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LETTER XLIX.
Miss Howe, To John Belford, Esq;
Thursday, Oct. 12.
Sir, I am incapable of doing justice to the character of my beloved Friend; and that not only from want of talents, but from grief; which, I think, rather encreases than diminishes by time; and which will not let me sit down to a task that requires so much thought, and a greater degree of accuracy than I ever believed myself mistress of.
And yet I so well approve of your motion, that I will throw into your hands a few materials, that may serve by way of supplement, as I may say, to those you will be able to collect from the papers themselves; from Col. Morden's Letters to you, particularly that of Sept. 23. (a) [Footnote a: 1Kb]; and from the Letters of the detestable wretch himself, who, I find, has done her justice, altho' to his own condemnation: All these together will enable you, who seem to be so great an admirer of her virtues, to perform the task; and, I think, better than any person I know. But I make it my request, that if you do any-thing in this way, you will let me see it. ---If I find it not to my mind, I will add or diminish, as justice shall require.
She was a wonderful creature from her infancy: But I suppose you intend to give a character of her at those years when she was qualified to be an example to other young Ladies, rather than a history of her life.
Perhaps, nevertheless, you will chuse to give a description of her person: And as you knew not the dear creature when her heart was easy, I will tell you, what yet, in part, you can confirm:
That her shape was so fine, her proportion so exact, her features so regular, her complexion so lovely, and her whole person and manner so distinguishedly charming, that she could not move without being admired and followed by the eyes of every one, tho' strangers,
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who never saw her before. Col. Morden's Letter, above referred to, will confirm this.
In her dress she was elegant beyond imitation; ·and generally led the fashion to all the Ladies round her, without seeming to intend it, and without being proud of doing so (a) [Footnote a: 1Kb].·
She was rather tall, than of a middling stature; and had a dignity in her aspect and air, that bespoke the mind that animated every feature.
This native dignity, as I may call it, induced some superficial persons, who knew not how to account for the reverence which involuntarily filled their hearts on her appearance, to impute pride to her. ·But these were such as knew that they should have been proud of any one of her perfections: Judging therefore by their own narrowness, they thought it impossible that the Lady who possessed so many, should not think herself superior to them all.
·Indeed, I have heard her noble aspect found fault with, as indicating pride and superiority. But people awed and controuled, tho' but by their own consciousness of inferiority, will find fault, right or wrong, with those, of whose rectitude of mind and manners their own culpable hearts give them to be afraid.· But, in the bad sense of the word, Miss Clarissa Harlowe knew not what pride was.
You may, if you touch upon this subject, throw in these sentences of hers, spoken at different times, and on different occasions.
'Persons of accidental or shadowy merit may be proud: But inborn worth must be always as much above conceit as arrogance.'
'Who can be better, or more worthy, than they should be? And, Who shall be proud of talents they give not to themselves?'
'The darkest and most contemptible ignorance is that of not knowing one's self; and that all we have, and all we excel in, is the gift of God.'
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'All human excellence is but comparative---There are persons who excel us, as much as we fansy we excel the meanest.'
'In the general scale of beings, the lowest is as useful, and as much a link of the great chain, as the highest.'
'The grace that makes every other grace amiable, is Humility.'
'There is but one pride pardonable; That of being above doing a base or dishonourable action.'
Such were the sentiments by which this admirable young Lady endeavoured to conduct herself, and to regulate her conduct to others.
And in truth, never were affability and complacency (graciousness, some have called it) more eminent in any person, man or woman, than in her, to those who put it in her power to oblige them: Insomuch that the benefited has sometimes not known which to prefer; the grace bestowed, or the manner in which it was conferred.
It has been observed, that what was said of Henry IV. of France, might be said of her manner of refusing a request; That she generally sent from her presence the person refused nearly as well satisfied, as if she had granted it.
Then she had such a sacred regard to Truth---You cannot, Sir, expatiate too much upon this topic. I dare say, that in all her Letters, in all the Letters of the wretch, her Veracity will not once be found impeachable, altho' her calamities were so heavy, the horrid man's wiles so subtle, and her struggles to free herself from them so active.
Her charity was so great, that she always chose to defend or acquit where the fault was not so flagrant, that it became a piece of justice to condemn it: And was always an advocate for an absent person, whose discretion was called in question, without having given manifest proofs of indiscretion.
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·Once I remember in a large circle of Ladies, every one of which [I among the rest] having censured a generally reported indiscretion in a young Lady--- Come, my Miss Howe, said she [for we had agreed to take each other to task when either thought the other gave occasion for it; and when by blaming each other we intended a general reprehension, which, as she used to say, it would appear arrogant or assuming to level more properly] let me be Miss Fanny Darlington. Then removing out of the circle, and standing up---Here I stand, unworthy of a seat with the rest of the company, till I have cleared myself. And now, suppose me to be her, let me hear your charge and do you hear what the poor culprit can say to it in her own defence. And then answering the conjectural and unproved circumstances, by circumstances as fairly to be supposed favourable, she brought off triumphantly the censured Lady; and so much to every one's satisfaction, that she was led to her chair, and voted a double rank in the circle,---as the reinstated Miss Fanny Darlington, and as Miss Clarissa Harlowe.
