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"I come to you, then," Mrs Delvile solemnly resumed, "in the name of Mr Delvile, and in the name of our whole family; a family as ancient as it is honourable, as honourable as it is ancient Consider me as its representative, and hear in me its common voice, common opinion, and common address

"My son, the supporter of our house, the sole guardian of its name, and the heir of our united fortunes, has selected you, we know, for the lady of his choice, and so fondly has, fixed upon you his affections, that he is ready to relinquish us all in preference to subduing them To yourself alone, then, can we apply, and I come to you--"

"O hold, e now revived from resentment, "I knohat you would say; you come to tell me of your disdain; you come to reproach my presumption, and to kill me with your contempt! There is little occasion for such a step; I am depressed, I am self-condemned already; spare me, therefore, this insupportable humiliation, wound me not with your scorn, oppress me not with your superiority! I aie my own littleness as readily as you can despise it, and nothing but indignity could urge me to defend it!"

"Believe me," said Mrs Delvile, "I meant not to hurt or offend you, and I a The peculiar and perilous situation of my family has perhaps betrayed uilty usted me Ill, indeed, can we any of us bear the test of experiment, when tried upon those subjects which call forth our particular propensities We le to be impartial, but self will still predominate, still shew us the imperfection of our natures, and the narrowness of our souls Yet acquit ine not that in speaking highly of my own family, I, mean to depreciate yours: on the contrary, I know it to be respectable, I know, too, that were it the lowest in the kingdohter"

Cecilia, so interrupted her, and she proceeded

"To your family, then, I assure you, whatever , ould not object With your hest esteeuine desires Strange at once and afflicting! that not all these requisites for the satisfaction of prudence, nor all these allureratification of happiness, can suffice to fulfil or to silence the claims of either! There are yet other demands to which we must attend, demands which ancestry and blood call upon us aloud to ratify! Such clailected with ihts with the authority of prescription, they forbid us alike either to bend to inclination, or stoop to interest, and froeneration their injuries will call out for redress, should their noble and long unsullied naned to oblivion!"