LONDON:

PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY,

Bangor House, Shoe Lane.

OR,

THE MAID'S HUSBAND.

The time will come when they will believe in me, and quote me as authority for
this and that. I had rather. however, they would assert their right, and open
their own eyes, so that they might see what lies before them. As it is, they only
mock at those who have better eyes than themselves, and are extremely offended
if one accuses them of purblindness in their professorial views of things.

Characteristics of GOSTHE. From the German of TALK VON MULLER.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

LONDON:

RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.

1840.

MISS AYLMER;

OR,

THE MAID'S HUSBAND.

CHAPTER I.

I open with a clock striking; it marks the time, which is four o'clock in the morning, and saves a description of the rising sun, and a great deal about gilding the hemisphere.

The Critic.

"NOTWITHSTANDING it is a fatal maxim among women 'to please the eye, though they torment the heart,' yet I am so far an advocate for pleasing the eye, that the man I have an idea of, must have a person graceful and en

VOL. I.

B

gaging; the features of his face must be regular, and, though regular, agreeable, which, as yet, I hardly remember to have seen; having generally observed, that, where nature is most exact, she is least engaging. His eyes must be lively, sparkling and affecting; and over the whole face, there must be a clear complexion, health, cheerfulness, and sensibility. His stature must be inclining to the tall, his motions easy and genteel, free from the short, pert trip of the affected beau, or the haughty, tragic step of the solemn coxcomb. His behaviour, serious but natural; neither too open, nor too reserved. His look, his laugh, his speech, and his whole manner, must be just without affectation, and free without impudence or levity.

"Thus much for his person. I now come to the endowments of his mind, without which, grace, beauty, and agreeableness, will avail him nothing. His genius must be fanciful, his knowledge extensive. Men, as well as books, must