a book of sibyls

7/17/2019 A Book of Sibyls

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A Book of Sibyls, by

Anne Thackeray (Mrs. Richmond Ritchie) ThiseBook is for the use of anyone anywhere atno cost and with almost no restrictions

whatsoever. You may copy it, ive it away orre!use it under the terms of the "ro#ect$uten%er &icense included with this eBook oronline at www.uten%er.or

Title' A Book of i%yls Miss Bar%auld, Missdeworth, Mrs *pie, Miss Austen

Author' Anne Thackeray (Mrs. RichmondRitchie)

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A B**? *; 7BY&

MR BARBA>&+ M7 +$*RTncledeworth was. 7 never knew anythin likehim. Brilliant, full of enery and charm, he

was somethin Duite eGtraordinary andirresisti%le. 7f you had known him you wouldnot have wondered at anythin.E

E7 had in the sprin of that year (9L-L) paidmy rst visit to deworthtown with mymother and sister,E writes Miss Beaufort,afterwards Mrs. deworth, the author of the

Memoirs. EMy father had lon %efore %eenthere, and had freDuently met Mr. deworthat Mrs. RuGtonEs. 7n 9L-4 my father waspresented to the livin of 6ollon, in the countyof &outh, where he resided from that time.


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vicarae was within ve minutesE walk of theresidence of Mr. ;oster, then peaker of the7rish


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the lately lost wife were all assem%led tomeet her.

7t ives an unpleasant thrill to read of thenewly!married lady comin alon to her homein a postchaise, and seein somethin odd onthe side of the road. E&ook to the other sideHdonEt look at it,E says Mr. deworthH andwhen they had passed he tells his %ride that itwas the %ody of a man hun %y the re%els%etween the shafts of a car.

The family at deworthtown consisted of twoladies, sisters of the late Mrs. deworth, whomade it their home, and of Maria, the last ofthe rst family. &ovell, now the eldest son,was awayH %ut there were also four dauhtersand three sons at home.

All areed in makin me feel at once at homeand part of the familyH all received me withthe most unaPected cordialityH %ut from Mariait was somethin more. he more thanfullled the promise of her letterH she mademe at once her most intimate friend, and in

every triOe of the day treated me with themost enerous condence.

Those times were even more serious thanthey are nowH we hear of Mr. Bond, the


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deworthtown. E7 am oin on in the old way,writin stories,E says Maria deworth, writinin 9L-8. E7 cannot %e a captain of draoons,

and sittin with my hands %efore me wouldnot make any one of us one deree safer....imple usan went to ;oGhall a few days aofor &ady Anne to carry her to nland.E... EMyfather has made our little rooms so nice forus,E she continuesH Ethey are all fresh paintedand papered. *hF re%els, ohF ;rench spare

them. e have never in#ured you, and all wewish is to see every%ody as happy asourselves.E

*n Auust - we nd from Miss deworthEsletter to her cousin that the ;rench have otto 6astle%ar. EThe &ord!&ieutenant is now atAthlone, and it is supposed it will %e their neGt

o%#ect of attack. My fatherEs corps ofyeomanry are eGtremely attached to him andseem fully in earnestH %ut, alasF %y somestrane nelience, their arms have not yetarrived from +u%lin.... e, who are so nearthe scene of action, cannot %y any meansdiscover what n"m$erof the ;rench actually

landedH some say 8//, some 9,8//, some98,///.E

The family had a narrow escape that day, fortwo oUcers, who were in chare of some


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ammunition, oPered to take them under theirprotection as far as &onford. Mr. deworthmost fortunately detained them. E


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recollected that he had left on the ta%le in hisstudy a list of the yeomanry corps which hefeared miht endaner the poor fellows and

their families if it fell into the hands of there%els.


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servicea%ly employedH and he sends (with hisusual perspicuity) aPectionate messaes tothe +octorEs Eood amia%le lady and his giant

$rood.E But this lon friendly correspondencewas comin to an end. The +octorEs letters, soDuietly humorous and to the point, Mr.deworthEs answers with all theircharacteristic and lively variety, were nearlyat an end.

7t was in 98// that Maria had achieved herreat success, and pu%lished E6astleRackrent,E a %ook!!not for children this time!!which made every%ody talk who read, andthose read who had only talked %efore. Thiswork was pu%lished anonymously, and soreat was its reputation that some one was atthe pains to copy out the whole of the story

with erasures and diPerent sins ofauthenticity, and assume the authorship.

*ne very distinctive mark of MariadeworthEs mind is the honest candour andenuine critical faculty which is hers.


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read V6orinneV with my father, and 7 like it%etter than he does. 7n one word, 7 amdaNNled %y the enius, provoked %y the

a%surdities, and in admiration of the taste andcritical #udment of 7talian literature displayedthrouhout the whole work' %ut 7 will notdilate upon it in a letter. 7 could talk for threehours to you and my aunt.E

lsewhere she speaks with the warmestadmiration of a Eimple tory.E =ane AustenEs%ooks were not yet pu%lishedH %ut anotherwriter, for whom Mr. deworth and hisdauhter had a very reat reard andadmiration, was Mrs. Bar%auld, who in all theheavy trials and sorrows of her later life foundno little help and comfort in the friendshipand constancy of Maria deworth. Mr. and

Mrs. Bar%auld, upon Mr. deworthEsinvitation, paid him a visit at 6lifton, where hewas aain stayin in 9L--, and where the lastMrs. deworthEs eldest child was %orn. Thereis a little anecdote of domestic life at this timein the Memoirs which ives one a limpse, notof an authoress, %ut of a very sympathisin

and impressiona%le person. EMaria took herlittle sister to %rin down to her father, %utwhen she had descended a few steps a panicseiNed her, and she was afraid to o either%ackwards or forwards. he sat down on the


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stairs afraid she should drop the child, afraidthat its head would come oP, and afraid thather father would nd her sittin there and

lauh at her, till seein the footman passinshe called VamuelV in a terried voice, andmade him walk %efore her %ackwards downthe stairs till she safely reached the sittin!room.E ;or all these youner children Mariaseems to have had a most tender andmotherly reard, as indeed for all her youn

%rothers and sisters of the diPerent families.Many of them were the heroines of hervarious stories, and few heroines are morecharmin than some of Miss deworthEs.Rosamund is said %y some to have %een Mariaherself, impulsive, warm!hearted, timid, andyet full of spirit and animation.

7n his last letter to Mr. deworth +r. +arwinwrites kindly of the authoress, and sends hera messae. The letter is dated April 9L, 98/.E7 am lad to nd you still amuse yourself withmechanism in spite of the trou%les of 7relandHEand the +octor oes on to ask his friend tocome and pay a visit to the "riory, and

descri%es the pleasant house with the arden,the ponds full of sh, the deep um%raeousvalley, with the talkative stream runnin downit, and +er%y tower in the distance. The letter,so kind, so playful in its tone, was never


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nished. +r. +arwin was writin as he wasseiNed with what seemed a faintin t, and hedied within an hour. Miss deworth writes of

the shock her father felt when the sad newsreached himH a shock, she says, which must insome deree %e eGperienced %y every personwho reads this letter of +r. +arwinEs.

o wonder this enerous outspoken man wasesteemed in his own time. To us, in ours, ithas %een iven still more to know the no%leson of Ethat iant %rood,E whose name will %eloved and held in honour as lon as peoplelive to honour no%leness, simplicity, andeniusH those thins which ive life to lifeitself.

I777.

E6alais after a rouh passaeH Brussels, Oatcountry, tiled houses, trees and ditches, thewindow shutters turned out to the streetHshwivesE les, +unkirk, and the peoplelookin like wooden toys set in motionHBrues and its minled spires, shippin, and

windmills.E These notes of travel read as ifMiss deworth had %een writin down onlyyesterday a pleasant list of the thins whichare to %e seen two hours oP, to!day no lessplainly than a century ao. he #ots it all down


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from her corner in the postchaise, where sheis propped up with a father, %rother,stepmother, and sister for travellin

companions, and a new %ook to %euile theway. he is charmed with her new %ook. 7t isthe story of EMademoiselle de 6lermont,E %yMadame de $enlis, and only #ust out. Thedeworths (with many other nlish people)re#oiced in the lon!looked!for millennium,which had %een sined only the previous

autumn, and they now came a%road to %askin the sunshine of the 6ontinent, which had%een so lon denied to our mist!%oundislanders. e hear of the enthusiastic andsomewhat premature #oy with which thispeace was received %y all ranks of people.ot only did the nlish rush over to ;ranceH

foreiners crossed to nland, and one ofthem, an old friend of Mr. deworthEs, hadalready reached deworthtown, and inspiredits enterprisin master with a desire to seethose places and thins once more which heheard descri%ed. Mr. deworth was anGiousalso to show his youn wife the treasures inthe &ouvre, and to help her to develop hertaste for art.


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him a lovely youn dauhter, 6harlottedeworth, the dauhter of liNa%eth neyd.They travelled %y Belium, stoppin on their

way at Brues, at $hent, and visitin picturesand churches alon the road, as travellers stilllike to do. Mrs. deworth was, as we havesaid, the artistic mem%er of the party. e donot know what modern rhapsodists would sayto Miss deworthEs very su%dued criticismsand descriptions of feelin on this occasion. E7t

is eGtremely areea%le to me,E she writes, Etosee paintins with those who have eGcellenttaste and no aPectation.E And this remarkmiht perhaps %e thouht even more to thepoint now than in the pre!sthetic ae inwhich it was innocently made. The travellersare nally landed in "aris in a manicent

hotel in a ne sDuare, Eformerly "lace &ouis!uinNe, afterwards "lace de la R\volution,now "lace de la 6oncorde.E And "lace de la6oncorde it remains, wars and revolutionsnotwithstandin, whether lihted %y theOames of the desperate 6ommune or %y thepeaceful sunsets which stream their eveninlory across the %lood!stained stones.

