much from the loss of her husband. She was a woman of too high and independent a spirit to be very happy in a married state, and therefore, though often solicited to change her situation by a second marriage, could never be brought to listen to any overtures of the kind; but, after her husband's death, devoted the remainder of her youth, and her more mature years, in performing the office of her own steward, seeing that her maids did not neglect their spinning-wheels, and putting out her savings on the best securities.

In the mean time, though counted one of the most prudent women of her time, and held up as a pattern of good management, it appears that it never entered into her head, that there could be any means of promoting the well-being of her children more effectual than that of increasing their future properties. This being the case, my uncle and mother were left wholly without education, excepting what my grandmother's maid and the butler could supply; with the occasional assistance of the curate of the village, who sometimes gave my uncle a few lessons in the rudiments of Latin; and assisted my mother in certain rude attempts, which she now and then made, to write joining-hand in such a manner as should be legible.

In the mean time, these young people, being perpetually left to themselves, made the servants their constant companions and while my poor mother was romping with the maids in the housekeeper's room and the kitchen, my uncle found store of amusement in the stable and dog-kennel. It may be asked how it was possible for a clever woman like my grandmother, and one who was so particularly attentive to some of her duties, to be thus careless of her children, and thus blind to their real interest; but the state of the case is this, that, independent of the blindness with respect to their children, too commonly seen in parents in these days of comparative light, education was not then understood as it is now; added to which consideration, children were at that time kept at so great a distance by parents, that the latter had not the opportunities which they now have, of studying and examining their characters: and hence were liable to be deceived by them in a degree which can hardly be believed in the present state of things.

But not to dwell any longer on this subject, which is

not altogether to my present purpose, I shall shortly state that this education, such as I have described it, failed not to produce the effects which might be expected: my uncle, when grown up, was fit only to be the companion of his own gamekeeper or coachman: and my mother married, early in life, so very imprudently that my grandmother would never forgive her, and, indeed, could never be prevailed upon to see her again. What my father's situation was when he married my mother, I know not; but a commission in a marching regiment was bought for him by my mother's family, immediately after his marriage: and when I can first recollect any thing, I was living with my parents in that unsettled state to which persons are liable who make the army their profession.

I have an exceedingly confused idea of the years that passed before I was twelve years old. The number of scenes which I went through-the number of persons I became acquainted with—the multiplicity of faces which passed before me-the extraordinary variety of shabby lodgings, apartments in barracks, tents, and inns, in which I lived with my parents, for days, weeks, or months, as it might happen-the perpetual interchanges and successions of soldiers' wives, wearing felt hats, and gilt earrings, who performed the parts of my mother's waiting-maids and my governesses, during this period, have left such a medley of ideas in my mind, that it would be almost an Herculean labour to attempt to reduce them to any thing like order or regularity. Suffice it to say, that, during this time, the regiment in which I was born was stationed, for the most part, in some of the most remote and wild districts of the Highlands of Scotland; and in those parts of western Ireland whose shores are for ever invaded by the waves of the stormy Atlantic; and where the shrieks of the sea-gull among the rocks convey to the superstitious natives such ideas as fill the gossips' tale with images of horror and amazement.

Sometimes, indeed, we were removed, for a season, from the solitary forts and garrisons which are found in these situations, to certain little country towns, in different parts of the United Kingdom; and then, though quartered in small, inconvenient, and often sordid lodgings, these situations were commonly so abundant in opportunities of amusement to my mother, and the ohter ladies of the regiment, that I was commonly

more neglected than usual when in stations of this kind.

At length the regiment was ordered to Gibraltar; on which occasion my grandmother sent over her own maid to Dublin, where we were then stationed, with a handsome present to my mother, together with a request that I should be delivered to her charge.

I do not recollect that any objection was made by either of my parents to this arrangement of my grandmother's; but, as I had been hitherto allowed to run almost wild, a great bustle was made in order to prepare me for a decent appearance in the presence of the old lady, who was known to be very eagle-eyed, with respect to such matters as affect externals.

On this occasion I was taken from the hands of the sergeant's wife, who happened at that period to be my mother's confidential servant, and was fitted with a pair of stiff stays, directed to hold up my head and drop my shoulders; and was provided with a brocade slip, a hoop petticoat, and other suitable ornaments.

