Tales and Novels, vol 3 | Page 5

every thing, and of being the most admired person in all companies. He
had been early flattered with the idea that he was a man of genius; and
he imagined that, as such, he was entitled to be imprudent, wild, and
eccentric. He affected singularity, in order to establish his claims to
genius. He had considerable literary talents, by which he was
distinguished at Oxford; but he was so dreadfully afraid of passing for a
pedant, that when he came into the company of the idle and the
ignorant, he pretended to disdain every species of knowledge. His
chameleon character seemed to vary in different lights, and according
to the different situations in which he happened to be placed. He could
be all things to all men--and to all women. He was supposed to be a
favourite with the fair sex; and of all his various excellencies and
defects, there was none on which he valued himself so much as on his
gallantry. He was not profligate; he had a strong sense of honour, and
quick feelings of humanity; but he was so easily led, or rather so easily
excited by his companions, and his companions were now of such a
sort, that it was probable he would soon become vicious. As to his

connexion with Lady Delacour, he would have started with horror at
the idea of disturbing the peace of a family; but in her family, he said,
there was no peace to disturb; he was vain of having it seen by the
world that he was distinguished by a lady of her wit and fashion, and he
did not think it incumbent on him to be more scrupulous or more
attentive to appearances than her ladyship. By Lord Delacour's jealousy
he was sometimes provoked, sometimes amused, and sometimes
flattered. He was constantly of all her ladyship's parties in public and
private; consequently he saw Belinda almost every day, and every day
he saw her with increasing admiration of her beauty, and with
increasing dread of being taken in to marry a niece of "the
catch-match-maker," the name by which Mrs. Stanhope was known
amongst the men of his acquaintance. Young ladies who have the
misfortune to be conducted by these artful dames, are always supposed
to be partners in all the speculations, though their names may not
appear in the firm. If he had not been prejudiced by the character of her
aunt, Mr. Hervey would have thought Belinda an undesigning,
unaffected girl; but now he suspected her of artifice in every word, look,
and motion; and even when he felt himself most charmed by her
powers of pleasing, he was most inclined to despise her, for what he
thought such premature proficiency in scientific coquetry. He had not
sufficient resolution to keep beyond the sphere of her attraction; but,
frequently, when he found himself within it, he cursed his folly, and
drew back with sudden terror. His manner towards her was so variable
and inconsistent, that she knew not how to interpret its language.
Sometimes she fancied, that with all the eloquence of eyes he said, "I
adore you, Belinda;" at other times she imagined that his guarded
silence meant to warn her that he was so entangled by Lady Delacour,
that he could not extricate himself from her snares. Whenever this last
idea struck her, it excited, in the most edifying manner, her indignation
against coquetry in general, and against her ladyship's in particular: she
became wonderfully clear-sighted to all the improprieties of her
ladyship's conduct. Belinda's newly acquired moral sense was so much
shocked, that she actually wrote a full statement of her observations
and her scruples to her aunt Stanhope; concluding by a request, that she
might not remain under the protection of a lady, of whose character she
could not approve, and whose intimacy might perhaps be injurious to

her reputation, if not to her principles.
Mrs. Stanhope answered Belinda's letter in a very guarded style; she
rebuked her niece severely for her imprudence in mentioning names in
such a manner, in a letter sent by the common post; assured her that her
reputation was in no danger; that she hoped no niece of hers would set
up for a prude--a character more suspected by men of the world than
even that of a coquette; that the person alluded to was a perfectly fit
chaperon for any young lady to appear with in public, as long as she
was visited by the first people in town; that as to any thing in the
private conduct of that person, and as to any private brouillieries
between her and her lord, Belinda should observe on these dangerous
topics a profound silence, both in her letters and her conversation; that
as long as the lady continued under