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Vanity Fair
While
the
present
century
was
in
its
teens
,
and
on
one
sunshiny
morning
in
June
,
there
drove
up
to
the
great
iron
gate
of
Miss
Pinkerton
's
academy
for
young
ladies
,
on
Chiswick
Mall
,
a
large
family
coach
,
with
two
fat
horses
in
blazing
harness
,
driven
by
a
fat
coachman
in
a
three-cornered
hat
and
wig
,
at
the
rate
of
four
miles
an
hour
.
A
black
servant
,
who
reposed
on
the
box
beside
the
fat
coachman
,
uncurled
his
bandy
legs
as
soon
as
the
equipage
drew
up
opposite
Miss
Pinkerton
's
shining
brass
plate
,
and
as
he
pulled
the
bell
at
least
a
score
of
young
heads
were
seen
peering
out
of
the
narrow
windows
of
the
stately
old
brick
house
.
Nay
,
the
acute
observer
might
have
recognized
the
little
red
nose
of
good-natured
Miss
Jemima
Pinkerton
herself
,
rising
over
some
geranium
pots
in
the
window
of
that
lady
's
own
drawing-room
.
"
It
is
Mrs.
Sedley
's
coach
,
sister
,
"
said
Miss
Jemima
.
"
Sambo
,
the
black
servant
,
has
just
rung
the
bell
;
and
the
coachman
has
a
new
red
waistcoat
.
"
"
Have
you
completed
all
the
necessary
preparations
incident
to
Miss
Sedley
's
departure
,
Miss
Jemima
?
"
asked
Miss
Pinkerton
herself
,
that
majestic
lady
;
the
Semiramis
of
Hammersmith
,
the
friend
of
Doctor
Johnson
,
the
correspondent
of
Mrs.
Chapone
herself
.
"
The
girls
were
up
at
four
this
morning
,
packing
her
trunks
,
sister
,
"
replied
Miss
Jemima
;
"
we
have
made
her
a
bow-pot
.
"
"
Say
a
bouquet
,
sister
Jemima
,
'
tis
more
genteel
.
"
"
Well
,
a
booky
as
big
almost
as
a
haystack
;
I
have
put
up
two
bottles
of
the
gillyflower
water
for
Mrs.
Sedley
,
and
the
receipt
for
making
it
,
in
Amelia
's
box
.
"
"
And
I
trust
,
Miss
Jemima
,
you
have
made
a
copy
of
Miss
Sedley
's
account
.
This
is
it
,
is
it
?
Very
good
--
ninety-three
pounds
,
four
shillings
.
Be
kind
enough
to
address
it
to
John
Sedley
,
Esquire
,
and
to
seal
this
billet
which
I
have
written
to
his
lady
.
"
In
Miss
Jemima
's
eyes
an
autograph
letter
of
her
sister
,
Miss
Pinkerton
,
was
an
object
of
as
deep
veneration
as
would
have
been
a
letter
from
a
sovereign
.
Only
when
her
pupils
quitted
the
establishment
,
or
when
they
were
about
to
be
married
,
and
once
,
when
poor
Miss
Birch
died
of
the
scarlet
fever
,
was
Miss
Pinkerton
known
to
write
personally
to
the
parents
of
her
pupils
;
and
it
was
Jemima
's
opinion
that
if
anything
could
console
Mrs.
Birch
for
her
daughter
's
loss
,
it
would
be
that
pious
and
eloquent
composition
in
which
Miss
Pinkerton
announced
the
event
.
In
the
present
instance
Miss
Pinkerton
's
"
billet
"
was
to
the
following
effect
:
--
