Osgood, was brilliant, large, and fashionable.
Seven grown-up daughters was a melancholy sight
for the contemplation of the parents, and they both
felt like venders of goods who were exhibiting their
wares to the best advantage. The splendid
chandeliers and lustres of the drawing-room were
lighted for the same reason as the lamps in the
glittering retail stores of Broadway; and the
brilliant effect of the taste of the young ladies was
intended much like the nightly lustre of the lottery-
offices, to tempt adventurers to try their chances.
>From this premeditated scheme of conquest we
ought, in justice, however, to except Maria herself,
who, from constitutional gayety and
thoughtlessness, seldom planned for the morrow;
and who, perhaps, from her association with
Charlotte, had acquired a degree of
disinterestedness that certainly belonged to no
other member of her family.
Whatever were the views of the family in collecting
their friends and acquaintances on this important
evening, they were completely successful in one
point at least; for, before nine, half the dilettanti of
the city were assembled in Greenwich-street, in a
most elaborate state of musical excitement.
Charlotte Henly, of course, was of the party,
although she was absolutely ignorant of a single
note, nor knew how to praise a scientific execution,
or to manifest disgust at simple melody. But, her
importance in the world of fashion, and her friend
Maria, obtained her a place.
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