Definition of "predilections"

His residence in England had taught him the language; and one or two little adventures had given him a high idea of English predilections for foreigners; he therefore came to the conclusion, that if Miss Arundel was a girl of any heart, it never could resist a picturesque banditti chieftain...

1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter III, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], page 42