Mr. Thackeray, who bound up all the home truths in circulation, and many
that exist only in the inner chambers of the heart, calling the whole
'Vanity Fair,' says, we think (though we don't exactly know where to lay
hand on the passage), that it is not your real striking beauties who are
the most dangerous--at all events, that do the most execution--but sly,
quiet sort of girls, who do not strike the beholder at first sight, but
steal insensibly upon him as he gets acquainted. The Miss Jawleyfords were
of this order. Seen in plain morning gowns, a man would meet them in the
street, without either turning round or making an observation, good, bad,
or indifferent; but in the close quarters of a country house, with all the
able assistance of first-rate London dresses, well flounced and set out,
each bent on doing the agreeable, they became dangerous. The Miss
Jawleyfords were uncommonly well got up, and Juliana, their mutual maid,
deserved great credit for the impartiality she displayed in arraying them.
There wasn't a halfpenny's worth of choice as to which was the best.
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