The deworths did not come as straners to"arisH they %rouht letters and introductionswith them, and %yone associations andfriendships which had only now to %e


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resumed. The well!known A%%\ Morellet, theirold acDuaintance, Eanswered for them,E saysMiss deworth, and %esides all this Mr

deworthEs name was well known inscientic circles. Br\uet, Montoler, andothers all made him welcome. &ord


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master upon the scaPold and to speak thoseno%le warm!hearted words, the last that &ouisever heard. *ne can picture the family party

as it must have appeared with its pleasantBritish looks!!the areea%le Eruddy!facedEfather, the entle Mrs. deworth, who issomewhere descri%ed %y her stepdauhter asso orderly, so clean, so freshly dressed, thechild of fteen, only too %eautiful anddelicately lovely, and last of all Maria herself,

the nice little unassumin, =eannie!+eans!lookin %ody &ord Byron descri%ed, small,homely, perhaps, %ut with her ift of ;rench,of charmin intercourse, her fresh laurels ofauthorship (for EBelindaE was lately pu%lished),her %riht animation, her cultivated mind andpower of interestin all those in her company,

to say nothin of her own kindlin interest inevery one and every thin round a%out her.


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manner that will surprise you as much as itsurprised me!!%y the comin of M. delcrantN,a wedish entleman whom we have

mentioned to you, of superior understandinand mild manners.


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heroine could have inspired a deeper or moretouchin admiration than this one which M.delcrantN felt for his nlish friendH the mild

and superior wede seems to have %eenthorouhly in earnest.

o indeed was Miss deworth, %ut she wasnot carried away %y the natural impulse of themoment. he realised the many diUcultiesand daners of the unknownH she looked tothe futureH she turned to her own home, andwith an aPection all the more felt %ecause ofthe trial to which it was now eGposed. Themany lessons of self!control and self!restraintwhich she had learnt returned with instinctiveforce. ometimes it happens that people misswhat is perhaps the %est for the sake of theneGt %est, and we see convenience and old

ha%it and eGpediency, and a hundred smalland insinicant circumstances, atherin likesome avalanche to divide hearts that mihtive and receive very much from each. Butsentiment is not the only thin in life. *therduties, ties, and realities there areH and it isdiUcult to #ude for others in such matters.

incerity of heart and truth to themselves arepretty sure in the end to lead people in theriht direction for their own and for otherpeopleEs happiness. *nly, in the eGperience ofmany women there is the daner that Ged


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ideas, and other peopleEs opinion, and theforce of custom may limit lives which mihthave %een complete in reater thins, thouh

perhaps less perfect in the lesser. "eople inthe a%stract are sincere enouh in wishinfulness of eGperience and of happiness tothose dearest and nearest to themH %ut weare only human %eins, and when the timecomes and the horri%le necessity for partinapproaches, our courae oes, our hearts fail,

and we think we are preachin reason andood sense while it is only a most naturalinstinct which leads us to clin to that towhich we are used and to those we love.

Mr. deworth did not attempt to inOuenceMaria. Mrs. deworth evidently had somemisivins, and certainly much sympathy for

the 6hevalier and for her friend andstepdauhter. he says'!!

Maria was mistaken as to her own feelins.he refused M. delcrantN, %ut she felt muchmore for him than esteem and admirationHshe was eGtremely in love with him. Mr.

deworth left her to decide for herselfH %utshe saw too plainly what it would %e to us tolose her and what she would feel at partinwith us. he decided rihtly for her own futurehappiness and for that of her family, %ut she


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suPered much at the time and lonafterwards. hile we were at "aris 7remem%er that in a shop, where 6harlotte and

7 were makin purchases, Maria sat aparta%sor%ed in thouht, and so deep in reveriethat when her father came in and stoodopposite to her she did not see him till hespoke to her, when she started and %urst intotears.... 7 do not think she repented of herrefusal or reretted her decision. he was well

aware that she could not have made M.delcrantN happy, that she would not havesuited his position at the 6ourt of tockholm,and that her want of %eauty miht havediminished his attachment. 7t was perhaps%etter she should think so, for it calmed hermindH %ut from what 7 saw of M. delcrantN 7

think he was a man capa%le of really valuinher. 7 %elieve he was much attached to her,and deeply mortied at her refusal.


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Mrs. deworth tells us that after herstepdauhterEs return to deworthtown sheoccupied herself with various literary works,

correctin some of her former M. for thepress, and writin EMadame de ;leury,E Emiliede 6oulanes,E and E&eonora.E But the hih!Oown and romantic style did suit her ift, andshe wrote %est when her enuine interest andunaPected lances shone with %rihtunderstandin sympathy upon her immediate

surroundins. hen we are told that E&eonoraEwas written in the style the 6hevalierdelcrantN preferred, and that the idea ofwhat he would think of it was present to Mariain every pae, we %ein to realise that for usat all events it was a most fortunate thinthat she decided as she did. 7t would have

%een a loss indeed to the world if this kindlinand delihtful spirit of hers had %een choked%y the polite thorns, ctions, and platitudes ofan articial, courtly life and %y the well!ordered narrowness of a limited standard. henever heard what the 6hevalier thouht of the%ookH she never knew that he ever read iteven. 7t is a satisfaction to hear that hemarried no one else, and while she sat writinand not forettin in the pleasant li%rary athome, one can imaine the romantic6hevalier in his distant 6ourt faithful to thesudden and romantic devotion %y which he is


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now remem%ered. Romantic and chivalrousfriendship seems to %elon to his country andto his countrymen.

7K.

There are one or two other episodes lesssentimental than this one recorded of thisvisit to "aris, not the least interestin of these%ein the account iven of a call uponMadame de $enlis. The youner author from

her own standpoint havin resolutely turnedaway from the voice of the charmer for thesake of that which she is convinced to %e dutyand ood sense, now somewhat sternly takesthe measure of her elder sister, who hasfailed in the strule, who is alone andfriendless, and who has made her fate.

The story is too lon to Duote at full lenth.An isolated pae without its settin loses verymuchH the previous description of thedarkness and uncertainty throuh whichMaria and her father o wanderin, andaskin their way in vain, adds immensely to

the sense of the loom and isolation whichare hidin the close of a lon and %rilliantcareer. At last, after wanderin for a lon timeseekin for Madame de $enlis, the travellerscompel a reluctant porter to show them the


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staircase in the Arsenal, where she is livin,and to point out the door %efore he oes oPwith the liht.

They wait in darkness. The account of whathappens when the door is opened is sointerestin that 7 cannot refrain from Duotinit at lenth'!!

After rinin the %ell we presently hearddoors open and little footsteps approachin

nih. The door was opened %y a irl of a%out


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misera%le!lookinH %ut, misera%le or not, nohome in "aris can %e without them. The irl,or youn lady, for we were still in dou%t which

to think her, led into a small room in whichthe candles were so well screened %y a reentin screen that we could scarcely distinuishthe tall form of a lady in %lack who rose fromher chair %y the resideH as the door opened areat puP of smoke came from the huereplace at the same moment. he came

forward, and we made our way towards her aswell as we could throuh a confusion ofta%les, chairs, and work!%askets, china,writin!desks and inkstands, and %irdcaes,and a harp. he did not speak, and as her%ack was now turned to %oth re and candle 7could not see her face or anythin %ut the

outline of her form and her attitude.


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hile she spoke she looked over my shoulderat my father, whose %ow, 7 presume, told herhe was a entleman, for she spoke to him

immediately as if she wished to please andseated us in fa"te"ilsnear the re.

7 then had a full view of her face!!ure verythin and melancholy dark eyes, lon sallowcheeks, compressed thin lips, two or three%lack rinlets on a hih forehead, a cap thatMrs. $rier miht wear!!altoether inappearance of fallen fortunes, worn!outhealth, and eGcessive %ut uarded irrita%ility.To me there was nothin of that enain,captivatin manner which 7 had %een tauhtto eGpect. he seemed to me to %e alive onlyto literary Duarrels and #ealousies. Themuscles of her face as she spoke, or as my

father spoke to her, Duickly and too easilyeGpressed hatred and aner.... he is now,you know, d8vote aharn8e.... Madame de$enlis seems to have %een so much used to%ein attacked that she has defence andapoloies ready prepared. he spoke ofMadame de taWlEs E+elphineE with

detestation.... ;orive me, my dear AuntMaryH you %eed me to see her withfavoura%le eyes, and 7 went, after seein herERosi[re de alency,E with the most favoura%ledisposition, %ut 7 could not like her.... And


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from time to time 7 saw, or thouht 7 saw,throuh the loom of her countenance aleam of coDuetry. But my father #udes of

her much more favoura%ly than 7 do. heevidently took pains to please him, and hesays he is sure she is a person over whosemind he could ain reat ascendency.

The Eyoun and ay philosopherE at fty is notunchaned since we knew him rst. Mariaadds a postscript'

7 had almost forotten to tell you that thelittle irl who showed us in is a irl whom sheis educatin. Elle mEappelle maman, mais ellenEest pas ma lle.E The manner in which thislittle irl spoke to Madame de $enlis andlooked at her appeared to me more in her

favour than anythin else. 7 went to look atwhat the child was writinH she wastranslatin +arwinEs:oonomia.

very description one reads %y Missdeworth of actual thins and people makesone wish that she had written more of them.

This one is the more interestin from thecontrast of the two women, %oth soremarka%le and comin to so diPerent a resultin their eGperience of life.

