MEMOIR, LETTERS,
AND
A SELECTION FROM THE POEMS AND) PROSE WRITINGS
OF
ANNA LIETITIA BARBAULD.
VOLUME I.












(\'~~~'~ ~~~~ ~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~..... ~..................~




A
MEMOIR
OF
MRS. ANNA LITITIA BARBAULD;
WITH  MANY OF HER LETTERS.
BY
GRACE  A. ELLIS.
"To strew fresh laurels, let the task be mine."
TICKELL.
BOSTON:
JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY,
LATE TICKNOR & FIELDS, AND FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CQO
1874.




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874,
BY  GRACE  A. ELLIS,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
UNIVERSITY PRESS: WELCH, BIGELOW, & Co.,
CAMBRIDGE.




TO
MY MOTHER
I DEDICATE THESE VOLUMES,
INSCRIBING
THIS IMPERFECT, BUT NOT UNFAITHFUL WORK,
WHICH I HOPE MAY PERPETUATE'ce  tuemorg
OF A VIRTUOUS AND TALENTED WOMAN, AND AWAKEN NEW INTEREST
IN HER LIFE AND WRITINGS,
TO ONE
WHO HAS EVER BEEN TO ME
A FRIEND, A GUIDE, AND AN INSPIRATION,
WITH THE WARMEST FEELINGS OF AFFECTIONATE
REGARD.








PREFACE.
HE writing and reading of biographies of very varied
lives and different characters have long been the occupation of the ablest writers, and given pleasure and profit to
many students of the thoughts, manners, and personal and
mental peculiarities of the good and great.  All the eminent
men and women who have lived and labored in this busy
world, and left enduring records of themselves in works
which follow  them, deserve from some impartial hand a
recognition of their career, - a just estimate of their position
in their chosen walk of life. Though memory may embalm
their names for centuries in the hearts and minds of many
generations, it cannot do more than leave vague and uncertain fancies as years roll on, if no extended sketches of
their lives and works are given to the world.
Some of the very greatest geniuses the world ever knew
have suffered from this neglect, and we have only the merest
shadows of men and women given us where we should eagerly
study a life-size mental portrait. Dr. Johnson says that only
those who have lived with a man or woman should attempt
to portray their lives, as they alone are properly qualified to
depict the true character and draw well the lights and shades




Viii                    PREFACE.
of it.  Though this real or fancied advantage which Dr.
Johnson considered an absolute necessity, as a condition of
success, is not mine, I have ventured to give the world a
sketch of Mrs. Barbauld's life in a more extended and particular form than has yet been attempted; and if not found
personal enough in its character, the reader must bear in
mind that the "inaudible and noiseless foot of Time" has
recorded almost half a century since her death.
With the encouragement and advice of my father-in-law,
George E. Ellis, D. D., I undertook this Memoir of Mrs.
Barbauld, with the care of preparing and editing a Selection
from her Poems and Prose Works.  In so doing I have received from him  valued assistance in the revision of my
manuscripts. To my father, James L. Little, Esq., I may
here acknowledge my indebtedness for the interest he has
manifested in my work throughout the time I have devoted
myself to it. In the use of books beyond my own library
I have been greatly aided by the friendly care and attention
of Justin Winsor, Esq., the able Superintendent of the
Public Library, who in every way facilitated my object.
To Mr. Hunter, of the Williams Library in London, I also
feel indebted for the attention shown me by him while there.
And I must here thank Mr. James T. Fields for the friendly
thoughts which have manifested themselves in various ways
during my preparation of this work.
I wish to call attention to the engraving which Mr. W. H.
Forbes has had made for me; and, when finished in the
beautiful and perfect style in which the reader sees it, he




PREFACE.                      ix
insisted on my acceptance of it as his contribution towards
the book, desiring that I should not mention it; but this I
could not consent to do, and must here thank him for the
great addition to the value of the Life which this admirable
portrait gives.
In alluding to those whose kindness I have experienced, I
do not forget those whom I may not name, and would here
express my obligations to those of my family and friends
who have aided in my little work and lightened my labors.
One of my friends thoughtfully undertook and completed
the larger part of the copying of the poems.
The nineteenth century has done so much admirable
and laborious work in reviving, rescuing from  oblivion,
and bringing out of tlheir seclusion old books and authors,
that one feels no apology is needed for reprinting a portion
of the writings of an author once so widely known by her
works, and still highly respected for her moral and mental
qualities, as Mrs. Barbauld.  Her name is among those of
the worthies of England that still live in the hearts of the
people, and it is as "familiar as household words " in many
homes, while her prose works, and much of her poetry, are
almost unknown to many readers and quite out of print.
The "Prose Hymns" for children and "Early Lessons" are
still used, and of these two little books there have been many
editions; I have before me two editions of the " Prose Hymns"
which present the extremes of elegance and simplicity. The
first is the beautiful edition of the Hymns printed and illustrated in the most perfect manner, and issued by John Mur



X                       PREFACE.
ray in 1865.  The second is probably the cheapest ever
printed, being published by the Sunday School Association
at the astonishingly small sum of threepence.
Mrs. Barbauld's name cannot be forgotten while large
numbers of these little books are sold and read by young
children, and her beautiful verses form a considerable part
of our hymn-books, and are justly admired for the true
devotion and elegance of style which they display; but one
has no just idea of the varied and extensive powers of Mrs.
Barbauld, and no thorough study can be made of her works
and genius, without a collection of her writings. In forming
this Selection I have endeavored to give the public the best
of her writings, and as a rule have made use only of pieces
of general interest, omitting the greater part of the po6ms
written for particular occasions, and have not used any of
her political pamphlets, fine as they are, or her sermons,
which appeared after her death in the "Christian Reformer."
The pamphlets are powerful productions, but the present
interest in them would not justify their reprint; and the sermons are not suited to the plan and scope of this Selection, as
they are of a purely religious and didactic style, and hardly
interesting to the general reader.
I have placed among her poems several which are not to
be found in Miss Aikin's collection.  These I have taken
from Dr. Aikin's "Collection of Songs," and as they are in no
way inferior to her other poems, I insert them in the Poems.
What the good taste of Dr. Aikin selected for his excellent
book of songs should not be rejected.  Ritson has placed




PREFACE.                       xi
some of them in his "Collection of English Songs," giving
them an honorable mention.
I have placed among the Miscellaneous Pieces two Essays,
one on "Prejudice," the other on "Education"; these first
appeared in the "Monthly Magazine," and were much admired at the time.  "The Misses," which I think is not
known to many readers, was printed after Mrs. Barbauld's
death in the juvenile " Forget-me-not" of 1830, a charming
annual for children, edited by Mrs. S. C. Hall.  This little
allegory is the first piece in the "Forget-me-not," and is well
entitled to a place of honor, even among the distinguished
names which we find in the list of contributors.
It only remains for me to say that, though I feel assured
there are many persons better qualified by years and experience to have written the "Life of Mrs. Barbauld," yet it
has not been done, and this must be my excuse for assuming
the responsibility of it. I believe it to be an honest piece
of work, and I hope that care and fidelity may atone for the
lack of brilliancy and exciting incidents in the records of
a quiet life. As the worthy and quaint old Izaak YWalton
says, in speaking of his assuming the care of writing the
"Life of George Herbert":    "For these reasons I have
undertaken it, and if I have prevented any abler person, I
beg pardon of him and my reader."
GRACE ATKINSON ELLIS.
2 COMMONWEALTH AVENUE, BOSTON,
January, 1874.








CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Page
Introduction. - Birth  and Parentage. -Position  of Dissenters.Early Life. - Education. - Friends and Companions. - Classical
Studies. - Love of Nature. - Poetical Taste and Imagination. 1 -17
CHAPTER II.
Removal to Warrington. - Friends made there. - Mode of Life at the
Academy. - Tutors and Scholars. - State of Learning in England
at the Universities. - Address to Mrs. Priestley. - Visits Dr. and
Mrs. Priestley at Leeds. - Poems written there. - Visits Mr.
Turner at Wakefield...   18-38
CHAPTER III.
Letters to Family and Friends. - John Aikin, M. D. - His Return to
Warrington. — His Literary Productions. - Prepares his Sister's
Poems for Publication. - Poems printed in 1773. - Address to the
Corsicans. - Miscellaneous Pieces collected and published in 1773.
- Remarks of Fox.- Criticism of Dr. Johnson on the Imitation of
his Style. - Essay in the " Christian Reformer"... 39-53
CHAPTER IV.
Marriage. - Mr. Barbauld's Parentage and Family. - Reply to Mrs.
Montague and Others. - Mr. Barbauld settles at Palgrave. - They
open a School in that Town. -Success of the Enterprise. -Mrs.
Barbauld's Method of Instruction. - Dr. Sayers's Remembrance of
the Lessons given by her. - William Taylor of Norwich, one of the




xiv                         CONTENTS.
Scholars. - Letters to her Brother, with Account of the School, and
her Interest in the Lessons and Amusements of the Boys.. 54-69
CHAPTER V.
Mrs. Barbauld's Letters. - Dr. Johnson's Description of her. - Publishes "Thoughts on the Devotional Taste."-London Society at
that Period. - The Eminent Men and Women of the Time. - The
Blue-Stocking Club. - Miss More's " Bas Bleu." - Miss More meets
Mrs. Barbauld. - Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld offer to adopt one of Dr.
Aikin's Children. - The Offer accepted. - "Early Lessons" written
by Mrs. Barbauld for his Use. - Letters to Miss Dixon.   70 - 95
CHAPTER VI.
Mrs. Barbauld takes Charge of some Young Scholars. -Writes the
" Prose Hymns." -Her Aim  in writing them. - Visits London. -
Letters to Dr. Aikin. - Visits Norwich. - Peculiarities of the old
Town. -Letters to Miss More.- Miss More's Poem  on "Sensibility." - Address to Mrs. Barbauld. - Dr. Aikin removes to Yarmouth. -Visit to London in the Christmas Holidays. -Meets
many Friends there. - Joseph Johnson, her Publisher. - Miss
Burney. -Letters..                                       96-120
CHAPTER VII.
Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld relinquish their School. - They make a Continental Journey. —Letters written to the Family and Friends on
this Journey.- Persons whose Acquaintance they make. -They
meet John Howard. - Magnetism.- Manners and Customs. -
Mode of Travelling.....   121-164
CHAPTER VIII.
The Barbaulds return to England. - They reside in London for a few
Months. -Social Life there. -Removal to Hampstead. -Hampstead
and its Inhabitants. - Mrs. Barbauld writes "Address to the Opposers of the Repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts." - Cause of
the Act and Occasion for the Repeal. - Final Success of the Advocates of the Measures....                             165-187




CONTENTS.                             XV
CHAPTER IX.
Mrs. Barbauld's "Poetical Epistle" to William Wilberforce. - Horace Walpole's Remarks on Mrs. Barbauld. - Letters. - Dr. Johnson's Character - Mrs. Barbauld's "Reply" to Mr. Wakefield's
Pamphlet on Worship. - She visits Scotland. -- Various Impressions
of the Highlands. - Mrs. Barbauld writes Essays on Akenside's
"Pleasures of the Imagination," and on Collins's Odes. —Meets
General Paoli. -Letters...         188 - 211
CHAPTER X.
The Barbaulds visit Bristol. - They meet Dr. Beddoes. - His Character. - They visit Dorking. - Call on Madame D'Arllay. - Her
Account of the Visit, and Impression of Mr. and Mrs. Barlauld. -
Mr. Rogers's Anecdote of a Poem of Mrs. Barbauld. - Letter from
Mrs. Barbauld to Miss MIore. - She forms a Friendship with the
Edgeworths. - Miss Edgeworth's Account of it. - Mrs. Edgeworth's Description of Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld. - Sugar not used by
the Opponents of the Slave-Trade. - Character of Dr. Priestley by
Mrs. Barbauld. - Address to him  by her. - Joanna Baillie. - Her
Tragedies. - Dr. Aikin's Description of his Visit to Kibworth 212 - 236
CHAPTER XI.
Removal of the Barbaulds to Stoke Newington.- Cause of it.Lines to Mrs. Barbauld by Dr. Aikin. - History of the Chapel. -
Letters. - The Annual Review. - Mrs. Barbauld edits with Essay
a "Selection."- Miss Aikin's Opinion about this Essay. -Diary
of Mr. Robinson, and his Introduction to Mrs. Barbauld. - Wordsworth's Admiration of "Life."-His Remarks about Mrs. Barbauld. - Sir Henry Holland's Recollections of Newington Society
and Mrs. Barbauld. - She writes the " Life of Richardson." —
Anecdotes about it.- Miss Aikin's Letters. - Anecdotes. - Mr.
Barbauld's Death.-His Character, by Mrs. Barbauld..237-264
CHAPTER XII.
Mrs. Barbauld edits "British Novelists" - Prepares a "Selection"
for the Young, called "The Enfield Speaker." - Publishes Poem
"Eighteen Hundred and Eleven." -Criticisms on this Poem. —




xvi                             CONTENTS.
Style of it. -- Mr. Robinson's Diary. - Letters. -  Social Activity
of Mrs. Barbauld.- She meets Scott at Dinner. -  Mrs. Farrar's
Recollections. - Mrs. Barbauld and Byron's Poem. - Miss Edgeworth's Visit. - Mr. Robinson's Picture of Mrs Barbauld. - Dr.
Channing visits her. - Old Age and its Trials. - Loss of her old
Friends. - Death of Dr. Aikin. - Mrs. Barbauld's cheerfulness and
Patience. - Illness and Death. - Miss Aikin's Estimate of her Character. - Miss Edgeworth's Remarks. - Tablet to Mrs. Barbauld's
Memory. — Anecdotes. -  Mrs. Barhauld's Poetry. -  Her Prose
Works. - Her Position in English Literature. - Her Character. -
Her Influence. - Her Personal Appearance. -- The Justice of the
Claims to Respect and Veneration her Life inspires..   265 - 339




LIFE OF MRs. BARBAULD.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION. - BIRTH AND PARENTAGE. -POSITION OF DISSENTERS. 
EARLY LIFE. - EDUCATION. - FRIENDS AND COMPANIONS. - CLASSICAL STUDIES. - LOVE OF NATURE.- POETICAL TASTE AND IMAGINATION.
IN offering this biography to the public, I feel the
difficulty of my self-imposed task, which has become, with the performance of it, a pleasure. I hope
that the purpose to place before the present generation the character and the just claims to veneration
and respect which the life of Mr5. Barbauld must inspire, may not be wholly unsuccessful; that her noble
qualities of mind and heart, her high culture and poetic
genius, her pure and simple course of life, may impress
themselves upon the reader better than any words of
mine can do. Miss Aikin's Memoir of her, from which
I have quoted somewhat, appeared  in  the edition
of Mrs. Barbauld's Works published in London in
1825. It is a brief, comprehensive, and very limited
sketch of her aunt's life and writings.  What she wrote
1                            A




2              LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. I.
was couched in elegant language, and the criticism is
very discrimntinating and impartial; but she had not the
space proper for such an undertaking, and time has
given us many more facts of interest connected with
Mrs. Barbauld.  Many of her contemporaries have left
their remembrances and records, and there is much to
be gleaned from' them of value to the reader of the
present day.  The biographer of Miss Lucy Aikin herself tells us of her Life of Mrs. Barbauld, and that of
her father, John Aikin, M. D.: " Both may be regarded
as works of filial piety, for her aunt shared with her
father in the reverence and affection with which she
regarded the union of virtue and talent. The cast of
her own mind fitted her better for sympathizing with
the strong practical sense, the liberal views, and tlhe
literary diligence of her father, than with the sensibility and poetical elegance of her aunt." Undoubtedly
the biographer of Miss Aikin was better able to judge
of the cast of her mind than I am, and perhaps the
task was not congenial to her, but, at all events, it is
more correctly elegant than warm  and personal in its
nature; but sixty pages of large type were devoted to
the Memoir and critical remarks on the Works, while
one fair-sized volume was given by her to the life of
Dr. Aikin.
Mrs. Barbauld's fame justifies and demands, therefore,
more of an extended study of her life and writings than




1743.]         MISS AIKIN'S MEMOIR.               3
has yet been given them; and, without encroaching on
the sacred privacy of a family, it seems as if, with the
new materials now at hand, a pleasant and instructive
Memoir may be produced.
I have used the letters which were first published in
the second volume apart from Miss Aikin's Memoir, and
placed them in their proper order in the Life. This gives
them an interest which their own merit should claim
for them; but in fact they need illustration by and
impart an additional value to the biographical sketch
of her career. I am able to add to them two which I
have found.in an early Memoir of Miss Hannah More,
and which I think valuable, and worthy of being placed
among the others, as showing in a marked degree the
enlightened and liberal religious views and sentiments
of their writer, and the warm friendship existing between herself and Miss More. Also I insert a brief
note to Mr. Wedgwood, which was found among his
papers by Miss Meteyard; this gives us a little glimpse
of the domestic life of the author, and its cares. There
are some extracts from her correspondence which are
not very numerous, and make us wish for more; it is to
be hoped that time will bring to light, among other
good things, more of Miss Barbauld's letters, and particularly those from her to her friend Miss Edgeworth,
with whom she corresponded for many years, whose
memory is so widely respected as an author, and who




4              LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. I.
would be deeply loved for herself, could she be more
known in her private character.
A  well-sustained and truthful sketch of the life,
character, and writings of an elevated mind, a hightoned and gifted person, is no easy task; and it becomes
doubly hard when the materials are rather scanty, the
incidents few, and the life was passed quietly amidst the
duties and trials of a private and secluded home. The
life of Mrs. Barbauld was long, full of days and honor,
not without its trials; she bore her part and performed
her life work with an admirable and perfect simplicity
of purpose. Her character is very beautiful as studied
from her own expressions and writings; her poems and
prose works are full of the best and purest thought; and
her life was a perfectly rounded circle of duties well
done, sorrows borne with Christian fortitude, human
sympathies and warm  affection shown to her family
and friends. In the course of her long career she was
the friend and intimate of three generations of persons
eminent in literature and science, and distinguished
for originality of mind, vigor of thought, and power of
expression.  Her early youth was passed among an
unusually intelligent and cultivated group' of people.
The celebrated Dr. Doddridge was for many years an
inmate of her grandfather's house.  Her father, John
Aikin, D. D., his assistant for a time, was one of the
most eminent and learned Dissenting clergymen of his




1743.]   HER ACQUAINTANCES AND FRIENDS.            5
generation. Influenced in her youth by such men, she
met in her early womanhood and formed a life-long
friendship with Mr. -afterwards Dr. —Joseph Priestley
and his wife; and her residence at Warrington, then
the seat of the Academy, was in the society of a little
community of scholarly and refined men and women,
who stimulated her mind, already replete with knowledge, and carefully trained by a fine classical education,
to its first indications of genius and expressions of enlarged thought. In her full maturity of mind she met
and held converse, more or less intimately, with many
of Great Britain's most brilliant thinkers, great writers,
and discoverers. Among these contemporaries, the men
and women of her day, friends and acquaintances, may be
numbered Dr. Priestley; John Howard, the great philanthropist; Dugald Stewart, the eminent Scotch metaphysician; Sir Walter Scott; Miss Hannah More; Mrs.
Elizabeth Montague; Madame D'Arblay; Roscoe, the
historian and banker; Miss Joanna Baillie; Sir James
Mackintosh; Coleridge; Charles Lamb; Wordsworth;
Rogers, the banker-poet; Miss Maria Edgeworth. Many
more great names might be added. Henry Crabb Robinson was one of her great admirers, and justly enthusiastic in his warm expressions of friendship.  To him,.
and others who knew her, we owe little reminiscences
of the charms of her conversation, her fine personal
appearance, and the womanly virtues and sweetness of




6              LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. I.
character which were so truly her greatest attraction,
notwithstanding her high literary reputation and just
claims to respect as an author.
Mrs. Barbauld's life was not like that of a gifted man
whose statue bears a brief inscription to this effect, —
"Too short for friendship, not for fame "; hers was an
active and busy one, and she left the impress of her
thought and best efforts on many young minds at a most
sensitive and receptive age. With genius and powers
of mind uncommon in her sex, cultivation of the
highest order, womanly charms and accomplishments
which fitted her for the most brilliant society and the
highest walks of literature, what Dr. Johnson has stated
in his observations on the character and writings of
Dr. Watts is not less true of her, — that she " condescendec for children to lay aside the scholar, the philosopher, and the wit, and to write little poems of devotion and systems of instruction adapted to their wants
and capacities, from  the dawn of reason through its
gradations of advance in the morning of life."  Her
very remarkable capacity as a writer for children of the
most charming prose hymns ever produced at any time
has almost obscured her other manifestations of genius
as one of England's ablest minds, and an ornament to
her sex and age.  Whether she is considered as a
powerful prose writer on various subjects which received broad and liberal treatment in clear and beauti



1743.]       HER PARENTAGE AND BIRTH.               7
ful English from her able mind; as a sweet singer of
the ever-changing and many aspects of life which drew
from her, in turn, true pathos, sweet and pure sentiment, inspiring and elevating verse, devotional songs
of the highest strain of worship; or as a writer of the
fascinating and simply unsurpassed hymns for children,
-  she merits our respectful admiration and honest
emulation as one who used her talents, and did a high
and noble work in her day.
ANNA LETITIA AIKIN, the subject of this sketch, was
born in the obscure little village of Kibworth Harcourt,
in Leicestershire, England, June 20, 1743.  She was
the eldest child and only daughter of her parents, John
Aikin, D. D., and his wife Jane, who was a daughter of the Rev. John Jennings, of Kibworth.  Her
father was the son of a Scotchmian who was settled in
London as a shopkeeper.  He had originally been destined for a business life, and had been for some time a
French clerk in a city counting-house, where his health
was affected by the confinement and the air of London.
He was therefore sent into the country for his health, and
placed "for a time with Dr. Doddridge, who succeeded
Dr. Jennings in his academy at Kibworth, and removed
it later to Northampton."  Feeling a strong inclination
for the life of a scholar, he sought and obtained his
father's consent to his giving up a business career, and
began to prepare himself for the ministry.  After he




8             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. I.
had completed his studies at the University of Aberdeen, he became Dr. Doddridge's assistant in his academy at Northampton.  Soon after his acceptance of
this position he was chosen by a Dissenting congregation at Leicester to be their minister; but, when entering on his new position, a lung disease attacked him,
rendering his performance of the duties he had assumed
impossible, and he was forced to abandon all thoughts
of preaching.  He was obliged by his complaint to
resign his future prospects in his chosen work, and,
being without advancement, became a teacher for life.
After being for a short time in partnership with a Mr.
Lee, who kept a school for boys, he married Miss Jennings, and opened a school of his own at Kibworth,
which soon became well known and very successful.
Gilbert Wakefield, who afterwards had an intimate
knowledge of the mind and thoughts of Dr. Aikin at
Warrington, said of him, "He was a gentleman whose
endowments as a man and as a scholar it is not easy
to  exaggerate by panegyric;.... his intellectual
attainments were of a very superior quality indeed.
His acquaintance with all true evidences of revelation,
with morals, politics, and metaphysics, was most accurate and extensive. Every path of polite literature
had been traversed by him, and traversed with success.
He understood the Hebrew and French languages to
perfection, and had an intimacy with the best authors of




