The General could not forbear thinking it was rather extraordinary that one of such refined manners, one so superior and intelligent in his conversation, should inhabit a spot so remote from the polished life they had themselves quitted, and where his abilities and usefulness as a minister must of necessity be extremely limited in a place chiefly inhabited by peasantry, or at best the opulent farmer, whose intellects seemed adequate alone to comprehend the rude unlettered dialect of the country. Nevertheless the General could not but felicitate himself upon his good fortune in having formed an acquaintance with Dr. Lovesworth, (for so he called himself,) one so likely to become congenial to him, and one who on his part was no less sensible of a similar satisfaction, having been for some time seeking for an occasion, which then accidentally offered itself, of becoming known to the new inmates of The Bower.
Whilst pleasingly engaged in conversation, Rosilia had left her seat to take a nearer view of a portrait that had some time riveted her attention; it was the full-length picture of a young female gracefully inclining her head towards a child, that, with infantine beauty looking upwards, returned her smiles. A pause in the discourse taking place, the General observed, that the opposite portrait to