This eventful visit to "aris is %rouht to an


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eventful termination %y several endarmes,who appear early one mornin in Mr.deworthEs %edroom with orders that he is to

et up and to leave "aris immediately. Mr.deworth had %een accused of %ein %rotherto the A%%\ de ;ermont. hen the mitiatedcircumstances of his %ein only a rst cousinwere put forward %y &ord hitworth, thenlish Am%assador, the deworths receivedpermission to return from the su%ur% to which

they had retiredH %ut private news hurriedtheir departure, and they were only in time toescape the eneral %lockade and detention ofnlish prisoners. After little more than a yearof peace, once more war was declared on May/, 98/2. &ovell, the eldest son, who wasa%sent at the time and travellin from

witNerland, was not a%le to escape in timeHnor for twelve years to come was the younman a%le to return to his own home andfamily.

K.

EBelinda,E E6astle Rackrent,E the E"arentsE

Assistant,E the Essays on "ractical ducation,Ehad all made their mark. The new series ofpopular tales was also welcomed. There wereother %ooks on the wayH Miss deworth hadseveral M. in hand in various staes, stories


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to correct for the press. There was also a lonnovel, rst %eun %y her father and taken upand carried on %y her. The Essays on "ractical

ducation,E which were rst pu%lished in9L-8, continued to %e read. M. "ictet hadtranslated the %ook into ;rench the year%eforeH a third edition was pu%lished some tenyears later, in 9899, in the preface of whichthe authors say, E7t is due to the pu%lic tostate that twelve yearsE additional eGperience

in a numerous family, and careful attention tothe results of other modes of education, haveiven the authors no reason to retract whatthey have advanced in these volumes.E

7n Mr. deworthEs Memoirs, however, hisdauhter states that he modied his opinionsin one or two particularsH allowin more and

more li%erty to the children, and at the sametime concedin reater importance to theha%it of early thouh mechanical ePorts ofmemory. The essays seem in every way inadvance of their timeH many of the hintscontained in them most certainly apply to thelittle children of to!day no less than to their

small randparents. A lady whose own nameis hih in the annals of education was tellinme that she had %een reatly struck %y theresem%lance %etween the deworth systemand that of ;roe%elEs ?inderarten method,


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which is now ainin more and more roundin peopleEs estimation, the o%#ect of %oth%ein not so much to cram instruction into

early youth as to draw out each childEspowers of o%servation and attention.

The rst series of tales of fashiona%le lifecame out in 98/-, and contained amonother stories Ennui,E one of the mostremarka%le of Miss deworthEs works. Thesecond series included the EA%sentee,E thatdelihtful story of which the lesson should %eimpressed upon us even more than in theyear 989. The EA%senteeE was at rst only anepisode in the loner novel of E"atronaeHE %utthe pu%lic was impatient, so were thepu%lishers, and fortunately for every one theEA%senteeE was printed as a separate tale.

E"atronaeE had %een %eun %y Mr. deworthto amuse his wife, who was recoverin fromillnessH it was oriinally called the E;ortunes ofthe ;reeman ;amily,E and it is a history with amoral. Morals were more in fashion then thanthey are now, %ut this one is o%vious without

any commentary upon it. 7t is tolera%ly certainthat clever, industrious, well!conductedpeople will succeed, where idle, schemin,and untrustworthy persons will eventually failto et on, even with powerful friends to %ack


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them. But the novel has yet to %e written thatwill prove that, where merits are more eDual,a little patronae is not of a reat deal of use,

or that peopleEs positions in life are eGactlyproportioned to their merit. Mrs. Bar%auldEspretty essay on the E7nconsistency of


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a%out some letters of BurkeEs to herrandfather and herself. 7t would have %eenadvantaeous to her to pu%lish themH %ut, as

Mrs. Burke05!!


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Miss deworth desires me as a man of%usiness to write to Mrs. &ead%eater relativeto the pu%lication of E6ottae +ialoues.E Miss

deworth has written an advertisement, andwill, with Mrs. &ead%eaterEs permission, writenotes for an nlish edition. The schemewhich 7 propose is of two parts!!to sell thenlish copyriht to the house of =ohnson in&ondon, where we dispose of our own works,and to pu%lish a very lare and cheap edition

for 7reland for schools.... 7 can pro%a%lyintroduce the %ook into many places. *urfamily takes 2// copies, &ady &onford 4/, +r.Beaufort /, Cc.... 7 think =ohnson C 6o. willive 4/l&for the nlish copyriht.

After the transaction Mr. deworth wrote tothe pu%lishers as follows'!!

May 29, 9899' deworthtown. My siGty!eihth %irthday.

My dear $entlemen,!!7 have #ust heard yourletter to Mrs. &ead%eater read %y one whodropped tears of pleasure from a sense of

your enerous and handsome conduct. 7 takereat pleasure in speakin of you to the restof the world as you deserve, and 7 cannotrefrain from eGpressin to yourselves theenuine esteem that 7 feel for you. 7 know that


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this direct praise is scarcely allowa%le, %ut myadvanced ae and my close connection withyou must %e my eGcuse.!!Yours sincerely, R. &.

.Tears seem eDuivalent to somethin morethan the estimated value of Mrs. &ead%eaterEsla%ours. The charmin and well!known Mrs.Trench who was also Mary &ead%eaterEsfriend, writes warmly praisin the notes. EMissdeworthEs notes on your +ialoues have asmuch spirit and oriinality as if she had never%efore eGplored the mine which many thouhtshe had eGhausted.E

All these are pleasant specimens of thedeworth correspondence, which, however(followin the course of most

correspondence), does not seem to have %eenalways eDually areea%le. There are someletters (amon others which 7 have %eenallowed to see) written %y Maria a%out thistime to an unfortunate youn man who seemsto have annoyed her reatly %y his eGcitedimportunities.

7 thank you 0she says5 for your friendly Neal indefence of my powers of pathos andsu%limityH %ut 7 think it carries you much toofar when it leads you to imaine that 7 refrain,


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from principle or virtue, from displayinpowers that 7 really do not possess. 7 assureyou that 7 am not in the least capa%le of

writin a dithyram%ic ode, or any other kindof ode.

*ne is reminded %y this suestion of =aneAusten also declinin to write Ean historicalnovel illustrative of the auust


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Your last letter, dated in =une, was manymonths %efore it reached me. 7n answer to allyour reproaches at my silence 7 can only

assure you that it was not caused %y anychane in my opinions or ood wishesH %ut 7do not carry on what is called a reularcorrespondence with any%ody eGcept withone or two of my very nearest relationsH and itis %est to tell the plain truth that my fatherparticularly dislikes my writin letters, so 7

write as few as 7 possi%ly can.K7.

hile Maria deworth was at work in her7rish home, successfully producin heradmira%le delineations, another woman, %ornsome eiht years later, and livin in the Duiet


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sisters at home, used to Duote to themS E*h,&ordFE says =ohn Thorpe, E7 never read novelsH 7have other thins to do.E

A friend reminds us of Miss AustenEs ownindinant out%urst. E*nly a novelF onlyV6ecilia,V or V6amilla,V or VBelindaHV or, inshort, only some work in which the reatestpowers of the mind are displayed, the mostthorouh knowlede of human nature, thehappiest delineation of its varieties, theliveliest ePusions of wit and humour, areconveyed to the world in the %est!chosenlanuae.E 7f the reat historian, who lovednovels himself, had not assured us that weowe Miss Austen and Miss deworth to theearly inOuence of the author of Evelina,E onemiht rude EBelindaE to such company as

that of E6eciliaE and E6amilla.E

E"ride and "re#udiceE and Eorthaner A%%eyEwere pu%lished a%out the same time asE"atronaeE and ETales of ;ashiona%le &ife.ETheir two authors illustrate, curiously enouh,the diPerence %etween the national

characteristics of nlish and 7rish!!the%readth, the versatility, the innate wit andaiety of an 7rish mindH the comparativenarrowness of rane of an nlish natureHwhere, however, we are more likely to et


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humour and its never!failin charm. &onafterwards =ane Austen sent one of her novelsto Miss deworth, who appreciated it indeed,

as such a mind as hers could not fail to do,%ut it was with no such enthusiasm as thatwhich she felt for other more am%itiousworks, with more of incident, power,knowlede of the world, in the place of thatone su%tle Duality of humour which for somepersons outweihs almost every other.

omethin, some indenite sentiment, tellspeople where they amalamate and withwhom they are intellectually akinH and %ysome such process of criticism the writer feelsthat in this little memoir of Miss deworthshe has %ut sketched the outer likeness of thisremarka%le womanEs life and eniusH and that

she has scarcely done #ustice to very much inMiss deworth, which so many of theforemost men of her day could appreciate!!apower, a versatility, an interest in su%#ects fortheir own sakes, not for the sakes of thosewho are interested in them, which wasessentially hers.

7t is always characteristic to watch a writerEsproress in the estimation of critics andreviewers. 7n 98/- Miss deworth ismoderately and respectfully noticed. EAs awriter of novels and tales she has a marked


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peculiarity, that of venturin to dispensecommon sense to her readers and to %rinthem within the precincts of real life. ithout

eGcludin love from her paes she knows howto assin to it its true limits.E 7n 989 thereviewer, more used to hear the authorEspraises on all sides, now starts from a hiherkey, and, as far as truth to nature anddelineation of character are concerned, doesnot allow a rival eGcept E+on uiGoteE and E$il

Blas.E The followin criticism is #ust and moreto the point'!!

To this power of masterly and minutedelineation of character Miss deworth addsanother which has rarely %een com%ined withthe former, that of interweavin thepeculiarities of her persons with the conduct

of her piece, and makin them, withoutforettin for a moment their personalconsistency, conduce to the eneral lesson....