1743.]       THE ENGLISH DISSENTERS.             9
Greece and Rome, superior to what I have ever known
in any Dissenting minister from my own experience."
Macaulay, in his History, refers to the position of
the Dissenting clergy, and their comparatively independent circumstances after the accession of William
and Mary. The agitation about the passage of the
Comprehension Bill and the repeal of the Test Acts
causes him to speak of the opposition and failure of
these measures, and why they did not pass. He says:
" Even those Presbyterian ministers whose scruples the
Comprehension Bill was expressly intended to remove
were by no means unanimous in wishing it to pass.
The ablest and most eloquent preachers among them
had, since the Declaration of Indulgence had appeared,
been very agreeably settled in the capital and other
large towns, and were now about to enjoy, under the
sure guaranty of an Act of Parliament, that toleration
which under the-Declaration of Indulgence had been
illicit and precarious. The situation of these men was
such as the great majority of the divines of the Established Church might well envy. Few, indeed, of the
parochial clergy were so abundantly supplied'with
comforts as the favorite orator of a great assembly of
nonconformists in the city. The voluntary contributions of his wealthy hearers, aldermen and deputies, West
India merchants and Turkey merchants, wardens of the.
Company of Fishmongers, and wardens of the Com1*




10            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. I.
pany of Goldsmiths, enabled him  to become a landowner or a mortgagee.  The best broadcloth  from
Blackwell Hall and the best poultry from Leadenhall
Market were frequently left at his door. His influence
over his flock was immense. Scarcely any member of
a congregation of Separatists entered into a partnership,
married a daughter, put a son out as apprentice, or gave
his vote at an election, without consulting his spiritual
guide.  On all political and literary questions the minister was the oracle of his own circle. It was popularly
remarked, during many years, that an eminent Dissenting minister had only to make his son an attorney or
physician; that the attorney was sure to have clients, and
the physician to have patients. While a waiting-woman
was generally considered as a helpmeet for a chaplain
in holy orders of the Established Church, the widows
and daughters of opulent citizens were supposed to belong in a peculiar manner to nonconformist pastors.
One of the great Presbyterian rabbies, therefore, might
well doubt whether, in a worldly view, he should be
benefited by a comprehension. He might indeed hold
a rectory or a vicarage, when he could get one. But in
the mean time he would be destitute; his meetinghouse would be closed; his congregation would be dispersed among the parish churches; if a benefice were
bestowed on him, it would probably be a very slender
compensation for the income which he had lost. Nor




1743.]       THE ENGLISH DISSENTERS.             11
could he hope to have, as a minister of the Anglican
Church, the authority and dignity which he had hitherto enjoyed. He would always, by a large portion of
the members of that church, be regarded as a deserter.
He might, therefore, on the whole, very naturally wish
to be left where he was."- In Brown's " Amusements,
Serious and Comical," he treats the -Presbyterian divines
very abusively; of their preaching he says that it
"brings in money, and money buys land; and land is
an amusement they all desire, in spite of their hypocritical cant. If it were not for the quarterly contributions, there would be no longer schism or separation."
He asks how it can be imagined that, while " they are
maintained like gentlemen by the breach, they will
ever preach up healing doctrines."  Hawkins, in his
Life of Dr. Johnson, relates some curious instances of
the influence exercised by the popular Dissenting ministers. Addison, in a paper in the Spectator, "The
Journal of the Retired Citizen," has indulged in some
exquisite pleasantry on this subject. "The Mr. Nisby
whose opinions about the peace, the Grand Vizier, and
laced coffee, are quoted with so much respect, and who
is so well regaled with marrow-bones, ox-cheek, and a
bottle of Brook's and Hellier, was John Nesbit, a highly popular preacher, who about the time of the Revolution became pastor of a Dissenting congregation in
Hare Court, Aldersgate Street."  The quotations and




12             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. I.
anecdotes might be multiplied to prove the superiority
and worldly advantages of the lot of Dissenting clergymen; but, whatever their condition may have been for
a time, and in the great metropolis among the city
merchants, the salaries and emoluments of the preachers of the sect, and their worldly position, were far from
being so enviable as Macaulay would have his reader
believe, at the time of which we read. Dissent was,
and always has been, unfashionable, and confined to the
middle classes in England. Respectability and industry, wealth and influence, were not wanting in their
ranks; but, as a rule, the Dissenters were of the middle
class, and their various disabilities under the law kept
them  from  aspiring to rank and honor, which they
could not conscientiously receive  and enjoy.  The
position of Miss Aikin, therefore, was bounded by certain arbitrary customs, and she inherited a condition
which gave her " neither poverty nor riches," as the
daughter of a Dissenting  clergyman whose health
obliged him  to resign his only chance for wealth.
Miss Aikin was descended, on her mother's side,
from an ancient and respectable family, the Wingates
of Bedfordshire.  She showed at a very early age an
extraordinary capacity for learning, and great mental
powers. Her mother wrote of her in a letter which still
exists: "I once, indeed, knew a little girl, who was as
eager to learn as her instructors could be to teach her,




1743.]            HIER PRECOCITY.                  13
and who, at two years old, could read sentences and
little stories in her wise book roundly, without spelling, and in half a year more could read as well as
most women; but I never knew such another, and, I
believe, never shall." The good lady was quite distressed, in later years, that she could not make her
granddaughter, Miss Lucy Aikin, learn as readily, and
seems to have left a lasting impression of her sternness on the child, who in her Reminiscences laments
the difference between her aunt's early development
and her own; she says that Mrs. Barbauld " could read
with ease before she was twenty months old."  This
very unusual display of mental strength and precocious
genius did not at all exhaust her intellect, and we find
her pursuing a classical education with great interest
and avidity.  Mrs. Cappe, in her valuable Memoir of
her excellent husband, relates that Mr. Cappe passed
the year 1748, previous to entering as a student under
Dr. Doddridge, with Dr. Aikin, receiving from  him
preparatory instruction; and while an inmate of his
family he had great pleasure in observing many early
indications of his daughter's talent.  His attention was
attracted by the child, then but five years of age. One
day as the Doctor and he were conversing on the passions, the former observed that joy, accurately defined,
cannot have place in a state of perfect felicity, since it
supposes an accession of happiness.  "I think you are




14            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. I.
mistaken, papa," said a little voice from the opposite
side of the table.  "Why so, Laetitia?"  "Because in
the chapter I read to you this morning in the Testament it is said, there is more joy in heaven over one
sinner that repenteth, than over ninety and nine just
persons that need no repentance."  This appears to
have brought the worthy Doctor's definitions to a termination for the time.  Her excellent mother personally instructed her in all the domestic branches of
a woman's education, and made her a proficient in the
household arts, in which too often women without literary tastes for compensation and those gifted mentally
are alike singularly deficient.
Her studies were pursued under the parental roof
entirely, and she enjoyed peculiar advantages from the
care of cultivated parents, and their refined and elevating influence.  But, while fortunate in her surroundings in these respects, she was almost without companions of her own age. At the time when the young
and light-hearted are allowed and encouraged to mingle
with  friends and playfellows, she was quite alone,
without any suitable associates of her own age, sex,
and position. The small village of Kibworth afforded
so little society for her that she was thrown upon her
own resources for occupation and amusement.  Her
brother John was three years younger than herself, so
that she was brought up among people of mature years,




1743.]         HER EARLY DEVELOPMENT.                 15
which tended to give her mind a more serious cast
than was natural, or perhaps desirable.  In after life
she often referred her want of ease and a feeling of
constraint in society to this cause, and probably with
good reason.  Her mother was unusually strict in her
oversight of her, that her daughter might not become
too masculine in her tastes, left as she was almost entirely to her for female companionship in the large
academy for boys, of which her father was the master.
Being a woman of keen perceptions and good understanding, she saw, undoubtedly, the strong and almost
masculine mind of her daughter, and wished to temper
judiciously the powerful traits of character and understanding she displayed with feminine graces and accomplishments, thus making her in after life the noble
specimen of womanly perfection which she was. The
very loneliness and restraint of these early years had a
marked effect in  strengthening and developing her
mind, and concentrating in  an unusual degree her
thought and power of expressing herself.  Wordsworth
speaks of the inward eye,
"Which i~ the bliss of solitude "
and like all true poets, thinkers, and lovers of nature,
she found
"Tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything."
Nature, inspired her, and, born with the heart of a poet,




16             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. I.
she drew pleasure and the keenest enjoyment from  the
observation and study of the. simple, yet ever-varying,
face of that great world of beauty which unrolls before
us all its vast and boundless pages for those who
love it.
Miss Aikin says of her aunt's life at this time: " Her
recollections of childhood and youth were, in fact, not
associated with much of the pleasure and gayety usually
attendant upon that period of life; but it must be regarded as a circumstance favorable, rather than otherwise, to the unfolding of her genius, to have been thus
left to find or make in solitude her own objects of interest and pursuit.  The love of rural nature sank deep
into her heart; her vivid fancy exerted itself to color,
to animate, and to diversify all the objects which surrounded her; the few but choice authors of her father's
library, which she read and reread, had leisure to
make their full impression, - to mould her sentiments,
and to form  her taste; the spirit of devotion, early inculcated upon her as a duty, opened to her by degrees
an exhaustless source of tender and sublime delight;
and while yet a child she was surprised to find herself
a poet." Among her other advantages for self-improvement, she enjoyed one rather peculiar for a woman, 
an excellent classical educationj very rare at that day,
when a strong prejudice almost prevented women from
gaining any thorough knowledge of the learning of the




1743.]        HER CLASSICAL EDUCATION.             17
ancients, and in most cases confined them  to the simplest rudiments of the English branches. Grand exceptions, of course, there were to this rule, as the career
of Mrs. Barbauld and many of her sister authors proves;
but as a predominant condition the education of women
was very poor at that time in England.  Her father
was justly proud of her mental activity, breadth of
thought, and industry, and at last yielded his own unwillingness to teach her what he considered the unfeminine branches of knowledge, because of her great
wish to learn. Under his good instruction she became
proficient in the Latin, French, and Italian languages,
and made some progress in the study of the Greek authors.  She was early a thorough student and admirer
of the writers of the best and most vigorous English, and
her own works indicate plainly her love and careful reading of these classic models. She was not afraid to express what she strongly felt, the truest admiration for
Addison and others of the so-called Augustan Age of
English literature; and to the influence of these great
minds we trace her fine style, her classic and powerful
language, her early development of poetic talent, and her
eloquent, forcible prose.  Her mind was naturally well
balanced and strong, her views liberal, her fancy keen;
native wit and animation also threw their charm over
her work; but her taste was formed, and her mental
grasp enlarged by the judicious studies of her childhood
and youth.                                   B




18              LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. II.
CHAPTER II.
REMOVAL TO WARRINGTON. - FRIENDS MADE THERE. -- MODE OF LIFE
AT THE ACADEMY. -TUTORS AND SCHOLARS. -STATE OF LEARNING
IN ENGLAND AT THE UNIVERSITIES. -ADDRESS TO MRS. PRIESTLEY. - VISITS DR. AND MRS. PRIESTLEY AT LEEDS. - POEMS WRITTEN THERE. -VISITS MR. TURNER AT WAKEFIELD.
S O passed the earlier years of Miss Aikin; and, happily for her, when longer seclusion and quiet might
have depressed her naturally good spirits, and injured
the brightness of her fancy, wit, and vivacity of thought,
she was removed to a more animated scene, congenial
with her social and literary tastes.  By the invitation
of the trustees of the Dissenting Academy at Warrington, her father assumed the position of classical tutor at
that Institution. This change of residence and society
happened when his daughter was fifteen years of age,
and the next fifteen years of her life were mostly passed
in that town.  The Academy numbered among its trustees, tutors, and scholars, names celebrated in literature,
art, and the sciences.  Lord Willoughby of Parham
was for a time, as representative of one of the oldest
Presbyterian families in the kingdom, president of its




1758.]              DR. PRIESTLEY.                 19
board of trustees.  Here Priestley, addressed later on
as "Patriot, and Saint, and Sage " by Coleridge, first
displayed his great mental endowments, and engaged in
a variety of publications of his observations and researches, which announced to the world the extent and
originality of his thought and varied accomplishments.
As one of those intimately connected with Miss
Aikin at this period of their lives, and always the object of her affectionate and respectful admiration, a brief
sketch of Dr. Priestley may not be misplaced here.
Born in an obscure village, near Leeds, where his father
was a small woollen-cloth manufacturer, Joseph Priestley was precluded by the very moderate circumstances
of his parents from receiving a thorough education, but
was enabled to fit himself fairly for the position of a
Dissenting clergyman.  His active mind and powerful
grasp of thought soon carried him  into an extended
course of study, and he began while at Warrington to
show the wonderful scope and breadth of intellect he
possessed.  In 1767 he left Warrington to fill the pulpit of a chapel at Leeds; and the chemical researches he
there began were of the utmost importance and value,
laying the basis of all after discoveries in the chemical
properties of gases, and the foundation of that branch
of the science known as pneumatic chemistry.  To him
the world is indebted for the discovery and analysis
of a number of the gases now known. He had an ex



20            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. II.
traordinary versatility of mind, and the most intense
love of truth in all its manifestations, natural or moral.
Whether he is viewed as a pneumatic chemist, a theologian, an electrician, an historian, or a politician, his
writings show him as an ardent lover of the great and
beautiful in nature and mankind.  He became the subject of sharp persecution for his sympathy with the
earlier manifestations of the French Revolution, which
could not have been the result of anything but the lowest
prejudices and party spirit; and the ill-treatment he
received; the actual violence with which his property
was utterly destroyed at the Birmingham riot, when he
with his family were forced to flee for their lives, at
last drove him to America, where he died in 1804.
The elder Dr. Aikin was at first the classical tutor,
and later filled the theological chair at the Academy,
after the death of its able and excellent incumbent, Dr.
John Taylor of Norwich,- a man widely known and
respected for his piety and learning.  Gilbert Wakefield, a learned and able scholar and critic, well known
as the translator of Lucretius, was tutor after Dr. Priestley left, in his place. He was graduated at Jesus College, Cambridge, and ordained as a deacon in the
Established Church. Feeling conscientious scruples, he
became a Dissenter, greatly to his own loss in a worldly
point of view. He wrote and published some very bold
and offensively radical pamphlets, and, finally, a " Reply




1758.]         WARRINGTON ACADEMY.                 21
to some Parts of the Bishop of Landaff's Address " drew
upon him the charge of sedition. He was arrested, and
imprisoned for two years; his publisher also being punished for printing a seditious work. This treatment he
did not long survive, his health being affected by the
confinement.  He fell a victim  to fever soon after his
release. Dr. Enfield, a warm friend of the younger Dr.
Aikin, by him addressed,"  friend, to whose clear sight the mystic roll
Of wisdom lies displayed, -"
was another of the able and scholarly men who made
the Academy the seat of such learning and repute as it
enjoyed for a time.  It numbered among its scholars
the political economist Malthus, Dr. Estlin of Bristol,
"a learned scholar and divine," the Martineaus and
Taylors of Norwich, John Wedgwood of Etruria, son
of the great potter, and afterwards one himself, Dr. Percival of Manchester, Dr. Farr, the translator of Hippocrates, and John Aikin, M. D., who were among those
pupils of the establishment that made themselves distinguished by their talents and learning in the walks
of literature.
Warrington is one of the oldest towns in Lancashire,
and was originally a Roman station.  It is situated on
the north bank of the Mersey.  Miss Aikin, in her
poem, "The Invitation," addressed to a friend, has described so well and fully the surrounding objects of




22            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. II.
beauty, and her love of the place, that I need only say
it is at the present time very much the same in its general aspect as she saw it more than a hundred years
ago, with the exception of a large town which has
grown up round the Warrington Junction of the Northwestern Railroad, that runs near the old town.  The
old town remains much as it was, and is rather a
sleepy, dull place.  During the civil wars Warrington
was the scene of two severe conflicts. From the press
of this town the first newspaper in the county was
issued, and it also boasted that the first stage-coach inl
the country was started from it. John Howard's work
on Prisons was panted at the Warrington Press, as
were also the most of Miss Aikin's earlier works, the
first writings of Thomas Roscoe, the works of Dr.
Ferrier, Gibson, and others.  In 1757 an academy was
established there, which rapidly rose into celebrity under the able direction and care of the tutors whose
names have been mentioned, and others.  The Academy
was broken up in the year 1786, and from its ruins a
college was started at York, then removed to Manchester, and now has several branches, of which that in
London is one,-the Manchester New College.  This
institution is in Gordon Square, London, and is presided over by the Rev. James Martineau, D. D., known
as one of the ablest thinkers and brilliant and powerful
writers of the present time, who holds the office of




1758.]          WARRINGTON ACADEMY.                   23
Principal, filling likewise the professorship of Philosophy.  The chair of Hebrew language and literature is
ably filled by his son, Professor Russell Martineau, who
follows in the footsteps of his father, and will sustain
the family reputation for scholarship and learning.
From  the Transactions of the Historical Society of
Cheshire and Lancashire I take some interesting facts
about this Academy, with which Miss Aikin was identified in early life, and which she celebrated in the following lines, testifying her genuine love for and interest
in the place," Mark where its simple front yon mansion rears,
The nursery of men for future years."
These are taken from her poem  describing Warrington, and inviting her friend to visit her, of which I
have just spoken.  The buildings were " simple " indeed,
even poor; and the real strength of the Academy lay,
not in the beauty of the architecture nor the extent of
the buildings, but in the able, self-denying, and devoted
tutors. Mr. Seddon, the originator of it, "did not scruple some stout puffing" on its behalf.  Mrs. Barbauld,
after her marriage and settlement at Palgrave, receiving
one of his official statements, wrote to her brother, Dr.
Aikin, then residing at Warrington, in the practice of
his profession, "Who hath believed our report?"  The
Academy was in existence twenty-nine years, but the
management and discipline exercised by the tutors not




24             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. II.
being equal to their instruction, the Presbyterians, who
had taken an active and importan      t part in its origin and
maintenance, fell off, not being satisfied with the way
the affairs of the institution were administered.  New
buildings were contracted for and built without proper
means of meeting the debt thus assumed, and this was
another unfortunate and ill-judged arrangement bringing trouble with it. The debt was finally paid by subscriptions raised by the friends of the Academy; and
among them we find the name of Josiah Wedgwood of
Etruria, whose son John had entered there as a student
in 1782-83.  Reform in other directions, for various
reasons, appears to have been considered, after many
efforts, an impossibility, and the close of the midsummer session of 1786 saw also the termination of the
Warrington Academy. Mrs. Barbauld wrote of the new
buildings, when she addressed Dr. Enfield on his revisiting Warrington in 1789, when she says, -
"Lo there the seats where science loved to dwell,
Where Liberty her ardent spirit breathed."
Dr. Priestley, in his own Memoir, alludes to his
residence at Warrington, and says of it: "I was singularly happy there in the society of my fellow-tutors,
and of Mr. Seddon, the minister of the place.  We
drank tea together every Saturday; and our conversation was equally instructive and pleasing.  I often
thought it not a little extraordinary, that four persons




1758.]              MR. SEDDON.                    25
who had no previous knowledge of each other should
have been brought to unite in conducting such a
scheme as this, all being zealous Necessarians as we
were."  Again he writes of his life there: "Though all
the tutors in my time lived together in the most perfect harmony, though we all exerted ourselves to the
utmost, and there was no complaint of want of discipline, the Academy did not flourish."  And he appears to have cherished most happy recollections of
this peaceful circle and the quiet life he enjoyed there.
-Dr. Aikin was succeeded by Dr. Priestley in his tutorship of Belles-Lettres and the classics, when he took
the chair of theology made vacant by the death of Dr.
Taylor.  Mr. Seddon, the minister of the town, was
also the tutor of Belles-lettres for a time, and resident
manager of the establishment under the title of Rector
Academioe. He was succeeded in his office, at his
death,. by Dr. Enfield. Mr. Seddon, in writing to Dr.
Aikin in regard to his removal from  Kib worth to
Warrington, after his appointment there, gives a curious passage in his letter, which shows how very difficult
and disagreeable travelling was in England a hundred
years and more since.
Mr. Seddon's letter is dated March 11, 1758.  "Mr.
Holland has given us some reason to hope that you
will come over to Warrington in the Easter week, in
order to take a view of your future situation; if so,
2




26            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. II.
give me leave to recommend the following plan. I'11
suppose you set out from Kibworth on Sunday afternoon; as you intend travelling by post-chaises, you 11
easily reach  Loughborough, or perhaps Derby, that 
night; the next night you may come to Offerton, which
is about a mile short of Stockport, where I am with
Mrs. Seddon, and will be ready to receive you, and
wait upon you to Warrington; you will do well to
come prepared for riding, for you will not meet with
any carriages at Stockport, nor are the roads to Warrington proper for them; when you get to a place
called Bullock's Smithy, about two miles short of
Stockport, inquire for Offerton. Mr. Roe, late of Birmingham, now lives there, and we shall be glad to see
you. If you'll write to me time enough, and be particular enough in your time, I will endeavor to meet
you with my own chaise, or send a servant for that
purpose."
All these elaborate preparations for comfort in so
short a journey show how very difficult and tedious
travelling was at that period; and when it is considered
that the approach to Warrington, the seat of a large
academy, was by a road too bad for carriages, one
realizes something of the discomfort involved.
The society at Warrington was enlivened and adorned
by a number of brilliant and accomplished ladies, among
whom Miss Aikin shone and was warmly loved.  Miss




1758.1       HER LIFE AT WARRINGTON.                27
Lucy Aikin says of her aunt at this time: "The fifteen
succeeding years passed by her at Warrington comprehended probably the happiest, as well as the most
brilliant, portion of her existence. She was at this time
possessed of great beauty, distinct traces of which she
retained to the latest period of life.  Her person was
slender, her complexion exquisitely fair, with the bloom
of perfect health; her features were regular and elegant,
and her dark blue eyes beamed with the light of wit
and fancy."
"A  solitary education," says the same authority,
"had not produced on her its most frequent ill effects,
pride and self-importance; the reserve of her manners
proceeded solely from bashfulness, for her temper inclined her strongly to friendship and social pleasures,
and her active imagination, which represented all objects
tinged with hues'unborrowed of the sun,' served as a
charm  against that disgust with common characters
and daily incidents which so frequently renders the
conscious possessor of superior talents at once unamiable and unhappy."  Her warmest attachment seems
to have been placed in Mrs. Priestley, whom Dr. Priestley had married in 1762.  He describes her in his
Memoirs as "a woman of an excellent understanding,
much improved by reading; of great fortitude and
strength of mind; and of a temper in the highest degree affectionate and generous, feeling strongly for




28              LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.             [CHAP. II.
others and little for herself."  Miss Aikin passed much
time with  this superior and  cultivated woman; she
wrote to her and of her,"Oft the well-worn path to her abode
At early dawn with eager steps I've trode
And with unwilling feet returned at eve,
Loath its approach unheeded to believe.
No cold reserve, suspicion, silent care,
Or dark, unfriendly passions enter there;
But pleasing fires of lively Fancy play,
And Wisdom mingles her serener ray! "
The  "Address"  to  Mrs. Priestley, of which  these
lines form only a small part, was never published, and
they are taken from  the manuscript poem  which was
thrown into the chaise at the time Dr. and Mrs. Priestley left Warrington for Leeds in 1767. This is believed
to be her earliest poetical work, at least of any importance or length. Miss Lucy Aikin, in one of her letters
to a friend long afterwards, in speaking of Warrington
and its society, says, " Both bout qrime's and vers de socidte
were in fashion with the set.  Once it was their custom
to slip anonymous pieces into Mrs. Priestley's workbag.  One copy of verses, a very eloquent one, puzzled
all guessers for a long time; at length it was traced to
Dr. Priestley's self.  Somebody was bold  enough  to
talk of getting  up  private  theatricals.  This was a
dreadful business. All the wise and grave, the whole
tutorhood. cried out, It must not be! All the students,




