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66
ETHEL CHURCHILL.

are now scattered round me in charming confusion.

What a duty to one's self it is to be young, vain, and pretty! but the middle quality is the most important. Vanity is a cloak that wraps us up comfortably, and a drapery which sets us off to the best advantage; and its great merit is, that it suits itself to every sort of circumstance.

I have just had an amusing incident happen, very illustrative of my theory. Lord Marchmont gives dinners with a due sense of their importance, and our chef de cuisine is a master of the divine art. His late master fought a duel with his most intimate friend, because he found that he had been holding forth strong inducements for Chloe to become his. "My mistress," said the indignant Amphitryon, "was at his service; but to think of his endeavouring to seduce my cook!" Chloe had, however, a high sense of honour: "A false friend does not deserve me," was his only reply. The death, however, of Lord C———set him free to an admiring world, and March-