The northern galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1844-1848, 1845-01-15

| standard of appearance; the Indignation o
the merely pretty girls who received no card
/ although each had hafa dozen fiirts who hat
/ compared her to Helen, iiebe, and Ephrosyne
and the triumph OF the Enthusiastically plain
at finding that the passaby handsome wer
as much excluded IS themselves. A siDgu
! lar circumstance attended this party-not ont
! invitation was refused; several of the beau
ties had previous engagements, which they
bioke through TO favor Mrs. Estcourt witt
their society. Some people were so unchar
liable as to say that the report of young Am
herst's search for wife, and the condition:
of his uBcle's legacy, had great deal to dc
with their line of conduct; the report haC
certainly become public, but Of course the
young ladies' gave themselves no trouble a.
boutit.and the variety of exquisite new dress
cs, ordered within the next few days in Chelt
enham, would have been ordered all the same
had Mrs. Es;court's beauty party never been
thought of.
Did you say asked Tyrold of Mrs. Est
court, that you had mustered all the beau
ties within few miles of Cheltenhami
Il have done so,' she replied; and in some
instances where have not known the fami-
lies, | have prevailed on friends TO give me an
introduction. have shown myself so open
TO all suggestions, and talked overthe matter
with so many Of my acquaintances, that | am
sure not one beauty, really deserving the title,
has been omitted in my invitation cards
You are much mistaken said Tyrold,
the most beautiful grill ever beheld lives With
in five miles of Cbel;enham, and has not re-
ceived card from YOU
Mrs. Esicourt stood aghast; she had thO't
her party the triumph aud perfection of good
taste and unwearied activity; she felt much
as the Princess Observation-Disclosures night be sup
posed to have felt when she was told that the
palace which she thought so exquiiite requ-
ed a rOc's egg to be hung up in the centre Of
the hall.
DO you know Mrs. Gerard, asked Tyrold.
who lives four miles from Cheltenham!'
Il met her several times, a year ago. said
Mrs. Estcourt; 'and have since had the OPP
portunity ofconferring favor upon her with
out putting myself any Inconvenience, by
transferring to her through mutual friend,
a present which had just received Of some
rare flower-seeds, which had no garden TO
sow in, ana no inclination to SOW if had
l cannot, however, imagine that she can be
ofany use TO me; she is widow, and lives
alone on moderate income, visits no one,
and hears nothing: her only passion is for
flow ers, and the friend who introduced her
to me, said that she always reminded her of
the good woman in the Temple of the Fair
les, who dwelt in the house of roses
'All this is true,' said Tyrold; 'but Mrs.
Gerard has brother in London with fam.
ily, and she has. within the last six months,
taken to live with her his eldest daughter
r. r.. l.. l..
diate neighborhood, and at the house of one
them yesterday met herself and her niece.
Miss Gerard is as lovely as poets dream.
| never saw beauty at once so winning and so
dazzling. ] will not tell you that her intellect
equals her appearance: 10 say the truth, she
reminded me much of Indiana in Madame
D'Arblay's Camilla; but intellect, as | have
told you is not Of the qualities that my friend
Amherst insists on in wife. Miss Gerard is
of Il respectable family, perfectly lady-libe in
manner, and Just the sort ola person to capti-
vate your nephew al FIRST sight: you mustlose
no time in securing her,
Mrs. Estcourt paused irresolue; the other
beauties invited &C her festival she knew TO
be such by occuIar demonstration, OF by the
voice of popular reclamation; but Tyrcld,
like many other young men, might have been
pleased by IN easy department and showy
person, and magnifed The possessor INTO an
euchantress. She gently insinuated her
doubts.
Perhaps she said, every one might not
think Miss Gerard as handsome as you do g
You can Judge for yourself, said Tyrold,
eagerly, by merely accompanying me to
High street. Miss Gerart: told me that she
had been sitting for her portrait to an Artist
with whom am acquainted; | called on him
this morning, aud prevailed on him 10 allow
me 10 see the miniature; it is sparkling like
ness
hrs. Estcourt, not without smiling at her
romantic errand, accompanied Tyrold to the
artist and was favored with sight of her
fair Portals counterfeit which was Oh the
point of being despatched to the residence of
her aupt. Il was perfectly and unexception-
ably lovely, and Mrs. Esicourt returned home
in high spirits, TO indite her invitation card to
the fair original. Mrs. Estcourt had far too
much tact to expect that The quiet, home-loV-
ing Mrs.Gerard wOuld leave her garden walks,
her blooming flowers, and her warbling avia-
~ to pass several hours at a Cheltenham
evening pary,if she had suspected it TO be one
got up for the purposes of vanity aud display.
Nu-hIrs. Es;court wrote TO her in the kind
est and most friendly manner, hoped the flow
er seeds had answered her expectations, re-
quesled that she and her niece would pass the
evening of Thursday next with her, and prom
ised in that event TO show her several rare
specimens of dried planisand new work on
botany. illustrated by splendid engravings. A
favorable answer was soon forwarded from
the house of roses.' Mrs. Gerard, grateful
for the past gifts of her correspondent, anx-
ious TO see the dried plants and the work on
botany. and happy in the consciousness that
il was the merry month of May and that
she had nothing to apprehend from dark nights
and rheumatism, replied that she and her niece
would be happy to accept Mrs. Estcourt's
friendly invitation, and actually-good, easy
old lady prepared herself for cup of cof-
fee and a biscuit, and a subsequent glass of
sherry and macaroons, partaken ofin compa-
ny with five or six people, as quiet, domestic
and garden-lcving as herself,
When AmhersI's faithful friend announced
to him that Queen of Beauty had been
procured for the approaching festival. he re-
ceived the intelligence with even more salts
faction than could have heen anticipated
Amherst, although, as ! have shown, the in
fatuated slave of beauty, was not at all defc-
lent in right sense Of what was amiable,