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True, my Lord; I have heard you say that the first time you beheld her was in the painting gallery of Mr. Rougeit, where she stood rivetted with admiration before the portrait of your Lordship; and that grace and expression attracted her at that moment, I am not disposed to question.

Yes, my dear friend; and in poetry also, and the graver works of composition, nothing that was excellent escaped her. My speech upon the former Corn Bill delighted her: not an argument or happy expression in the whole that she could not repeat with a spirit and action appropriate. She had a sound taste for eloquence; nobody admired it like her.

How should they? She must have had a capacity made on purpose to admire that speech; and a very rare one too, I assure you.

Not a word or observation fell from my lips, but she understood the sense and spirit of it so quickly.

Leaving any other listener far behind, I dare say.