It was not that he had predetermined never to influence their thoughts, but he was so habitually idle that his time for doing so had never come till the opportunity for doing so was gone forever.

Whatever conviction the father may have had, the children were at any rate but indifferent members of the church from which he drew his income.
Such was Dr.Stanhope.The features of Mrs.Stanhope's character were even less plainly marked than those of her lord.

The _far niente_ of her Italian life had entered into her very soul, and brought her to regard a state of inactivity as the only earthly good.
In manner and appearance she was exceedingly prepossessing.

She had been a beauty, and even now, at fifty-five, she was a handsome woman.
Her dress was always perfect: she never dressed but once in the day, and never appeared till between three and four; but when she did appear, she appeared at her best.

Whether the toil rested partly with her, or wholly with her handmaid, it is not for such a one as the author even to imagine.