Every neighbourhood should have a great Lady.—The great Lady of Sanditon, was Lady Denham; and in their Journey from Willingden to the Coast, Mr. Parker gaveCharlotte a more detailed account of her, than had been called for before.—She had been necessarily often mentioned at Willingden,—for being his Colleague in Speculation, Sanditon itself could not be talked of long, without the introduction of Lady Denham and that she was a very rich old Lady, who had buried two Husbands, who knew the value of Money, was very much looked up to and had a poor Cousin living with her, were facts already well known, but some further particulars of her history and her Character served to lighten the tediousness of a long Hill, or a heavy bit of road, and to give the visiting Young Lady a suitable Knowledge of the Person with whom she might now expect to be daily associating.—Lady D. had been a rich Miss Brereton, born to Wealth but not to Education. Her first Husband had been a Mr. Hollis, a man of considerable Property in the Country, of which a large share of the Parish of Sanditon, with Manor and Mansion House made a part. He had been an elderly Man when she married him;—her own age about thirty.—Her motives for such a Match could be little understood at the distance of forty years, but she had so well nursed and pleased Mr. Hollis, that at his death he left her everything—all his Estates, and all at her Disposal. After a widowhood of some years, she had been induced to marry again. The late Sir Harry Denham, of DenhamPark in the Neighbourhood of Sanditon had succeeded in removing her and her large Income to his own Domains, but he could not succeed in the views of permanently enriching his family, which were attributed to him. She had been too wary to put anything out of her own Power—and when on Sir Harry's Decease she returned again to her own House at Sanditon, she was said to have made this boast to a friend 'that though she had got nothing but her Title from the Family, still she had given nothing for it.'—For the Title, it was to be supposed that she had married—and Mr. P. acknowledged there being just such a degree of value for it apparent now, as to give her conduct that natural explanation. 'There is at times,' said he—'a little self-importance— but it is not offensive;—and there are moments, there are points, when her Love of Money is carried greatly too far. But she is a goodnatured Woman, a very goodnatured Woman,—a very obliging, friendly Neighbour; a chearful, independant, valuable character, and her faults may be entirely imputed to her want of Education. She has good natural Sense, but quite uncultivated.— She has a fine active mind, as well as a fine healthy frame for a Woman of seventy, and enters into the improvement of Sanditon with a spirit truly admirable—though now and then, a Littleness will appear. She cannot look forward quite as I would have her— and takes alarm at a trifling present expence, without considering what returns it will make her in a year or two. That is—we think differently, we now and then, see things differently, Miss H.— Those who tell their own Story you know must be listened to with Caution.—When you see us in contact, you will judge for yourself.'—Lady D. was indeed a great Lady beyond the common wants of Society—for she had many Thousands a year tobequeath, and three distinct sets of People to be courted by; her own relations, who might very reasonably wish for her Original Thirty Thousand Pounds among them, the legal Heirs of Mr. Hollis, who must hope to be more endebted to her sense of Justice than he had allowed them to be to his, and those Members of the Denham Family, whom her second Husband had hoped to make a good Bargain for.—By all of these, or by Branches of them, she had no doubt been long, and still continued to be, well attacked;— and of these divisions, Mr. P. did not hesitate to say that Mr. Hollis' Kindred were the least in favour and Sir Harry Denham's the most.—The former he believed, had done themselves irremediable harm by expressions of very unwise and unjustifiable resentment at the time of Mr. Hollis's death;—the Latter, to the advantage of being the remnant of a Connection which she certainly valued, joined those of having been known to her from their Childhood, and of being always at hand to preserve their interest by reasonable attention. Sir Edward, the present Baronet, nephew to Sir Harry, resided constantly at Denham Park; and Mr.