·'Very few persons, she used to say, would be condemned, or even accused, in the circles of Ladies, were they present: It is generous therefore, nay, it is but just, said she, to take the part of the absent, if not flagrantly culpable.'
·But tho' Wisdom was her birthright, as I may say, yet she had not lived years enow to pretend to so much experience, as to exempt her from the necessity of sometimes altering her opinion both of persons and things: But, when she found herself obliged to do this, she took care, that the particular instance of mistaken worthiness in the person should not narrow or contract her almost universal charity into general doubt or jealousy. An instance of what I mean, occurs to my memory.·
Being upbraided, by a severe censurer, with a person's proving base, whom she had frequently defended,
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and by whose baseness my beloved friend was a sufferer; 'You, Madam, said she, had more penetration than such a young creature as I can pretend to have. But altho' human depravity may, I doubt, oftener justify those who judge harshly, than human rectitude can those who judge favourably, yet will I not part with my charity. Nevertheless, for the future, I will endeavour, in cases where the judgment of my elders is against me, to make mine consistent with caution and prudence.'
·Indeed, when she was convinced of any error or mistake (however seemingly derogatory to her judgment and sagacity) no one was ever so acknowleging, so ingenuous, as she.· 'It was a merit, she used to say, next in degree to that of having avoided error, frankly to own an error. And that the offering at an excuse in a blameable matter, was the undoubted mark of a disingenuous, if not of a perverse mind.'
·But I ought to add, on this bead [of her great charity where character was concerned, and where there was room for charity] that she was always deservedly severe in her reprehensions of a wilful and studied vileness. How could she then forgive the wretch by whose premeditated villainy she was entangled?·
You must every-where insist upon it, that had it not been for the stupid persecutions of her relations, she never would have been in the power of that horrid Lovelace. And yet, on several occasions, she acknowleged frankly, that were person, and address, and alliance, to be allowably the principal attractives in the choice of a Lover, it would not have been difficult for her eye to mislead her heart.
When she was last with me (three happy weeks together!) in every visit the wretch made her, he left her more dissatisfied with him than in the former. ·And yet his behaviour before her was too specious, to have been very exceptionable to a woman who had a less
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share of that charming delicacy, and of that penetration, which so much distinguished her.·
In obedience to the commands of her gloomy Father, on his allowing her to be my guest, for that last time, [as it most unhappily proved!] she never would see him out of my company and would often say, when he was gone, 'O my Nancy! This is not The man.' --- At other times, 'Gay, giddy creature! he has always something to be forgiven for!' ---At others, 'This man will much sooner excite one's fears, than attract one's love.' And then would she repeat, 'This is not The man. All that the world says of him cannot be untrue. But what title have I to call him to account, who intend not to have him?'
In short, had she been left to a judgment and discretion, which nobody ever questioned who had either, she would soon have discovered enough of him to cause her to discard him for ever.
·She was an admirable mistress of all the graces of elocution. The hand she wrote, for the neat and free cut of her letters (like her mind, solid, and above all flourish) for its fairness, evenness, and swiftness, distinguished her as much as the correctness of her orthography, and even punctuation, from the generality of her own Sex; and left her none among the most accurate of the other, who excelled her.·
And here you may, if you please, take occasion to throw in one hint for the benefit of such of our Sex, as are too careless in their orthography [a consciousness of a defect in which generally keeps them from writing]--- She was used to say, 'It was a proof that a woman understood the derivation as well as sense of the words she used, and that she stopt not at sound, when she spelt accurately.'
On this head you may take notice, that it was always matter of surprize to her, that the Sex are generally so averse as they are to writing since the Pen, next to the Needle, of all employments, is the most proper, and
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best adapted to their genius's; and this as well for improvement, as amusement: 'Who sees not, would she say, that those women who take delight in writing, excel the men in all the graces of the familiar style? The gentleness of their minds, the delicacy of their sentiments (improved by the manner of their education) and the liveliness of their imaginations, qualify them to a high degree of preference for this employment: While men of learning, as they are called (that is to say, of mere learning) aiming to get above that natural ease and freedom which distinguish This (and indeed every other kind of writing) when they think they have best succeeded, are got above, or rather beneath, all natural beauty.'
·Then, stiffened and starched [Let me add] into dry and indelectable affectation, one sort of these scholars assume a style as rough as frequently are their manners: They spangle over their productions with metaphors: They rumble into bombast: The sublime, with them, lying in words and not in sentiment, they fansy themselves most exalted when least understood; and down they sit, fully satisfied with their own performances, and call them Masculine. While a second sort, aiming at wit, that wicked misleader, forfeit all title to judgment. And a third, sinking into the classical pits, there poke and scramble about, never seeking to shew genius of their own; all their lives spent in common-place quotation; fit only to write Notes and Comments upon other peoples Texts; all their pride, that they know those beauties of two thousand years old in another tongue, which they can only admire, but not imitate, in their own.