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admira%le of her works. e may all remem%erhow Macaulay once pronounced that thescene in the EA%senteeE where &ord 6olam%re

discovers himself to his tenantry was the %estthin of the sort since the openin of thetwenty!second %ook of the E*dyssey.E

An article %y &ord +udley, which is still to %eDuoted, appeared in the Euarterly ReviewE in9893. hat he says of her works applies noless to Miss deworthEs own life than to theprinciples which she inculcates.

The old rule was for heroes and heroines tofall suddenly and irretrieva%ly in love. 7f theyfell in love with the riht person so much the%etterH if not, it could not %e helped, and thenovel ended unhappily. And, a%ove all, it was

held Duite irreular for the most reasona%lepeople to make any use whatever of theirreason on the most important occasion oftheir lives. Miss deworth has presumed totreat this mihty power with far lessreverence. he has analysed it and found itdoes not consist of one simple element, %ut

that several common inredients enter into itscomposition!!ha%it, esteem, a %elief of somecorrespondin sentiment and of suita%lenessin the character and circumstances of theparty. he has pronounced that reason, timely


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and viorously applied, is almost a specic,and, followin up this %old empirical line ofpractice, she has actually produced cases of

the entire cure of persons who had la%ouredunder its operation. tility is her o%#ect, reason andeGperience her means.

K77.

This review of &ord +udleyEs must have comeout after a visit from the deworth family to&ondon in 9892, which seems to have %een a

most %rilliant and amusin campain. E7 knowthe homae that was paid you,E wrote Mrs.Bar%auld, speakin of the event, Eand 7eGulted in it for your sake and for my seGEssake.E Miss deworth was at the heiht ofher popularity, in ood spirits and oodhealth. Mr. deworth was seventy, %ut he

looked years youner, and was still inundiminished health and viour. The partywas welcomed, f]ted, souht aftereverywhere. Gcept that they miss seeinMadame dEAr%lay and leave &ondon %efore


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the arrival of Madame de taWl, they seem tohave come in for everythin that was %rilliant,fashiona%le, and entertainin. They %reakfast

with poets, they sup with marDuises, they callupon duchesses and scientic men. MariaEsold friend the +uchess of ellinton is notless her friend than she was in 6ounty&onford. very one likes them and comesknockin at their lodin!house door, whileMaria upstairs is writin a letter, standin at a

chest of drawers. EMiss deworth isdelihtful,E says Tom Moore, Enot from display,%ut from repose and unaPectedness, the leastpretendin person.E ven &ord Byron writeswarmly of the authoress whose company is sorateful, and who oes her simple, pleasantway cheerful and %rinin kind cheer, and

makin friends with the children as well aswith the elders. Many of these children intheir lives fully #ustied her interest, childrenwhom we in turn have known and looked upto as distinuished reyheaded men.

ome one asked Miss deworth how shecame to understand children as she did, what

charm she used to win them. E7 donEt know,Eshe said kindlyH E7 lie down and let them crawlover me.E he was reatly pleased on oneoccasion when at a crowded party a little irlsuddenly started forth, looked at her hard,


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and said, E7 like simple usan %est,E andrushed away overwhelmed at her ownaudacity. The same lady who was present on

this occasion asked her a Duestion which wemust all %e rateful to have solved for us!!how it happened that the respective places of&aura and Rosamond came to %e transposedin E"atronae,E &aura havin %een the wiserelder sister in the E"urple =ar,E and appearinsuddenly as the youner in the novel. Miss

deworth lauhed and said that &aura had%een so preternaturally wise and thouhtfulas a child, she could never have kept her upto the mark, and so she thouht it %est tochane the character altoether.

+urin one of her visits to &ondon Missdeworth went to dine at the house of Mr.

MarshallH and his dauhter, &ady Monteale,tells a little story which ives an impression,and a kind one, of the cele%rated uest.verythin had %een prepared in her honour,the lihts lihted, the viands were cooked.+inner was announced, and some importantperson was %rouht forward to hand Miss

deworth down, when it was discovered thatshe had vanished. ;or a moment the companyand the dinner were all at a standstill. hewas a small person, %ut dilient search wasmade. Miss deworth had last %een seen


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with the children of the house, and she waseventually found in the %ack kitchen, escorted%y the said children, who, havin conded

their private aPairs to her sympathetic ear,had nally invited her to come with them andsee some ra%%its which they were rearindown %elow. A lady who used to live at 6liftonas a little irl, and to %e sometimesprescri%ed for %y +r. ?in, was once %rouhtup as a child to Miss deworth, and she told

me how very much puNNled she felt when the%riht old lady, takin her %y the hand, said,Eell, my dear, how do you do, and how is myeGcellent %rother!in!lawSE *ne can imainewhat a vaue sort of %ein an EeGcellent%rother!in!lawE would seem to a very younchild.

e read in Miss deworthEs memoir of herfather that Mr. deworth recovered from hisserious illness in 9893 to en#oy a few moreyears of life amon his friends, his children,and his eGperiments.


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sinkin into the indolent state which portendstheir decay,E and his dauhter says that hewent on learnin to the last, correctin his

faults and practisin his memory %y variousdevices, so that it even improved with ae.

7n one of his last letters to Mrs. Beaufort, hiswifeEs mother, he speaks with no littlepaternal pleasure of his home and hischildren' Euch eGcellent principles, such #ustviews of human life and manners, suchcultivated understandins, such charmintempers make a little "aradise a%out meHEwhile with reard to his dauhterEs works headds concernin the %ook which was a%out toappear, E7f MariaEs tales fail with the pu%lic,you will hear of my hanin myself.E

Mr. deworth died in the summer of 989L, athome, surrounded %y his family, rateful, ashe says, to "rovidence for allowin his %ody toperish %efore his mind.

+urin the melancholy months whichsucceeded her fatherEs death Maria hardly

wrote any lettersH her siht was in a mostalarmin state. The tears, she said, felt in hereyes like the cuttin of a knife. he hadoverworked them all the previous winter,sittin up at niht and strulin with her


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rief as she wrote E*rmond.E he was nowuna%le to use them without pain....deworthtown now %eloned to &ovell, the

eldest survivin %rother, %ut he wished it tocontinue the home of the family. Maria set towork to complete her fatherEs memoirs and tofull his last wish.

7t was not without reat hesitation andanGiety that she determined to nish writinher fatherEs &ife. There is a touchin appeal ina letter to her aunt RuGton. E7 felt thehappiness of my life was at stake. ven if allthe rest of the world had praised it and youhad %een dissatised, how misera%le should 7have %eenFE And there is another sentencewritten at Bowood, very sad and full ofremem%rance' E7 feel as if 7 had lived a

hundred years and was left alive afterevery%ody else.E The %ook came out, andmany thins were said a%out it, not all praise.The EuarterlyE was so spiteful and intolerantthat it seemed almost personal in its violence.7t certainly would have %een a reat loss tothe world had this curious and interestin

memoir never %een pu%lished, %ut at the timethe a%sence of certain phrases andeGpressions of opinions which Mr. deworthhad never specially professed seemed reatlyto oPend the reviewers.


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The worst of these attacks Miss deworthnever read, and the task nished, the sadmonths over, the poor eyes recovered, she

crossed to nland.K777.

*ne is lad to hear of her away and atBowood revivin in ood company, in allsenses of the word.


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society in which she lived. hen she oesa%road soon after with her two younersisters (;anny, the %a%y whose head so nearly

came oP in her arms, and


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the veil than 7 have, and is as little likely to doit. he is Duite %eautifulH she dresses herselfand her little room with eleant simplicity,

and lives in a convent only %ecause it ischeap and respecta%le.

*ne sees it all, the convent, the company, thelast refrain of former triumphs, the faithfulromantic Matthieu de Montmorenci, anda%ove all the poor Mar\chale, who willscreech for ever in her arlic. &et us turn thepae, we nd another picture from these notlon past days'!!

Breakfast at 6amille =ordanEsH it was half!pasttwelve %efore the company assem%led, andwe had an hourEs delihtful conversation with6amille =ordan and his wife in her spotless

white muslin and little cap, sittin at herhus%andEs feet as he lay on the sofaH as clean,as nice, as fresh, as thouhtless of herself asmy mother. At this %reakfast we saw three ofthe most distinuished of that party who callthemselves Eles +octrinairesE and say they aremore attached to measures than to men.


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"olish ladies. *val face, pale, with the nest,softest, most eGpressive chestnut dark eyes.he has a sort of politeness which pleases

peculiarly, a miGture of the ease of hih rankand early ha%it with somethin that issentimental without aPectation. Madame leBrun is paintin her picture. Madame le Brunis siGty!siG, with reat vivacity as well asenius, and %etter worth seein than herpictures, for thouh they are speakin she

speaks.Another visit the sisters paid, which willinterest the readers of Madame de laRoche#aDuelinEs memoirs of the war in theIend\e'!!

7n a small %edroom, well furnished, with a re

#ust lihted, we found Madame de laRoche#aDuelin on the sofaH her two dauhtersat work, one spinnin with a distaP, the otherem%roiderin muslin. Madame is a fat womanwith a %road, round, fair face and a most%enevolent eGpression, her hair cut short andperfectly rey as seen under her capH the rest

of the face much too youn for such reylocksH and thouh her face and %undled formall sDuashed on to a sofa did not at rstpromise much of entility, you could not hearher speak or hear her for three minutes


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without perceivin that she was well!%orn andwell!%red.

Madame de la Roche#aDuelin seems to haveconded in Miss deworth.

