CHAPTER XLVII.
There is a surprising difference in the powers of renovation possessed by the young and the middle-aged. Lady Anne had seen her daughters all reduced to shadows by fever, but they were all well again in a very short time, and took plain food with good appetites and evident advantage. This was by no means her own case; she had no ailment to which she could or would give a name, but yet she was not well—her palate was fastidious to the greatest degree, and, even when gratified, produced little beneficial results. She was overdone by slight exertions, heated rooms, and large parties; even an opera was death to her, and there was nothing for it but lying bye for a whole season.
At this period she therefore seriously resumed the intention she had occasionally mentioned to her eldest daughter of writing a book, for which she intended to get a sum of money which should cover the remaining pecuniary obligations, and put such a surplus in her pocket as would make her at ease, and enable her to "keep up appearances." If so many ladies of rank wrote books, there could be no impropriety in her