·And these, truly, must be learned men, and despisers of our insipid Sex!
·But I need not mention the exceptions which my beloved friend always made [and to which I subscribe] in favour of men of sound learning, true taste, and extensive abilities: Nor, in particular, her respect
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even to reverence for gentlemen of the cloth: Which, I dare say, will appear in every paragraph of her Letters where-ever any of the Clergy are mentioned. Indeed the pious Dr. Lewen, the worthy Dr. Blome, the ingenious Mr. Arnold, and Mr. Tompkins, gentlemen whom she names in one article of her Will, as learned Divines with whom she held an early correspondence, well deserved her respect; since to their conversation and correspondence she owed many of her valuable acquirements.
·Nor were the little slights she would now-and-then (following, as I must own, my lead) put upon such mere scholars [And her stupid and pedantic Brother was one of those who deserved those slights] as despised not only our Sex, but all such as had not had their opportunities of being acquainted with the Parts of Speech [I cannot speak low enough of such] and with the dead Languages, owing to that contempt, which some affect for what they have not been able to master; for she had an admirable facility in learning languages, and re'd with great ease both Italian and French. She had begun to apply herself to Latin; and having such a critical knowlege of her own tongue, and such a foundation from the two others, would soon have made herself an adept in it.·
But, notwithstanding all her acquirements, she was an excellent Oeconomist and Housewife. And these qualifications, you must take notice, she was particularly fond of inculcating upon all her reading and writing companions of the Sex: For it was a maxim with her, 'That a woman who neglects the Useful and the Elegant, which distinguish her own Sex, for the sake of obtaining the learning which is supposed more peculiar to the other, incurs more contempt by what she foregoes, than she gains credit by what she acquires.'
·'All that a woman can learn, she used to say [expatiating on this maxim] above the useful knowledge proper to her Sex, let her learn. This will shew that
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she is a good housewife of her time; and that she has not a narrow or confined genius. But then let her not give up for these, those more necessary, and therefore, not meaner employments, which will qualify her to be a good Mistress of a family, a good Wife, and a good Mother: For what can be more disgraceful to a woman, than either, thro' negligence of dress, to be found to be a learned Slattern; or, thro' ignorance of houshold-management, to be known to be a stranger to domestic oeconomy?'
·Then would she instance to me two particular Ladies; one of which, while she was fond of giving her opinion, in the company of her Husband, and of his learned friends, upon doubtful or difficult passages in Virgil or Horace, knew not how to put on her cloaths with that necessary grace and propriety, which should preserve to her the love of her husband, and the respect of every other person: While the other, affecting to be thought as learned as men, could find no better way to assert her pretensions, than by despising her own Sex, and by dismissing that characteristic delicacy, the loss of which no attainment can supply.
·She would have it indeed, sometimes, from the frequent ill use learned Women make of that respectable acquirement, that it was no great matter whether the Sex aimed at any-thing but excelling in the knowlege of the beauties and graces of their mother-tongue: And once she said, that This was field enough for a woman; and an ampler was but endangering her family usefulness. But I, who think our Sex inferior in nothing to the other, but in want of opportunities, of which the narrow-minded mortals industriously seek to deprive us, lest we should surpass them as much in what they chiefly value themselves upon, as we do in all the graces of a fine imagination, could never agree with her in that. And yet I was entirely of her opinion, that those women who were solicitous to obtain that knowlege or learning, which they supposed
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would add to their significance in sensible company, and in their attainment of it imagined themselves above all domestic usefulness, deservedly incurred the contempt which they hardly ever failed to meet with.·
Perhaps you will not think it amiss further to observe on this head, as it will shew that precept and example always went hand in hand with her, That her Dairy at her Grandfather's was the delight of every one who saw it; and she of all who saw her in it.
·Her Grandfather, in honour of her dexterity, and of her skill in all the parts of the dairy-management, as well as of the elegance of the offices allotted for that use, would have his Seat, before known by the name of The Grove, to be called, The Dairy-house (a) [Footnote a: 1Kb]. She had an easy, convenient, and graceful habit made on purpose, which she put on when she employed herself in these works; and it was noted of her, that in the same hour that she appeared to be a most elegant Dairy-maid, she was, when called to a change of dress, the finest Lady that ever graced a circle.
·Her Grandfather, Father, Mother, Uncles, Aunt, and even her Brother and Sister, made her frequent visits there, and were delighted with her silent ease, and unaffected behaviour, in her works; for she always out of modesty chose rather the operative than the directive part, that she might not discourage the servant whose proper business it was.