E7 am always sorry when any straner seesme,pare 9"e +e sais 9"e +e d8tr"is to"teill"sion& 0e sais 9"e +e devrais avoir l-air d-"neh8ro;ne&E he is much %etter than a heroineHshe is %enevolence and truth itself.

e must not foret the scientic world whereMadame Maria was no less at home than infashiona%le literary cliDues. The sisters sawsomethin of 6uvier at "arisH in witNerlandthey travelled with the Araos. They were ontheir way to the Marcets at $eneva when they

stopped at 6oppet, where Miss deworthwas always specially happy in the society ofMadame Auuste de taWl and Madame deBrolie. But witNerland is not one of theplaces where human %eins only are in theascendantH other inOuences there are almoststroner than human ones. E7 did not conceive

it possi%le that 7 should feel so much pleasurefrom the %eauties of nature as 7 have donesince 7 came to this country. The rst momentwhen 7 saw Mont Blanc will remain an era inmy life!!a new idea, a new feelin standin


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alone in the mind.E Miss deworth presentlycomes down from her mountain heihts and,full of interest, throws herself into the talk of

her friends at 6oppet and $eneva, from whichshe Duotes as it occurs to her.


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eward mentions a entleman who wrotefrom a%road to propose for the hand of theauthoress, and who, more fortunate than the

poor 6hevalier delcrantN, was not refused %ythe lady. "erhaps some similarity ofeGperience may have led Maria deworth towish for her acDuaintance.


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there may have %een too reat a diPerence ofae for that companionship to continue whichoften eGists %etween a child and a rown!up

person. o at least one is led to %elieve wasthe case as reards one of them, mentionedin a memoir which has recently appeared. Butto her sisters she could %e friend, protector,chaperon, sympathisin companion, and eldersister to the end of her days. e hear of themall at Bowood aain on their way %ack to

7reland, and then we nd them all at homesettlin down to the old life, EMaria readin\vin\,E of whom she never tires.

K7I.

*ne of the prettiest and most sympatheticincidents in Maria deworthEs life was a

su%seDuent eGpedition to A%%otsford and thepleasure she ave to its master. They rstmet in din%urh, and her short accountcon#ures up the whole scene %efore us'!!

Ten oEclock struck as 7 read this note. e weretired, we were not t to %e seen, %ut 7 thouht

it riht to accept alter cottEs cordialinvitation, sent for a hackney coach, and #ustas we were, without dressin, we went. As thecoach stopped we saw the hall lihted, andthe moment the door opened heard the


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#oyous sounds of loud sinin. Three servantsEEThe Miss deworthsFE sounded from hall tolandin!place, and as 7 paused for a moment

in the anteroom 7 heard the rst sound ofalter cottEs voice!!EThe Miss deworthsomeFE The room was lihted %y only onelo%e lampH a circle were sinin loud and%eatin time' all stopped in an instant.

7s not this picture completeS cott himself shedescri%es as Efull of enius without theslihtest ePort at eGpression, delihtfullynatural, more lame %ut not so unwieldy as sheeGpected.E &ady cott she oes on to sketch insome half!doNen words!!E;rench, lare darkeyes, civil and ood!natured.E

hen we wakened the neGt mornin the

whole scene of the precedin niht seemedlike a dream 0she continues5H however attwelve came the real &ady cott, and wecalled for cott at the "arliament


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reserve. Mrs. &ockhart is very pleasin!!asliht, eleant ure and raceful simplicityof manner, perfectly natural. There is

somethin most winnin in her aPectionatemanner to her father.


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Maria and my dauhter


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says, somewhere, E7 am much inclined to thinkthat he has a natural enius for happinessH inother words, as ydney mith would say,

great hereditary onstit"tional +oy.E EToattempt to Boswell ydney mithEsconversation would %e to out%oswell Boswell,Eshe writes in another letter homeH %ut in &ady


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novelists of the future would eGclusively work.he took the world as she found it, andselected from it the materials that she

thouht would %e interestin to write a%out,in a clear and natural style. 7t was 7vanTuru\neP himself who told me this, says thewriter of the article, and he modestly saidthat he was an unconscious disciple of Missdeworth in settin out on his literary career.ralian


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made her conversation peculiarly areea%leto him.E *n her side Maria writes warmlydesirin that some 7rish %ishopric miht %e

forced upon ydney mith, which Ehis ownsense of natural charity and humanity wouldfor%id him refuse.... 7n the twinklin of aneye!!such an eye as his!!he would see all ourmanifold rievances up and down the country.*ne word, one $on motof his, would do morefor us, 7 uess, than !!!!Es four hundred paes

and all the like with which we have %een%ored.E

The two knew how to make ood company forone anotherH the Duiet!=eanie!+eans %odycould listen as well as ive out. e are toldthat it was not so much that she said %rilliantthins, %ut that a eneral perfume of wit ran

throuh her conversation, and she mostcertainly had the ift of appreciatin the oodthins of others. hether in that Escene ofsimplicity, truth, and natureE a &ondon rout, orin some Duiet


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could not %ear the idea that you suspectedme of %ein so weak, so vain, so senseless,Eshe once wrote to Mrs. Bar%auld, Eas to have

my head turned %y a little fashiona%leOattery.E 7f her head was not turned it musthave %een %ecause her spirit was stoutenouh to withstand the worldEs almostirresisti%le inOuence.

ot only the reat men %ut the women tooare amon her friends. he writes prettily ofMrs. omerville, with her smilin eyes andpink colour, her soft voice, stron, well!%redcotch accent, timid, not disDualifyin timid,%ut naturally modest. Ehile her head isamon the stars her feet are rm upon theearth.E he is EdelihtedE with a criticism ofMadame de taWlEs upon herself, in a letter to

M. +umont. EIraiment elle \tait dine delEenthousiasme, mais elle se perd dans votretriste utilit\.E 7t is diUcult to understand whythis should have iven Miss deworth somuch pleasureH and here nally is a littlevision con#ured up for us of her meetin withMrs. ;ry amon her prisoners'!!

&ittle doors, and thick doors, and doors of allsorts were un%olted and unlocked, and on wewent throuh dreary %ut clean passaes tillwe came to a room where rows of empty


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%enches fronted us, a ta%le on which lay alare Bi%le. everal ladies and entlemenentered, took their seats on %enches at either

side of the ta%le in silence. nter Mrs. ;ry in adra%!coloured silk cloak and a plain,%orderless uaker cap, a most %enevolentcountenance, calm, %enin. E7 must make aninDuiry. 7s Maria deworth hereSE And when 7went forward she %ade me come and sit%eside her.


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and perseverance, and weathered the stormthat swamped so many in this nancial crisis.Ee also hear of an opportune windfall in the

shape of some valua%le diamonds, which anold lady, a distant relation, left in her will toMiss deworth, who sold them and %uilt amarket!house for deworthtown with theproceeds.

April8, 98L.!!7 am Duite well and in hihood humour and ood spirits, inconseDuence of havin received the whole of&ovellEs half!yearEs rents in full, with pleasureto the tenants and without the least fatiue oranGiety to myself.

7t was a%out this time her novel of E


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for her mention of her father, is worthDuotin'!!

As we drove to the door Miss deworth cameout to meet us, a small, short, spare %ody ofa%out siGty!seven, with eGtremely frank andkind manners, %ut who always looks straihtinto your face with a pair of mild deep reyeyes whenever she speaks to you. ithcharacteristic directness she did not take usinto the li%rary until she had told us that weshould nd there Mrs. Alison, of din%urh,and her aunt, Miss neyd, a person very oldand inrm, and that the only other personsconstitutin the family were Mrs. deworth,Miss


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pleasure of a letter 7 %rouht to her from Mr."ea%ody, eGplainin some passae in hisreview of E


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%een so areea%ly surprised, and now that heis one and that he has spent twenty!fourhours here, if the fairy were to ask me the

Duestion aain 7 should still more eaerly say,EMr.


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remains to %e told.

7t was on the mornin of May , 983-, thatshe was taken suddenly ill with pain in thereion of the heart, and after a few hours%reathed her last in my arms. he had alwayswished to die Duickly, at home, and that 7should %e with her. All her wishes werefullled. he was one, and nothin like heraain can we see in this world.

MRS OPI2&

9L-!9842.

EYour entleness shall force more than yourforce move us to entleness.E!!As


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most of us, and we must soon feel that todwell at lenth upon each one of the prettyold fancies and folios of the writers and

eGplorers who were %orn towards the end ofthe last century would %e an impossi%leaPectationH and yet a postscript seemswantin to the sketches which have alreadyappeared of Mrs. Bar%auld and Missdeworth, and the names of theircontemporaries should not %e Duite passed

over.7n a hundred charmin types and prints andportraits we reconise the well!known namesas they used to appear in the ar% of life.$rand ladies in %road loops and feathers, orraceful and charmin as nymphs in muslinfolds, with hanin clouds of hairH or aain, in

modest coiPes such as dear =ane Austenloved and wore even in her youth.


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records, %reathin the spirit and soul of thewriter. uch %ooks are events, not %ooks tous, new conditions of eGistence, new selves

suddenly revealed throuh the eGperience ofother more vivid personalities than our own.The actual eGperience of other lives is not forus, %ut this link of simple reality of feelin isone all independent of eventsH it is like themiracle of the loaves and shes repeated andmultiplied!!one man comes with his shes

and loF the multitude is lled.;ootnote 3' And yet as 7 write 7 remem%er oneindeed who is amon us, whose portrait aReynolds or an *pie miht have %een lad topaint for the enerations who will love herworks.

