Page:A memoir of Jane Austen (Fourth Edition).pdf/358

 ‘I do not know when I have heard a discourse more to my mind, continued Mr. Watson, ‘or one better delivered. He reads extremely well, with great propriety, and in a very impressive manner, and at the same time without any theatrical grimace or violence. I own I do not like much action in the pulpit; I do not like the studied air and artificial inflexions of voice which your very popular and most admired preachers gencrally have. A simple delivery is much better calculated to inspire devotion, and shows a much better taste. Mr. Howard read like a scholar and a gentleman.’

‘And what had you for dinner, sir?’ said his eldest daughter.

He related the dishes, and told what he had ate himself.

‘Upon the whole,’ he added, ‘I have had a very comfortable day. My old friends were quite surprised to see me amongst them, and I must say that everybody paid me great attention, and seemed to fee] for me as an invalid. They would make me sit near the fire; and as the partridges were pretty high, Dr. Richards would have them sent away to the other end of the table, “that they might not offend Mr. Watson,” which I thought very kind of him, But what pleased me as much as anything was Mr. Howard's attention. There is a pretty steep flight of steps up to the room we dine in, which do not quite agree with my gouty foot, and Mr. Howard walked by me from the bottom to the top, and would make me take his arm. It struck me as very becoming in