·Each was fond of taking a regale from her hands in her Dairy-house. Her Mother and Aunt Hervey generally admired her in silence, that they might not give uneasiness to her Sister; a spiteful, perverse, unimitating thing, who usually looked upon her all the time with speechless envy. Now-and-then, however, the pouting creature would suffer extorted and sparing praise to burst open her lips; though looking at the same time like Saul meditating the pointed javelin at
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the heart of David, the glory of his kingdom. And now, methinks, I see my Angel-friend (too superior to take notice of her gloom) courting her acceptance of the milk-white curd from hands more pure than that.
·Her skill and dexterity in every branch of family management seem to be the only excellence of her innumerable ones, which she owed to her family: Whose narrowness, immensely rich, and immensely carking, put them upon indulging her in the turn she took to this part of knowlege; while her elder Sister affected dress without being graceful in it; and the Fine Lady, which she could never be; and which her Sister was without studying for it, or seeming to know she was so.
·It was usual with the one Sister, when company was expected, to be half the morning dressing; while the other would give directions for the whole business and entertainment of the day; and then go up to her dressing-room, and, before she could well be missed, [having all her things in admirable order] come down fit to receive company, and with all that graceful ease and tranquility as if she had had nothing else to think of.
·Long after her [hours perhaps of previous preparation having passed] down would come rustling and bustling the tawdry and aukward Bella, disordering more her native disorderliness at the sight of her serene Sister, by her sullen envy, to see herself so much surpassed with such little pains, and in a sixth part of the time.·
Yet was this admirable creature mistress of all these domestic qualifications without the least intermixture of narrowness. She knew how to distinguish between Frugality, a necessary virtue, and Niggardliness, an odious vice: And used to say, 'That to define Generosity, it must be called, the happy medium betwixt parsimony and profusion.'
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·She was the most graceful Reader I ever knew. She added by her melodious voice graces to those she found in the parts of books she re'd-out to her friends; and gave grace and significance to others where they were not. She had no tone, no whine. Her accent was always admirably placed. The emphasis she always forcibly laid, as the subject required. No buskin elevation, no tragedy-pomp, could mislead her; and yet poetry was poetry indeed, when she re'd it.
·But if her voice was melodious when she re'd, it was all harmony when she sung. And the delight she gave by that, and by her skill and great compass, was heightened by the ease and gracefulness of her air and manner, and by the alacrity with which she obliged.
·Nevertheless she generally chose rather to hear others sing or play, than either to play or sing herself.
·She delighted to give praise where deserved: Yet she always bestowed it in such a manner, as gave not the least suspicion that she laid out for a return of it to herself, tho' so universally allowed to be her due.
·She had a talent of saying uncommon things in such an easy manner, that every-body thought they could have said the same; and which yet required both genius and observation to say them.
·Even severe things appeared gentle, tho' they lost not their force, from the sweetness of her air and utterance, and the apparent benevolence of her purpose.
·We form the truest judgment of persons, by their behaviour on the most familiar occasions. I will give an instance or two of the correction she favoured me with on such a one.
·When very young, I was guilty of the fault of those who want to be courted to sing. She cured me of it, at the first of our happy intimacy, by her own example; and by the following correctives, occasionally, yet privately enforced.
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·'Well, my dear, shall we take you at your word? Shall we suppose, that you sing but indifferently? Is not, however, the act of obliging (the company so worthy!) preferable to the talent of singing? And shall not young Ladies endeavour to make up for their defects in one part of education, by their excellence in another?'
·Again, 'You must convince us, by attempting to sing, that you cannot sing; and then we will rid you, not only of present, but of future importunity.' ---An indulgence, however, let me add, that but tolerable singers do not always wish to meet with.
·Again, 'I know you will favour us by-and-by; and what do you by your excuses, but raise our expectations, and enhance your own difficulties?'
·At another time, 'Has not this accomplishment been a part of your education, my Nancy? How then, for your own honour, can we allow of your excuses?'
·And I once pleading a cold, the usual pretence of those who love to be entreated---'Sing, however, my dear, as well as you can. The greater the difficulty to you, the higher the compliment to the company. Do you think you are among those who know not how to make allowances? You should sing, my Love, lest there should be any-body present who may think your excuses owing to affectation.'
·At another time, when I had truly observed, that a young Lady present sung better than I; and that therefore I chose not to sing before that Lady---'Fie!' said she (drawing me on one side) 'is not this pride, my Nancy? Does it not look as if your principal motive to oblige, was to obtain applause? A generous mind will not scruple to give advantage to a person of merit, tho' not always to her own advantage. And yet she will have a high merit in doing that. Supposing this excelling person absent, who, my dear, if your example spread, shall sing after you? You
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know every one else must be but as a foil to you. Indeed I must have you as much superior to other Ladies in these smaller points, as you are in greater.' So she was pleased to say to shame me.·
She was as much above Reserve as Disguise. So communicative, that no young Lady could be in her company half an hour and not carry away instruction with her, whatever was the topic. Yet all sweetly insinuated; nothing given with the air of prescription: So that while she seemed to ask a question for information-sake, she dropt in the needful instruction, and left the instructed unable to decide, whether the thought (which being started, she, the instructed, could improve) came primarily from herself, or from the sweet instructress.