1758.]        SOCIETY AT WARRINGTON.             29
the Rigbys, and, I must add, my aunt, took the prohibition very sulkily; and my aunt's'Ode to Wisdom' was
the result." In one of Mrs. Barbauld's letters to her
friend Miss Belsham, she herself alludes to the gayety
and brightness of the little circle, and wishes her there
to make one of their merry group.  The elder students
and the young ladies met in a pleasant and social way,
which gave life and animation to the place. She writes,
" We have a knot of lasses just after your own heart, 
as merry, blithe, and gay as you would wish them, and
very smart and clever; two of them  are the Miss
Rigbys."
Simplicity of life and manners, combined with intellectual pursuits and tastes, made Warrington during this
period a charming residence for one of Miss Aikin's
genius and love of literature and society.  Though
struggling with poverty and the annoyance attendant
on straitened means, the tutors were men of learning,
refinement, and good reputation, and the students were
young men of good families and position, and while
they were inmates of the tutors' houses behaved in a
quiet and dignified manner. Miss Lucy Aikin wrote
in another letter: "I have often thought with envy of
that society.  Neither Oxford nor Cambridge could
boast of brighter names in literature or science than
several of these Dissenting tutors,   humbly content,
in an obscure town, and on a scanty pittance, to culti



30            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. II.
vate in themselves and communicate to a rising generation those mental acquirements and moral habits which
are their own exceeding great reward.  They and
theirs lived together like one large family, and in the
facility of their intercourse they found large compensation for its deficiency in luxury and splendor."
Gibbon in his Autobiography gives a picture of the
state of learning and the want of discipline at Oxford,
which makes one question whether much more cannot
be said for the industrious and worthy tutors at Warrington.  He writes of his life at Magdalen College:
"I spent fourteen months at Magdalen College; they
proved the fourteen months the most idle and unprofitable of my whole life; the reader will pronounce between the school and the scholar, but I cannot affect
to believe that Nature had disqualified me for all literary pursuits."  And in confirmation of the singular
want of supervision and instruction he received, the
historian quotes another great authority, Dr. Adam
Smith, who states that in the University of Oxford
the greater part of the public professors have for these
many years given up altogether even the pretence of
teaching.  "Incredible as the fact may appear, I must
rest my belief on the positive and impartial evidence
of a master of moral and political wisdom, who had
himself resided at OxfcLd."  Gibbon adds, "Of the
state of discipline occasioned by the position of the




1758.]      DISCIPLINE AT THE ACADEMY.           31
Oxford professors, who are secure in the enjoyment of
a fixed stipend, without the necessity of labor or the
apprehension of control.... Dr.    - well remembered that he had a salary to receive, and only forgot
that he had a duty to perform.  Instead of guiding
the studies and watching over the behavior of his
disciple, I was never summoned to attend even the
ceremony of a lecture; and, excepting one voluntary
visit to his rooms during the eight months of his
titular office, the tutor and his pupil lived in the same
college as strangers to each other." When it is remembered that Gibbon was even in early youth an intense
lover of learning, and yet that " the want of experience,
of advice, and of occupation, soon betrayed me into
some improprieties of conduct, ill-chosen company, late
hours, and inconsiderate expense, — a tour to Bath, a
visit into Buckinghamshire, and four excursions to
London in the same winter," what must be thought of
the state of the University? and how did the boys who
did not love learning, and aspire to classical study and
composition as Gibbon did in the midst of these wild
and lawless frolics, conduct themselves? The pupils of
Warrington Academy, being in a large house by themselves, and no longer under the care of the different
tutors, with whom they previously boarded, were much
more at liberty, and many unpleasant practical jokes
were the consequence; some being of such a nature as




32            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. II.
to bring discredit to the establishment, and seriously
injure its reputation for order and quiet.
The West Indian scholars shocked the tutors by
their lawlessness, violence, and Southern habits of indolence; they Were wont to bewail their native islands,
and declare that the earliest request of a planter's child
was for "a young nigger to kick."  This set was very
unruly, and in time broke up the Academy by their
insolence and insubordination.   Archibald Hamilton
Rowan, afterwards the notorious Irish rebel, was one
of the students at the Academy. It was in his defence
that Curran made his famous eulogium of the British
law in these words: "The law which proclaims even to
the stranger and the sojourner, the moment he sets his
foot on British earth, that the ground he treads is holy,
and consecrated by the genius of universal emancipation."  His biographer says that, while being rusticated
for misconduct at the University, he was sent to Warrington; and in after years he had been heard to say,
"that Letitia Aikin, afterwards Mrs. Barbauld, was his
first love.  A declaration indicative of his taste and
discrimination; for in mental and personal accomplishments few, if any, could vie with that excellent lady."
She appears to have been much admired, and justly
so, by all who knew  her, even in the morning of life,
when with most minds that early period is devoted to
trifles "light as air," which may amuse, but can hardly




1769.]           HER FIRST POEMS.                 33
be the incentive of admiration. She was gifted with
great personal and mental charms, an unusual and rare
union of strength, elegance and versatility of mind, and
wit and fancy in  conversation  and writing.  Her
beauty of face and figure gave her an added attraction
for those who were so happy as to have her personal
acquaintance. She had a remarkable facility and taste
for taking silhouette portraits, and took the students,
tutors, her family and friends, in this style.  Many of
these likenesses are still preserved by her family.
There is a very affectionate "Address " to her brother,
on his removing from Warrington to pursue his medical
studies at Aberdeen; this is in manuscript, now in
possession of her family, and was accompanied by
three profiles of her father, mother, and herself.
The lines addressed by Miss Aikin to Mrs. Priestley,
from which I have quoted, were followed by many
more, and some of her finest poems were written during her life at Warrington.  In 1769, Miss Aikin
visited Dr. and Mrs. Priestley at Leeds, and with them
and other friends in the neighborhood passed the larger
part of that summer.  During this visit she wrote
many beautiful poems, several of them being suggested
by incidents which occurred to call them forth and
rouse her fancy.  "The Mouse's Petition," which is a
well-known and favorite production of its author, owed
its origin to the following circumstances, which may
2*                           C




34            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. II.
interest the reader. The story is well related by Mr.
William Turner, in a brief contemporaneous notice of
Mrs. Barbauld at the time of her death.  I use his
words: "Dr. Priestley, from  the vicinity of his residence to a large brewery, had. been led to notice the
suffocating vapor which is extricated in the process of
fermentation (now so well known as the carbonic acid
gas, but then denominated by Dr. Black fixed air, and
by Dr. Rutherford nephitic air); this circumstance,
happily for science, further led him to that train of
discoveries which gave rise to pneumatic chemistry,
and immortalized his name among philosophers.  In
the midst of these investigations Miss Aikin found
him.  He was then, as he says in his letter to Gibbon
he afterwards continued to be at Birmingham, totus in
illis.  In the course of these investigations the suffocating nature of various gases required to be determined, and no more easy or unexceptionable way of
making such experiments could be devised, than the
reserving of these little victims of domestic economy,
which were thus at least as easily and as speedily put
out of existence as by any of the more usual modes.
It happened that a captive was brought in after supper, too late for any experiment to be made with it
that night, and the servant was desired to set it by till
the next morning.  Next morning it was brought in
after breakfast, with its petition twisted among the




1769.]        "THE MOUSE'S PETITION."             35
wires of its cage." We need hardly add that the poetical genius of the mouse prevailed, and in virtue of
its kind friend's petition it was set free, perhaps to
learn wisdom and shun traps.
Dr. Priestley wrote in his Memoirs: "Mrs. Barbauld
has told me that it was the perusal of some verses of
mine that first induced her to write anything in verse;
so that this country is in some measure indebted to me
for one of the best poets it can boast.  Several of her
first poems were written while she was in my house,
on occasions that occurred while she was there." This
jeu d'esprit will connect her with the great student of
pneumatic chemistry as a friend, and indicates the
tenderness of her feeling and fancy.  But there were
higher flights of imagination and poetry, and nobler
themes for her vivid perception of the sublime and
beautiful, and one of these gave rise to her beautiful
poem, " The Address to the Deity." This was probably
one of those which Dr. Priestley thought of when he
wrote these lines in his "Memoir."  This grand and
highly devotional poem  was written under peculiar
circumstances.  Miss Aikin was then visiting at the
house of the Rev. Mr. Turner, minister of a Dissenting
congregation in Wakefield, near Leeds, and in connection with whom  some of Dr. Priestley's publications
on his researches were carried on.  In the following
extract from Dr. Priestley's Preface to his two dis



36            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. IT.
courses, the first on "Habitual Devotion" and the
other on "The Duty of not Living to Ourselves," first
published in 1782, he states: "To the former of these
discourses the public are already under considerable
obligations, though they have been ignorant of it, as it
was the occasion of that excellent poem of Mrs. Barbauld's entitled'An Address to the Deity,' which was
composed immediately after the first delivery of it before an assembly of ministers at Wakefield, in Yorkshire,
in the year 1769.  Were I to inform my readers how
soon the poem appeared after the delivery of the discourse, it would add much to their idea of the powers
of the writer.  I could make the same observation with
respect to several other pieces, and some of the most
admired in that collection."  He then quoted from it
several portions of the poem which he considered peculiarly suitable and appropriate for the purpose, and
so closed his Preface. Many years after Mrs. Barbauld's
death, Miss Lucy Aikin, in writing to her friend Dr.
Channing, of Boston, U. S. A., says, "I have a vivid
memory of Priestley, the friend of my father, the dearer
and more intimate friend of my aunt, Mrs. Barbauld..... My aunt has said of him, with as much truth
as brilliancy, that he followed truth as a man who
hawks follows his sport, —at full speed, straight forward, looking only upward, and regardless into what
difficulties the chase may lead him."




1770.]              VERSES TO A CHILD.                        37
When  Miss Aikin  left the friendly and hospitable
home of Mr. Turner, she placed in  the hands of his
little son, a child seven years of age, the writer of
the sketch to which I refer and  have already quoted
from, "an ivory memorandum-book, on the leaves of
which, after she was gone, were found written the following lines." They contain a beautiful tribute to the
virtues and character of the elder Mr. Turner, and are
so  pretty  and  playfully  impressive  that he  printed
them: 
"Accept, my dear, this toy, and let me say,
The leaves an emblem of your mind display.
Your youthful mind, uncolored, pure, and white,
Like crystal leaves, transparent to the sight,
Fit each impression to receive whate'er
The finger of instruction traces there.
0, then transcribe into the shining page
Each virtue that adorns your tender age;
And grave upon the tablet of your heart
Each lofty science and each useful art!
"But, with the likeness, mark the difference well,
Nor think complete the hasty parallel.
These leaves by folly scrawled, or foul with stains,
A drop of water clears with little pains;
But from a blotted Ginad the smallest trace
Not seas of bitter tears can e'er efface, -
The spreading mark forever will remain,
And rolling years but deepen every stain.
"Once more one difference let me still explain:
The vacant leaves thus ever will remain,




38                 LIFE  OF MRS. BARBAULD.                [CHAP. II.
Till some officious hand the tablet fill
With sense or nonsense, prose or rhyme, at will.
Not so your mind without your forming care;
Nature forbids an idle vacuum there;
Folly will plant her tares without your toil,
And weeds spring up in the neglected soil.'But why to you this moralizing strain?
Vain is the precept, and the caution vain, -
To you, whose opening virtues bloom so fair,
And well reward the prudent planter's care, -
As some young tree, by generous juices fed,
Above its fellows lifts its towering head,
Whose proud, auspicious shoots incessant rise,
And every day grows nearer to the skies.
"Yet should kind heaven thy opening mind adorn,
And bless thy noon of knowledge as thy morn, 
Yet were thy mind with every science blest,
And every virtue glowing in thy breast,
With learning, meekness, and with candor, zeal,
Clear to discern, and generous to feel, 
Yet should the graces o'er thy breast diffuse
The softer influence of the polish muse, -'T is no original, the world will tell,
And all your praise is but to copy well.




1771.]      LETTERS TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS.             39
CHAPTER III.
LETTERS TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS. - JOHN AIKIN, M.D. — HIS RETURN
TO WARRINGTON. - HIS LITERARY PRODUCTIONS. -PREPARES HIS
SISTER'S POEMS FOR PUBLICATION. —POEMS PRINTED IN 1773. -
ADDRESS TO THE CORSICANS. -MISCELLANEOUS PIECES COLLECTED
AND PUBLISHED IN 1773. - REMARKS OF FOX. - CRITICISM OF DR.
JOHNSON ON THE IMITATION OF HIS STYLE. - ESSAY IN THE   CHRISTIAN REFORMER."
MII   ISS AIKIN  says of her aunt's letters that they
"were certainly never intended by herself to
meet the public eye"; she adds, however, that it was
"impossible not to be influenced also by the desire of
thus communicating to those admirers of Mrs. Barbauld's genius who did not enjoy the advantage of her
personal acquaintance a just idea of the pointed and
elegant remark, the sportive and lambent wit, the affectionate spirit of sympathy, and the courteous expressions of esteem and benevolence, which united to form
at once the graces of her epistolary style and the inexpressible charm of her conversation." Her first letter
placed before the reader is dated 1771, and is addressed
to her life-long friend, Miss Belsham, afterwards Mrs.




40             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. III.
Kenrick.  The letters are certainly charming, and full
of life and spirit; several of them have in them allegorical tales and jeu d'esprit in their writer's best and inimitable manner, and all add much to her reputation for
mind, heart, and the highest degree of culture and elegance.  Cheap postage had not reduced letter-writing
to the slight and hasty work now given it as a rule, and
a letter might be as elaborate as possible without exciting either surprise from the receiver or apology from
the writer for its length.  Letters of that time have
therefore, and always must have, an interest for the public, as the natural, full, and personal record of feelings
and events, and as first impressions of men and women.
If an ordinary letter-writer can so interest, what shall
be said of the fascination and attraction which a superior mind and animated  fancy throw  over a correspondence?  The letters of Mrs. Barbauld deserve to
rank with the first and best the world has yet seen, and
the only thing to be regretted is the limit to their
number.  Those we have must, however, afford excellent specimens of her style, and undoubtedly are among
the best and choicest of her letters, and were kept by
her friends with that feeling.
LETTER TO MISS E. BELSHAM, AFTERWARDS MRS. KENRICK.
LONDON, February, 1771.
Believe me, my dear Betsy, my heart has some time reproached me for being in your debt..... I am  much




1771.]        LETTER TO MISS BELSHAM.                 41
obliged to you for your kind invitation to Bedford; certainly, few things would give me more pleasure than conversing with my Betsy; but it will not be in my power to reach
Bedford this time.  I have already been so long from home
that they begin to be impatient for my return, and I would
not trespass too far upon their goodness, who, I am sensible, in some measure deny themselves in being without me.
Patty and I are. now with Mrs. K.  She and I are great
walkers, and in fine weather often stroll about almost all the
morning; but we have very little to do with visiting any
public places except the playhouses, where we have been
three or four times.  Last night we saw the " West-Indian," a
very pretty play, as we thought on reading it; but the characters are so ill cast, that we had not half the pleasure in seeing it.  One part, indeed, the Irishman, was excellently
done, but that was the only one; I think they seem to want
actors very much for easy, genteel characters, which are
more difficult to support than mimicry or strong-marked
passions. The chaste and delicate sensibilities of a young,
unpractised heart, or the decorums of a virtuous character,
must be very difficult to assume; and, indeed, there are so
many qualifications requisite to make a perfect actor, it is
almost a pity one possessed of them should follow the profession; nor is it surprising there should be but one upon the
stage at once.... I admire Mrs. K. beyond most women
I know, that, engaged as she is by matrimonial connections,
she is not engrossed by them, but has a heart as open to
every other endearing relation and friendly sentiment as




42             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. III.
ever.  It is not true, what Dr. Fordyce insinuates, that
women's friendships are not sincere; I am sure it is not. I
remember when I read it I had a good mind to have burnt
the book for that unkind passage.  I hope the doctor will
give us our revenge, as he has begun his sermons to young
-men; they were advertised in the papers. Was it not a
piece of parade unbecoming a preacher? It would be difficult to determine whether the age is growing better or worse;
for I think our plays are growing like sermons, and our sermons like plays.
In the year 1771, John Aikin, M. D., returned to
Warrington to settle himself there as a physician, and
he soon discovered the merit and beauty of his sister's
poems.  Dr. Aikin even then displayed the correct
taste, habits of application, and literary industry which
are his best claims to respect and notice at the present
time.  Without the bright fancy, playful wit, and
poetic genius of his sister, he was an excellent writer, a
careful compiler, and an essayist of good judgment,
critical taste, and ability. He-was also an able editor,
and brought into notice, preparing with care and discrimination, many valuable and now standard works.
He did some very good work in interesting the young in
nature by his books on natural objects, of which he was
a keen observer, and on which he was a pleasant writer.
His "Medical Memoir" appeared in the, year 1780,
and with his principal work, " The General Biographical




1772.]              DR. JOHN AIKIN.                   43
Dictionary," is of permanent value. For several years
he edited the " Monthly Magazine," and contributed to
it a'variety of essays and articles marked by his good
taste, sound judgment, and liberality of view and opinion.  His "Evenings at Home" must not be forgotten
in speaking of larger works. This book made a little fortune, it is believed, for its original publisher, and has
gone through very many editions, being one of the
most enduringly popular juvenile volumes ever produced.   This was written  for the  instruction  and
amusement of his own family, and in his labor of love
Mrs. Barbauld participated; but the larger share of it
was his own.
To Miss BELSHAM.
WARRINGTON, January, 1772.
I heard not long ago a piece of news which pleases me beyond measure.  Can you guess what it is I Mrs. Lewin
tells me that my dear Betsy intends coming to Lancashire
soon. I hope these her good intentions will speedily be put
in execution.  If we had you here, Patty and I should be
as happy as the day is long. We have a knot of lassies just
after your own heart, — as merry, blithe, and gay as you
would wish them, and very smart and clever; two of them
are the Misses Rigby.  We have a West-Indian family, too,
that I think you would like; a young couple who seem intended by nature for nothing but mirth, frolic, and gayety.
I say nothing of our young men, as I would not flatter you




44             LIFE OF MRS. BARB3AULD.       LCHAP. III.
with the hopes of any conquest, for the aforesaid damsels
have left no hearts to conquer.
You who love so dearly to puzzle other people, I have a
puzzle for you. Can you find a number of words that will
take in all the letters of the alphabet and no more? We
have all been trying at it, with Mr. Enfield's assistance, a
long time; if you can accomplish it, we kiss the hem of
your garment.
Soon after Dr.-Aikin's return to Warrington, he undertook the selection, revision, and arrangement of his
sister's poems for the press; and, when all the preparatory steps had been taken, finding her still reluctant to
appear before the public as an author, he himself procured the paper for the book, and had it put into type.
It soon appeared, and the result fully justified his anticipations, for the book went through four editions in the
first year of its publication, 1773; the first edition
being in quarto, the other three being issued in octavo
form.  I have before me a copy which formed one of
the first edition; it is a handsome quarto volume, and
bears the imprint of the Warrington Press, though published by Joseph Johnson of St. Paul's Churchyard, —
one who should be remembered as a kindly and encouraging man of business, and an excellent friend to many
authors of the day.  The work was dedicated to Lady
Mary West, in compliance with the fashion of the time,
which almost demanded such tribute to titled patron



1773.]            POEM ON CORSICA.                  45
age; and we must not wonder at an almost unknown
and comparatively friendless author recognizing this
custom, when we call to mind the weary waiting of the
great Dr. Johnson for the smile of Lord Chesterfield on
his Dictionary, and his at last freeing himself from patronage by the indignation he felt at the neglect and
contemptuous treatment he received in his noble wouldbe patron's waiting-room.  The book contains many of
her short poems, and one longer and more powerful in
its theme and treatment, -that on Corsica. Numerous
editions of the poems attest to the popularity of the
collection, and we are told by Miss Lucy Aikin that the
critics treated it favorably, and gave it their meed of
praise.
The poem  on Corsica was written in 1769.  James
Boswell had recently made his visit to that island, as
he tells us in his Life of Dr. Johnson; and the fruits of
his visit were embodied in this volume, published by
him  after his return, entitled "Corsica," a work.which
gained for him a considerable amount of notice in literary circles in London, and gave him for many years the
name of "Corsica Boswell" among those who knew
him personally and by repute.  Miss Aikin begins her
poem, 
"Hail, generous Corsica! unconquered isle!
The fort of freedom; that amidst the waves
Stands like a rock of adamant, and dares
The wildest fury of the storm."




46                LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.              [CHAP. III.
Continuing her apostrophe to the island and islanders,
she then alludes to the traveller:
"Such were the working thoughts which swelled the breast
Of generous Boswell, when with nobler aim
And views beyond the narrow, beaten track
By trivial fancy trod, he turned his course
From polished Gallia's soft, delicious vales,
From the gray reliques of imperial Rome,
From her long galleries of laureled stone,
Her chiseled heroes and her marble gods,
Whose dumb, majestic pomp yet awes the world
To animated forms of patriot zeal;
Warm in the living majesty of virtue;
Elate with fearless spirit; firm; resolved;
By fortune nor subdued, nor awed by power."
She then  describes the beauty  and  grandeur of the
island, its
"Mountains, brown with solemn shade
Of various trees, that wave their giant arms
O'er the rough sons of freedom ";
the impetuous streams that rush down their sides; the
"Deep indented shores,
And pointed cliffs, which hear the chafing deep
Incessant foaming round their shaggy sides";
the luxuriant vegetation which clothes this lovely but
unhappy island, torn with strife,
"With living verdure; savage forests awful deep,"
and the herds of cattle which roam  them  untamed and




1773.]               POEM  ON CORSICA.                      47
free; all these wild, majestic, natural objects attract
the spirit of freedom.
"Liberty,
The mountain Goddess, loves to range at large
Amid such scenes, and on the iron soil
Print her majestic step. For these she scorns
The green enameled vales,"
and softer scenes of other Southern climes, and marked
" This isle emerging like a beauteous gem
From the dark bosom of the Tyrrhene Main"
for her own possession and seat of abode.
The long, unequal struggle for freedom is related, how,
"still unquelled,"
" Her genuine sons 
A broken remnant from the generous stock
Of ancient Greece, from Sparta's sad remains "have maintained the hard conflict for liberty with
"Haughty Genoa and ambitious Gaul."
She feels confident of their ultimate success and victory
over their oppressors, and sees in Paoli
"The Man
Born to exalt his own, and give mankind
A glimpse of higher natures ";
and she closes a glowing  tribute to him  with these
lines, -
"The man devoted to the public, stands
In the bright records of superior worth
A step below the skies; if he succeed,




48                LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.                [CHAP. III.
The first fair lot which earth affords, is his;
And if he falls, he falls above a throne.
When such their leader, can the brave despair,
Freedom the cause, and Paoli the chief! "
"A   British  muse"  bids  them  to hope, and  urges
them to patience'and boldness, painting the fruits of
perseverance and final victory, and indicates to them,
if their cause is gained, the long years of prosperity to
the  country  and fame to him  who led  them  in  their
attempt.
"Some muse,
More worthy of the theme, shall consecrate
To after-ages, and applauding worlds
Shall bless the godlike man who saved his country."
Here occurs a sudden break in the poem, and after
the failure of the efforts of the  islands to throw  off
their galling foreign yoke, Miss Aikin continued it:"So vainly wished, so fondly-hoped the Muse:
Too fondly hoped. The iron fates prevail,
And Cyrnus is no more. Her generous sons,
Less vanquished than o'erwhelmed, by numbers crushed,
Admired, unaided fell. So strives the moon
In dubious battle with the gathering clouds,
And strikes a splendor through them; till at length
Storms rolled on storms involve the face of heaven
And quench her struggling fires. Forgive the zeal
That, too presumptuous, whispered better things,
And read the book of destiny amiss.
Not with the purple coloring of success
Is virtue best adorned: the attempt is praise.




