"
Some readers may be disposed to doubt, after this specimen, whether
the young Merrifields could be really young ladies and gentlemen; but
indeed their birth might make them so; for there had been Squire
Merrifields at Stokesley as long as Stokesley had been a parish, and
those qualities of honour and good breeding that mark the gentleman
had not been wanting to the elder members of the family. The father
of these children was a captain in the navy, and till within the last
six years the children had lived near Plymouth; but when he inherited
the estate they came thither, and David and the two little ones had
been born at Stokesley. The property was not large; and as Captain
Merrifield was far from rich, it took much management to give all
this tribe of boys and girls a good education, as well as plenty of
bread and butter, mutton, and apple-pudding. There was very little
money left to be spent upon ornament, or upon pleasuring; so they
were brought up to the most homely dress suited to their station, and
were left entirely to the country enjoyments that spring up of
themselves.
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