Burney [married name D'Arblay], Frances (1752-1840)

Camilla: or, A Picture of Youth

London

Printed for T. Payne and T. Cadell, Jun., and W. Davies

1796

"Her form and her mind were of equal elasticity."

The sprightly little girl, thus possessed of the heart, soon guided the will of her uncle. He could refuse nothing to her endearing entreaty, and felt every indulgence repaid by the enchantment of her gaiety. Indiana, his first idol, lost her power to please him, though no essential kindness was abated in his conduct. He still acknowledged that her beauty was the most complete; but he found in Camilla a variety that was captivation. Her form and her mind were of equal elasticity. Her playful countenance rekindled his spirits, the cheerfulness of her animated voice awakened him to its own joy. He doated upon detaining her by his side, or delighted to gratify her if she wished to be absent. She exhilarated him with pleasure, she supplied him with ideas, and from the morning's first dawn to the evening's latest close, his eye followed her lightspringing figure, or his ear vibrated with her sportive sounds; catching, as it listened, in successive rotation, the spontaneous laugh, the unconscious bound, the geniune glee of childhood's fearless happiness, uncurbed by severity, untamed by misfortune.
(I.i.ii, pp. 21-2)

Body::Elasticity

Searching "mind" in C-H LION

At least 2 entries in ESTC (1796).

Frances Burney, Camilla: or, A Picture of Youth. By The Author of Evelina and Cecilia., 5 vols. (London: Printed for T. Payne and T. Cadell, Jun., and W. Davies, 1796). <Link to ProQuest Lion><Link to Volume I in Google Books>

Reading in Camilla (Oxford and New York: OUP, 1983).

03/18/2013