The family of Dashwood
        had long
            been settled in Sussex.

    Their estate was large,
           and their residence
            was at Norland Park,
         in the centre
               of their property,
           where,
         for many generations,
           they had
              lived in so respectable
                   a manner as
              to engage
                   the general good opinion
                 of their surrounding acquaintance.

    The late owner
           of this estate
        was a single man,
           who lived to a very
              advanced age,
         and who
               for many years
                   of his life,
           had a constant companion
               and housekeeper
             in his sister.

    But her death,
           which happened ten years
             before his own,
         produced a great alteration
               in his home;
        for to supply her loss,
           he invited and
              received into
                   his house
                 the family
                of his nephew
                Mr. Henry Dashwood,
         the legal inheritor
               of the Norland estate,
           and the person
             to whom
                 he intended to bequeath it.

    In the society
           of his nephew
         and niece,
           and their children,
         the old Gentleman's days
            were comfortably spent.

    His attachment
           to them all increased.

    The constant attention of Mr.
           and Mrs. Henry Dashwood
         to his wishes,
           which proceeded not merely
               from interest,
         but from goodness of heart,
           gave him
               every degree of solid comfort
              which his age could receive;
        and the
             cheerfulness
                of the children
              added a relish
                   to his existence.

    By a former marriage,
           Mr. Henry Dashwood
            had one son:
        by his present lady,
           three daughters.

    The son,
           a steady respectable young man,
         was amply
              provided for
                   by the fortune
                       of his mother,
           which had been large,
         and half
             of which
                  devolved on him
                       on his coming of age.

    By his own marriage,
           likewise,
         which happened soon afterwards,
           he added to his wealth.

    To him
         therefore the succession
               to the Norland estate
            was not so
                  really important
                       as to his sisters;
        for their fortune,
           independent of
             what might arise to them
                   from their father's inheriting
                 that property,
         could be but small.

    Their mother had nothing,
           and their father
              only seven thousand pounds
                   in his own disposal;
        for the remaining moiety
               of his first wife's fortune
            was also
                  secured to her child,
           and he
            had only
                   a life-interest in it.

    The old gentleman died:
        his will was read,
           and like almost
               every other will,
         gave as much
             disappointment
                as pleasure.

    He was neither so unjust,
           nor so ungrateful,
         as to leave his estate
               from his nephew;-
        -but he left
               it to him
                   on such terms as
                  destroyed half the value
                       of the bequest.

    Mr. Dashwood
        had wished
               for it more
             for the sake
                   of his wife
                 and daughters
               than for himself
              or his son;-
        -but to his son,
           and his son's son,
         a child
               of four years old,
           it was secured,
         in such a way,
           as to leave
               to himself
                   no power of providing
               for those
             who were most dear
                   to him,
         and who most
              needed a provision
                   by any charge
                       on the estate,
           or by
               any sale
                   of its valuable woods.

    The whole
        was tied
               up for the benefit
                   of this child,
           who,
         in occasional visits
               with his father and mother
             at Norland,
           had so far
              gained on the affections
                   of his uncle,
         by such attractions as
            are by no means unusual
                   in children of two
                  or three years old;
        an imperfect articulation,
           an earnest desire of
            having his own way,
         many cunning tricks,
           and a great deal
               of noise,
         as to outweigh
               all the value of
             all the attention which,
           for years,
         he had
              received from his niece
                   and her daughters.