CHAPTER VIII.
"And music too—dear music, which can touch
Beyond all else the soul that loves it much."
Moore.
"Your destiny is in her hands" ay, utterly: the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge does not depend more on its encyclopædia, Mr. Brougham—the new tragedy on Macready—the balance of Europe on the Duke—none of these are so utterly dependent as a young lady on her chaperone. She may be a beauty—but the Medicean herself would require announcing as Venus: we all see with other people's eyes, especially in matters of taste. She may be rich—but an heiress, like a joint-stock company, requires to be properly advertised. She may be witty—but bon-mots require to be repeated rather than heard for a reputation; and who is to do this but a chaperone?—That being of delicate insinuations, of confidential whispers, of research in elder brothers, of exclusiveness in younger ones—she of praises
