AUTHOR OF "TALES OF FASHIONABLE LIFE," IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOL. III. "Without a Patron,-though I condescend LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON AND CO. ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD. 1814. EN J PATRONAGE. CHAPTER XXVI. THE evening appointed for Mrs. Falconer's ball at length arrived; and all the neighboring gentry assembled at Falconer-Court. They were received by Mrs. Falconer in a splendid salon, new furnished for this occasion, which dis-, played, in it's decorations, the utmost perfection of modern taste and magni-' ficence. Mrs. Falconer was fitted, both by art and nature, to adorn a ball-room, and conduct a ball. With that ease of manner, which a perfect knowledge of the world and long practice alone can give; she floated round the circle, conscious that she was in her element. Her eye, with one glance, seemed to pervade the whole assembly; her ear divided itself amongst a multitude of voices; and her attention diffused itself over all with equal grace. Yet that attention, universal as it seemed, was nicely discriminative. Mistress of the art of pleasing, and perfectly acquainted with all the shades of politeness, she knew how to dispose them so as to conceal their boundaries, and even their gradation, from all but the most skilful observers. They might, indeed, have formed, from Mrs. Falconer's reception of each of her guests, an exact estimate of their rank, fashion, and consequence in the world; for by these standards she regulated her opinion, and measured her regard.. Every one present knew this to be her theory, and observed it to be her practice towards others; but each flattered themselves by turns, that they discover |