These  were  the  circumstances  and  the  hopes  which
graduaUy  brought  their  alleviation  to  Sir  Thomas,
deadening  hb  sense  of  what  was  lost,  and  m  part  re-
conciling him  to  himself;  though  the  anguish  arising
from  the  conviction  of  his  own  errors  in  the  education
of  his  daughters  was  never  to  be  entirely  done  away.
Too  late  he  became  aware  how  unfavourable  to  the
character  of  any  young  people  must  be  the  totally  oppo-
site treatment  which  Maria  and  Julia  had  been  always
experiencing  at  home,  where  the  excessive  indulgence
and  flattery  of  their  aunt  had  been  continually  contrasted
with  his  own  severity.  He  saw  how  ill  he  had  judged^
in  expecting  to  counteract  what  was  wrong  m  Mrs
Norris,  by  its  reverse  in  himself;  clearly  saw  that  he
had  but  increased  the  evil,  by  teaching  them  to  repress
their  spirits  in  his  presence  [so]  *  as  to  make  their
real  disposition  unknown  to  him,  and  sending  them  for
all  their  indulgences  to  a  person  who  had  been  able  to
attach  them  only  by  the  blindness  of  her  affection,  and
the  excess  of  her  praise.
*  Omitted  in  the  early  editions.
Mansfield  Park  483

Here  had  been  grievous  mismanagement ;  but,  bad  a*
it  was,  he  gradually  grew  to  feel  that  it  had  net  been
the  most  direful  mistake  in  his  plan  of  education.