1773.]     "THE GROANS OF THE TANKARD."                 49
There yet remains a freedom, nobler far
Than kings or senates can destroy or give;
Beyond the proud oppressor's cruel grasp
Seated secure, uninjured, undestroyed;
Worthy of gods: - the freedom of the mind."
The length alone of this fine and inspiring address
to the Corsicans prevented its being placed among the
other Works; but the extracts I have given will show
its style and spirit.
The poem, "The Groans of the Tankard," was called
forth by the remark of a gentleman who was dining
with her father, Dr. Aikin, and  commented on the
degradation to which he subjected a large old family
tankard which stood upon the sideboard  filled with
water, after having so many years been used for more
generous liquors. His remarks on the noble old vessel
and its modern usage occasioned the verses, supposed
to be the groans it uttered at its unhappiness.
To Miss BELSHAM.
WARRINGTON, January 1, 1773.
Not in charity with me, forsooth! So you would pretend
you never received a letter from me a great while ago, in
answer to your last   A letter, madam, written with such
purity of style, such admirable brevity and perspicuity, that
I am  confident there was not a sentence of it you would
wish omitted, or that the severest critic would object to.
3                                 D




50             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. III.
Well, if you will fancy I am still in your debt, I must make
haste and get out of it as fast as I can.
We are preparing to celebrate the birthday of - a prince,
shall I say? why not? a king, if you please, since he has
more power than any monarch in the universe, and we all
expect blessings from him of more value than the Indies;
perhaps, indeed, we may expect too much from him, for it
is natural to hope for everything under the auspices of a
new king; and, however we may have been disappointed by
his predecessors, we fondly flatter ourselves that the young
sovereign will crown all our hopes, and put us in possession
of all our wishes. Blessings, invaluable ones, he certainly
has in his disposal; but if we have wasted the bounties of
his predecessors, would it not become us to mingle a tear to
their memories with the joy which his accession inspires 
May the present reign, however, be happy to you and me
and all of us; long, I dare not add, except in good actions,
because, young as the prince is, it is no presumption to say
that his days are numbered; the astronomers have already
cast his nativity, nor is it in the power of all the sons of
Adam to prolong beyond the appointed term, though but
for an hour, the life of - the New Year.
The success of Miss Aikin's poems induced her to
collect her prose articles; and with her brother she
published a small volume in 1773, under the title of
"Miscellaneous Pieces in Prose," by J. and L. Aikin.
Miss Lucy Aikin says that several of these essays were




1773.]        PUBLISHES PROSE ESSAYS.               51
wrongly attributed to Mrs. Barbauld, while some of
hers were supposed to be the work of her brother; and
she especially mentions the fragment "Sir Bertrand,"
which was ascribed to her, though in reality it was by
Dr. Aikin. This error was the result of their having
printed the articles intentionally without distinguishing them by their signatures. This plan led to some
curious mistakes.  Rogers in his "Table-Talk" gives
an anecdote apropos: "At a dinner-party where I was,
Fox met Aikin.'I am  greatly pleased with your Miscellaneous Pieces, Mr. Aikin,' said Fox (alluding to the
volume written partly by Aikin and partly by his
sister, Mrs. Barbauld).  Aikin bowed.'I particularly
admire,' continued Fox,'your essay, Against Inconsistency in our Expectations.''That,' replied Akin,'is
my sister's.''I like much,' returned Fox,'your essay,
On Monastic Institutions.''That,' answered Aikin,'is
also my sister's."'  Mr. Rogers adds, "Fox thought it
best to say no more about the book."  In fact, Dr.
Aikin's share in the book was the least important and
valuable one; the finest and most interesting articles
were Miss Aikin's, and rather threw his into the shade
by their greater brilliancy, depth of thought, and strength
of reasoning
The essays which were her work are as follows:
"On Monastic Institutions"; "An Inquiry into those
Kinds of Distress which excite Agreeable Sensations,"




52            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.       [CHAP. III.
with  a -tale; "Selama, An Imitation of Ossian ";
"Against Inconsistency in our Expectations"; "The
Hill of Science"; "An Essay on Devotional Taste";
"On Romances," which last was professedly an imitation of Dr. Johnson's thought and mode of expression.
He himself, in talking with Boswell, said he felt this to
be the best attempt made by any one to imitate his
peculiar style. Boswell had observed to him that Dr.
Hugh Blair had "animadverted on the Johnsonian
style as too pompous, and had attempted to imitate
it by giving a sentence of Addison" in the manner of
Johnson. He then cited the original passage and Dr.
Blair's alteration in it; this did not please Dr. Johnson,
who rejoined, "Sir, these are not the words I should
have used. No, sir; the imitators of my style have not
hit it. Miss Aikin has done it the best; for she has
imitated the sentiment as well as the diction."  Mr.
Croker, in a foot-note to his edition of Boswell, adds that
the imitation was "probably in an essay,'Against Inconsistency in our Expectations'"; but we have Miss
Lucy Aikin's authority for naming the  essay "On
Roman6es" as her aunt's imitation of the great essayist
and dictionary-maker.
In the "Christian Reformer" for 1853, there appeared a short essay by Miss Aikin, entitled "The
Vision of Anna, the Daughter of Haikim  (an unedited parable)." This first appeared in the " Christian




1773.]    THE CORPORATION AND TEST ACTS.           53
Miscellany" in 1792.  It is there called "A Chapter
of Modern Apocrypha," and was written in the year
1773.  The occasion of this now almost unknown production of its author was the disapprobation expressed
by thirteen Scotch Presbyterian ministers, in 1773, at the
renewal of air application to Parliament by the Protestant Dissenting ministers.  These men denied the need
of help or of freedom from Subscription to the Establishment, and the writer represents them in this parable as the Little Sister who loved not the Light, and
sat by preference in darkness.  This pointed and spirited little article would have formed an appropriate
companion to the author's eloquently indignant " Address to the Opposers of the Repeal of the Corporation
and Test Acts." At present the subjects of these articles
no longer interest the public, though the treatment of
the theme is forcible, impressive, and animated.




54              LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. IV.
CHAPTER IV.
MARRIAGE. — MR. BARBAULD'S PARENTAGE AND FAMILY.  REPLY TO
MRS. MONTAGUE AND OTHERS. -MR. BARBAULD SETTLES AT PALGRAVE. -THEY OPEN A SCHOOL IN THAT TOWN. - SUCCESS OF THE
ENTERPRISE. - MRS. BARBAULD'S METHOD OF INSTRUCTION. —DR.
SAYERS'S REMEMBRANCE OF THE LESSONS GIVEN BY HER.- WILLIAM
TAYLOR, OF NORWICH, ONE OF THE SCHOLARS. - LETTERS TO HER
BROTHER, WITH ACCOUNT OF THE SCHOOL, AND HER INTEREST IN
THE LESSONS AND AMIUSEMENTS OF THE BOYS.
IN May, 1774, Miss Aikin married the Rev. Rochemont Barbauld; an event which made an important change in her pursuits, and gave her an active and
rather arduous and engrossing participation in the education, mental activity, and growth of thought of very
young children.  Mr. Barbauld was descended from  a
French Protestant family settled in England. During
the persecutions of the Protestants by Louis XIV., his
grandfather, " then a boy, was carried on board a ship,
enclosed in a cask, and conveyed to England."   He
settled himself in that country, married there, and had
a son who took orders in the Established Church. On
the marriage of one of the daughters of George II. to




1774.]            HER MARRIAGE.                  55
the Elector of Hesse, he received an appointment as
chaplain in her household, went with her in the pursuance of his duties, and made one of her establishment at Cassel. His son Rochemont was born and
passed his early life there. On the return of his father
to England, when the household of the Electress was
broken up, he went with him, remaining a year in Paris
on their way to England. After their arrival he was
sent by his father to the academy at Warrington.
There he first met Miss Aikin, and soon became interested in her. The rather unwise course of his father
in sending a son, who he hoped would follow in his
footsteps by entering the Established Church, to a Dissenting academy, was attended by the natural consequence, that he became a Dissenter, and could not
conscientiously fulfil his father's expectations and anticipations for his future career in the Church of England. He changed his views, and began to fit himself
for the position of a Presbyterian preacher. For some
time want of advancement in his profession delayed his
marriage; but, on receiving a call from a small Dissenting congregation at Palgrave, near Diss, in Suffolk, he
accepted it, and also undertook the care and management of a boarding-school for boys. This arrangement
soon proved most satisfactory, and their ultimate success was complete. Before their marriage, while their
plans were uncertain, and they were considering what




56            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.       [CHAP. IV.
might be done to increase the small income which he
would receive as a preacher, a proposal was made by
some friends of Miss Aikin who were interested in
her future career, and they offered her a project for
consideration. These persons were advocates of a more
extended and elevated system of education for women,
and invited the co-operation of Miss Aikin in their
plan, under their patronage and support. Well aware
that the name of Miss Aikin would be a sufficient and
undoubted guaranty for its success, from her high
reputation for good judgment, intelligence, and noble
principles, they applied to her to assume the charge
and instruction of an academy or college for young
ladies. Among the proposers of this scheme was Mrs.
Elizabeth Montague.
In a letter of reply to them, Miss Aikin gave them
her own views on higher education for women, and some
of the objections to the system of study proposed for
them, with great good sense and simplicity. At the
present day some of her reasons against a more extended course of learning for women may not be equally
cogent; but her statement is worthy of note as the
opinion of a finely educated, intelligent, intellectual
woman, who was an ornament to her age and sex. On
the whole, with slight modifications, her reasoning is as
just and sound for the present time as it was then, and
is deserving of calm consideration as the view of a




1774.]      ON THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN.              57
thoroughly educated woman on the subject.  Her objections to the plan naturally influenced the advocates
of it, and it was abandoned as impracticable. I give
her answer to the proposal.
" A kind of literary academy for ladies (for that is what
you seem to propose), where they are to be taught in a regular, systematic manner the various branches of science,
appears to me better calculated to form such characters as
the Precieuses or the Femmes scavantes of Moliere than
good wives or agreeable companions.  Young gentlemen,
who are to display their knowledge to the world, should
have every motive of emulation, should be formed into
regular classes, should read and dispute together, should
have all the honors, and, if one may say so; the pomp of
learning set before them, to call up their ardor. It is their
business, and they should apply to it as such. But young
ladies, who ought only to have such a general tincture of
knowledge as to make them agreeable companions to a man
of sense, and to enable them to find rational amusement for
a solitary hour, should gain these accomplishments in a
more quiet and unobserved manner; subject to a regulation
like that of the ancient Spartans, the thefts of knowledge in
our sex are only connived at while carefully concealed, and,
if displayed, punished with disgrace.  The best way for
women to acquire knowledge is from conversation with a
father, a brother, or a friend, in the way of family intercourse and easy conversation, and by such a course of reading as they may recommend.  If you add to these an attend3*




58             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP?. IV.
ance upon those masters which are usually provided in
schools, and perhaps such a set of lectures as Mr. Ferguson's,
which it is not uncommon for ladies to attend, I think a
woman will be in a way to acquire all the learning that can
be of use to those who are not to teach or engage in any
learned profession.  Perhaps you may think that, having
myself stepped out of the bounds of female reserve in becoming an author, it is with an ill grace I offer these sentiments; but, though this circumstance may destroy the grace,
it does not the justice, of the remarks; and I am fully convinced that to have a too great fondness for books is little
favorable to the happiness of a woman, especially one not in
affluent circumstances.  My situation has been peculiar, and
would be no rule for others.
"I should likewise object to the age proposed.  Their
knowledge ought to be acquired at an earlier period; geography, those languages it may be proper for them to learn,
grammar, etc., are best learned from about nine to thirteen
or fourteen, and will then interfere less with other duties.
I should have little hopes of cultivating a love of knowledge
in a young lady of fifteen, who came to me ignorant and
untaught; and if she has laid a foundation, she will be able
to pursue her studies without a master, or with such a one
only as Rousseau gives his Sophie! It is too late then to
begin to learn. The empire of the passions is coining on, a
new world opens to the youthful eye; those attachments
begin to be formed which influence the happiness of future
life; the care of a mother, and that alone, can give suitable




1774.]       ON THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN.                 59
attention to this important period.  At this period they
have many things to learn which books and systems never
taught.  The grace and ease of polished society, with the
established  modes of behavior to every different class of
people; the detail of domestic economy, to which they must
be gradually introduced; the duties, the proprieties of behavior, which they must practise in their own family, in the
families where they visit, to their friends, to their acquaintance; lastly, their behavior to the other half of their species,
with whom  before they were hardly acquainted, and who
then begin to court their notice, the choice of proper acquaintance of that sex, the art to converse with them with a
happy mixture of easy politeness and graceful reserve, and
to wear off by degrees something of the girlish bashfulness
without injuring virgin delicacy.  These are the accomplishments which a young woman has to learn from fourteen or
fifteen till she is married, or fit to be so; and surely these
are not to be learned in a school.  They must be learned
partly at home, and partly by visits in genteel families;
they cannot be taught where a number are together; they
cannot be taught without the most intimate knowledge of a
young lady's temper, connections, and views in life, nor
without an authority and influence established upon all the
former part of her life. For all these reasons, it is my full
opinion that the best public education cannot at that period
be equally serviceable with - I had almost said - an indifferent private one.
"My next reason is, that I am  not at all qualified for the




60             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. IV.
task. I have seen a great deal of the manner of educating
boys, and know pretty well what is expected in the care of
them; but in a girls' boarding-school I should be quite a
novice; I never was at one myself, have not even the advantage of younger sisters; indeed, for the early part of' my
life I conversed little with my own sex.  In the village
where I was, there were none to converse with; and this, I
am very sensible, has given me an awkwardness in many
common things which would make me most peculiarly unfit
for the education of my own sex. But suppose I were tolerably qualified to instruct those of my own rank; consider
that these must be of a class far superior to those I have
lived amongst and conversed with.  Young ladies of that
rank ought to have their education superintended by a
woman perfectly well-bred, from  whose manner they may
catch that ease and gracefulness which can only be learned
from the best company; and she should be able to direct
them, and judge of their progress in every genteel accomplishment. I could not judge of their music, their dancing,
and, if I pretended to correct their air, they might be tempted
to smile at my own; for I know myself remarkably deficient
in gracefulness of person, in my air and manner, and in the
easy graces of conversation.  Indeed, whatever the kind
partiality of my friends may think of me, there are few
things I know well enough to teach them with any satisfaction, and many I never could learn myself.  These deficiencies would soon be remarked when I was introduced to
people of fashion; and were it possible that, notwithstand



1774.]      VISIT TO HORACE WALPOLE.               61
ing, I should meet with encouragement, I could never prosecute with any pleasure an undertaking to which I should
know myself so unequal; I am sensible the common boarding-schools are upon a very bad plan, and believe I could
project a better, but I could not execute it."
Miss Aikin's intelligence and learning were equalled
only by her modesty, which makes it evident that a
high  degree  of culture  is not incompatible with
womanly refinement and graces. But there can be no
doubt she greatly undervalued her own capacity and
fitness for this undertaking, which she declined partly
because of that, and also on the ground of the impracticability and the questionable wisdom of the proposed plan.  Her natural refinement, the deep and
thorough studies of her youth, all her varied charms of
mind and manner, her fine conversation, her bright,
playful fancy and wit, her love of the young, her talent
for teaching, - which is rare in combination with great
power of expression and habits of study, - all eminently
marked her as one peculiarly gifted by nature and culture for the instruction and development of mental and
moral qualities in the young.  The lighter accomplishments, which she stated her ignorance of. were those
most easily acquired from a shorter study of them; and,
had she felt her fitness for the position, it is to be
believed her school would have formed an era in the
history of woman's education.




62             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. IV.
Horace Walpole, in writing to the Countess of Ossory, in 1774, adds, in a postscript to his letter, " Miss
Aikin has been here this morning (she is just married);
she desired to see the Castle of Otranto (Strawberry
Hill); I let her see all the antiquities of it."  This
glimpse of London, and the beauties and wonders of
the great city and its surrounding attractions, Mrs. Barbauld probably had before she settled with her husband at Palgrave, where they opened a boarding-school
for boys which had the united attention and care of
Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld.  Their school soon became a
success. Undoubtedly, the fact of Mrs. Barbauld's high
character, fine talents, culture, and her good literary
reputation for classic study and taste, made her personal
superintendence and teaching highly valued as a guaranty for its superiority and attractions over most institutions of that kind.
To DR. AIKIN.
PALGRAVE, 1774.
Thanks to my dear brother for his letter, and the copy of
verses, which Mr. B. and I admire much. As to your
system, I do not know what to say; I think I could make
out just the contrary with as plausible arguments: as thus,
Women are naturally inclined not only to love, but to all
the soft and gentle affections, all the tender attentions and
kind sympathies of nature.  When, therefore, one of our
sex shows any particular complacency towards one of yours,
it may be resolved into friendship; into a temper naturally




1774.]            LETTER TO DR. AIKIN.                    63
caressing, and those endearing intercourses of life which to a
woman are become habitual.  But when man, haughty, independent man, becomes sensible to all the delicacies of
sentiment, and softens his voice and address to the tone
of les manieres douces, it is much to be suspected a stronger
power than friendship has worked the change.  You are
hardly social creatures till your minds are humanized and
subdued by that passion which alone can tame you to "all
the soft civilities of life."  Your heart requires a stronger
fire to melt it than ours does; the chaste and gentle rays of
friendship, like star-beams, may play upon it without effect;
it will only yield to gross material fire. There is a pretty
flight for you! In short, women, I think, may be led on by
sentiment to passion; but men must be subdued by passion
before they can taste sentiment.  Well! I protest I think
I have the best of the argument all to nothing. I'11 go ask
Mr. Barbauld.  Yes; he says my system  will do.  I beg I
may have Dr. E.'s opinion upon it, as I take him  to be a
pretty casuist in these affairs. I hope I am by this time
richer by a nephew or niece: if it is a boy, I claim  it; if a
girl, I will be content to stay for the next. I am afraid
my poor child` is tossing upon the waves, for I have not
heard yet of its arrival in London; and I cannot help feeling all a parent's anxiety for its fate and establishment in
the world; several people here are so kind as to inquire
after it, but I can give them no satisfaction.
* Her Devotional Pieces, sent from Norfolk, by sea, to be printed at
Warrington. - EDITOR.




64            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.      [CHAP. IV.
Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld were peculiarly fortunate in
their scholars. Two of the eight with whom they began their school were highly gifted by nature, and
under Mrs. Barbauld's fostering influence and almost
maternal care their minds rapidly developed. One of
these boys was Sir William  Gell, and the other was
William Taylor, of Norwich, well known in after life as
the author of a very able and valuable work on English
Synonymes, and by his admirably faithful and spirited
translations from  the -German, his version of the
Iphigenia in Tauris, and Leonore from Biirger, with
other poems which have made him eminent as a man
of mind and culture. He was one of the first thorough
students of the language, writings, and advanced
thought of Germany; and he opened for England that
wide field of study and speculation before comparatively unknown and unexplored. Miss Lucy Aikin, in
writing of him many years after the time of his residence at Palgrave to one of her friends, speaks of him
as one of Mrs. Barbauld's most brilliant scholars. She
says, " Of his youth I can only speak traditionally; but
I know that high hopes were conceived of him  by
those who knew him in his boyhood, and especially by
her whom I have heard him name with gratitude'the
mother of his mind,'- Mrs. Barbauld.  His talent for
poetry was early discovered by her." In his memoir
of Dr. Sayers, of Norwich, author of "Dramatic




1774.]       HER DISTINGUISHED PUPILS.              65
Sketches of Northern Mythology," also a scholar at
Palgrave, Mr. Taylor has left a record of the impressions of his friend as to the value and interest derived
from  Mrs. Barbauld's careful and improving instructions.  "Among the instructions bestowed at Palgrave,
Dr. Sayers has repeatedly observed to me that he most
valued the lessons of English composition, superintended by Mrs. Barbauld.  On Wednesdays and Saturdays the boys were called in- separate classes to her
apartment: she read a fable, a short story, or a moral
essay, to them aloud, and then sent them back into the
school-room to write it out on their slates in their own
words.  Each exercise was separately overlooked by
her; the faults of grammar were obliterated, the vulgarisms were chastised, the idle epithets were cancelled,
and a distinct reason was always assigned for every
correction; so that the arts of inditing and criticising
were in some degree learnt together. Many a lad from
the great schools, who excels in Latin or Greek, cannot
write properly a vernacular letter, for want of some
such discipline." This description of one of the methods of teaching followed by Mrs. Barbauld is interesting and worthy of record, as indicating the early impression and lasting influence made by a well-trained
and cultivated mind in its contact with the young and
impressible natures under its charge.
Mrs. Barbauld also taught the usually dull and




66            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.       [CHAP. IV.
rather unattractive study of geography, and made it
extremely pleasant, and the vehicle of so much that
stimulated and interested the minds of her pupils that
this lesson became a source of enjoyment to them, as
she related, in connection with the simple details of the
position of places, the natural history, manners, and
customs of the people, and so much of the history of
each country as she thought suited to the comprehension
and youth of those whom she taught.  Miss Aikin says:
"A public examination of the boys was always held at
the close of the winter session; at the termination of
the summer one they performed a play; and upon
Mrs. Barbauld principally devolved — together with
the contrivance of dresses and decorations, and the
composition of prologues, epilogues, and interludesthe instruction of the young exhibitors in the art of
declamation.  In this branch she likewise excelled;
and the neglected though delightful arts of good reading and graceful speaking were nowhere taught with
more assiduity and success."  The name of Sir William
Gell, the eminent antiquarian, celebrated as the explorer of the Plain of Troy, and also for his large and
valuable work on Pompeii, and the explorations there,
must not be omitted in mentioning the boys under
Mrs. Barbauld's care.  He was one of her youngest
scholars in the infant class, for whose use she wrote the
" Prose Hymns."




