 respect,
unfavourable for improvement. But the woods are fine, and there is a stream,
which, I dare say, might be made a good deal of. Mr. Rushworth is quite right, I
think, in meaning to give it a modern dress, and I have no doubt that it will be
all done extremely well.«
    Miss Crawford listened with submission, and said to herself, »He is a well
bred man; he makes the best of it.«
    »I do not wish to influence Mr. Rushworth,« he continued, »but had I a place
to new fashion, I should not put myself into the hands of an improver. I would
rather have an inferior degree of beauty, of my own choice, and acquired
progressively. I would rather abide by my own blunders than by his.«
    »You would know what you were about of course - but that would not suit me.
I have no eye or ingenuity for such matters, but as they are before me; and had
I a place of my own in the country, I should be most thankful to any Mr. Repton
who would undertake it, and give me as much beauty as he could for my money; and
I should never look at it, till it was complete.«
    »It would be delightful to me to see the progress of it all,« said Fanny.
    »Ay - you have been brought up to it. It was no part of my education; and
the only dose I ever had, being administered by not the first favourite in the
world, has made me consider improvements in hand as the greatest of nuisances.
Three years ago, the admiral, my honoured uncle, bought a cottage at Twickenham
for us all to spend our summers in; and my aunt and I went down to it quite in
raptures; but it being excessively pretty, it was soon found necessary to be
improved; and for three months we were all dirt and confusion, without a gravel
walk to step on, or a bench fit for use. I would have every thing as complete as
possible in the country, shrubberies and flower gardens, and rustic seats
innumerable; but it must be all done without my care. Henry is different, he
loves to be doing.«
    Edmund was sorry to hear Miss Crawford, whom he was much disposed to admire,
speak so freely of her uncle. It did not suit his sense of propriety, and he was
silenced, till induced by further smiles and liveliness, to put the matter by
for the present.
    »Mr