·She had a pretty hand at drawing, which she obtained with a very little instruction. Her time was too much taken up, to allow, tho' to so fine an art, the attention which was necessary to make her greatly excel in it: And she used to say, 'That she was afraid of aiming at too many things, for fear she should not be tolerable at any-thing?'
·For her years, and her opportunities, she was an extraordinary judge of Painting. In this, as in everything else, Nature was her Art, her Art was Nature. She even prettily performed in it. Her Grandfather, for this reason, bequeathed to her all the family pictures. Charming was her fancy: Alike sweet and easy was every touch of her pencil and her pen. Yet her judgment exceeded her performance. She did not practise enough to excel in the executive part. She could not in every-thing excel. But, upon the whole, she knew what every subject required, according to the nature of it: In other words, was an absolute mistress of the should-be.
·To give a familiar instance for the sake of young Ladies; she (untaught) observed when but a child, that the Sun, Moon, and Stars, never appeared at once; and were therefore never to be in one piece:
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That bears, tygers, lions, were not natives of an English climate, and should not therefore have place in an English landschape: That these ravagers of the forest consorted not with lambs, kids, or fawns: Nor kites, hawks, and vulturs, with doves, partridges, and pheasants.
·And, alas! she knew, before she was nineteen years of age, by fatal experience she knew! that all these beasts and birds of prey were outdone in treacherous cruelty by MAN! Vile, barbarous, plotting, destructive Man! who, infinitely less excuseable than those, destroys thro' wantonness and sport, what those only destroy thro' hunger and necessity!·
The mere pretenders to those branches of Science which she aimed at acquiring, she knew how to detect; and all from Nature. Propriety, another word for Nature, was (as I have hinted) her Law, as it is the foundation of all true judgment. ·But nevertheless, she was always uneasy, if what she said exposed those pretenders to knowlege, even in their absence, to the ridicule of lively spirits.·
·Let the modern Ladies, who have not any one of her excellent qualities; whose whole time, in the short days they generally make, and in the inverted night and day, where they make them longer, is wholly spent in dress, visits, cards, plays, operas, and musical entertainments; wonder at what I have written, and shall further write: And let them look upon it as an incredible thing, that when, at a maturer age, they cannot boast one of her perfections, there should have been a Lady so young, who had so many.
·These must be such as know not how she employed her time; and cannot form the least idea of what may be done in those hours, in which they lie enveloped with the shades of death, as she used to call sleep.
·But before I come to mention the distribution she
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usually made of her time, let me say a few words upon another subject, in which she excelled all the young Ladies I ever knew.
·This was her skill in almost all sorts of fine Needleworks: Of which, however, I shall say the less, since possibly you will find it mentioned in some of the Letters.·
That piece which she bequeaths to her Cousin Morden, is indeed a capital piece; a performance so admirable, that that gentleman's Father, who resided chiefly abroad, was (as is mentioned in her Will) very desirous to obtain it, in order to carry it to Italy with him, to shew the curious of other countries (as he used to say) for the honour of his own, that the cloister'd confinement was not necessary to make English women excel in any of those fine arts upon which Nuns and Recluses value themselves.
Her quickness at these sort of works was astonishing; and a great encouragement to herself to prosecute them.
Mr. Morden's Father would have been continually making her presents, would she have permitted him to do so: And he used to call them, and so did her Grandfather, Tributes due to a merit so sovereign, and not Presents.
·As to her diversions, the accomplishments and acquirements she was mistress of, will shew, what they must have been. She was far from being fond of Cards, the fashionable foible of modern Ladies: Nor, as will be easily perceived from what I have said, and more from what I shall further say, had she much time for Play. She never therefore promoted their being called for; and often insensibly diverted the company from them, by starting some entertaining subject, when she could do it without incurring the imputation of particularity.
·Indeed very few of her intimates would propose Cards, if they could engage her to read, to talk, to
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touch the keys, or to sing, when any new book, or new piece of music, came down. But when company was so numerous, that conversation could not take that agreeable turn which it oftenest does among four or five friends of like years and inclinations, and it became in a manner necessary to detach off some of it, to make the rest better company, she would not refuse to play, if, upon casting-in, it fell to her lot. And then she shewed, that her disrelish to cards was the effect of choice only; and that she was an easy mistress of every genteel game played with them. But then she always declared against playing high.· 'Except for trifles, she used to say, she would not submit to Chance what she was already sure of.'
At other times, 'She should make her friends a very ill compliment, she said, if she supposed they would wish to be possessed of what of right belonged to her; and she should be very unworthy, if she desired to make herself a title to what was theirs.'
'High gaming, in short, she used to say, was a sordid vice; an immorality; the child of avarice; and a direct breach of that commandment, which forbids us to covet what is our neighbour's.'
