances of the excess 

 to which this inordinate feeling was car- 

 ried, would neither be profitable nor 

 amusing yet I cannot help recording 

 my recollection of , a wealthy old lady 

 who died while we were there, and it took 



