Part 4 (1/2)

I alirls were novel-readers and romantic I declare false refineirls understand several languages, and have read _cartloads_ of history, for their mother was a prudent woman Lady K's passion for ani All her children have been ill,--very disagreeable fevers Her ladyshi+p visited theh their situation called forth my tenderness, and I endeavored to as I think now I hear her infantine lisp She rouges, and, in short, is a fine lady, without fancy or sensibility I as But you will perceive I a passion--pity; it is not always so Ihusbands for the _ladies_--and the _dogs_, and a; and then I retire to ures in the fire, listen to the wind, or view the Gotties, a fine range of mountains near us, and so does ti asses' milk, but do not find it of any service I am very ill, and so low-spirited le with myself, but I hope my Heavenly Father will not be extreme to mark my weakness, and that He will have compassion upon a poor bruised reed, and pity a miserable wretch, whose sorrows He only knows I alious tone of this letter calls for special notice, since it ritten at the very tiious principles to her pupils

Mary had none of the false sentiment of a Sterne, and could not waste sys who needed it Her ladyshi+p's dogs worried her because of the contrast between the attention they received and the indifference which fell to the lot of the children Besides, the then distressing condition of the laboring population in Ireland made the luxuries and silly affectations of the rich doubly noticeable Mary saw for herself the poverty of the peasantry Margaret was allowed to visit the poor, and she accompanied her on her charitable rounds The almost bestial squalor in which these people lived was another cruel contrast to the pas at the castle She had none of Strap's veneration for the epithet of gentle kindness for people of quality” But Mary cared only for a man's intrinsic merit His rank could not cover his faults Therefore, with theher in the face, the asborough's household continually grated upon her finer instincts

In the winter of 1788 the family went to Dublin, and Mary accompanied them She liked the society of the capital no better than she had that of the country She, however, occasionally shared in its frivolities, her relations to Lady Kingsborough obliging her to do this She was still young enough to possess the capacity for enjoyh her many hardshi+ps and sorrows had made her think this iayety around her But, as thorough a hater of shausted with herself once the passing excite her a description of a one, and of which she had evidently been a conspicuous feature:--

DUBLIN, March 14, 1788

I am very weak to-day, but I can account for it The day before yesterday there was a masquerade; in the course of conversation soo to it Lady K offered me two tickets for myself and Miss Delane to acco properly She then, to obviate that objection, lent ht of another excuse; but she proposed to take me and Betty Delane to the houses of several people of fashi+on who saw reat nuroup Lady K went in a domino with a smart cockade; Miss Moore dressed in the habit of one of the females of the new discovered islands; Betty D as a forsaken shepherdess; and your sister Mary in a black doer who had just arrived could not speak the language, I was to be her interpreter, which afforded me an ample field for satire

I happened to be very , but at night hts, the novelty of the scene, and all things together contributed to ave full scope to a satirical vein, and suppose

Unfortunately, the rest of the letter is lost

In the ed to find soenial work In her letters she speaks of nothing with so much enthusiasm as of Rousseau, whose ”emile” she read while she was in Dublin She wrote to Everina, on the 24th of March,--

I believe I told you before that as a nation I do not adreat world and its frivolous cereue me I thank Heaven I was not so unfortunate as to be born a lady of quality I a Rousseau's ”emile,” and love his paradoxes He chooses a coenius will educate itself However, he rambles into that chimerical world in which I have too often wandered, and draws the usual conclusion that all is vanity and vexation of spirit He was a strange, inconsistent, unhappy, clever creature, yet he possessed an uncommon portion of sensibility and penetration

Adieu, yours sincerely, MARY

It was also during this period that she wrote a novel called ”Mary” It is a narrative of her acquaintance and friendshi+p with fanny Blood,--her _In Me it she sought relief for the bitter sorrohich her loss had filled her heart

The Irish gayeties lasted through the winter In the spring the faland and went to Bristol, Hotwells, and Bath In all these places Mary saw ust hich it inspired her Those were the days when men drank at dinner until they fell under the table; when young wo but beaux, and were exhibited by their fond hest bidder; and when dowagers, whose flirting season was over, spent all their time at the card-table

Nowhere were the absurdities and emptiness of polite society so fully exposed as at these three fashi+onable resorts Even the frivolity of Dublin paled in coland The Irish clireed with her But notwithstanding the much-needed improvement in her physical condition, and despite her occasional concessions to her circumstances, her life became rew farther apart from those of her employers

But while even the little respect she felt for Lord and Lady Kingsborough lessened, her love for the children increased This they returned with interest Once, when one of theoverness, she cried so bitterly that she aret's affection can be partly e from a letter written by Mary shortly after their separation:--

”I had, the other day, the satisfaction of again receiving a letter froaret With all the mother's fondness, I could transcribe a part of it She says, every day her affection to me, and dependence on heaven, increase, etc Ihope, that she e if I am to live to be old At any rate, I may hear of the virtues I h made no effort to win her children's affection, but she was unwilling that they should bestow it upon a stranger She could not forgive the governess who had taken her place in their hearts She and her eldest daughter had on this account frequent quarrels Mary's position was therefore untenable Her surroundings were uncongenial, her duties distasteful, and she was disapproved of by her e was needed but a decent pretext for the latter to dis teret than her h seized the opportunity to give the governess her dismissal This was in the autumn of 1788, and the family were in London Mary had for some weeks known that this end was inevitable, but still her departure, when the time came, was sudden It was a trial to her to leave the children, but escape froain she was obliged to face the world, and again she ee she advanced a step in her intellectual progress After she left Lady Kingsborough she began the literary life which was to make her famous

CHAPTER IV

LITERARY LIFE

1788-1791

During her residence with the fah in Ireland, Mary, as has been seen, corresponded with Mr Johnson the publisher In her hour of need she went to hily recoive up teaching altogether, and devote her time to literary work

Mr Johnson was a man of considerable influence and experience, and he was enterprising and progressive He published eworths sent him their novels froave the reading world Mrs

Barbauld's works for the young, and the next, the speculations of reformers and social philosophers whose rationalis the Rev Gilbert Wakefield's too plain-spoken writings that he was, at a later date, fined and imprisoned

Quick to discern trueit As Mary once said of hienerous natureauthors with his purse as he was to publish their works From the tihters,” he had been deeply and honestly interested in her It had convinced hireater Her letters had sustained him in this opinion, and her novel still further confir her to try to support herself by writing, promised her continual employment if she would settle in London

To-day there would seem no possible reason for any one in her position to hesitate before accepting such an offer But in her time it was an unusual occurrence for a woman to adopt literature as a profession It is true there had been a great change since Swift declared that ”not one gentleht to read or understand her own natural tongue” Women had learned not only to read, but to write Miss Burney had written her novels, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu her Letters, and Mrs Inchbald her ”Sih the Amelias and Lydia Melfords of fiction were still favorite types, the blue-stocking was gaining ascendency Because she was such a _rara avis_ she received a degree of attention and devotion which now appears extraordinary Mrs Inchbald and Mrs Opie, Maria Edgeworth and Mrs Barbauld, at the end of the last and beginning of this century, were feted and praised as seldoeneration But, despite this fact, they were not quite sure that they were keeping within the lis Lady Mary Wortley Montagu had considered it necessary to apologize for having translated Epictetus

Miss Burney shrank from publicity, and preferred the slavery of a court to the liberty of ho Good Mrs

Barbauld feared she ”stepped out of the bounds of female reserve” when she became an author They all wrote either for amusement or as a last resource to eke out a slender inco to Mr