NORTHANGER
ABBEY
VOLUME I
CHAPTER I
No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her
infancy would have supposed her born to be an heroine.
Her situation in life, the character of her father and
mother, her own person and disposition, were all equally against
her. Her father was a clergyman, without being neglected, or poor,
and a very respectable man, though his name was Richard—and
he had never been handsome. He had a considerable
independence besides two good livings—and he was not in the
least addicted to locking up his daughters. Her mother was a
woman of useful plain sense, with a good temper, and, what is
more remarkable, with a good constitution. She had three sons
before Catherine was born; and instead of dying in bringing the
latter into the world, as anybody might expect, she still lived on—
lived to have six children more—to see them growing up around
her, and to enjoy excellent health herself. A family of ten children