5 SEPTEMBER 1896, Page 15

A MODERN "SPECTATOR."

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]

SIR,—The delightful extract you give in the Spectator of August 29th, from the " Saltonstall Gazette," re Mrs. Narrowmeans, would make a good pendant to one of Jane Austen's best conversations,—i.e., that between Mr. and Mrs. John Dashwood, when she dissuades him from helping his stepmother and her daughters. Mrs. John Dash wood says, "Altogether they will have five hundred a year

amongst them, and what on earth can four women want for more than that ? They will live so cheap ! Their housekeeping will be nothing at all. They will have no carriage, no horses, and hardly any servants ; they will keep no company, and can have no expenses of any kind. Only conceive how comfortable they will be ! "—(" Sense and