But this simple discovery, that of reality, thatof speakin from the heart, was one of thelast to %e made %y women. 7n ;rance Madamede \vin\ and Madame de &a ;ayette werenot afraid to %e themselves, %ut in nlandthe ma#ority of authoresses kept their readerscarefully at penEs lenth, and seemed for the

most part to %e so conscious of theirsurprisin achievements in the way ofliterature as never to foret for a sinleinstant that they were in print. ith theeGception of =ane Austen and Maria


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deworth, the women writers of the earlypart of this century were, as 7 have #ust said,rather literary women than actual creators of

literature. 7t is still a mystery how theyattained to their reat successes. ;rancesBurney charms reat Burke and mihty=ohnson and wise Macaulay in later times.Mrs. *pie draws compliments fromMackintosh, and compliments from the+uchess of aGe!6o%ur, and ydney mith,

and a%ove all tears from alter cott."erhaps many of the Oatterin thinsaddressed to Mrs. *pie may have said notless for her own charm and sweetness ofnature than for the merit of her unassuminproductionsH she must have %een a %riht,merry, and fascinatin person, and

compliments were certainly more in her linethan the tri%utes of tears which she records.

The authoresses of heroines are often moreinterestin than the heroines themselves, andAmelia *pie was certainly no eGception to thissomewhat eneral statement. A pleasant,

sprihtly authoress, %eamin %riht lanceson her friends, condent, intellient, full ofinterest in life, carried alon in turn %y oneand %y another inOuence, she comes %eforeus a youn and charmin ure, with all the


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spires of orwich for a %ackround, and thesound of its %ells, and the stir of its assiNes, asshe issues from her peaceful home in her

fatherEs tranDuil old house, where the oodphysician lives widowed, tendin his poor andhis sick, and devotedly spoilin his only child.

77.

Amelia *pie was %orn in 9L- in the old cityof orwich, within reach of the invioratin

%reeNes of the reat orth ea.


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and diUculties yet to come.


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untimely death all this maternal supervisioncame to an end. EAmelia, your mother is oneHmay you never have reason to %lush when

you remem%er herFE her father said as heclasped his little orphan to his heartH and allher life lon Amelia remem%ered those words.

There is a pretty reminiscence of herchildhood from a %einnin of the memoirwhich was never written'!!E*ne of my earliestrecollections is of aNin on the %riht %luesky as 7 lay in my little %ed %efore my hour ofrisin came, listenin with delihted attentionto the rinin of a peal of %ells. 7 had heardthat heaven was %eyond those %lue skies, and7 had %een tauht that therewas the home ofthe ood, and 7 fancied that those sweet %ellswere rinin in heaven.E The %ells were

rinin for the orwich AssiNes, which playedan important part in our little heroineEs life,and which must have %een associated withmany of her early memories.

The little irl seems to have %een allowedmore li%erty than is usually iven to children.

EAs soon as 7 was old enouh to en#oy aprocession,E she says, E7 was taken to see the=udes come in. Youthful paes in prettydresses ran %y the side of the


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coaches drove slowly and with a solemnity%ecomin the hih and awful oUce of thosewhom they contained.... ith reverence ever

did 7 %ehold the =udesE wis, the scarletro%es they wore, and even the white wand ofthe heriP.E

There is a description which in after yearsmiht have made a pretty picture for herhus%andEs pencil of the little maidenwanderin into the court one day, and called%y a kind old =ude to sit %eside him upon the%ench. he oes on to recount how neGt dayshe was there aainH and when someattendant of the court wanted her to leavethe place, sayin not unnaturally, E$o, Miss,this is no place for youH %e advised,E the =udeaain interfered, and ordered the enterprisin

little irl to %e %rouht to her old place uponthe cushion %y his side. The story ives one acurious impression of a childEs life andeducation. he seems to have come and onealone, capa%le, intellient, una%ashed,interested in all the events and humours ofthe place.

6hildren have amon other thins a very vividsense of citiNenship and pu%lic spirit,somewhat put out in later life %y the rush ofpersonal feelin, %ut in childhood the personal


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events are so few and so irresponsi%le thatpu%lic aPairs %ecome an actual part of lifeand of eGperience. hile their elders are still

discussin the news and weihin itsimportance, it is already a part of thechildrenEs life. &ittle Amelia Alderson musthave %een a happy child, free, aPectionate,independentH rateful, as a child should %e,towards those who %efriended her. *ne of herteachers was a ;rench dancin!master called

6hristian, for whom she had a warm reard.he relates that lon afterwards she camewith her hus%and and a friend to visit the+utch church at orwich. EThe two entlemenwere enaed in lookin round and makintheir o%servations, and 7, ndin myselfsomewhat cold, %ean to hop and dance upon

the spot where 7 stood, when my eyeschanced to fall upon the pavement %elow,and 7 started at %eholdin the well!knownname of 6hristian raved upon the sla%H 7stopped in dismay, shocked to nd that 7 hadactually %een dancin upon the rave of myold master!!he who rst tauht me to dance.E

777.

After her motherEs death, Amelia Alderson,who was %arely fteen at the time, %ean totake her place in society. he kept her fatherEs


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house, received his friends, made his home%riht with her presence. The lawyers cameround in due season' ir =ames Mackintosh

came, the town was full of life, of talk, ofmusic, and poetry, and pre#udice.


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as almost the only $erman scholar innland, old orwich was very proud andrew, to say the truth, eGcessively conceited.

he was (and she miht %e) proud of herayers, she %oasted of her intellectual supper!parties, and nally called herself the VAthensof nland.VE

7n this wholesome, cheerful Athens, %lown %ythe invioratin orthern %reeNes, littleAmelia %loomed and developed into a lovelyand happy irl. he was fortunate, indeed, inher friends. *ne near at hand must have %eenan invalua%le adviser for a motherless,impressiona%le irl. Mrs. =ohn Taylor was soloved that she is still remem%ered. Mrs.Bar%auld priNed and valued her aPection%eyond all others. E7 know the value of your

letters,E says ir =ames Mackintosh, writinfrom Bom%ayH Ethey rouse my mind onsu%#ects which interest us in common!!children, literature, and life. 7 ouht to %emade permanently %etter %y contemplatin amind like yours.E And he still has Mrs. Taylor inhis mind when he concludes with a little

disDuisition on the contrast %etween the%arren sensi%ility, the indolent folly of some,the useful kindness of others, Ethe industrious%enevolence which reDuires a viorousunderstandin and a decisive character.E


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ome of Mrs. *pieEs family have shown me aphotoraph of her in her uaker dress, in oldae, dim, and chaned, and sunken, from

which it is very diUcult to realise all the%rihtness, and life, and animation whichmust have %eloned to the earlier part of herlife. The delihtful portrait of her enraved inthe EMirrorE shows the animated %eamincountenance, the soft eGpressive eyes, thea%undant au%urn waves of hair, of which we

read. The picture is more like some charminalleorical %ein than a real live youn lady!!some Belinda of the ERape of the &ockE (andone would as soon have eGpected Belinda toturn uakeress). Music, poetry, dancin,elves, races and Oirtations, cupids, seem toattend her steps. he delihts in admiration,

friendship, companionship, and aiety, andyet with it all we realise a warm!heartedsincerity, and appreciation of ood and hih!minded thins, a truth of feelin passin outof the realms of fancy altoether into one ofthe %est realities of life. he had a thousandlinks with life' she was musical, artisticH shewas literaryH she had a certain amount ofsocial inOuenceH she had a voice, a harp, acharmin person, mind and manner. Admirinmonarchs in later days applauded herperformanceH devoted su%#ects were herfriends and correspondents, and her sphere in


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due time eGtended %eyond the approvinorwich!Athenian coterie of old friends whohad known her from her childhood, to &ondon

itself, where she seems to have %een madewelcome %y many, and to have captivatedmore than her share of victims.

7n some letters of hers written to Mrs. Taylorand Duoted %y her %iorapher we etlimpses of some of these early eGperiences.The %riht and happy eGcita%le irl comes upfrom orwich to &ondon to %e made morehappy still, and more satised with the delihtof life as it unfolds. Besides her fancy forlawyers, literary people had a reat attractionfor Amelia, and $odwin seems to have playedan important part in her earlier eGperience. Asayin of Mrs. 7nch%aldEs is Duoted %y her on

her return home as to the report of the world%ein that Mr.


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a%out one oEclock at the philosopherEs houseHwe found him with his hair $ien po"dr8, andin a pair of new sharp!toed red morocco

slippers, not to mention his reen coat andcrimson under!waistcoat.

;rom $odwinEs %y the city they come toMarl%orouh treet, and nd Mrs. iddonsnursin her little %a%y, and as handsome andcharmin as ever. They see 6harles ?em%lethere, and they wind up their day %y callinon Mrs. 7nch%ald in her pleasant lodins,with two hundred pounds #ust come in fromheridan for a farce of siGty paes. $odwinEsattentions seem to have amused and pleasedthe fair, merry Amelia, who is not a littleproud of her arch inOuence over variousrued and apparently inaccessi%le persons.

Mrs. 7nch%ald seems to have %een as #ealousof Miss Alderson at the time as she afterwardswas of Mary ollstonecraft. Eill you ive menothin to keep for your sakeSE says $odwin,partin from Amelia. Eot even your slipperS 7had it once in my possession.E EThis was true,Eadds Miss AmeliaH Emy shoe had come oP and

he picked it up and put it in his pocket.Elsewhere she tells her friend Mrs. Taylor thatMr.


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That some one person had a chance, and avery ood one, is plain enouh from theconteGt of a letter, %ut there is nothin in Mrs.

*pieEs life to show why fate was contrary inthis, while yieldin so %ountiful a share of allother ood thins to the happy country irl.

Amon other people, she seems to havecharmed various ;rench refuees, one ofwhom was the +uc dEAiuillon, come over tonland with some seven thousand others,waitin here for happier times, and hidintheir sorrows amon our friendly mists.$odwin was married when Miss Aldersonrevisited her &ondon friends and admirers in9L-L!!an eventful visit, when she met *piefor the rst time.

