There was one person in the world who, it was thought, could (if she
would) have said more of the Lady Hermione than any one in London,
except George Heriot himself; and that was the said David Ramsay's
only child, Margaret.
This girl was not much past the age of fifteen when the Lady Hermione
first came to England, and was a very frequent visitor at her
godfather's, who was much amused by her childish sallies, and by the
wild and natural beauty with which she sung the airs of her native
country. Spoilt she was on all hands; by the indulgence of her
godfather, the absent habits and indifference of her father, and the
deference of all around to her caprices, as a beauty and as an
heiress. But though, from these circumstances, the city-beauty had
become as wilful, as capricious, and as affected, as unlimited
indulgence seldom fails to render those to whom it is extended; and
although she exhibited upon many occasions that affectation of extreme
shyness, silence, and reserve, which misses in their teens are apt to
take for an amiable modesty; and, upon others, a considerable portion
of that flippancy, which youth sometimes confounds with wit, Mistress
Margaret had much real shrewdness and judgment, which wanted only
opportunities of observation to refine it--a lively, good-humoured,
playful disposition, and an excellent heart. Her acquired follies were
much increased by reading plays and romances, to which she devoted a
great deal of her time, and from which she adopted ideas as different
as possible from those which she might have obtained from the
invaluable and affectionate instructions of an excellent mother; and
the freaks of which she was sometimes guilty, rendered her not
unjustly liable to the charge of affectation and coquetry.
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