AS the royal mother of Edward was passing to her apartment from her morning's walk, a beautiful vision presented itself to her of a lovely young woman, kneeling, and presenting her a petition. The duchess graciously raised her up, and, taking her into a magnificent saloon, requested her to speak her wishes without restraint, as she should esteem herself truly happy, if the ability she possessed, afforded her the pleasure of being serviceable to her. /

Affluent ease, contrasted with distress, aids the cause of pleasure, and makes her appear more dangerously alluring. Maria, accustomed for many months to the coarse and unfeeling language of a churlish husband, felt her heart glow with satisfaction at the tender expressions and benevolent kindness of the mother of Edward. A luxurious and magnificent apartment, which seemed furnished with all the riches of different nations, where the most balsamic odours from exotic shrubs and flowers diffused their charms on the enraptured sense, while strains of soft music were heard floating on the air, from an open gallery erected in the garden; all these delights conspired to remind Maria of the very opposite appearance of her own ruinous home – a shattered fortune; an house, indebted only to her own taste, to make it appear in any / degree comfortable, plain and scantily furnished. The duchess before her, adorned with all that art, fashion, and splendor could combine; Maria's elegant exterior all her own, and borrowing no charms from her apparel, but those which native taste and economy always enabled her to modernize.

The mother of Edward was far from handsome; but her manners were a sweet composition of majesty, grace, and affability. Possessed of a penetration the most acute, she could instantly discover the gentlewoman, in whatever circumstances she might have occasion to address her, or implore her assistance; and every gentlewoman she treated as her equal.