The account of their rst meetin isamusinly iven in Miss BrihtwellEs memoirs.7t was at an evenin party. ome of thosepresent were eaerly eGpectin the arrival ofMiss Alderson, %ut the evenin was wearinaway and still she did not appearH Eat lenththe door was Oun open, and she entered

%riht and smilin, dressed in a ro%e of %lue,her neck and arms %are, and on her head asmall %onnet placed in somewhat coDuettishstyle sideways and surmounted %y a plume ofthree white feathers.


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in wavin tresses over her shouldersH her facewas kindlin with pleasure at the siht of herold friends, and her whole appearance was

animated and lowin. At the time she camein Mr. *pie was sittin on a sofa %eside Mr. ;.,who had %een sayin from time to time,EAmelia is cominH Amelia will surely come.hy is she not hereSE and whose eyes wereturned in her direction.


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impression one receives of the E7nspired"easant,E as Alan 6unninham calls =ohn*pie!!the man who did not paint to live so

much as live to paint.


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that there came to Truro an accomplished andvarious man +r. olcott!!sometimes a parson,sometimes a doctor of medicine, sometimes

as "eter "indar, a critic and literary man. Thisentleman was interested %y youn *pie andhis performances, and he asked him on oneoccasion how he liked paintin. EBetter than%read!and!%utter,E says the %oy. olcottnally %rouht hisprot8g8to &ondon, wherethe +octorEs inOuence and *pieEs own

undou%ted merit %rouht him successH and to*pieEs own amaNement he suddenly foundhimself the fashion.


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dispraise of others, %ut %y his ownconsciousness of failure, of inadeDuateperformance. Trou%les even more serious

than loss of patronae and employment %efellhim later.


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he erred from too much Neal. All his wifeEs%riht aiety of nature, her love for her fellow!creatures, her interest in the world, her many!

sidedness, this uncompromisin hus%andwould ladly have kept for himself. ;or him hiswife and his home were the whole worldH hisArt was his whole life.

The youn couple settled down in &ondonafter their marriae, where, notwithstandinfos and smoke and dull monotony of %rickand smut, so many %eautiful thins arecreatedH where TurnerEs rain%ow lihts wererst reOected, where TennysonEs E"rincessEspran from the fo. 7t was a modest andDuiet installation, %ut amon the pretty thinswhich Amelia %rouht to %rihten her newhome we read of %lue feathers and old

auNe %onnets, tiaras, and spencers, scarletri%%ons, %uP net, and cam%ric Oounces, all ofwhich ive one a pleasant impression of herintention to amuse herself, and to en#oy thesociety of her fellows, and to %rin her ownpleasant contri%utions to their en#oyment.

*pie sat workin at his easel, paintinportraits to earn money for his wifeEs use andcomfort, and encourain her to write, for hehad faith in work.


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have ladly kept her always in his siht. E7f 7would stay at home for ever, 7 %elieve myhus%and would %e merry from mornin to

niht!!a lover more than a hus%and,E Ameliawrites to Mrs. Taylor.


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thins which struck him as forci%ly then asthey strike us now. E;ather and +auhterE wasMrs. *pieEs rst acknowleded %ook. 7t was

pu%lished in 98/9, and the author writesmodestly of all her apprehensions. EMr. *piehas no patience with meH he consoles me %yaverrin that fear makes me overrate othersand underrate myself.E The %ook wasreviewed in the Edin%urh.E e hear of oneentleman who lies awake all niht after

readin itH and Mrs. 7nch%ald promises acandid opinion, which, however, we do notet. Besides stories and novels, Mrs. *pie wasthe author of several poems and verses whichwere much admired. There was an impromptuto ir =ames Mackintosh, which %rouht a lonletter in return, and one of her sons was

Duoted %y ydney mith in a lecture at theRoyal 7nstitution. Mrs. *pie was present, andshe used to tell in after times EhowuneGpectedly the compliment came upon her,and how she shrunk down upon her seat inorder to screen herself from o%servation.E

The lines are indeed charmin'!!

$o, youth, %eloved in distant lades, ewfriends, new hopes, new #oys to nd, Yetsometimes dein Emidst fairer maids To thinkon her thou leavEst %ehind. Thy love, thy fate,


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dear youth to share Must never %e my happylotH But thou mayEst rant this hum%le prayer,;oret me not, foret me not.

Yet should the thouht of my distress Toopainful to thy feelins %e,


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diUcult to reconise under this familiarconomen and description the no%le anddinied woman whose name and work are

still remem%ered with aPectionate respectand wonder %y a not less hard!workin, %utless convinced and convincin eneration.This friendship was of reat moment toAmelia *pie in after days, at a time when herheart was low and her life very sad andsolitaryH %ut meanwhile, as 7 have said, there

were happy times for herH youth and youthfulspirits and faithful companionship were allhers, and trou%les had not yet come.

*ne day Mrs. *pie ives a characteristicaccount of a visit from Mrs. TaylorEs two sons.EV=ohn,V said 7, Vwill you take a letter from meto your motherSV V6ertainly,V replied =ohn, Vfor

then 7 shall %e sure of %ein welcome.V V;y,Vreturned 7. VMr. 6ourtier, you know you wantnothin to add to the heartiness of thewelcome you will receive at home.V Vo,indeed,V said Richard, Vand if Mrs. *pie sendsher letter %y you it will %e one way of makinit less valued and attended to than it would

otherwise %e.V To the truth of this speech 7su%scri%ed and wrote not. 7 have heard inlater days a pretty description of the simplehome in which all these handsome,cultivated, and remarka%le youn people


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rew up round their no%le!minded mother.E*ne of Mrs. =ohn TaylorEs dauhters %ecameMrs. Reeve, the mother of Mr.


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they started on an eGpedition to "aris, asolemn event in those days and not lihtly to%e passed over %y a %iorapher. *ne lon war

was ended, another had not yet %eun. The6ontinent was a promised land, fondly dreamtof thouh unknown. EAt last in "arisH at last inthe city which she had so loned to seeFE Mrs.*pieEs description of her arrival reads acomment upon history. As they drive into thetown, everywhere chalked up upon the walls

and the houses are inscriptions concerninE&E7ndivisi%ilit\ de la R\pu%liDue.E


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deworth of "aris ociety in the early yearsof the century is more %rilliant, %ut not moreinterestin than Mrs. *pieEs reminiscences of

the Oeetin scene, ainin so much in%rilliancy from the shadows all round a%out.There is the shadow of the hastly uillotineupon the "lace de la 6oncorde, the shadowsof wars %ut lately over and yet to come, theecho in the air of arms and discordHmeanwhile a %rilliant, areea%le, Oashin

"aris streams with sunliht, is piled withtreasures and trophies of victory, andcrowded with well!known characters. e readof ?osciuskoEs nut!%rown wi concealin hishonoura%le scarsH Mass\naEs earrins Oash inthe sunH one can picture it all, and theanimated inrush of tourists, and the eaer life

stirrin round a%out the walls of the old&ouvre.

7t was at this time that they saw Talmaperform, and years after, in her little rooms in&adyEs ;ield at orwich, Mrs. *pie, in heruaker dress, used to ive an imitation of thereat actor and utter a deep E6ain, 6ain,

where art thouSE To which 6ain replies insepulchral tones.

e et amon other thins an interestinlimpse of ;oG standin in the &ouvre $allery


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opposite the picture of t. =erome %y+omenichino, a picture which, as it is said, heenthusiastically admired. *pie, who happened

to %e introduced to him, then and theredissented from this opinion. EYou must %e a%etter #ude on such points than 7 am,E says;oGH and Mrs. *pie proudly writes of the twopassin on toether discussin andcomparin the pictures. he descri%es themneGt standin %efore the ETransurationE of

Raphael. The &ouvre in those days must have%een for a painter a wonder palace indeed.The EIenus deE MediciE was on her wayH it wasa time of miracles, as ;oG said. MeanwhileMrs. *pie hears someone sayin that the ;irst6onsul is on his way from the enate, and shehurries to a window to look out. EBonaparte

seems very fond of state and show for aRepu%lican,E says Mrs. ;oG. ;oG himself halfturns to the window, then looks %ack to thepictures aain. As for *pie, one may %e surehis attention never wandered for one instant.

They saw the ;irst 6onsul more than once.The "acicator, as he was then called, was at

the heiht of his popularityH on one occasionthey met ;oG with his wife on his arm crossinthe 6arrousel to the Tu^ler^es, where they arealso admitted to a round!Ooor room, fromwhence they look upon a mar%le staircase


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and see several oUcers ascendin, Eone ofwhom, with a helmet which seemed entirelyof old, was u[ne de Beauharnais. A few

minutes afterwards,E she says, Ethere was arush of oUcers down the stairs, and amonthem 7 saw a short pale man with his hat inhis hand, who, as 7 thouht, resem%led &ordrskine in prole....E This of course isBonaparte, unadorned amidst all this studiedsplendour, and wearin only a little

tricoloured cockade. Maria 6osway, thepainter, who was also in "aris at the time,took them to call at the house of MadameBonaparte m=re, where they were received %yEa %loomin, courteous ecclesiastic, powderedand with purple stockins and old %uckles,and a costly cruciG. This is 6ardinal ;esch,

the uncle of Bonaparte. 7t is said that when;oG was introduced to the ;irst 6onsul he waswarmly welcomed %y him, and was made tolisten to a rand haranue upon theadvantaes of peace, to which he answeredscarcely a wordH thouh he was charmed totalk with Madame Bonaparte, and to discusswith her the Oowers of which she was sofond.E The *pies met ;oG aain in nlandsome years after, when he sat to *pie for oneof his nest portraits. 7t is now at


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many friends, and ;oG, impatient %utencourain, and aain whisperin, E+onEtattend to themH you must know %est.E

I777.