·She was exceedingly charitable; the only one of her family that knew the meaning of the word: And this with regard both to the souls and the bodies of those who were the well-chosen objects of her benevolence. She kept a list of these, whom she used to call her Poor, entering one upon it, as another was provided for, by death, or any other way: But always made a reserve, nevertheless, for unforeseen cases, and for accidental distresses. And it must be owned, that in the prudent distribution of them, she had neither Example nor Equal.
·The Aged, the Blind, the Lame, the Widow, the Orphan, the unsuccessful Industrious, were particularly the objects of it; and the contributing to
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the schooling of some, to the putting out to trades and husbandry the children of others of the labouring or needy poor, and setting them forward at the expiration of their servitude, were her great delights; as was the giving good books to others, and, when she had opportunity, the instructing the poorer sort of her honest neighbours, and Father's tenants, in the use of them. 'That charity, she used to say, which provides for the morals, as well as for the bodily wants of the poor, gives a double benefit to the Public, as it adds to the number of the hopeful, what it takes from that of the profligate. And can there be, in the eyes of that God, she was wont to say, who requires nothing so much from us as acts of beneficence to one another, a charity more worthy?'
·Her Uncle Antony, when he came to settle in England, with his vast fortune obtained in the Indies, used to say, 'This girl by her charities will bring down a blessing upon us all.' And it must be owned they trusted pretty much to this presumption.
·But I need not say more on this head; nor perhaps was it necessary to say so much; since the charitable bequests in her Will sufficiently set forth her excellence in this branch of duty.
·She was extremely moderate in her diet. 'Quantity in food,' she used to say, 'was more to be regarded than quality: That a full meal was the great enemy both to study and industry: That a well-built house required but little repairs.'
·By this moderation in her diet, she enjoyed, with a delicate frame of body, a fine state of health; was always serene, lively; chearful of course. And I never knew but of one illness she had; and that was by a violent cold caught in an open chaise, by a sudden storm of hail and rain, in a place where was no shelter; and which threw her into a fever, attended with dangerous symptoms, that no doubt were lightened by her temperance; but which gave her friends
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who then knew her value, infinite apprehensions for her (a) [Footnote a: 2Kb].·
In all her Readings, and in her Conversations upon them, she was fonder of finding beauties than blemishes, and chose to applaud both Authors and Books, where she could find the least room for it. Yet she used to lament, that certain writers of the first class, who were capable of exalting virtue, and of putting vice out of countenance, too generally employed themselves in works of imagination only, upon subjects merely speculative, disinteresting, and unedifying; from which no useful moral or example could be drawn.
·But she was a severe Censurer of pieces of a light or indecent turn, which had a tendency to corrupt the morals of youth, to convey polluted images, or to wound religion, whether in itself, or thro' the sides of its professors, and this whoever were the authors, and how admirable soever the execution. She often pitied the celebrated Dr. Swift for so employing his admirable pen, that a pure eye was afraid of looking into his works, and a pure ear of hearing anything quoted from them. 'Such authors,' she used to say, 'were not honest to their own talents, nor grateful to the God who gave them.' Nor would she, on these occasions, admit their beauties as a palliation; on the contrary, she held it as an aggravation
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of their crime, that they who were so capable of mending the heart, should in any places shew a corrupt one in themselves; which must weaken the influences of their good works; and pull down with one hand what they built up with the other.·
All she said, and all she did, was accompanied with a natural ease and dignity, which set her above affectation, or the suspicion of it; insomuch that that degrading fault, so generally imputed to a learned woman, was never laid to her charge. For, with all her excellencies, she was forwarder to hear than speak; and hence no doubt derived no small part of her improvement.
·Altho' she was well re'd in the English, French, and Italian Poets, and had re'd the best translations of the Latin Classics; yet seldom did she quote or repeat from them, either in her Letters or Conversation, tho' exceedingly happy in a tenacious memory; principally thro' modesty, and to avoid the imputation of that affectation which I have just mentioned.
·Mr. Wyerley once said of her, she had such a fund of knowlege of her own, and made naturally such fine observations upon persons and things, being capable by the Egg [that was his familiar expression] of judging of the Bird, that she had seldom either room or necessity for foreign assistances.
·But it was plain from her whole conduct and behaviour, that she had not so good an opinion of herself, however deserved; since, whenever she was urged to give her sentiments on any subject, altho' all she thought fit to say was clear and intelligible; yet she seemed in haste to have done speaking. Her reason for it, I know, was twofold; That she might not lose the benefit of other peoples sentiments, by engrossing the conversation; and lest, as were her words, she should be praised into loquaciousness, and so forfeit the good opinion which a person always maintains with her friends, who knows when she has
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said enough. ---It was, finally, a rule with her, 'to leave her hearers wishing her to say more, rather than to give them cause to shew, by their inattention, an uneasiness that she had said so much.---'·
You are curious to know the particular distribution of her Time; which you suppose will help you to account for what you own yourself surprised at; to wit, how so young a Lady could make herself mistress of so many accomplishments.
