There were, I believe, more than one of
those _turnpike stairs_, as they were called, about
the house, by which the public rooms, all of which
entered through each other, were accommodated
with separate and independent modes of access.
In the little boudoir we have described, Mrs Martha
Baliol had her choicest meetings. She kept
early hours; and if you went in the morning, you
must not reckon that space of day as extending
beyond three o'clock, or four at the utmost. These
vigilant habits were attended with some restraint
on her visitors, but they were indemnified by your
always finding the best society, and the best information,
which was to be had for the (lay in the
Scottish capital. Without at all affecting the blue
stocking, she liked books---they amused her---and if
the authors were persons of character, she thought
she owed them a debt of civility, which she loved
to discharge by personal kindness. When she gave
a dinner to a small party, which she did now and
then, she had the good nature to look for, and the
good luck to discover, what sort of people suited
each other best, and chose her company as Duke
Theseus did his hounds,
matched in mouth like bells,
Each under each,*
* Shakspeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, Act IV.
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