1775.]          LETTER TO DR. AIKIN.                 67
PALORAVE, Sept. 9, 1775.
I give you joy with all my heart, my clear brother, on the
little hero's appearance in the world, and hope he will live
to be as famous a man as any of his namesakes.  I shall
look upon you now as a very respectable man, as being entitled to all the honors and privileges of a father of three
children.  I would advise you to make one a hero, as you
have determined; another a scholar; and for the third, 
send him to us, and we will bring him up a Norfolk farmer,
which I suspect to be the best business of the three. I have
not forgot Arthur, and send you herewith a story for his
edification; but I must desire you to go on with it.  When
you have brought the shepherd Hidallan a sheet further in
his adventures, send him back to me, and I will take up the
pen: it will be a very sociable way of writing, and I doubt
not but it will produce something new and clever. The
great thing to be avoided in these things is, the having any
plan in your head: nothing cramps your fancy so much;
and I protest to you I am entirely clear from that inconvenience.
Pray, can you tell me anything about Crashaw. I have
read some verses of his, prefixed to Cornaro's Treatise, so
exceedingly pretty that I am  persuaded he must have
written more, and should be glad to see them: I would
transcribe the verses, but I think you have Cornaro in your
library.
Be it known to you, that Palgrave Seminary will soon
abound with poets, even as the green fields abound with




68             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. IV.
grasshoppers.   Our usher is a poet profest; and two
of the lads have lately exercised their pens the same way,
and not amiss.  One especially has written two or three
pieces, which, if I am not deceived by the partiality I cannot help feeling for the little urchins, I may say are really
clever for a boy of twelve years old.  Now  I am upon
poetical subjects, I must tell you that a young clergyman in
this neighborhood is writing a play, which he did us the
honor to submit to our criticism. The subject is the resistance of the Chilese to the Spaniards, by which they recovered
their independence.  I am  afraid I gave him  very wicked
advice; for I recommended it to him to re-convert his Indian from  Christianity to heathenism, and to make his
chiefs a little more quarrelsome.
I believe the Devotional Pieces have met with the fate of
poor Jonah, and been swallowed up by some whale, -  perhaps out of pity and compassion, to save them in his jaws
from the more terrible teeth of the critics.  St. Anthony, I
think, preached to the fishes; perhaps I may have the same
honor.  I should as soon hope to inspire a porpoise with devotion, as a turtle-eater.
You must know I find one inconvenience in franks; one
never knows when to have done.  In a common letter you
fill your sheet, and there's an end; but with a frank you
may write on and on forever: I have tried two pens already.  But I will write no more to you: I will write to
poor Patty, who wants amusement, - so farewell! Go and
study your Greek, and do not interrupt us.




1775.]             CORRESPONDENCE.                 69
And how do you do, my dear Patty 7 let me take a peep
at this boy. Asleep, is he? Never mind; draw the cradlecurtain softly, and let me have a look. Upon my word, a
noble lad i dark eyes, like his mother, and a pair of cheeks!
You may keep him a few months yet, before you pack him
up in the hamper; and then I desire you will send him with
all speed; for you know he is to be mine.
May every blessing attend you and yours, and all the dear
society at Warrington!




70              LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. V.
CHAPTER V.
MIRS. BARBAULD'S LETTERS. -DR. JOHNSON'S DESCRIPTION OF HER. 
PUBLISHES "THOUGHTS ON THE DEVOTIONAL TASTE."  LONDON
SOCIETY AT THAT PERIOD. -THE EMINENT MEN AND WOMEN OF THE
TIME. -THE BLUE-STOCKING CLUB.-MISS MORE'S "BAS BLEU."MISS MORE MEETS MRS. BARBAULD.-MR. AND MRS. BARBAULD
OFFER TO ADOPT ONE OF DR. AIKIN'S CHILDREN. - THE OFFER
ACCEPTED. - "EARLY LESSONS" WRITTEN BY MRS. BARBAULD FOR
HIS USE. -LETTERS TO MISS DIXON.
FIROM  these accounts of the life at Palgrave we
learn how much Mrs. Barbauld personally interested herself in the studies, pleasures, and pursuits of
the boys; how  they were cared for and sympathized
with by her kind heart and the intuition which prompted
her to the study and understanding of each mind and
its capacity, and how singularly happy those children
appear to have been who came under her charge. Each
lesson was in itself a study to her; and she must have
devoted herself to each branch she taught, to have so
successfully adapted her thoughts to the ability and
identified herself with the growth of the young minds
dependent on her for their development. From those




1775.]           LIFE AT PALGRAVE.               71
of her own letters which have already been dated from
Palgrave, and which speak of her life and the varied
occupations there, the reader will gain a good idea of
her own thoughts and opinion on the subject, and readily see why, during her residence in that place, she did
not do more literary work. She appears to have had her
hands, heart, and head full, and no time to spare from
the engrossing and absorbing cares she assumed, and
which she accomplished so ably and faithfully. Her letters are bright and animated, full of life and spirit, and
one finds in them many excellent thoughts, lively sallies
of wit, and little allegories and fables. They also record
first impressions of new books and old ones just read,
of men and women whom she met, and the varied
events of the day. She wrote forcibly, simply, and to
the point.  Though her letters are often full of the
trifles which make up the sum of life, yet the style
and sentiments of their writer are as evident in these
chronicles of her daily existence as in any of her most
studied and elaborate works.  They extend over a long
period, and form quite a memoir of her pursuits, tastes,
and friendships. In her letters from Palgrave we can
see how busily she was occupied, and her apology to
her brother for not writing because of the varied duties
of " making up beds; secondly, scolding my maids, preparing for company; and, lastly, drawing up and delivering my lectures on geography," shows how the active




72             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD           [CHAP. V.
housekeeper, full of work and hospitality, and the
thoughtful, intelligent teacher met in her person.  The
prosperity of the school was unusual, and must have
been highly gratifying to Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld, who
were intensely interested in their life and work. In
the following letter, the same from which I have quoted,
she tells Dr. Aikin that the school will number twentyseven pupils before vacation, and two more are to enter
at Midsummer.
DEAR BROTHER, - I doubt not but you have been grumbling in your gizzard for some time, and muttering between
your teeth, " What is this lazy sister of ours about  " Now,
to prove to you that I am not lazy, I will tell you what I
have been about. First, then, making up beds; secondly,
scolding my maids, preparing for company; and, lastly, drawing up and delivering lectures on geography. Give me joy
of our success, for we shall have twenty-seven scholars
before the vacation, and two more have bespoke places at
Midsummer; so that we do not doubt of being soon full;
nay, sir, I can assure you it is said in this country, that it
will soon be a favor to be on Mr. Barbauld's list: you
have no objection, I hope, to a little boasting.
I thank you, my dear brother, for so kindly drawing your
pen in my defence. An admirer of Popery! Heaven help
their wise heads! when it was one of my earliest aversions.
But this I see, that in religious and political affairs, if a
person does not enlist under a party, he is sure to meet with




1775.]         DR. JOHNSON'S CRITICISM.               73
censure from party.  I had not seen the charge till I had
your letter; we had had the Review too, but I had read it
carelessly. If they do not insert your letter, I should be
glad to see it.
Yes, Sterne's letters are paltry enough, and so are Lady
Luxborough's, which we ran through in the course of an
afternoon. I am afraid the public will be satiated with letters
before we publish our correspondence.  I could make a neat
pocket-volume or two of yours, and of Mr. Barbauld's a
quarto. Adieu, yours ever.
In Dr. Burney's "Recollections of Dr. Johnson," he
says that, after Mrs. Barbauld's "Early Lessons" appeared, Dr. Johnson was very severe in his remarks
on her, and growled out the following criticism: " Miss
Aikin was an instance of early cultivation, but in what
did it terminate? In marrying a little Presbyterian
parson, who keeps an infant boarding-school, so that all
her employment now is'To suckle fools, and chronicle small beer.'
She tells the children,'This is a cat, and this is a
dog, with four legs and a tail; see there! you  are
much better than a cat or a dog, for you can speak.'
If I had bestowed such an education on a daughter,
and had discovered that she thought of marrying such
a fellow, I would have sent her to the Congress."
Some friend, perhaps Boswell, had evidently goaded
4




74            LIFE OF MIS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. V.
Dr. Johnson to this ridiculous and foolish expression
of his ignorance of the real importance of Mr. and Mrs.
Barbauld's position and the excellent work they did in
their school.  Mrs. Piozzi in her Reminiscences of the
Doctor says, in mentioning those who wrote for children, a class of writers for whom he had a special dislike, "Mrs. Barbauld, however, had his best praise, and
deserved it; no man was ever more struck than Mr.
Johnson with voluntary descent from possible splendor
to painful duty." This seems worthy of him in his better moods, and is surely a just and proper recognition
of her merits as one who. could write or could refrain
from it, if duty called her to other work less attractive and showy, but still important and worthy of her
powers.
The time of Mrs. Barbauld, though it was very much
occupied by her school duties, was not entirely engrossed by themn, and in her leisure hours she accomplished some literary work. The volume given to the
public in the year 1775, called "Devotional Pieces
compiled from the Psalms of David, with.Thoughts on
the Devotional Taste," was an evidence of her industry,
but hardly added anything to her reputation for taste
or literary skill. As a selection, the "Thoughts on the
Devotional Taste" was not generally liked, and did not
escape some criticism then and later, when the Essay
was reprinted among her miscellaneous pieces.




1775.]      HER LITERARY CONTEMPORARIES.              75
To DR. AIKIN.
"Yes, I was somewhat lazy in writing, I confess; but upon
my word I could not tell how to help it, so busy was I; and,
by the way, I think I have sometimes been as long without
hearing from Warrington. Well! we will all mend if we can.
"Mr. Barbauld thanks you for your elegant' Pliny,' which
he intends to make a school-book immediately after vacation.
Your' Tacitus,' too, seems a very good scheme, and we hope
to see it in time.  But I own I cannot help wishing you
would undertake some original work, either of fancy or
elegant criticism; you have the powers for both. I think
we must some day sew all our fragments together, and make
a joinerianna of them.  Let me see: I have half a ballad,
the first scene of a play, a plot of another, all but the catastrophe, half a dozen loose similes, and an eccentric flight or
two among the fairies.
" Did I tell you the boys are going to act the First Part
of Henry IV., and I am busy making paper vandykes, and
trimming up their hats with feathers    Do you know that
we make a trip to Holland this vacation? "
A brilliant circle of women celebrated as poets, wits,
and votaries of literature in its various departments,
were contemporaries of Mrs. Barbauld, and she lived to
see and to know, as they came forward, many of the
great lights of the  present century.   Among  her
earliest friends was Mrs. Elizabeth Montague, whose
house in Hill Street was a "court for the votaries of




76            LIFE OF MRS. BARB AULD.       [CHAP. V.
the Muses," and Montague House, Portman Square, her
later more palatial residence, was equally the centre
of attraction for those whom she admitted to her circle
of visitors. She gathered round her all the eminent
men  and women  of the day, honoring those distinguished by well-known productions, and was as
ready to extend the hand of welcome to rising, obscure,
and struggling genius. For many years she gave an
annual feast to all the chimney-sweeps of London.
This noted act of kindness was only one of the many
generous deeds of Mrs. Montague that were known,
and a great many of her benevolences she did in
private, only the receiver being aware of her generosity.  Even Dr. Johnson was mollified by her aid of
his blind protegee and inmate, Miss Williams, and for a
time forgave Mrs. Montague her wit, popularity, and
social successes, and found her house pleasant, or, as
Boswell would say, "not unpleasant," in imitation of
Dr. Johnson's style. After an evening passed at Mrs.
Montague's, which was characterized by the -brilliancy
of the conversation, ease of manners, and the talents
of the guests who met there, Boswell asked Dr. Johnson if he was " not highly gratified by his visit."  "No,
sir," said he, "not highly gratified, yet I do not recollect
to have passed many evenings with fewer objections."
Miss More, in her poem, Bas Bleu, celebrated the
names and fame of the three leaders of London so



1775.]          A LITERARY COTERIE.                77
ciety at that period, who had so changed the tone of
the gatherings which they admired by their simplicity
of dress, intelligent conversation, and the banishment
of cards, that many, who possessed neither the taste to
enjoy nor the talents to adorn such a superior order of
society, scornfully called them  the blue stockings.  In
this little tribute of respect and friendly admiration,
Miss More praised the successful efforts of her three
intimates, Mrs. Vesey, Mrs. Boscawen, and Mrs. Montague, whose attempts to banish the excessive cardplaying had been the theme of much conversation, and
the cause of a great change in London society. The
poem was addressed to Mrs. Vesey, who was one of the
first leaders of a certain set, and managed by her talent and tact to break up the usual formality of a circle,
then the common mode of sitting in a conversation
party.  And she did so by inducing people to talk together in little separate groups.  One can easily fancy
how few people would find it either a possible or a pleasant feat to converse while placed in a large circle round
a room.  She was the wife of the Hon. Agmondesham
Vesey, an Irish gentleman, and one of Mr. Burke's
friends, on whose recommendation he was admitted to
Johnson's Literary Club.  Mrs. Boscawen was another
celebrated woman of fashion, talent, and culture.  She
was warmly eulogized by Miss More in her poem  on
"Sensibility," and there, after animated and good por



7 3            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.            [CHAP. V.
traits of some of the other distinguished women of the
day, including Mrs. Barbauld, she attributed to the
spirit of sensibility and the warmth of friendship of
this lady her great influence and attractions,"'T is this, whose charms the soul resistless seize,
And gives Boscawen half her power to please."
The example and influence of these ladies was excellent in banishing cards and gambling; when
"Society, o'errun
By whist, that desolating Hun,"
was in great need of reform and improvement; for this
she gives
" The vanquished triple crown to you [Mrs. Vesey],
Boscawen sage, bright M3ontague,
Divided fell. Your cares in haste
Rescued the ravaged realms of taste."
The names of these ladies indicate some of the brightest
social ornaments of their country, and should not be
forgotten  among those contemporaries of Mrs. Barbauld who made London the centre of attraction for
those who enjoyed conversation, literature, cultivation,
and refinement.  The English drawing-room  then first
asserted its just claims to respect and admiration as a
social, literary, and refining influence; and the deservedly high character then attributed to these women
of taste and culture, who first gave it the reputation it
still enjoys, has grown greater with succeeding years.




1775.]          A LITERARY COTERIE.                79
Miss Elizabeth Carter was another of the noted
women of the time, celebrated as the translator of
Epictetus.  She, by her example and influence, raised
the standard of woman's education, in proving that it
was not impossible for them to engage in highly intellectual and deep studies, and also to be domestic in
their tastes. Her friend Miss Talbot having written,
after the translation of Epictetus was finished, asking
her to prepare a Life to be published with the Works,
she replied: "Whoever that somebody or other is who
is to write the Life of Epictetus, seeing I have a dozen
shirts to mncake, I do opine, dear Miss Talbot, that it
cannot be I." Mrs. Delany, the friend and correspondent of Swift in early life, was among these high-toned,
talented women. She was distinguished by George III.
and his queen, who did themselves as much honor as
they did her by their kindly attentions to her in her
extreme old age. She was the life-long friend of the
Duchess of Portland, in  her childhood  known as
Prior's "noble, lovely little Peggy," and of whom Miss
More wrote later, " Her attractions owe nothing to her
rank."  Mrs. Delany's Life and Letters reveal her as a
talented, amiable, and womanly character, the centre
of a large circle of friends and relations.  Miss More
repeats Burke's remark  on Mrs. Delany's extreme
sensibility in old age, and her unusual warmth of feeling, "that she was almost the only person he ever saw,




80            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. V.
who at eighty-eight blushed like a girl."  Miss Burney,
the gossiping, lively chronicler of her own and other
people's doings, from King George and Queen Charlotte
down to some of the humblest of their subjects, was
one of the noted women of the day; and "little Fanny
Burney," as Dr. Johnson affectionately called her, was
welcomed and made much of in London society as the
authoress of "Evelina," a novel which had interested
and amused many, and puzzled them thoroughly as to
its unknown writer and unheralded appearance.  From
her diary I extract some notices of Mrs. Barbauld, who
met her quite early in her literary career, and then renewed the acquaintance many years after; of which
meeting Madame D'Arblay (Miss Burney) tells her
father, noting the pleasure it gave her.
Miss Hannah More's name and high repute as an
authoress, and the promoter of so large a number of good
works, makes it almost unnecessary to enlarge upon
her character; but it is a pleasant fact that this excellent
woman and Mrs. Barbauld were warm and affectionate
friends.  They were perhaps, without exception, the
most eminent women of their time, certainly in their
order of mind and chosen train of thought without
rivals; and their position in life was not dissimilar, both
being interested in the instruction of the young in early
years.  Though differing widely on matters of religious
belief and church institutions, - Miss More represent



1776.]             HANNAH MORE.                    81
ing the conservative element, and Mrs. Barbauld being
essentially inclined to the largest liberality of view and
the utmost freedom of thought and expression of opinion, - yet they had many mutual interests and feelings;
and their acquaintance, which began in 1776, grew into
a warm and enduring friendship broken only by Mrs.
Barbauld's death. Miss More, in one of her first visits
to London after her entrance into the great world of
literature and fashion as an author, in writing home
to her sister of her numerous invitations and engagements, told her of a dinner "with the female Maecenas
of Hill Street " (Mrs. Montague), where she met, among
"other distinguished people," friends and associates of
that lady, "Mrs. Barbauld."  Their intimacy dated
from this evening. In the next year she wrote to her
sister from Norfolk, where she was then making a visit:
"I went to Mrs. Barbauld's on Thursday, intending
only to spend one day; but the Muses are such fascinating witches that there is no getting away from them.
Mrs. Barbauld and I have found out that we feel as
little envy and malice towards each other as though we
had neither of us attempted to'build the lofty rhyme,'
though she says this is what the envious and malicious
can never be brought to believe."
DEAR BROTHER, -To my sister and yourself Mr. Barbauld and I have a request to make, in which, though
perhaps it may be rather singular, we are very seriously il
4*                           F




82              LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. V.
earnest; and therefore, whether you grant or deny, we hope
you will neither laugh at us nor take it amiss.  Without
further preface, it is this.  You enjoy a blessing Providence
has hitherto denied to us, —that of children: you have
already several, and seem very likely to have a numerous
family.  As to ourselves, having been thus long without
prospect of any, it is, to say the least, very uncertain
whether that hope, which most, I believe, form when they
marry, will ever be fulfilled. Some, indeed, say to us, that,
considering how large a family we have of others' children,'t is rather fortunate we have none of our own. And true
it is, that, employed as we are in the business of education,
we have many of the cares and some of the pleasures of a
parent; but the latter very imperfectly.  We have them not
early enough to contract the fondness of affection which
early care alone can give; we have them not long enough to
see the fruit of our culture; and we have not enough the
disposal of them to follow our own plans and schemes in their
education.  We wish for one who might be wholly ours;
and we think that if a child was made ours by being given
young into our hands, we could love it, and make it love us,
so well as to supply in a great measure the want of the real
relationship.  We know there are many instances of people
who have taken the greatest satisfaction in, and felt the
highest folndness for, children who by some accident have
been thrown upon their arms.  Why, then, should not we
seek out and choose some object of such an affection. and
where can we better seek it than in a brother's family.




1776.]        REQUEST OF HER BROTHER.                 83
Our request, then, in short, is this: that you will permit
us to adopt one of your children, - which of them, we leave
to you; that you will make it ours in every sense in which
it is possible to make it; that you will transfer to us all
the care and all the authority of a parent; that we should
provide for it, educate it, and have the entire direction of it
as far into life as the parental power itself extends. Now I
know not what to say to induce you to make us such a gift.
Perhaps you will entirely deny it, and then we must acquiesce; for I am sensible it is not a small thing we ask,
nor can it be easy for a parent to part with a child. This I
would say: from a number, one may more easily be spared.
Though it makes a very material difference in happiness
whether a person has children or no children, it makes, I
apprehend, little or none whether he has three or four, five
or six; because four or five are enough to exercise all his
whole stock of care and affection. We should gain, but you
would not lose.  I would likewise put yo'u in mind that you
would not part with it to strangers; the connection between
you and it would not be broken off; you would see it (I
hope), hear of it often; and it would be taught to love you,
if it had not learnt that lesson before. Our child must love
our brother and sister.  Its relation to you is likewise a presumption that we shall not be wanting in that love for it
which will be necessary to make it happy. I believe both
Mr. Barbauld and myself are much disposed to love children,
and that we could soon grow fond of any one who was amiable and entirely under our care.  How, then, can we fail to




84              LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. V.
love a child for whom at setting out we shall have such a
stock of affection as we must have for yours? I hope, too,
we should have too right a sense of things to spoil it; and
we see too much of children to indulge an over-anxious care.
But you know us well enough to be able to judge in general
how we should educate it, and whether to your satisfaction.
Conscience and affection, I hope, would unite in inciting us
to fulfil an engagement we should thus voluntarily take upon
ourselves, to the best of our abilities.
Our situation is not a certain one, nor have we long
tried it; but we have all the reason in the world to hope
that, if things go on as they have hitherto done, we should
be able to provide for a child in a decent and comfortable
manner.
Now, my dear brother and sister, if you consent, give us
which of your boys you please: if you had girls, perhaps
we should ask a girl rather; and if we might choose amongst
your boys, we could make, perhaps, a choice; but that we do
not expect you will let us.  Give us, then, which you will;
only let him be healthy, inoculated, and as young as you can
possibly venture him to undertake the journey.  This last
circumstance is indispensable: for if he were not quite
young, we should not gain over him the influence, we could
not feel for him the affection, which would be necessary;
besides, if at all able to play with our pupils, he would immediately mix with them, and would be little more to us
than one of the school-boys. Do not, therefore, put us off
by saying that one of yours when he is old enough shall




1776.]         SHE ADOPTS A NEPHEW.                85
pay us a visit. To see any of yours at any time would, no
doubt, give us the highest pleasure; but that does not by
any means come up to what we now ask. We now leave
the matter before you: consider maturely, and give us your
answer.
O no! I never promised to fill this second sheet.
Good by to you.
Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld desired to adopt one of Dr.
Aikin's children, as they had none of their own, and in
her letter to him on this subject; just copied, she so
fully expressed her own feelings that comment is unnecessary upon the interest and pleasure with which
she anticipated the care and education of the little boy
whom  her brother committed to her charge.  In the
following letter she gives full utterance to her gratitude
and joy at the kindness and confidence shown her by
her brother, and tells him  how much she appreciates
also the forbearance and generosity of Mrs. Aikin, who
naturally dreaded the parting which must come between her child and herself. The little boy whom they
adopted was named Charles Rocheniont Aikin.  He received devoted attention and parental affection from
Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld, and in their declining years
was a source of comfort and pride to them.  They
received him into their home at the age of two years,
and for the future Mrs. Barbauld made his education
her especial care and study. For his use she wrote the




86            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. V.
"Early Lessons," which were justly regarded as admirable, and truly original in style and simplicity.  The
plan formed a new era in the thought and execution of
the works prepared especially for the young, making
her name widely known aid loved by all who had the
best interests of childhood at heart.  Dr. Aikin, writing to his sister in the year 1770, spoke of this work
for children in the following terms: "The little book
you have sent for Charles is what a person of real
genius alone could have written; and so far from degrading Mr. Eyre's press (Warrington), I sincerely
believe it has never been employed about so really
useful a work; all its metaphysics, divinity, philosophy,
and even poetry, not excepted."  Children's books were
almost unknown before Mrs. Trimmer and Mrs. Barbauld gave theirs to the world. Terror and improbability seem to have been the basis of all tales by which
young minds had previously been nurtured and amused.
Miss More, in alluding to the change in this style of
literature, and the efforts of these two writers to improve the state of children's reading, giving simple,
natural incidents, instead of tales of monsters and
extraordinary, impossible adventures, and endeavoring
to convey some ideas of real value in their books,
thereby implanting observation, thought, and love of
nature and of goodness, says: "In my early youth
there was scarcely anything between'Cinderella' and




1776.]              CORRESPONDENCE.                    87
the'Spectator' for young persons."  Fairy tales certainly have their value and beauty, but a young child
needs something more, and they alone do not suffice
for real improvement and study.
To DR. AIKIN.
1776.
Your kind and acceptable letter would have met with an
earlier answer, if we could, either of us, have commanded time
to write.  The manner in which you receive our proposal
gives us great pleasure.  My dear, tender Patty! I wonder
not that your softness takes alarm  at the idea of parting
with any of your sweet blossoms.  All I can say is, that, the
greater the sacrifice, the more we shall think ourselves
obliged to you, and the stronger ties we shall think ourselves under to supply, as far as possible, to the child of our
adoption, the tenderness and care of the parents we take it
from. Though we should be content with either, yet of the
two we shall like better Charles, if you determine to give
him us, than the unborn; perhaps, however, by this time I
am wrong in calling him  so: but if he was fixed upon, it
would be longer before the scheme could take effect, and
more uncertain whether he would live and thrive.  This,
however, is a point you must determine for us: we shall
acquiesce in either.
You are very favorable to my fragments; fragments, however, they are like to continue, unless I had a little more
time.  I want much to see your Essays; how do you proceed with them?  To attack Shakespeare! heresy, indeed!