I will premise, that she was from infancy enured to rise early in a morning, by an excellent, and, as I may say, a learned woman, Mrs. Norton, to whose care, wisdom, and example, she was beholden for the ground-work of her taste and acquirements, which meeting with such assistances from the Divines I have named, and with such a genius, made it the less wonder that she surpassed most of her Age and Sex.
·Her Sex, did I say? What honour to the other does this imply! When one might challenge the proudest Pedant of them all, to say he has been disciplined into greater improvement, than she had made from the mere force of genius and application. But it is demonstrable to all who know how to make observations on their acquaintance of both Sexes, arrogant as some are of their superficialities, that a Lady at Eighteen, take the world thro', is more prudent and conversable than a man at Twenty-five. I can prove this by Nineteen instances out of Twenty in my own knowlege. Yet how do these poor boasters value themselves upon the advantages their education gives them! Who has not seen some one of them, just come from the University, disdainfully smile at a mistaken or ill-pronounced word from a Lady, when her sense has been clear, and her sentiments just; and when he could not himself utter a single sentence fit to be repeated, but what he borrowed from the authors he had been obliged to study, as a painful exercise to slow and creeping parts? But how I digress!·
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This excellent young Lady used to say, 'It was incredible to think what might be done by early rising, and by long days well filled up.'
It may be added, That had she calculated according to the practice of too many, she had actually lived more years at Sixteen, than they had at Twenty-six.
She was of opinion, 'That no one could spend their time properly, who did not live by some Rule: Who did not appropriate the hours, as near as might be, to particular purposes and employments.'
In conformity to this self-set Lesson, the usual distribution of the twenty-four hours, when left to her own choice, was as follows:
For REST she allotted SIX hours only.
She thought herself not so well, and so clear in her intellects [so much alive, she used to say] if she exceeded this proportion. If she slept not, she chose to rise sooner. And in winter had her fire laid, and a taper ready burning to light it; not loving to give trouble to servants, 'whose harder work, and later hours of going to bed, she used to say, required consideration.'
I have blamed her for her greater regard to them, than to herself. But this was her answer: 'I have my choice: Who can wish for more? Why should I oppress others, to gratify myself? You see what free-will enables one to do; while imposition would make a light burden heavy.'
Her First THREE Morning Hours
Were generally passed in her Study, and in her Closet-duties: And were occasionally augmented by those she saved from Rest: And in these passed her epistolary amusements.
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TWO Hours she generally allotted to Domestic Management.
These at different times of the day, as occasions required; all the housekeeper's bills, in ease of her Mother, passing thro' her hands. For she was a perfect mistress of the four principal rules of arithmetic.
FIVE Hours to her Needle, Drawings, Music, &c.
In these she included the assistance and inspection she gave to her own servants, and to her Sister's servants, in the Needleworks required for the family: For her Sister, as I have above hinted, is a Modern. In these she also included Dr. Lewen's conversation-visits; with whom likewise she held a correspondence by Letters. That reverend gentleman delighted himself and her, twice or thrice a week, if his health permitted, with these visits: And she always preferred his company to any other engagement.
TWO Hours she allotted to her Two first Meals.
But if conversation, or the desire of friends, or the falling in of company or guests, required it to be otherwise, she never scrupled to oblige; and would, on such occasions, borrow, as she called it, from other distributions. And as she found it very hard not to exceed in this appropriation, she put down
ONE Hour more to Dinner-time Conversation,
To be added or subtracted, as occasions offered, or the desire of her friends required: And yet found it difficult, as she often said, to keep this account even; especially if Dr. Lewen obliged them with his company at their table: Which however he seldom did; for, being a valetudinarian, and in a regimen, he generally made his visits in the afternoon.
ONE Hour to Visits to the neighbouring Poor;
To a select number of whom, and to their children,
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she used to give brief instructions, and good books: And as this happened not every day, and seldom above twice a week, she had two or three hours at a time to bestow in this benevolent employment.
The remaining FOUR Hours
Were occasionally allotted to supper, to conversation or to reading after supper to the family. This allotment she called Her Fund, upon which she used to draw, to satisfy her other debits: And in this she included visits received and returned, shews, spectacles, &c. which, in a country-life, not occurring every day, she used to think a great allowance, no less than two days in six, for amusements only: And she was wont to say, that it was hard if she could not steal time out this fund, for an excursion of even two or three days in a month.
If it be said, that her Relations, or the young neighbouring Ladies, had but little of her time, it will be considered, that besides these four hours in the twenty-four, great part of the time she was employed in her Needleworks, she used to converse as she worked: And it was a custom she had introduced among her acquaintance, that the young Ladies in their visits used frequently, in a neighbourly way (in the winter evenings especially) to bring their work with them; and one of half a dozen of her select acquaintance used by turns to read to the rest as they were at work.
This was her usual method, when at her own command, for Six days in the week.
The SEVENTH DAY
She kept, as it ought to be kept: And as some part of it was frequently employed in works of mercy, the hour she allotted to visiting the neighbouring poor, was occasionally supplied from this day, and added to her fund.
