{"product_id":"2940011954214","title":"NORTHANGER ABBEY","description":"CHAPTER 1\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have\u003cbr\u003esupposed her born to be an heroine. Her situation in life, the character\u003cbr\u003eof her father and mother, her own person and disposition, were\u003cbr\u003eall equally against her. Her father was a clergyman, without being\u003cbr\u003eneglected, or poor, and a very respectable man, though his name\u003cbr\u003ewas Richard--and he had never been handsome. He had a considerable\u003cbr\u003eindependence besides two good livings--and he was not in the least\u003cbr\u003eaddicted to locking up his daughters. Her mother was a woman of useful\u003cbr\u003eplain sense, with a good temper, and, what is more remarkable, with a\u003cbr\u003egood constitution. She had three sons before Catherine was born; and\u003cbr\u003einstead of dying in bringing the latter into the world, as anybody might\u003cbr\u003eexpect, she still lived on--lived to have six children more--to see them\u003cbr\u003egrowing up around her, and to enjoy excellent health herself. A family\u003cbr\u003eof ten children will be always called a fine family, where there are\u003cbr\u003eheads and arms and legs enough for the number; but the Morlands had\u003cbr\u003elittle other right to the word, for they were in general very plain, and\u003cbr\u003eCatherine, for many years of her life, as plain as any. She had a thin\u003cbr\u003eawkward figure, a sallow skin without colour, dark lank hair, and strong\u003cbr\u003efeatures--so much for her person; and not less unpropitious for heroism\u003cbr\u003eseemed her mind. She was fond of all boy's plays, and greatly preferred\u003cbr\u003ecricket not merely to dolls, but to the more heroic enjoyments of\u003cbr\u003einfancy, nursing a dormouse, feeding a canary-bird, or watering a\u003cbr\u003erose-bush. Indeed she had no taste for a garden; and if she gathered\u003cbr\u003eflowers at all, it was chiefly for the pleasure of mischief--at least\u003cbr\u003eso it was conjectured from her always preferring those which she was\u003cbr\u003eforbidden to take. Such were her propensities--her abilities were quite\u003cbr\u003eas extraordinary. She never could learn or understand anything\u003cbr\u003ebefore she was taught; and sometimes not even then, for she was often\u003cbr\u003einattentive, and occasionally stupid. Her mother was three months in\u003cbr\u003eteaching her only to repeat the \"Beggar's Petition\"; and after all, her\u003cbr\u003enext sister, Sally, could say it better than she did. Not that Catherine\u003cbr\u003ewas always stupid--by no means; she learnt the fable of \"The Hare and\u003cbr\u003eMany Friends\" as quickly as any girl in England. Her mother wished her\u003cbr\u003eto learn music; and Catherine was sure she should like it, for she was\u003cbr\u003every fond of tinkling the keys of the old forlorn spinnet; so, at eight\u003cbr\u003eyears old she began. She learnt a year, and could not bear it; and Mrs.\u003cbr\u003eMorland, who did not insist on her daughters being accomplished in\u003cbr\u003espite of incapacity or distaste, allowed her to leave off. The day which\u003cbr\u003edismissed the music-master was one of the happiest of Catherine's life.\u003cbr\u003eHer taste for drawing was not superior; though whenever she could obtain\u003cbr\u003ethe outside of a letter from her mother or seize upon any other odd\u003cbr\u003epiece of paper, she did what she could in that way, by drawing houses\u003cbr\u003eand trees, hens and chickens, all very much like one another. Writing\u003cbr\u003eand accounts she was taught by her father; French by her mother: her\u003cbr\u003eproficiency in either was not remarkable, and she shirked her lessons in\u003cbr\u003eboth whenever she could. What a strange, unaccountable character!--for\u003cbr\u003ewith all these symptoms of profligacy at ten years old, she had neither\u003cbr\u003ea bad heart nor a bad temper, was seldom stubborn, scarcely ever\u003cbr\u003equarrelsome, and very kind to the little ones, with few interruptions\u003cbr\u003eof tyranny; she was moreover noisy and wild, hated confinement and\u003cbr\u003ecleanliness, and loved nothing so well in the world as rolling down the\u003cbr\u003egreen slope at the back of the house.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSuch was Catherine Morland at ten. At fifteen, appearances were mending;\u003cbr\u003eshe began to curl her hair and long for balls; her complexion improved,\u003cbr\u003eher features were softened by plumpness and colour, her eyes gained more\u003cbr\u003eanimation, and her figure more consequence. Her love of dirt gave way to\u003cbr\u003ean inclination for finery, and she grew clean as she grew smart; she had\u003cbr\u003enow the pleasure of sometimes hearing her father and mother remark\u003cbr\u003eon her personal improvement. \"Catherine grows quite a good-looking\u003cbr\u003egirl--she is almost pretty today,\" were words which caught her ears now\u003cbr\u003eand then; and how welcome were the sounds! To look almost pretty is an\u003cbr\u003eacquisition of higher delight to a girl who has been looking plain the\u003cbr\u003efirst fifteen years of her life than a beauty from her cradle can ever\u003cbr\u003ereceive.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMrs. Morland was a very good woman, and wished to see her children\u003cbr\u003eeverything they ought to be; but her time was so much occupied in\u003cbr\u003elying-in and teaching the little ones, that her elder daughters were\u003cbr\u003einevitably left to shift for themselves; and it was not very wonderful\u003cbr\u003ethat Catherine, who had by na","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47078534152432,"sku":"2940011954214","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940011954214_p0.jpg?v=1763551610","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940011954214","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}