88             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. V.
I will desire Mr. Montague to chastise you, except by way
of penance you finish the ode you once began in his praise.
I am of your opinion, however, that we idolize Shakespeare
rather too much for a Christian country. That inconsistencies may be found in his characters is certain: yet, notwithstanding that, character is his distinguishing excellence; and
though he had not the learning of the schools in his head,
he had the theatre of the world before him, and could make
reflections on what he saw. An equal vein of poetry runs
through the works of some of his contemporaries; but his
writings are most peculiarly marked by good sense and
striking characters; so that I think you do him not justice
if you call him only a poet.
Mrs. Barbauld's "Lessons for Children" were translated into the French, and made one of an excellent series
of English books considered worthy of being used in
that way.  In the preceding letter to her brother she
mentions the interest taken in her fragments. Among
these, probably, was the poem of which Horace Walpole, in writing to his friend, the Rev. William Mason,
himself a poet, known as the author of the "Garden"
and some tragedies, says: " Mrs. Barbauld's' fragment 
was excellent."  This fragment is the poem  on "Autumn," and will be found among her other works.  The
following letter to Miss Dixon contains thanks for
some needlework, couched in a very pretty fable.




1777.]             CORRESPONDENCE.                  89
To MISS DIXON, AFTERWARDS MRS. BEECROFT.
PALGRAVE, March 17, 1777.
Arachne, my dear Miss Dixon,- so goes the story, —
was unfortunate enough to incur the mortal displeasure of
Minerva by too pompous a display of her skill in embroidery;
and since that event very few ladies who have courted the
favor of Minerva have chosen to run the hazard of provoking her by the delicacy of their needlework.  Now, as I
do not believe that Arachne or Minerva either (no dispraise
to her goddess-ship) ever wrought anything prettier than the
roses you have been so obliging as to send me, - Flora, indeed, promises to produce some very like them in a few
months,- I wonder much at your being so great a favorite
with the goddess as I find you are, by the story which
accompanied them, and that she thinks proper to encourage
you in handling both your pen and your needle in the manner you do.  Indeed, my dear, I was equally surprised and
flattered at the very obliging manner in which you have
shown that you remember me; and though much struck
with the elegance of your fancy and the skilfulness of your
fingers, I am still more delighted with the proof they give
me of your regard and affection.
It is generally said that at your age impressions of friendship are easily made and soon worn out; but it is not so
with you; and, to say the truth, I should be mortified if it
were, for I have myself too lively and pleasing a remembrance of the happy and sportive hours we enjoyed together
at Thorpe, not to wish they should be equally dear to your




90              LIFE OF MRS. BARBALULD.          [CHAP. V.
mind.  My thoughts, as well as Mr. B.'s, have often pursued
you since.  TWe have figured you as amongst your sweet
companions, at once improving your heart in sensibility,
accomplishing yourself in all that is elegant, and enjoying
without fear or anxiety all the simple, innocent, cheerful
pleasures which belong to that period of life you are now in.
Enjoy and relish them while you may.  You will never be
again,   I do not say so happy, for I hope your happiness
will ever increase,- but you will never enjoy again the
same kind of happiness which you do now, nor with so
little mixture of uneasiness; and the way to prolong it is to
keep as late as possible that entire openness, simplicity, and
ingenuousness which is the beautiful characteristic of your
age.
Another of these pleasant little allegories here meets
the reader, and this charming  tale is in Mrs. Barbauld's peculiar style and most happy manner.  That
she had a remarkable talent for this kind of composition, is not to be doubted; and this is one of her best
little fables, -- a short prose poem, one may call it, so
smooth and perfect is the language, and so full of harmony the turn of expression.  The conclusion is very
nicely made, in desiring for her friend leisure without ennui.
PALGRAVE, November 11.
I have long been determined to seize the first moment of
leisure to write to my dear Miss Dixon; but leisure is one
of those things 6f which I enjoy the least, so I am at length




1777.]         AN ALLEGORICAL LETTER.                  91
determined to write without it.  By the way, do you know
the pedigree and adventures of Leisure 
She was born somewhere amongst the Chaldean shepherds, where she became a favorite of Urania; and, having
been instructed in her sublime philosophy, taught men to
observe the course of the stars, and to mark the slow revolution of seasons. The next we hear of her is in the rural
mountains and valleys of Arcadia. In this delightful abode
her charms made a conquest of the god Pan, who would
often sit whole days by her side, tuning his pipe of unequal
reeds.  By him  she had two beautiful children, Love and
Poetry, the darlings of the shepherds, who received them in
their arms, and brought them  up amidst the murmur of
bees, the falls of water, the lowing of cattle, and the various
rural and peaceful sounds with which that region abounded.
When the Romans spread the din of arms over the globe,
Leisure was frightened from her soft retreats, and from the
cold Scythian to the tawny Numidian could scarcely find a
corner of the world to shelter her head in. When the fierce
Goth and Vandal approached, matters were still worse, and
Leisure took refuge in a convent on the winding banks of the
Seine, where she employed herself in making anagrams and
cutting paper. Her retirement, however, did not pass without censure, for it is said she had an intrigue with the superior of the convent, and that the offspring of this amour was
a daughter named Ennui.
Mademoiselle Ennui was wafted over to England in a
northeast wind, and settled herself with some of the best




92             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. V.
families in the kingdom.  Indeed, the mother seldom makes
any long residence in a place without being intruded on by
the daughter, who steals in and seats herself silently by her
side.
I hope, however, my amiable friend is now enjoying the
company of the mother without fear of a visit from  the
daughter, whom her taste and liveliness will, I am sure, ever
exclude from her habitation.
The following letter to her brother, in acknowledgment of his new book, has some observations on poetry
and its application to common objects which seem
very just. She describes a little of her employment to
him in the school, in the preparation of the play which
the boys are to act; and one can fancy the " Tempest,"
under her able  management, being presented very
creditably by her juvenile performers.  Dr. Aikin's
keen observation of nature, and his love for natural
objects, led him to study the botany and fauna of the
region where he resided, and his professional rides were
a source of pleasure to him, as he with them combined
his favorite studies.
PALGRAVE, 1777.
You have given us too much pleasure lately not to deserve an earlier acknowledgment. I hope you will believe
we were not so dilatory in reading your book " as we have
been in thanking you for it. It is indeed a most elegant
* An Essay on the Application of Natural History to Poetry.




1777.]             CORRESPONDENCE.                     93
performance; your thought is very just, and has never, I
believe, been pursued before.  Both the defects and beauties
which you have noticed are very striking, and the result of
the whole work, besides the truth it conveys, is a most
pleasing impression left upon the mind from the various and
picturesque images brought into view. I hope your Essay
will bring down our poets from  their garrets, to wander
about the fields and hunt squirrels.  I am clearly of your
opinion, that the only chance we have for novelty is by a
more accurate observation of the works of nature, though I
think I should not have confined the track quite so much as
you have done to the animal creation, because sooner exhausted than the vegetable;, and some of the lines you have
quoted from Thomson show with how much advantage the
latter may be made the subject of rich description. I think,
too, since you put me on criticising, it would not have been
amiss if you had drawn between the poet and natural historian, and shown how far, and in what cases, the one may
avail himself of the knowledge of the other, — at what
nice period that knowledge becomes so generally spread as
to authorize the poetical describer to use it without shocking
the ear by the introduction of names and properties not
sufficiently familiar, and when at the same time it retains
novelty enough to strike.  I have seen some rich descriptions of West Indian flowers and plants, -just, I dare say,
but unpleasing merely because their names were uncouth,
and forms not known generally enough to be put into verse.
It is not, I own, much to the credit of poets, — but it is




94              LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. V.
true, - that we do not seem disposed to take their word for
anything, and never willingly receive  information  from
them.
We are wondrous busy in preparing our play, " The Tempest "; and four or five of our little ones are to come in as
fairies; and I am  piecing scraps from  the "Midsummer
Night's Dream," etc., to make a little scene instead of the
mask of Ceres and Juno.  We have read Gibbon lately,
who is certainly a very elegant and learned writer, and a
very artful one.. No other new books have we yet seen, 
they come slow  to Norfolk, -but the " Diaboliad," the
author of which has a pretty sharp pen-knife, and cuts up
very handsomely.  Many are the literary matters I want to
talk over with you when we meet, which I now look forward to as not a far distant pleasure.
We will come and endeavor to steal away Charles's heart,
before we run away with his person.  Adieu!  Heaven
bless you and yours!
Thanks to my dear Miss Dixon for her frank and affectionate letter. A thousand good wishes attend her; but, as
I hope to breathe them soon from my lips, I shall spare my
pen a task to which it is not adequate.
You have rejoiced my heart by allowing me to hope that
we shall still see you at Palgrave before the important event
takes place.  If you had not acknowledged that you were
going to be married, I should naturally have concluded it
from your saying you have not time to read " Cecilia."  Not
time to read a novel! - that is so grave!  Nay, if I had not




1777.]            COURESPONDENCE.                  95
known you, I should have supposed you had been actually
married a dozen years at least. But you must read " Cecilia,"
and you must read Hayley's poem, and you may read Scott's
poems if you like, and at least you must look at the
plates, etc.
Mrs. Chapone, the gifted friend of Miss Elizabeth
Carter, and better known, under her maiden name of
Mulso, as the intimate and  companion of Samuel
Richardson the novelist in her early years, met Mrs.
Barbauld in 1775.  In a letter to a friend, Mrs. Chapone, in regretting her enforced " exile" from London
and its society, says that the illness of her aunt has
deprived her of the pleasure of meeting many delightful
acquaintances.  One only of these she names, -" Mrs.
Barbauld in particular I regret, as the opportunities of
cultivating her acquaintance are so scarce and valuable.
I am very glad to find you improve your opportunities
so well, for I entirely agree with you in your idea of
her character, and think her a prize not to be neglected.
I wish you would institute a correspondence with her;
for, notwithstanding the cold caution which age brings
upon me every day, I cannot help being strongly inclined, on the evidence before me, to give her credit
for all those qualities of the heart and temper which
must be joined to her great understanding to make her
worthy of your friendship.  I regret particularly the
snug day at my brother's." 
* Mr. Mulso.




96              LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. VI.
CHAPTER VI.
MRS. BARBAULD TAKES CHARGE OF SOME YOUNG SCHOLARS. -WRITES
THE "PROSE HYMNS."- HER AIM IN WRITING THEM. -VISITS
LONDON. - LETTERS TO DR. AIKIN. - VISITS NORWICH. - PECULIARITIES OF THE OLD TOWN. —LETTERS TO MISS MORE. -MISS MORE'S
POEM ON "SENSIBILITY."-ADDRESS TO MRS. BARBAULD.-DR.
AIKIN REMOVES TO YARMOUTH.- VISIT  TO LONDON IN  THE
CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS.-MEETS MANY FRIENDS THERE. -JOSEPH
JOHNSON, HER PUBLISHER. - MISS BURNEY. - LETTERS.
RS. BARBAULD'S success in teaching, and singular devotion to the young children under her
charge, induced several gentlemen to persuade her to
assume the personal care and instruction of their little
boys, and she received some at the early age of four years.
Among these boys was Thomas Denman, afterwards a
distinguished member of the legal profession.  Lord
Denman was eminent for his liberal political views, sagacity and ability as a lawyer, and integrity in his professional relations. He held many high offices, being
Lord Chief Justice, and created for his various services
a peer of the realm.  Miss Aikin, writing to Dr. Channing of Lord Denman's taking leave of Lincoln's Inn
Court in consequence of his promotion to the position




1777.]       ATTACHMENT OF HERt PUPILS.            97
of the Chief Justice, mentions the speech made on this
occasion by his old friend the Vice-Chancellor, and then
adds, "This glorious man - by the way, his person is
made for dignity - was Mrs. Barbauld's pupil at four
years old. I think it must have been chiefly for him
that her'Hymns in Prose' were written.  He cherishes
her memory most religiously. In a great public entertainment where I met him last year, he came up to me
and said, with a look of delight,'I dreamed of Mrs. Barbauld only last night.' He has a love and taste for poetry
and elegant literature worthy of her scholar, and I doubt
not that she sowed the seed." This letter was written in
1832. In another of an earlier date, Miss Aikin described
her own feelings on the subject of the "Prose Hymns"
to the same valued friend: "Of all the products of my
Aunt Barbauld's fine genius, which you have commemorated in a manner most gratifying to my feelings, there
is none which during my whole life I have prized so
highly as her " Hymns for Children"; by which, with
the most delightful allurements of style, the infant mind
is insensibly led to look up through all which it beholds,
whether of animate or inanimate, physical or moral
nature, to the infinitely wise and beneficent cause of
all."  Another of these infant pupils of Mrs. Barbauld
was in after years the celebrated antiquarian and classical scholar, Sir William  Gell, the distinguished explorer of the Plain of Troy and Pompeii.  As Miss
5                        G




98            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. VI.
Aikin states, it was for the use of this infant class that
Mrs. Barbauld wrote her beautiful prose hymns.
She, herself, in the Preface, says of the Hymns and
her object in writing them, it was " the peculiar design
of this publication.... to impress devotional feelings
as early as possible on the infant mind; fully convinced,
as the author is, that they cannot be impressed too
soon, and that a child, to feel the full force of the idea
of God, ought never to remember the time when he
had no such idea,-to impress them, by connecting
religion with a variety of sensible objects, with all that
he sees, all he hears, all that affects his young mind
with wonder or delight; and thus by deep, strong, and
permanent associations to lay the best foundation for
practical devotion in future life." One sentence alone
in the Hymns seems to be worth volumes of instruction to the thoughtless or inconsiderate who may have
the care of children,    " Respect in the infant the future
man.  Destroy not in the man the rudiments of an
angel."  Too much cannot be said of the simple beauty
and absolute perfection of the Hymns. Called prose by
their gifted author, they abound in the most harmonious
periods, and pure, elevating imagery of true poetry,
and must strongly impress their claim and value upon
all who read them; and each fresh reading will only
strengthen the admiration and pleasure they impart.
Written for the very young, they cannot fail to affect




1777.]            HER PROSE HYMNS.                 99
the intelligent, cultivated, and well-developed mind by
their gradually elevated tone of thought, simple though
it be, and the purity, devotional spirit, and charming
style of expression so peculiarly adapted for the ideas
and religious teachings they convey.
In Miss Aikin"s sketch of her own early life, she
alludes to the love of nature awakened in her mind by
her observing and intelligent father, and adds: "This
interest was inexpressibly exalted by Mrs. Barbauld's'Prose Hymns,' which were taught me I know not how
soon.  Her'Early Lessons' had prepared the way, for
in them  too there dwells the spirit of poetry; but the
Hymns gave me the'idea of something bright and glorious hung on high above my present reach, but not
above my aspirations.  They first gave me the sentiment of sublimity, and of the Author of all that is
sublime.  They taught me piety."  These Hymns are,
and will remain, unequalled for their spirit of pure, exalted devotion, deep yet simple thought, and the grandest purity of style, which renders them attractive and
profoundly interesting to the mind of the little child,
while that impression must also be felt by all who read
them.
PALGRAVE, 1777.
I am happy that I can now tell you we are all safe at Palgrave, where we arrived last night about ten o'clock. Charles
has indeed been an excellent traveller, and though, like his




100             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.            [CHAP. VI.
great ancestor, " some natural tears he shed," like him, too,
"he wiped them soon." He had a long, sound sleep last night,
and has been very busy to-day; hunting the puss and the
chickens.  And now, my cear brother and sister, let me
again thank you for this precious gift, the value of which
we are both more and more sensible of as we become better
acquainted with his sweet disposition and winning manners.
As well as a gift, it is a solemn trust, and it shall be our
study to fulfil that trust.  The thought of what parents we
have taken him from will be a constant motive for our care,
tenderness, and affection.
Remember us most affectionately to Dr. and Mrs. E —
and Betsy   ~, and give a kiss for me to Arthur and
George  and so you may to Betsy, now I think of it.
Everybody here asks, "Pray, is Dr. Dodd really to be
executed " as if we knew  the more for having been at
Warrington.
PALGRAVE, January 19, 1778.
It is real concern to me that I could not write to you from
London..... Let me now, then, begin with telling you
that we too, Miss B, and one of our boys, got safe to
Palgrave this afternoon.  And now for the first time Mr.
Barbauld and I experienced the pleasure of having something
to come home for, and of finding our dear Charles in perfect
health and glad to see us again; though wondering a little,
and rather grave the first half-hour.  Well, and what have
you seen, you will say, in London?  Why, in the first place,
Miss More's new play, which fills the house very well, and




1778.]              VISIT TO LONDON.                   101
is pretty generally liled.  Miss More is, I assure you, very
much the ton, and moreover has got six or seven hundred
pounds by her play: I wish I could produce one every two
winters; we would not keep school. I cannot say, however,
that I cried altogether so much at " Percy " as I laughed at
"The School for Scandal," which is one of the wittiest plays
I remember to have seen; and, I am sorry to add, one of the
most immoral and licentious, -in principle, I mean, for in
language it is very decent.  Mrs. Montague, not content
with being the queen of literature and elegant society, sets
up for the queen of fashion and splendor. She is building
a very fine house, has a very fine service of plate, dresses and
visits more than ever; and I am afraid will be full as much
the woman of the world as the philosopher.  Pray, have
you read a book to prove Falstaff no coward? I want to
know what you think of it: the present age deals in paradoxes.   A  new  play of Cumberland's and  another of
Home's are soon to come out.  Charles's little book is very
well, but my idea is not executed in it; I must therefore beg
you will print one as soon as you can, on fine paper, on one
side only, and more space and a clearer line for the chapters.
Prefix, if you please, to that you are going to print, the
following
ADVERTISEMENT.
This little publication was made for a particular child, but
the public is welcome to the use of it. It was found that amidst
the multitude of books professedly written for children, there is
not one adapted to the comprehension of a child from two to




102             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.            [CHAP. VI.
three years old.  A grave remark, or a connected story, however
simple, is above his capacity, and nonsense is always below it;
for folly is worse than ignorance. Another great defect is the want
of good paper, a clear and large type, and large spaces. Those only
who have actually taught young children can be sensible how
necessary these. assistances are.  The eye of a child and of a
learner cannot catch, as ours can, a small, obscure, ill-formed word
amidst a number of others all equally unknown to him. To
supply these deficiencies is the object of this book. The task is
humble, but not mean; for to lay the first stone of a noble
building, and to plant the first idea in a human mind, can be no
dishonor to any hand.
In this letter to her brother, and in the advertisement, the reader will see from  Mrs. Barbauld's own
words that she held it no trifling responsibility to write
for children well; and her sentiment on the subject is
certainly noble and true. She also tells him of her
visit to London and her laughter at Sheridan's new
play, "The School for Scandal," and how she wept at
Miss More's new tragedy, "Percy."  Her letter contains
a description of Mrs. Montague's new  house.  That
lady, not being content with being the head of a literary
set which she adorned by her talents and taste, aspired
to greater conquests and social successes, and had built
herself a new and elegant mansion, known as Montague
House, in Portman Square.  Until recently this house
was quite as she left it externally; but the hand of
change has begun  its work, and already it is much




1778.]              CORRESPONDENCE.                  103
altered by what are termed "modern improvements."
In Mrs. Montague's own letters, she tells her friends
some of her trials in getting it completed; but at last
it was finished, and quite eclipsed the house in Hill
Street, where she had so long gathered round her a
circle of eminent people.  Montague House was more
magnificent than the earlier residence; but the circle
was also much larger, less free from formality, and less
social.
PALGRAVE, 1778.'T is well I got a letter from Warrington when I did, --
very well indeed; for I began to be in such a fury, and
should have penned you such a chiding! Do you know,
pray, how long it is since I heard from any of you. But, as
I do sometimes offend myself, I think I will' forgive you,
especially as I wonder how you find time even to read, with
labors so multifarious (as Johnson says) going forward. The
fate of Miss B's letter is very remarkable. It was written
as full- I am  sorry to mortify you, my dear sister    as
the paper would hold, folded, sealed, directed, and put somewhere; but when I had finished mine, and wanted it to put
in the frank, it could be found nowhere.'Tis needless to
tell you how the paper-case was cleared, the cupboard routed
out, pockets searched, and everybody who had entered the
room squinted at with an evil eye of suspicion. The letter
has never made its appearance to this day; and, what vexes
Mliss B~  is, that Patty can but be in her debt, and that she
was before. Now half this letter, she says, was about Charles,




104             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. VI.
which may serve to excuse me, who finished in a violent
hurry.  I left him to the last, but was obliged to conclude
abruptly.  I am afraid to tell you much about him, lest you
should fall in love with him  again, and send somebody to
kidnap him; though I think Charles would have a good
many defenders in this house if you did. You will see by
the enclosed I have been employing my pen again for him,
and again I must employ you to get it printed.
PALGRAVE, January 20, 1779.
You are a pretty fellow to grumble, as my mother says
you do, at my not writing  Do not you remember, when
you sent a sheet of Charles's book, you said you did not
mean the line you sent with it for a letter, but would write
soon? so that by your own confession you are fow in debt
to me. Charles bore a part in our examination, by repeating
a copy of verses on the boy who would not say A, lest he
should be made to say B; and we, let me tell you, deserve
great praise for our modesty and self-denial in not making a
parade with his Greek, for he could have repeated an ode of
Anacreon.  But, notwithstanding this erudition, a few English books will still be very acceptable.
We are just returned from Norwich, where we have been
so much engaged with dinners and suppers that, though I
fully intended to write from  thence, and began a letter, I
really could not finish it.  The heads of all the Norwich
people are in a whirl, occasioned by the routs which have
been introduced amongst them  this winter; and such a
bustle, with writing cards a month beforehand, throwing




1779.]     NORWICH IN THIE LAST CENTURY.           105
down partitions, moving beds, etc.! Do you know  the
different terms? There is a squeeze, a fuss, a drum, a rout,
and lastly a hurricane, when the whole house is full from
top to bottom. It is matter of great triumph to me that we
enjoy the latter for ten months in the year.
In this letter of January, 1779, Mrs. Barbauld alludes
to a visit they had just made in Norwich, then a city
of considerable social and literary activity, which has
long since departed, leaving it at the present time a
dull, provincial place. At that time it boasted of being
the birthplace and residence of several literary men,
and there were many old families whose wealth and
hospitality made it celebrated in the last century.
The manufacturing interest also was large, and brought
prosperity and affluence to the inhabitants. The names
of the Taylors, Enfields, Sayerses, Smiths, Martineaus,
and Mrs. Opie will give a hint of the class of cultivated, intellectual people who gave the old city its
literary prominence for a time. Add to this set of
literary people the fact of its being the site of a cathedral, and one can fancy the stately Church people who
would bring with them  an air of refinement, elegant
manners, and dignity becoming their connection with
one of the oldest and finest cathedrals in the kingdom.
Miss Martineau, in her sketch of Mrs. Opie, describes
some of the peculiarities and provincial oddities of
Norwich in the latter half of the last century.  She
5*




106           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. VI.
compares its literary coterie, and the conceit and pedantry of its members, to that of Lichfield, which is still
remembered, and adds that " Norwich was very like
Lichfield,.... only with less sentimentality, and with
some additional peculiarities of its own. It had its
cathedral, but neither the proverbial dulness nor the allconquering High-Churchism of most cathedral towns:
the liberality of good Bishop Bathurst prevented the
latter during the long course of his episcopate; and the
manufactures of Norwich preserved it from stagnation:
It is true  that when  invasion  was expected, the
Church and Tory gentry set a watch upon the cathedral,
lest the Dissenters should burn it for a beacon to'Boney'; and the manufacturers who were of Liberal
opinions were not accepted as volunteers, but were
simply intrusted with the business of providing for
the conveyance of the women and children into the
interior whenever the French should land at Yarmouth
or Cromer. But still, while Bishop Bathurst touched
his hat to the leading Dissenters of the place, and
Norwich goods were in demand for the Spanish and
Portuguese markets, the old city could not stagnate like
other cathedral towns..... When William  Taylor
became eminent as almost the only German scholar in
England, old Norwich was very proud, and grew, to say
the truth, excessively conceited. She was (and she might
be) proud of her Sayers; and Dr. Sayers was a scholar.