But I must observe, that when in her Grandfather's
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life-time she was three or four weeks at a time his housekeeper and guest, as also at either of her Uncles, her usual distribution of time was varied: But still she had an eye to it as nearly as circumstances would admit.
When I had the happiness of having her for my guest, for a fortnight or so, she likewise dispensed with her rules, ·in mere indulgence to my foibles, and idler habits for I also (tho' I had the benefit of an example I so much admired) am too much of a Modern. Yet, as to morning Risings, I had corrected myself by such a precedent, in the summer-time; and can witness to the benefit I found by it in my health; as also to the many useful things I was enabled by that means with ease and pleasure to perform. And in her Account-Book I have found this memorandum since her ever-to-be lamented death:· ---'From such a day, to such a day, all holidays, at my dear Miss Howe's.' At her return: ---'Account resumed such a day,' naming it; and then she proceeded regularly, as before.
Once a week she used to reckon with herself; when, if within the 144 hours, contained in the six days, she had made her account even, she noted it accordingly: If otherwise, she carried the debit to the next week's account; as thus: Debtor to the article of benevolent visits, so many hours. And so of the rest.
But it was always an especial part of her care, that whether visiting or visited, she shewed in all companies an entire ease, satisfaction, and chearfulness, as if she kept no such particular account, and as if she did not make herself answerable to herself for her occasional exceedings.
This method, which to others will appear perplexing and unnecessary, her early hours, and custom, had made easy and pleasant to her.
And indeed, as I used to tell her, greatly as I admired her in all her methods, I could not bring myself to this, might I have had the world for my reward.
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·I had indeed too much impatience in my temper, to observe such a regularity in accounting between me and myself. I satisfied myself in a Lump Account, as I may call it, if I had nothing greatly wrong to reproach myself with, when I looked back on a past week, as she had taught me to do.·
For she used indulgently to say, 'I do not think All I do necessary for another to do: Nor even for myself: But when it is more pleasant to me to keep such an account, than to let it alone; why may I not proceed in my supererogatories? ---There can be no harm in it. It keeps up my attention to accounts; which one day may be of use to me in more material instances. Those who will not keep a strict account, seldom long keep any. I neglect not more useful employments for it. And it teaches me to be covetous of Time; the only thing of which we can be allowably covetous; since we live but once in this world; and when gone, are gone from it for ever.'
·She always reconciled the necessity under which these interventions, as she called them, laid her, of now-and-then breaking into some of her appropriations; saying, 'There was good sense, and good manners too, in the common lesson, When at Rome, do as they do at Rome: And that to be easy of persuasion, in matters where one could oblige without endangering virtue, or worthy habits, was an Apostolical excellency; since, if a person conformed with a view of making herself an interest in her friend's affections, in order to be heeded in greater points, it was imitating his example, who became all things to all men, that he might gain some.' Nor is it to be doubted, had life been spared her, that the sweetness of her temper, and her chearful piety, would have made Virtue and Religion appear so lovely, that her example would have had no small influence upon the minds and manners of those who would have had the honour of conversing with her.·
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O Mr. Belford! I can write no further on this subject. For, looking into the Account-book for other particulars, I met with a most affecting memorandum; which, being written on the extreme edge of the paper, with a fine pen, and in the dear creature's smallest hand, I saw not before. ---This it is; written, I suppose, at some calamitous period after the day named in it---Help me to a curse to blast the monster who gave occasion for it!---
April 10. The account concluded!---
And with it all my worldly hopes and prospects!!!
I take up my pen; but not to apologize for my execration. ---Once more I pray to God to avenge me of him! ---Me I say---For mine is the loss---Hers the gain.
O Sir! You did not, you could not know her, as I knew her! Never was such an excellence! ---So warm, yet so cool a friend! ---So much what I wish to be, but never shall be! ---For, alas! my Stay, my Adviser, my Monitress, my Directress, is gone! for ever gone!
She honoured me with the title of The Sister of her heart: But I was only so in the Love I bore her (A Love beyond a Sister's---infinitely beyond her Sister's!); in the hatred I have to every mean and sordid action; and in my love of Virtue: ---For, otherwise, I am of a high and haughty temper, as I have acknowleged heretofore, and very violent in my passions.
In short, she was the nearest perfection of any creature I ever knew. She never preached to me lessons which she practised not herself. She lived the life she taught. All humility, meekness, self-accusing, others-acquitting, tho' the shadow of the fault was hardly hers, the substance theirs whose only honour was their relation to her.
To lose such a Friend, such a Guide---If ever my violence was justifiable, it is upon this recollection! ---
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For she only lived to make me sensible of my failings, but not long enough to enable me to conquer them; as I was resolved to endeavour to do.
Once more then let me execrate---But now violence and passion again predominate! ---And how can it be otherwise?
But I force myself from the subject, having lost the purpose for which I resumed my pen.
A. Howe.