On Sunday, according to invitation, as I told you, we dined with the
Argents--and were entertained by them in a style at once most
splendid, and on the most easy footing. I shall not attempt to
describe the consumable materials of the table, but call your
attention, my dear friend, to the intellectual portion of the
entertainment, a subject much more congenial to your delicate and
refined character.
Mrs. Argent is a lady of considerable personal magnitude, of an open
and affable disposition. In this respect, indeed, she bears a
striking resemblance to her nephew, Captain Sabre, with whose
relationship to her we were unacquainted before that day. She
received us as friends in whom she felt a peculiar interest; for
when she heard that my mother had got her dress and mine from
Cranbury Alley, she expressed the greatest astonishment, and told
us, that it was not at all a place where persons of fashion could
expect to be properly served. Nor can I disguise the fact, that the
flounced and gorgeous garniture of our dresses was in shocking
contrast to the amiable simplicity of hers and the fair Arabella,
her daughter, a charming girl, who, notwithstanding the fashionable
splendour in which she has been educated, displays a delightful
sprightliness of manner, that, I have some notion, has not been
altogether lost on the heart of my brother.
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