1783.]        LETTER TO HANNAH MORE.               107
She boasted of having produced several men who had
produced books of one sort or another (and to produce
a book of any sort was a title to reverence in those
days). She boasted of her intellectual supper-parties,
where, amidst a pedantry which would now  make
Laughter hold both his sides, there was much that was
pleasant and salutary; and finally she called herself
the Athens of England." In her conclusion, this gifted
daughter of old Norwich sums up its departed glories
by saying, "Its bombazine manufacture has gone to
Yorkshire, and its literary fame to the four winds."
Mrs. Barbauld's letter tells us of these "intellectual
supper-parties," and we can fancy that Mrs. Barbauld
must have been well feted by these good people, from
her intimate knowledge of all their gayety.
FROM MRS. BARBAULD TO Miss H. MORE.
PALGRAVE, November, 1783.
DEAR MADAM, - If any one were to ask me whether Miss
More and Mrs. Barbauld correspond, I should say, "We correspond, I hope, in sentiment, in inclinations, in affections;
but with the pen I really cannot say we do. Her pen is
better employed, and mine, alas! is seldom employed at all
but in the routine of business." I cannot, however, always
repress the desire of hearing how you do, and of letting you
know there is one in a corner of Norfolk whose heart preserves in their full glow the love and esteem with which you




108             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. VI.
have long ago inspired it.  These sentiments have received
a fresh accession of strength by'the sight of your " Sacred
Dramas," a work I have expected with impatience ever since
you favored me with a peep at "Moses."  It is too late, my
dear Miss More, to compliment you on the execution of your
pleasing plan; but you must give me leave to mention how
sensibly I was touched with pleasure on seeing the tribute
you have paid to friendship, in the obliging lines which soon
caught my eye in the sweet poem annexed to the Dramas.
It was a sensible mortification to me that I did not meet
you in London last Christmas; perhaps I shall be more
fortunate this vacation.  We mean'to spend part of it at
Bristol, at Mr. Estlin's; and if you are in Bristol then, I
need not say how great an addition it will be to the happiness we hope to enjoy there.
AWe have lately been reading Mr. Soame Jenyns's Essays;
you have seen them,. no doubt. I think, too, that you will
agree with me in pronouncing many of them very ingenious
and very whimsical. What, for instance, do you think of the
idea of coming into this world to be punished for old offences I
How would it sound, think you, if people were to date,'In the twentieth year of my imprisonment, from my cell in
such a place'. What discomfort must it be to a poor creature,
whose lot is poverty and affliction here, instead of promising
himself his portion of good things hereafter, to think that
he is only paying off old scores! If Mr. Soame Jenyns
has the gout, for instance, as many worthy people have, it
must be pleasant to hear the corollaries he cannot but deduce
from it.




1783.]       MISS MORE'S TRIBUTE TO HER.            109
But I run on till I am afraid I shall oblige you to try to
recollect some peccadillo in your pre-existent state, for which
you are troubled with this letter; therefore, that I may not
lie heavy upon your conscience, as well as exercise your
patience, I will bid you adieu, after delivering Mr. Barbauld's
compliments and best wishes.
I am, my dear madam,
Your affectionate friend and obedient servant,
A. L. BARBAULD.
This letter to Miss More is in acknowledgment of
the new  book just published, the "Sacred Dramas,"
which was sent to her by its amiable and talented
author; and Mrs. Barbauld tells her how deeply she
was affected by the beautiful lines addressed to herself in the poem on " Sensibility."  This poetical epistle, addressed to the Hon. Mrs. Boscawen, eulogizes
true friendship among women, and in it Miss More
depicts the charms and character of some of the distinguished women of the period. I have already taken
a few lines from  her character of Mrs. Boscawen, and
will now  quote that part which contains a true and
graceful tribute to her friend Mrs. Barbauld.  After a
glowing apostrophe to the modern school of poetry and
art and the new beauties which they displayed, and the
expression of a hope that Mrs. Boscawen will accept
these unpolished lays, 
"Nor blame too much the verse you cannot praise,"




110               LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.               CHAP. VI.]
Miss More continues her address to Mrs. Boscawen:" Yes, still for you your gentle stars dispense
The charm of friendship and the feast of sense:
Yours is the bliss, and Heaven no dearer sends,
To call the wisest, brightest, best your friends.
And while to these I raise the votive line,
O let me grateful own these friends are mine;
With Carter trace the wit to Athens known,
Or view in Montague that wit our own:
Or mark, well pleased, Chapone's instructive page,
Intent to raise the morals of the age.
Or boast, in Walsingham, the various power
To cheer the lonely, grace the lettered hour:
Delany, too, is ours, serenely bright,
Wisdom's strong ray, and virtue's milder light:
And she who blessed the friend, and graced the lays
Of poignant Swift, still gilds our social days;
Long, long protract thy light, O star benign!
Whose setting beams with milder lustre shine.
Nor, Barbauld, shall my glowing heart refuse
Its tribute to thy virtues or thy Muse;
This humble merit shall at least be mine,
The poets' chaplet for thy brow to twine;
My verse thy talents to the world shall teach,
And praise the genius it despairs to reach.
Yet what is wit, and what the poet's art?
Can genius shield the vulnerable heart?
Ah, no! where bright imagination reigns,
The fine-wrought spirit feels acuter pains;
Where glow exalted sense and taste refined,
There keener anguish rankles in the mind;
There, feeling is diffused through every part,




1784.]           REMOVAL OF DR. AIKIN.                 111
Thrills in each nerve, and lives in all the heart;
And those whose generous souls each tear would keep
From others' eyes, are born themselves to weep.
Can all the boasted powers of wit and song,
Of life one pang remove, one hour prolong?
Fallacious hope! which daily truths deride;
For you, alas! have wept, and Garrick died!"
Dr. Aikin was not satisfied with his professional
prospects at Warrington, and the social charms of the
place had very much fallen off, as the Academy became
less popular and successful. The little circle of tutors
and their families, who made up the pleasant intercourse
of the town, was broken by death and the removal of
those connected with it. His father's death, his sister's
marriage, and the changes at the Academy, all had their
influence on the small group of intelligent and genial
friends, and deprived the place of its superior attractions and advantages for a professional and literary
man.  He resolved, therefore, to remove to a better
situation for professional advancement; and, being told
that Yarmouth was in need of the best medical advice,
he took up his abode there for a time, only to find that
the opportunity for practice was smaller than he had
been led to suppose.  His mother, who resided with
him after the death of Dr. Aikin the elder, accompanied
the family on their journey. Miss Lucy Aikin, in her
"Early Recollections," writes of the year 1784: "My
grandmother, her maid, my little brother, and myself




112              LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.            [CHAP. VI.
were packed in a post-chaise; my father accompanied us
on horseback.  It was Christmas week, the snow deep on
the ground; the whole distance was two hundred and
forty miles across the country, and we were six days in
accomplishing it. The last night we spent at my aunt
Mrs. Barbauld's house"at Palgrave, where my grandmother remained behind; she died in a few days, of the
cold and fatigue of the journey." This must have been
a fresh blow to the affectionate and sensitive heart of
Mrs. Barbauld, already much saddened by the  death
of her father. In her poetical epistle to her friend Dr.
Enfield, on his revisiting Warrington in 1789, she concludes with these pathetic lines, which indicate how
tenderly  she cherished  the memories and  happiness'of departed days, spent with her parents at her early
home.
Were it, like thine, my lot once more to tread
Plains now but seen in distant perspective,
With that soft hue, that dubious gloom o'erspread,
That tender tint which only time can give;
How would it open every secret cell
Where cherished thought and fond remembrance sleep!
How many a tale each conscious step would tell!
How many a parted friend these eyes would weep!
But, 0 the chief! -If in thy feeling breast
The tender charities of life reside,
If there domestic love have built her nest,
And thy fond heart a parent's care divide;




1784.]        THE SCHOOL AT PALGRAVE.              113
Go, seek the turf where worth, where wisdom lies,
Wisdom and worth, ah, never to return!
There kneeling, weep my tears, and breathe my sighs,
A daughter's sorrows o'er her father's urn!
The school at Palgrave was full and prosperous, and
the scholars were from  the families of noblemen and
gentlemen of the best class.  Among these may be
named Basil, Lord Daer, a favorite pupil, whom  Mrs.
Barbauld often mentions in her letters written long
after this as one whom  she knew  well, and loved.
Three of his brothers, one of whom was the last Earl of
Selkirk, two sons of Lord Templetown, Lord More,
Lord Aghrim, and the Hon. Augustus Phipps, were
among the pupils.  William  Taylor of Norwich and
Dr. Sayers of that city have already been mentioned
as bright and  interesting boys, who made brilliant
scholars.  Lord Denman and Sir William  Gell also
should be included in this list, which names a few only
of the boys who profited by Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld's
excellent care and instruction.- In the school vacations
at Midsummer and Christmas, Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld
enjoyed many pleasant journeys, and visits to friends
in various parts of England and Scotland.  The summer vacation was usually passed in travelling in the
country and visiting friends there, the winter holidays
in lodgings in London. From her letters to her brother
we learn that they were welcome guests and honored,
H




114           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.       [CHAP. VI.
intimate friends in many elegant and charming homes.
In Mrs. Montague's fine new mansion, Montague House,
they saw all of London society that was great in literature and science, - men and women whose names are
still celebrated for their genius, culture, and brilliancy;
and that was one only of the many houses where they
were frequent visitors. Joseph Johnson, of St. Paul's
Churchyard, her publisher, was a good friend of Mrs.
Barbauld; and she tells her brother she is almost afraid
to name the hour at which some of his agreeable and
social parties end. There she met many literary people
in a more simple style, and the  conversation was less
formal, and people mixed more easily in his rooms, than
in the more magnificent residences of her West End fashionable friends. This good but rather unfortunate man
was a kind-hearted though somewhat dilatory publisher.
He had much taste and discrimination, and published
Cowper's poems, which had been rather contemptuously
rejected by some other booksellers, ignorant of their
beauty and merits. Many other valuable and important books of the time issued from his press. He was
Miss Edgeworth's publisher also, and when imprisoned
in the King's Bench Prison, in 1799, for a publication
considered treasonable, was visited by Mr. and Miss
Edgeworth, who were then on a visit to London; and
many of the authors in whose works he had interested
himself made it a point, as the Edgeworths did, to pay




1784.]           LETTER FROM LONDON.                 11 5
him  attention in his misfortune.  Afterwards he was
much  connected and  rather intimate with  Godwin,
Holcroft, and some others of that revolutionary and
radical set, and it was rather a disadvantage and injury
to be associated with him either in a social or a business
way.
LONDON, January 2, 1784.
Well, my dear brother, here we are in this busy town,
nothing in which (the sight of friends excepted) has given us
so much pleasure as the balloon which is now exhibiting in
the Pantheon.  It is sixteen feet one way, and seventeen
another; and when full (which it is not at present) will
carry eighty-six pounds.  When set loose from the weight
which keeps it to the ground, it mounts to the top of that
magnificent dome with such an easy motion as put me in
mind of Milton's line, "rose like an exhalation."  We hope
to see it rise in the open air before we leave town.  Next to
the balloon, Miss B  ~" is the object of public curiosity; I
had the pleasure of meeting her yesterday.  She is a very
unaffected, modest, sweet, and pleasing young lady: but you,
now I think of it, are a Goth, and have not read " Cecilia."
Read, read it, for shame! I begin to be giddy with the
whirl of London, and to feel my spirits flag. There are so
many drawbacks, from hair-dressers, bad weather, and fatigue,
that it requires strong health greatly to enjoy being abroad.
The enthusiasm for Mirs. Siddons seems something abated
this winter. As the last season was spent in unbounded
* Fanny Burney.




116            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. VI.
admiration, this, I suppose, will be employed in canvassing
her faults, and the third settle her in her proper degree of
reputation.
In this letter Mrs. Barbauld describes their Christmas visit to London, and how  much she liked Miss
Burney, then the object of general interest as the
author of" Evelina " and " Cecilia," books which formed
a new era in light literature as evidences of the study
of human nature and descriptions of people; and they
amused, delighted, and surprised the public, who found
themselves wildly excited over the adventures and
misfortunes of the heroine, the vulgarities and oddities
of the other characters.  The "Braughtons " were the
theme of universal discussion, and the author was the
admiration of a circle which boasted such members as
Dr. Johnson, Burke, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mrs. Montague, Sheridan, and others celebrated for their talents,
brilliancy, and wit.  Her diary, written for the perusal
of her family, gives the reader of the present day a most
thorough insight into the character and description of
the looks, manners, and peculiarities of the most noted
men and women of her time.  No one in Great Britain
of as keen observation and ready powers of description,
perhaps, had more advantages and opportunities of
acquaintance with great and little people than "little
Fanny Burney," later known as Madame D'Arblay after




1784.]             LIFE IN LONDON.                 117
her marriage with a French  emrigr, an  officer of
distinction.  Mrs. Barbauld met her at the house of
a mutual friend, Mr. Barrows, by her own wish, an
appointment being made by Mrs. Chapone, who introduced her there to Miss Burney; and long after
Mrs. Barbauld renewed the acquaintance in a manner which Madame D'Arblay mentions in her diary
as most kind and pleasant.  In the letter which follows, written after her return to Palgrave, Mrs. Barbauld tells Dr. Aikin of the continual visiting they
had done while in London, and of the pleasure they
found in it; of all the novelties of the day,-the
automaton, the newly arrived American minister, Mr.
Adams, and the members of the American Congress,
then just landed in England at the conclusion of the
long war between Great Britain and her colonies.
PALGRaVE, January 21, 1784.
MY DEAR BROTHER, - We arrived at Palgrave yesterday.
I much wished to have written again from London; but I
could not get further than half a letter, which was therefore
committed to the flames. Bating the circumstance of being
greatly hurried, we spent our time very pleasantly in London,
and had a great deal of most agreeable society.  Our evenings, particularly at Johnson's, were so truly social and
lively that we protracted them sometimes till —  But I am
not telling tales. Ask     at what time we used to separate.  Our time, indeed, in London was chiefly spent in




118            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. VI.
seeing people; for, as to seeing sights, constant visiting and
the very bad weather left us little opportunity for anything
of that kind. There is a curious automaton which plays at
chess. His countenance, they say, is very grave and full of
thought, and you can hardly help imagining he meditates
upon every move. He is wound up, however, at every two
or three moves. The same man has made another figure,
which speaks; but as his native tongue is French, he stays
at home at present to learn English. The voice is like that
of a young child.
We spent two very agreeable days at Mr.  ~'s.  We
saw there many Americans, members of the Congress, and
plenipos.  We were often amused with the different sentiments of the several parties in which we passed the day.
At Mr. Brand Hollis's, the nation was ruined; notwithstanding which we ate our turkey and drank our wine as if
nothing had happened.  In the evening party there was
nobody to be pitied but.the poor king; and we criticised
none but Mrs. Siddons. It is impossible, however, not to
be kept awake by curiosity at learning the extraordinary
manceuvres and rapid changes that have happened lately.
Do you know that at two o'clock on the day the Parliament
met, Mr. Pitt had not received his return  so that Mr. Fox
had almost begun the debates before Pitt knew he was even
a member!
In the letter which follows, Mrs. Barbauld describes
the mode of soliciting votes then in fashion, with nat



1784.]           FEMALE CANVASSERS.                 119
ural indignation and disgust at the vulgarity and freedom
of the high-born titled ladies who disgraced their sex
and station by canvassing in such a manner.  The
beautiful Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, was one
of the ladies notorious in this election, and her name
easily supplies the blank left in the letter, as she was
often in Covent Garden wearing the colors of Charles
James Fox, her relation; and the report that she had
won the vote of a hesitating butcher with a kiss was
commemorated in gross caricatures and libels.
PALGRAVE, May, 1784.
Let me begin with telling you, what you have some reason
to complain of me for not having told you before, that we
are very well. Mr. B1    has begun to eat his dinners; and
we smile upon the year, as the year begins to smile upon us.
WTe propose going to Birmingham  this vacation, and we
understand Oxford and Daventry are in the way; so that
we hope a great deal lies before us to please the eye and
touch the soul of friendship: but busy must we be before
we have earned our vacation.
What do you think of the behavior of our great ladies on
the present electionS  I thought the newspapers had exaggerated; but Mr.  -  says he himself saw the two Lady
-   s and Miss  -   go into a low alehouse to canvass,
where they stayed half an hour; and then, with the mob at
their heels offering them a thousand indignities, proceeded
to another.  These he mentioned as unmarried ladies, and




120             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. VI.
therefore less privileged.  The Duchess of, Mrs.,
and many others, equally expose their charms for the good
of the public.
Have you got Hoole's " Ariosto "  l We are reading it; but
think the translation, except in a few passages, wonderfully flat
and prosaic: the adventures are entertaining, however.




1785.]          CONTINENTAL JOURNEY.               121
CHAPTER VII,
MR. AND MRS. BARBAULD RELINQUISH THEIR SCHOOL. —THEY MAKE A
CONTINENTAL JOURNEY. —LETTERS WRITTEN TO THE FAMILY AND
FRIENDS ON THIS JOURNEY.- PERSONS WHOSE ACQUAINTANCE THEY
MAKE. - THEY MEET JOHN HOWARD. - MAGNETISM. - MANNERS AND
CUSTOMS. -MODE OF TRAVELLING.
I      the year 1785, Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld found that
their arduous cares and engrossing life of instruction, though occasionally relieved by vacations and
pleasant excursions, were too exhausting, and that an
entire change of scene and relief from continuous duties
was an absolute necessity.  They therefore gave up
their school at Palgrave, and Mr. Barbauld resigned his
pastoral charge, which released them  from  longer residence there, and they made arrangements for a Continental tour which was prolonged for several months,
and was productive of much benefit and enjoyment to
them.  After leaving Palgrave, they made a visit to Dr.
Aikin at Yarmouth, and then went to Dover, to sail for
France.  They left England the 17th of September,
1785, and were absent until the following June, during
6




122            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. VII.
which interval they travelled in France and passed
some time in Switzerland.
To MRS. J. TAYLOR.
YARMOUTH, September 1, 1785.
DEAR MADAM,- Though I have had the pleasure (it was
a very real one) of a glimpse of Mr. Taylor, yet I cannot
prevail on myself to intrust either him or Mr. Barbauld with
those affectionate wishes and grateful acknowledgments of
your friendship which, before I leave England, I wish to
convey to you with my own hand. Mr. Barbauld will tell
you our route.  Now it comes to the point, I cannot help
feeling it a solemn thing to leave England, and all our dear
connections in it, for so many months. Often will they be
in our minds; and when we recollect those who hold the
highest places in our esteem and affection, Mrs. Taylor will
always be presented to our thoughts.  Allow me, dear
madam, again to thank you for your kindness to us at
Norwich, and the pleasure we enjoyed in that short but
delightful intercourse with you and your family. On that
family may health and every blessing ever rest!
By the time we return, I think I shall have had a sufficient draught of idleness, and be very ready to engage again
in some active pursuit; but at present, Avaunt care! and
Vive la bagatelle! for we are bound for France.
The following letter, the first written on her journey,
gives her brother their experiences as far as Dover,
where they were then waiting for the packet to sail.




1785.]            CONTINENTAL JOURNEY.                  123
DOVER, September 17, 1785, 8 o'clock.
Fair stood the wind for France, -
When we our sails advance;
Nor now to trust our chance
Longer would tarry.
It is not very fair either, for there is scarcely wind
enough; but what there is, is in our favor.  We are just
got here, and a packet sails to-night, so I suppose we shall
go in a few hours; for the night is the most beautiful, the
most brilliant, that ever rivalled day. The moon, which is
nearly full, illuminates the majestic chalky cliffs, the stately
castle, and the element we are going to trust ourselves to.
The views about Dover are very bold and very beautiful.
But let me give a regular account of ourselves.  From
-London we had the good fortune to take part of a chaise to
Dover with Dr. Osborn. He is a most entertaining, agreeable
companion; and we never had a more agreeable journey,
especially to-day, for yesterday it was rainy, and we did not
get into Rochester till nine at night; consequently lost in a
great measure the windings of the silver Medway.  But today was uniformly fine; and greatly delighted we were with
the view  of Chatham, Stroud, and Rochester, from  a hill
just above the town, which we walked up.  The Medway
makes a fine bend here.  The hop-pickers were at work as
we went along, but not with their usual alacrity; for the
late storm has blasted the hops to such a degree that twenty
thousand pounds' worth of damage, they say, is done.  The
country is beautifully variegated all the way, and has many
fine seats; among which Sir Horace Mann's was pointed out.