EAdeline Mow%rayH or, Mother and +auhter,Ewas pu%lished %y Mrs. *pie after this visit tothe 6ontinent. 7t is a melancholy and curiousstory, which seems to have %een partlysuested %y that of poor Mary

ollstonecraft, whose pre#udices the heroineshares and eGpiates %y a fate hardly lesspathetic than that of Mary herself. The %ookreminds one of a very touchin letter from$odwinEs wife to Amelia Alderson, written afew weeks %efore her death, in which shespeaks of her Econtempt for the forms of a

world she should have %ade a lon ood!nihtto had she not %een a mother.E =ustice has atlenth %een done to this mistaken %ut no%leand devoted woman, and her story has lately%een written from a wider point of view thanMrs. *pieEs, thouh she indeed was nounenerous advocate.


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father, and her hus%and soon returned to hisstudio in &ondon. hen she delayed, he wroteto complain. EMy dearest &ife, 7 cannot %e

sorry that you do not stay loner, thouh, as 7said, on your fatherEs account, 7 wouldconsent to it. "ray, &ove, forive me, andmake yourself easy. 7 did not suspect, till mylast letter was posted, that it miht %e toostron. 7 had %een countin almost the hourstill your arrival for some time. As to comin

down aain 7 cannot think of it, for thouh 7could perhaps %etter spare the time atpresent from paintin than 7 could at any partof the last month, 7 nd 7 must now o hard towork to nish my lectures, as the law saysthey must %e delivered the second year afterthe election.E

The Academy had appointed *pie "rofessor of"aintin in the place of ;useli, and he wasnow tryin his hand at a new form ofcomposition, and not without well!deservedsuccess. But the strain was too reat for thiseaer mind. *pie painted all dayH of anevenin he worked at his lectures on paintin.

;rom eptem%er to ;e%ruary he allowedhimself no rest.


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sleep. 7t had %een a reat successH hiscolleaues had complimented him, andaccompanied him to his house.


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6unninhamEs &ife, is that of a simple, no%le!lookin man, with a ood thouhtful face anda ne head. orthcote, ollekens,


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strikes more, thouh he charms less.... *pie is%y turns an advocate, a controvertist, apaneyrist, a criticH ir =oshua more uniformly

Ges his mind on eneral and permanentprinciples, and certainly approaches morenearly to the elevation and tranDuillity whichseem to characterise the philosophic teacherof an eleant art.

7K.

Mrs. *pie went %ack, soon after her hus%andEsdeath, to orwich, to her early home, herfatherEs houseH nor was she a widow indeedwhile she still had this tender love andprotection.

That which strikes one most as one reads the

accounts of Mrs. *pie is the artlessness andperfect simplicity of her nature. The deepestfeelin of her life was her tender love for herfather, and if she remained youner thanmost women do, it may have %een partly fromthe reat %lessin which was hers so lon,that of a fatherEs home. Time passed, and %y

derees she resumed her old life, and cameout and a%out amon her friends. orrowdoes not chane a nature, it eGpresses certainDualities which have %een there all alon.

o Mrs. *pie came up to &ondon once more,


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and welcomed and was made welcome %ymany interestin people. &ord rskine is herfriend alwaysH she visits Madame de taWlH

she is constantly in company with ydneymith, the ever!welcome as she calls him.&ord Byron, heridan, &ord +udley, all appearupon her scene. There is a pretty story of hersinin her %est to &ady arah apier, old,%lind, and saddened, %ut still happy in thatshe had her sons to uide and to protect her

steps. Amon her many entertainments, Mrs.*pie amusinly descri%es a dinner at ir=ames MackintoshEs, to which most of theuests had %een asked at diPerent hours,varyin from siG to half!past seven, whenBaron illiam von


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eneral craNe, encircles his wrist with herner and thum%. Apart from these passinfancies, she is in delihtful society.

Baron Alderson, her cousin and friend, wasalways kind and aPectionate to her. Thepretty little story is well known of his takinher home in her uaker dress in the =udesEstate!coach at orwich, sayin, E6ome,Brother *pie,E as he oPered her his arm tolead her to the carriae. he used to stay athis house in &ondon, and almost the last visitshe ever paid was to him.

*ne of the most interestin of herdescriptions is that of her meetin with iralter cott and with ordsworth at a%reakfast in Mount treet, and of ir alterEs

delihtful talk and animated stories. *ne canimaine him lauhin and descri%in a6ockneyEs terrors in the


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%een the uncle of his heroine, a sort ofmisanthrope, with only one aPection in hisheart, love for his niece, like a solitary leam

of sunshine lihtin the dark tower of someruined and lonely dwellin.E

E7t miht perhaps %e a weakness,E says the;riend, lon after recallin this event, E%ut 7must confess how reatly 7 was pleased at thetime.E o wonder she was pleased that thereat wiNard should have liked her novel.

7t would %e impossi%le to attempt a seriouscritiDue of Mrs. *pieEs stories. They areartless, raceful, written with an innocentood faith which disarms criticism. Thatouthey, ydney mith, and Mackintoshshould also have read them and praised them

may, as 7 have said, prove as much for thepersonal charm of the writer, and her warmsunshine of pleasant companionship, as forthe %ooks themselves. They seem to have runthrouh many editions, and to have receivedno little encouraement. Morality andsensation alternate in her paes. Monsters

a%ound there. They hire youn men to act%ase parts, to hold villainous conversationswhich the hus%ands are intended to overhear.They plot and scheme to ruin the fair fameand domestic happiness of the charmin


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heroines, %ut they are #ustly punished, andtheir plots are defeated. *ne villain, on hisway to an appointment with a married

woman, receives so severe a %low upon thehead from her %rother, that he dies in aoniesof fruitless remorse. Another, whoincautiously %oasts aloud his deep!laidscheme aainst 6onstantiaEs reputation in thedark recesses of a stae!coach, isuneGpectedly seiNed %y the arm. A straner in

the corner, whom he had not noticed, was noother than the %aronet whom 6onstantia hasloved all alon. The dawn %reaks in %rihtly,shinin on the stranerEs face' %aed,disraced, the wicked schemer leaves thecoach at the very neGt stae, and6onstantiaEs happiness is ensured %y a

%rilliant marriae with the man she loves.E&ucy is the dark sky,E cries another lovelyheroine, E%ut you, my lord, and my smilinchildren, these are the rain%ow that illuminesitH and who would look at the loom that seethe many tinted 7risS not 7, indeed.EEIalentineEs ve,E from which this is Duoted,was pu%lished after =ohn *pieEs death. o wasa novel called ETemper,E and the ETales of Real&ife.E Mrs. *pie, however, ave up writinnovels when she #oined the ociety of ;riends.

;or some years past, Mrs. *pie had %een


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thrown more and more in the company of avery no%le and remarka%le race of men andwomen livin Duietly in their %eautiful homes

in the neih%ourhood of orwich, %ut of aninOuence daily rowin!!handsome people,prosperous, enerous, with a sort of natural"riesthood %elonin to them. cornin to livefor themselves alone, the $urneys were thedispensers and oriinators of a hundreduseful and %enevolent enterprises in orwich

and elsewhere. They were uakers, andmerchants, and %ankers.


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the captives. o domineerin =elly%y, %ut amotherly, deep!hearted womanH shy, and yetfrom her very timidity ainin an inOuence,

which less sensitive natures often fail to win.*ne likes to imaine the dinied sweet facecomin in!!the comfortin ;riend in the Duietar% of the uaker woman standin at theates of those terri%le places, %iddin thedespairin prisoners %e of ood hope.

liNa%eth ;ryEs whole life was a mission oflove and help to othersH her %rothers and hermany relations heartily #oined and assistedher in many plans and ePorts.

;or =oseph =ohn $urney, the head of theorwich family, Mrs. *pie is said to have hada feelin amountin to more than friendship.

Be this as it may, it is no wonder that sowarm!hearted and impressiona%le a womanshould have %een inOuenced %y the calmoodness of the friends with whom she wasnow thrown. 7t is evident enouh, nor doesshe attempt to conceal the fact, that theadmiration and interest she feels for =ohn

=oseph $urney are very deep motive powers.There comes a time in most lives, especiallyin the lives of women, when all the ha%its andcertainties of youth have passed away, whenlife has to %e %uilt up aain upon the


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foundations indeed of the past, thefriendships, the memories, the ha%its of earlylife, %ut with new places and thins to a%sor%

and to interest, new hearts to love. And oneday people wake up to nd that the friends oftheir choice have %ecome their home. "eopleare stranded perhaps seekin their share inlifeEs allowance, and suddenly they comeupon somethin, with all the charm which%elons to deli%erate choice, as well as that

of natural aUnity.


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phraseoloy. "eople were surprised at thetime, %ut 7 think it would have %een still moresurprisin if she had not #oined them. =. =.

$urney, in one of his letters, somewhatmanicently descri%es Mrs. *pie as oPerinup her many talents and accomplishments a%rilliant sacrice to her new!foundpersuasions. E7llustrations of &yin,E moralanecdotes on the %orderland of imaination,are all that she is henceforth allowed. E7 am

%ound in a deree not to invent a story,%ecause when 7 %ecame a ;riend it wasreDuired of me not to do so,E she writes toMiss Mitford, who had asked her to contri%uteto an annual. Miss MitfordEs description of Mrs.*pie, Euakerised all over, and callin Mr.


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of a mem%er of the ociety of ;riends soundslike two separate personaes, %ut no one whorecollects the ay little sons which at

seventy she used to sin with lively esture,the framents of drama to which, with theNest of an innate actress, she occasionallytreated her youn friends, or the ela%oratefaultl

a book of sibyls

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