His consort, a fine, fleshy, comfortable dame, followed him.
There seemed, I must confess, but little pride in her composition. She
was the picture of broad, honest, vulgar enjoyment. The world went
well with her; and she liked the world. She had fine clothes, a fine
house, a fine carriage, fine children, every thing was fine about her:
it was nothing but driving about, and visiting and feasting. Life
was to her a perpetual revel; it was one long Lord Mayor's day.
Two daughters succeeded to this goodly couple. They certainly were
handsome; but had a supercilious air, that chilled admiration, and
disposed the spectator to be critical. They were ultra-fashionable
in dress; and, though no one could deny the richness of their
decorations, yet their appropriateness might be questioned amidst
the simplicity of a country church. They descended loftily from the
carriage, and moved up the line of peasantry with a step that seemed
dainty of the soil it trod on. They cast an excursive glance around,
that passed coldly over the burly faces of the peasantry, until they
met the eyes of the nobleman's family, when their countenances
immediately brightened into smiles, and they made the most profound
and elegant courtesies, which were returned in a manner that showed
they were but slight acquaintances.
I must not forget the two sons of this aspiring citizen, who came to
church in a dashing curricle, with outriders. They were arrayed in the
extremity of the mode, with all that pedantry of dress which marks the
man of questionable pretensions to style.
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