These things being prepared, I was led by my parents to the bay, and there embarked in a packet with Mrs. Bridget, my grandmother's maid; who, by-the-by, appeared to me to be the finest lady I had ever seen in my life. I have no recollection of what I felt when I parted from my parents, nor can I distinctly call even their persons to mind; this probably arose from my having been less intimately associated with them than with their servants. For although I have so faint a recollection of the authors of my being, the figure of the sergeant's wife, as she stood upon the pier looking after us, while the sailors put off with me to the packet, is still as present with me as if I had seen it only yesterday. She was an Irish woman, from the province of Connaught, and might have been tolerably good-looking had she not had hair of a carroty red, with abundance of freckles. She was dressed in a man's beaver hat, and man's shoes and stockings, having no cap, and her hair in part turned up with a comb, the rest hanging about her ears. She wore a short blue petticoat and jacket, with a woollen apron, the corner of which she held up to her eyes, as she called after me with a piercing voice, to bid me adieu, denominating me her jewel, her darling, and precious life.

I remember, that I looked upon her with tears in my

eyes, till I was lifted out of the boat, and put up tne side of the packet, where such a variety of novel objects presented themselves that I probably soon forgot my sorrow. Thus closed my military career, and the first period of my childhood. A favourable wind soon wafted the packet over to the shores of England, and, in a few hours after my separation from my parents, I found myself in a post-chaise with Mrs. Bridget, on my way to Hartley Hall.

I do not precisely remember how I first opened a conversation with Mrs. Bridget, for whom I had conceived a very high respect; but I well recollect, that before we had advanced far on our road, in the manner I have described, she began to hint to me that it would be necessary for me to lay aside many practices in which I had hitherto allowed myself. "For instance, miss," she said, "you must not pick your teeth with your fingers, as you have seen those wild Irish do; nor stoop your head till your ears and shoulders salute each other; nor sit as you now do, kicking your feet and scratching your head; but you must behave like a pretty miss and a young lady, and hold yourself proper; and be sure never cool your tea in your saucer, and then blow it, as you did this morning at the inn." Much more, to the same purpose, did Mrs. Bridget say to me; but it so happens that the memory, which of all our faculties is the most capricious, will not assist me to detail any more of her injunctions; and, indeed, it is almost marvellous that I should have recollected so many, inasmuch as my reader will see that they were not delivered with any manner of attention to system or order; but that small and monstrous offences against propriety were weighed in the same balance, and placed together in the same forcible point of view.

But to go on with my history: this, my first lecture, continued till we were arrived at the place where we were to sleep. We travelled the whole of the next day, and expected to reach Hartley Hall before six o'clock on the following evening.

When, on the last day of our journey, we stopped at the town which was only one stage from my grandmother's, Mrs. Bridget took me apart, dressed me in the clothes which had been prepared by my mother, for my appearance before the old lady, and repeated all her injunctions respecting my behaviour; taking this occasion

to impress upon my mind that which she had repeatedly said to me during my journey, viz. that my grandmother was a lady of high respectability-that my family was of more consequence than any untitled family in the country-that although I had hitherto lived in an humble way, I was a young lady by birth, and would probably inherit a large fortune-that she had been ashamed to see me in the hands of such a low person as my late servant—that a waiting-woman was not fit to serve a lady, unless she had something smart and polite in her deportment, and had received the education of a gentlewoman; and that henceforth she hoped I would be above familiarity with low persons, but would behave myself genteel, and with suitable dignity, according to my rank.

In this manner I was tutored by the waiting-maid, and, inasmuch as feelings of pride are by no means incompatible with the grossest ignorance, and the utmost habitual coarseness of mind, I was by no means backward in inhaling the ideas which Mrs. Bridget desired to convey to my mind; and thus I soon found in myself every disposition to become as fine a lady as my new friends could wish me to be.

The waiting-lady's lecture and my toilet were scarcely concluded, before the arrival of my grandmother's coachand-four at the inn; and I, who but a few days before had been glad of the attendance of an Irish sergeant's wife, was handed into this handsome carriage by a smart footman.

We made the last stage of our journey with such rapidity that I was quite surprised when Mrs. Bridget pointed out to me the family seat, as seen at a distance. It stood on a slight elevation, in the centre of a plain, and was surrounded by woods, the approach being through a long avenue. The house itself was of brick, and extended itself in two large wings, conveying the idea of that kind of splendour which proceeds from magnitude.

When we came to the porter's lodge, at the entrance of the avenue, and began to approach through the grounds towards the house, I remember that I could not contain myself any longer, but broke out into some expression of admiration; whereby I again brought upon myself the reproaches of Mrs. Bridget, who told me that nothing in the world was so vulgar as to seem full of wonder and amazement. "It looks just," said she, "as