��become a nobleman, and as you say excessively rich *, I should, were I a youth of quality ten years hence, hesitate between a girl so neglected, and a negro!
It was indeed astonishing how he could remark such minute nesses with a sight so miserably imperfect ; but no accidental position of a ribband escaped him, so nice was his observation, and so rigorous his demands of propriety 2 . When I went with him to Litchfield and came down stairs to breakfast at the inn 3 , my dress did not please him, and he made me alter it entirely before he would stir a step with us about the town, saying most satirical things concerning the appearance I made in a riding-habit ; and adding, * 'Tis very strange that such eyes as yours cannot discern propriety of dress: if I had a sight only half as good, I think I should see to the centre.'
My compliances however were of little worth : what really surprised me was the victory he gained over a Lady little ac customed to contradiction, who had dressed herself for church at Streatham one Sunday morning, in a manner he did not approve, and to whom he said such sharp and pungent things concerning her hat, her gown, &c. that she hastened to change them, and returning quite another figure received his applause, and thanked him for his reproofs, much to the amazement of her husband, who could scarcely believe his own ears.
1 Perhaps Lord Sandys (ante, p. the elegance of female dress.' Life, 316, n. 3), who became a nobleman a i. 41.
year after his marriage. ' His blindness,' wrote Miss Bur-
2 ' I supposed him,' writes Boswell, ney, ' is as much the effect of absence ' to be only near-sighted ; and indeed [of mind] as of infirmity, for he sees I must observe, that in no other wonderfully at times. He can see respect could I discern any defect the colour of a lady's top-knot, for in his vision; on the contrary, the he very often finds fault with it.' force of his attention and perceptive Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 174. quickness made him see and dis- 3 The Swan. Life, v. 428. Bos- tinguish all manner of objects, well and Johnson in 1776 stayed at whether of nature or of art, with a the Three Crowns. Ib. ii. 461. In nicety that is rarely to be found. . . . 1779 Boswell passed a night at the The ladies with whom he was ac- George. Ib. iii. 411. All three inns quainted agree, that no man was still exist.
more nicely and minutely critical in
VOL. I. Z Another
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