124            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. VII.
From  this rich, enclosed country you come to the open
downs, more grand and striking. The first view of Dover
Castle is noble; and still more finished that of the town,
which we saw from Dr. 0's house, where we dined.  It
has the castle on one side, hills on the other, a valley between
(in which is the town), and the sea beyond.  I think we
shall hardly see more beautiful scenes in France. AVe here
took leave of our last English friends. I forgot to say we
took a hasty peep at the venerable cathedral of Canterbury,
to which I would at any time willingly go a pilgrimage,
though not barefoot.
Dr. Aikin, after his sister's departure, in writing her
says: " How I long to be with you to quaff the pendent
vintage as it grows; to see the gay people in their
gayest mood, and  lead  the  dance with a sunburnt
Champenoise on the green turf! Here, different employ!  We are fitting out fishing-boats, preparing nets
and cordage, launching to sea, and out for the mighty
shoals of herrings in their annual migration. Already
some are brought in, and carts loaded with them are
driving by. Here is industry, and here are the sources
of wealth; but where are pleasure and elegance and
vivacity?  If employments must give a tincture and
flavor to those occupied in them, surely one would
prefer the perfume of the grape to the stench of a
herring."  His biographer speaks of the inspiring influence of his sister's letters, describing alternately the




1785.]            CONTINENTAL JOURNEY.                   125
gay and sublime scenes, the new and varied experiences
of travel, which unfolded themselves before her astonished and admiring eyes, -  and says that they animated
his fancy and  roused  his vivid  imagination  to  the
composition of a poetical epistle, part of which I quote.
In this he very charmingly follows in imagination the
travels of his sister through the novel and beautiful
scenery which  she beholds; his fancy, after a rapid
chase, joins her in her journey through the South of
France, and he begins his imaginary travels in Burgundy.
" O'er land, o'er sea, freed fancy speeds her flight,
Waves the light wing, and towers her airy flight;
And now the chalky cliffs behind her fly,
And Gallia's realms in brilliant prospect lie."
He desires the lovely country and climate to exert
their soothing  influence  on  the tired and  toil-worn
travellers: -
"Fair land! by nature decked, and graced by art;
Alike to cheer the eye and glad the heart,
Pour thy soft influence through Letitia's breast,
And lull each swelling wave of care to rest;
Heal with sweet balm the wounds of pain and toil,
Bid anxious, busy years restore their spoil;
The spirit light, the vigorous soul infuse,
And, to requite thy gifts, bring back the Muse."
Mrs. Barbauld's own  letters to  her  brother and




126            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.      [CHAP. VII.
friends fully describe her first fresh impressions of the
lovely scenes and odd manners and customs of the
people whose countries she saw on her journey. She
speaks of the advantages and disadvantages of travel
after they had been for some time on their journey, and
contrasts home favorably with all the beauties of climate and the novelties which continually met their
eyes. They went as far south as Marseilles, and thence
pursued their way to Geneva; where Mr. Barbauld
found he had some relations, on his mother's side,
whose acquaintance he made.  Mrs. Barbauld mentions the society in that city as being extremely cultivated and agreeable.  She described a Sunday in
Geneva to her friend Mrs. Kenrick, and was evidently
much struck by the peculiar mode of conducting the
Protestant services. Those who have had the opportunity of attending a Swiss Protestant service can fancy
her sensations at seeing the minister put on his hat
after naming the text of his sermon, and the congregation follow this custom if they choose.  This practice
is still observed, and the modern traveller may see it
and be as much amazed as she was at first noticing it.
She tells Mrs. Kenrick that there are some things
learned by travel, for she has discovered that she can
eat many kinds of food distasteful to her at home
"without making faces much," which strikes one as
hardly a necessary lesson at her age.




1785.]            CONTINENTAL JOURNEY.                 127
BESANqON, October 9, 1785.
DEAR BROTHER, - I wrote letters from  Calais and from
Troyes, the contents of which have, I hope, been communicated to you.  From Troyes we proceeded to Dijon by a
road so delightful that I strongly wished my sister and you
could have been with me, -a wish which I cannot help
forming, though a vain one, whenever any object particularly
pleasant presents itself. During the greatest part of this
road we had the full view  of the Seine, which we traced
upwards to within half a league of its source, and saw it
grow less and less, untwisting, as it were, to a single thread.
The valley in which it ran was narrow, of a beautiful verdure, and bounded by hills of the most gentle ascent covered
with trees or herbage: cattle of all sorts, among which were
several flocks of goats, were feeding in sight.  The road
often ran upon the ascent; and we saw the river, sometimes
bordered with trees and sometimes fringed with grass or rushes,
winding beneath in the most sportive meanders, - for we saw
and lost it nine times from one spot. The scene was in general
solitary; but, if we came to a spot particularly pleasant, it
was sure to be marked by a convent, the neatness of which
(generally white) added to the beauty of the scene. After
we had lost the Seine, we came to the Val de Suson, a still
more romantic place, and very like Middleton Dale, only
that the rocks were richly covered with trees. Through the
first part of this valley runs the river Suson; the rest is still
narrower, and between high rocks.
At Dijon we delivered our first letter of recommendation,




128             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. VII.
which introduced us to M. De Morveau, a man of. great
merit, who was cvocat general, but has quitted his profession
for the sake of applying himself to philosophical studies,
and chiefly chemical. He writes all the chemical articles in
the " Nouvelle Encyclopedie."  He esteems Dr. Priestley, Dr.
Black, and Mr. Kirnan, to be the chief men in England in
the philosophical way.  M. De Morveau was one of the first
who ascended in a balloon.  He showed us their Academy,
which is one of the first provincial ones. The Palais des
Etats, in Dijon, is the finest building in it; the front of it
forms one side of a very handsome square, and the wings
extend much beyond it.  It is adorned with statues and
paintings by the pupils of the drawing-school. From the
tower, on which is an observatory belonging to this building, is a charming view  of the country: the hills of Burgundy covered with vines; the rivers of Ouche and Suson,
which encircle the town; and the town itself, which is
large, though not very populous. On our way from Dijon
to Dole we saw more of the vintage than we had hitherto
done, -and a gay scene it is; though I must confess my
disappointment at the first sight of the vines, which are
very low, and nothing like so beautiful as our apple-trees.
They say they have more wine this year than they can
possibly find vessels to put it in; and yet the road was
covered with teams of casks, empty or full, according as they
were going out or returning, and drawn by oxen whose
strong necks seemed to be bowed unwillingly under the
yoke.  Men, women, and children, were abroad: some cut



1785.]          CONTINENTAL JOURNEY.                 129
ting with a short sickle the bunches of grapes; some breaking them with a wooden instrument; some carrying them on
their backs from the gatherers to those who pressed the
juice; and, as in our harvest, the gleaners followed. From
Dole we should have gone directly to Besangon, but were
induced to strike out of the road to visit the grottes
stalactites of Auxcelles; to see which we crossed in a ferry
the river Doux, a fine stream with banks beautifully wooded,
and got into a place most wild and solitary, through such
terrible bad roads that what we thought would have been
the affair of a few hours detained us there the whole night:
the grotto, however, repaid our trouble.  Had you been
there, you would have seen it with a more philosophical eye,
and have told us how the continual dropping of water
through those rocks forms those beautiful petrifications,
which when polished, as they sometimes are, have the
lustre and transparency of crystal. But it required only
eyes to be struck with the view of a vast subterranean shaft
running through a whole rock, which had the appearance of
a most magnificent Gothic church; tombs, images, drapery,
pillars, shrines, all formed without much aid from fancy, by
nature working alone for ages in these long and lofty caverns.  We walked in it, I believe, about two furlongs, and
it might be another to the end. Besangon is by'far the best
town we have seen; the streets are long and regular, the
hotels of the chief inhabitants palaces for princes, and the
public buildings noble.  But you would have been most
struck with the hospital, managed in all the internal parts
6 *                             i




130            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. VII.
by those good nuns, Les Hospitalieres, with such perfect
neatness that, in a long chamber containing thirty-five beds,
most of them full, there was not any closeness or smell to
be perceived. The beds were of white cotton, and by each
bed a table and chair.  Some of the nuns were attending
here; others in the dispensary making up medicines; others
in the kitchen making broths, etc.: and all this they do
without salary, and many of them are of good families.
NOYON, October 13.- I could not finish my letter time
enough to send it from Besanoon, which gives me an opportunity to tell you in brief that we are got to within a stage
of Geneva, and are now sitting in a room which overlooks
the delightful lake. We were too late last night for Geneva,
as they shut the gates at half after six, and open them for
no one. We hope to get there this morning, and to receive
letters from you, which my heart longs for. I have only to
tell you further that I have seen the Alps,- a sight so
majestic, so totally different from  anything I had seen
before, that I am ready to sing Nune dimittis.
Tell me in your next how long you have been sitting by
a coal fire. We have had no fire but twice or three times, a
little in the evening, since we set out; and in the middle of
the day the heat has been very strong.  I suppose, however,
we shall find it colder at Geneva.
Louis Bernard Guyton de Morveau, of whom  Mrs.
Barbauld speaks, was a learned French chemist; and, in
addition to the office she mentions, he was republican




1785.]           CONTINENTAL JOURNEY.                131
deputy to the Legislative Assembly and the Convention, member of the Committee of Public Safety and
Council of Five Hundred, and in the time of Napoleon's government, one of the Administrators-General
of the Mint, and director of the Polytechnic School.
He was the discoverer of the means of destroying
infection  by  acid vapors, and the author of many
chemical treatises.
In the following letter to Dr. Aikin, Mrs. Barbauld
acknowledges the receipt of his verses, and compliments his  poetical epistle by telling him  that it is
not necessary that he should travel to write poetry
well.   Dr. Aikin  was  fond of poetry, and  wrote
several very pretty and graceful pieces.  He published
a small volume of his poems..... And so much in French; which, though it begins
to be easier to me, is still to me either in writing or speaking
like using the left hand; and I now want the language the
most familiar to me, the most expressive, that with less
injustice to my feelings I may thank you for your charming
letter.  It is not necessary for you to travel in order to write
good verses; and indeed, to say truth, in the actual journey
many things occur not altogether so consonant with the fine
ideas one would wish to keep upon one's mind.  The dirt
and bustle of inns, and the various circumstances, odd or
disgusting, of a French diligence, are not made to shine in
poetry.  I shall, however, keep your exhortation in mind;




132             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. VII.
and when, to complete the inspiration, I have drunk of the
fountain of Vaucluse, which we are going to do, if the Muse
is not favorable, you may fairly conclude I no longer possess
her good graces.  From  Lyons we took the diligence d'eat
down the Rhone to this place, a voyage which in summer,
and in a vehicle more neat and convenient, would have been
delightful.  But we had incessant rain for two of the days;
and the third, though bright, was very cold, with a great
deal of wind; so that we did not reach Avignon till the
morning of the fourth day. The Rhone is rapid all the way;
but at Pont St. Esprit particularly so, insomuch that many
passengers get out there: we did not.  The Rhone has high
banks all the way, or rather is enclosed between hills, covered in many places with vines and pasturage, in others
pretty barren. Near St. Esprit begins the olive country.
This was the first time we had been in a public voiture; it
is a very reputable one, and yet you cannot conceive the
shabbiness and mal propriete of the boat.
We are now in a land of vermicelli, soup, and macaroni,
- a land of onions and garlic, - a land flowing with oil and
wine.  Avignon is delightfully situated; the Rhone forms
two branches here, and encloses a large fertile island.  The
Durance (another fine river, at present so overflowed that it
is not passable) joins the Rhone some way below the town.
The churches here are numerous, highly adorned, and have
several good paintings. The streets are darkened with cowls
and filled with beggars, drawn here, they say, by the strangers; for the people are no ways oppressed by the govern



1785.]           CONTINENTAL JOURNEY.                133
ment, the revenue to the Pope hardly paying the expenses.
We are not yet, however, in the climate of perpetual spring;
like an enchanted island, it seems to fly from us.  All along
the course of the Rhone there are cold winds.  Lyons is
disagreeable in winter, both with fogs and cold.  At Geneva
everybody had fires and winter dresses before we left it;
and Avignon, though much warmer, is not enough so to
invite us much abroad, or permit us to dispense with fires.
To-morrow we set off for Orange, and from thence shall go
to Lisle, perhaps to Marseilles; but where we shall spend
these next two months we have not yet determined.  May
you and my dear sister spend them with health and pleasure
in that dear society where our hearts perpetually carry us, and
to which we hope to return with increased affection!
I forgot to tell you that all the people speak patois to
one another, though they speak French too; and when we
landed, the people who came about us to carry our things
had absolutely the air of demoniacs, with their violent
gestures and eager looks, and their coarsest exclamations at
every second word.
To DR. AIKIN.
MARSEILLES, December, 1785.
Health to you all —poor mortals as you are, crowding
round your coal fires, shivering in your nicely closed apartments, and listening with shivering hearts to the wind and
snow which beats dark December! The months here have
indeed the same names, but far different are their aspects;
for here I am sitting without a fire, the windows open, and




134             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. VII.
breathing an air as perfectly soft and balmy as in our warmest days of May; yet the sun does not shine.  On the day
we arrived here, the 5th of December, it did; and with
as much splendor and warmth, and the sky was as clear and
of as bright a blue, as in our finest summer days.  The
fields are full of lavender, thyme, mint, rosemary, etc.; the
young corn is above half a foot high: they have not much,
indeed, in this neighborhood, but from Orange to Lisle we
saw a good deal.  The trees which are not evergreens have
mostly lost their leaves; but one sees everywhere the pale
verdure of the olives mixed with here and there a grove, or
perhaps a single tree, of cypress, shooting up its graceful
spire of a deeper and more lively green far above the heads
of its humbler but more profitable neighbors.  The markets abound with fresh and  dried grapes, pomegranates,.
oranges with the green leaves, apples, pears, dried figs, and
almonds.  They reap the corn here the latter end of May or
the beginning of June.  The gathering of the olives is not
yet finished; it yields to this country its richest harvest.
There are likewise a vast number of mulberry-trees, and the
road in many places is bordered with them; but they are
perfectly naked at present.   Marseilles is, however, not
without bad weather. The vent de bise, they say, is penetrating; and for this last fortnight they have had prodigious
rains, with the interruption of only a few days; so that the
streets are very dirty and the roads broken up. But they
say this is very extraordinary, and that if they pass two
days without seeing a bright sun they think Nature is dealing very hardly with them. I will not, however, boast too




1785.]             CONTINENTAL JOURNEY.                      135
much over you from  these advantages; for I am  ready to
confess the account may be balanced by many inconveniences, little and great, which attend this favored country.
And thus I state my account:Advantages of Travelling.              Per Contra.
A July sun and a southern breeze. Flies, fleas, and  all Pharaoh's
plague of vermin.
Figs, almonds, etc., etc.        No tea, and the very name of a
teakettle unknown.
Sweet scents in the fields.       Bad scents within doors.
Grapes and raisins.              No plum-pudding.
Coffee as cheap as milk.          Milk as dear as coffee.
Wine a demi-sous the bottle.      Bread three sous the halfpenny
roll.
Provengal songs and laughter.    Provengal roughness and scolding.
Soup, salad, and oil.             No beef, no butter.
Arcs of triumph, fine churches,  Dirty inns, heavy roads, uneasy
stately palaces.                 carriages.
A pleasant and varied country.    But many, many a league from
those we love.
From Avignon (whence I wrote to you last) we went to
Orange, where we were gratified with the sight of an arc of
triumph entire, of rich architecture; and, though the delicacy
of the sculpture is much defaced by time, it is easy to see
what it must have been when fresh.  There is likewise a
noble ruin of an amphitheatre built against a rock, of which
you may trace the whole extent, though the area is filled
with cottages. These were the first remains of antiquity of
any consequence I had seen, and they impressed me with an




136            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. VII.
idea of Roman grandeur.  Orange is a poor town, but the
country is green and pleasant, and they have all countryhouses.  When the principality came under French government, it was promised that they should have no fresh taxes
imposed; but peu a peu, say they, taxes are come.  They
had salt-springs which more than supplied them with that
article; they are forbidden to work them.  They grew
tobacco; now, if any one has more than three plants in his
garden, he is punished.  From  Orange we went to Lisle.
In the way we stopped at Carpentras, where we were shown
another arc of triumph, over which a cardinal, the bishop of
Carpentras, built his kitchen; very wisely judging that nothing was more worthy to enter through an arc of triumph
than a noble haunch of venison or an exquisite ragoo. Lisle
is a small town, very pleasant in summer, because it is surrounded with water; and still more noted for its neighborhood to the source of that water, the celebrated fountain of
Vaucluse.
During the few fair days we have had, the warmth and
power of the sun has been equal to our summer days; it is
truly delightful to feel such a sun in December; to beable
to saunter by the shore of the Mediterranean, or sit on
the bank and enjoy the prospect of an extensive open sea,
smooth and calm as a large lake. It is likewise very pleasant
to gain an hour more of daylight upon these short days.
However, though the middle of the day is so warm, in the
mornings and evenings a fire is acceptable, I must confess.
The Marseillians value themselves upon being a kind of




1785.]           CONTINENTAL JOURNEY.                  137
republic, and their port is free: the lower rank are bold and
rude  the upper, by what I hear, very corrupt in their manners.  There are thirty thousand Protestants; their place of
worship is a country-house, which they have hired of the
commandant himself.  They meet with no molestation, and
hope from the temper of the times that they shall erelong
have leave to build a church.' The minister is an agreeable
and literary man, and is very obliging towards us; his wife
has been six years in England, and speaks English well.
Her family fled there from persecution; for her grandfather
(who was a minister) was seized, as he came out from  a
church where he had been officiating, by the soldiers.  His
son, who had fled along with the crowd and gained an
eminence at some distance, seeing they had laid hold on his
father, came and offered himself in his stead; and in his
stead was sent to the galleys, where he continued seven
years.  L'Iionnete Criminelis founded on this fact.  Besides
this family, we have hardly any acquaintance here, nor are
like to have.  We have, however, been two or three times
with the Chanoines de St. Victor, who are all of the best
families of France, as they must prove their nobility for one
hundred and fifty years.  They are very'polite and hospitable, and far enough from bigots; for we were surprised to
find how freely to us they censured auricular confession, the
celibacy of the clergy, and laughed at some of their legendary miracles.  I forgot to say that the country about Marseilles is covered with country-houses; they reckon ten thousand.  They were first begun to be built on account of the




138             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. VII.
plague: everybody has one.  There is a fine picture of
the terrible plague here at the Consigne, and another at the
Town House.  They are very exact at present in their precautions. I am sure the plague cannot be occasioned merely
by want of cleanliness, for then Marseilles could not escape.
Remember that we are longing for letters, and that news
from you will be more grateful to us than groves of oranges
or Provengal skies.
To MRS. KENRICK.
GENEVA, October 21, 1785.
My dear Eliza has desired me to write to her during our
tour.  She could not have put me upon an employment
more agreeable to myself, for I am continually wishing those
I love in England could share the pleasure we receive by the
new scenes and objects which are continually passing before
our eyes; and, though I can give you but a very inadequate
idea of them, it will be without any drawback from fatigue,
bad inns, dirt, and various other etc's., which may be put on
the opposite side when the travelling account is balanced.
We landed at Calais, September 18, and you may wonder
that we have as yet only reached Geneva; but Mr. B., from
kind regard to my health, and indeed the convenience of us
both, thought it best to make short stages; besides which,
we have stopped wherever there were churches or fine things
to be seen.  One very agreeable ornament of the towns
abroad, which in England we are strangers to, is their foun



1785.]                   GENEVA.                       139
tains, the more pleasing as they connect public utility with
a degree of magnificence. They excel us likewise in public
walks, and in every fortified town the ramparts alone afford
very fine ones.
We find ourselves very happy in Geneva; and, if the
season was not so far advanced, should like to spend a
month or two here: indeed, we have been singularly fortunate, for Mr. B. has found out a family of relations here, of
the name of Rochemont, very amiable and  respectable
people; and the society here in general seems easy, sprightly,
and literary. English is much understood, and very tolerably spoken by many.   The town is still divided into
parties, and one side will tell you that Geneva is no longer
what it was, that it has lost its liberty and everything worth
living for; and thus far is true, that the government is
become entirely aristocratical, and is at present so strict that
half a dozen people cannot have a weekly meeting at each
other's houses, unless they choose to declare they keep an
open tavern. The situation of Geneva, as you well know,
is delightful. I am just returned from an excursion to the
mountain of Saleve, within a league of the town; from
whence on one side you have a view  of Geneva, with its
lake of the purest blue, a large plain between the chain of
M3ount Jura and that of the Alps, cultivated like a parterre,
and full of villages, country-houses, and farms, watered by
the Arve, which meanders through it in the most sportive
manner, making several islands, and beyond Geneva falls
into the Rhone. The vintage is not here got in, so that the




140             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. VII.
vineyards are still in their beauty.   On the other side
Saleve, the mountains open upon you in all their grandeur.
Mr. B. is gone to the Glaciers, to feast his eyes with a nearer
view  of these stupendous mountains; but I thought the
expedition beyond my strength, and I am during his absence
in a family of Genevois, who are very good kind of people.
Will you hear how  they pass the Sunday at Geheva?
They have service at seven in the morning,.at nine, and at
two; after that they assemble in parties for conversation,
cards, and dancing, and finish the day at the theatre. Did
not you think they had been stricter at Geneva than to have
plays on the Sunday, especially as it is but two or three
years since they were allowed at all? The service at their
churches is seldom much more than an hour, and I believe
few people go more than once a day.  As soon as the text
is named, the minister puts on his hat, in which he is followed by all the congregation, except those whose hats and
heads have never any connection; for you well know that
to put his hat upon his head is the last use a well-dressed
Frenchman would think of putting it to.  At proper periods
of the discourse, the minister stops short, and turns his back
to you, in order to blow his nose, which is a signal for all
the congregation to do the same; and a glorious concert it
is, for the weather is already severe, and people have got
colds.  I am told, too, that he takes this time to refresh his
memory by peeping at his sermon, which lies behind 1im in
the pulpit.
Nobody ought to be too old to improve; I should be




1785.]              JOHN HOWARD.                    141
sorry if I was; and I flatter myself I have already improved considerably by my travels. First, I can swallow
gruel soup, egg soup, and all manner of soups, without making faces much.  Secondly, I can pretty well live without
tea; they give it, however, at Geneva. Thirdly, I am less
and less shocked, and hope in time I shall be quite easy, at
seeing gentlemen, perhaps perfect strangers, enter my room
without ceremony when I am in my bedgown.  I would not
have you think, however, I am in danger of losing my
modesty; for if I am no longer affected at some things, I
have learned to blush at others; and I will tell you, as a
friend, that I believe there is but one indecency in France,
which is, for a man and his wife to have the same sleepingroom.  "Est ce votre chambre, mladame, ou celle de M.
votre epoux 2 " said a lady to me the other day.  I protest I
felt quite out of countenance to think we had but one.
It is time to leave Geneva, for I see from my'window the
tops of Mount Jura, which are already covered with snow;
and we have had a vent de bise so severe that I have been
confined to my chamber, it is now the sixth day, with a very
painful swelled face.
In her letter from Aix to Dr. Aikin, Mrs. Barbauld
speaks of meeting his friend, and also her own and her
husband's, the eminent philanthropist, John Howard,
who was then on his second tour of examination of the
lazarettos and prison-dens of the Continent.  She says
that he was "well and in good spirits."  This excellent




142           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.    [CHAP. VII.
man had for some years devoted himself to the benevolent work for which he became so famous; and after
this journey he became interested in a new inquiry
into an important subject, that of the cause and cure
of the terrible pestilence which ravaged the southern
countries of Europe and the Levant, - the plague. On
his journey through the eastern countries of Europe,
which he undertook in 1789, he was seized with a
malignant fever, which carried him off after a short
illness on the 20th of January, 1790. In one of Mrs.
Barbauld's letters to her brother, written at the time of
his son's sudden insanity, which made him only an object of care and distress to his father for the remainder
of his life, she tells him that young Howard was drinking tea with a friend's family, when he suddenly declared that the cup of tea just made for him by the lady
was poisoned, and accused her of attempting to kill
him, in a terrible rage, which showed unmistakably
his mental disorder.  In the letter from Aix, Mrs. Barbauld alludes to " the folly of the day" in France, -
"Animal Magnetism," and tells her brother he may
make a sensation by introducing the new treatment in
London. Travelling in ciligences was then in vogue on
the Continent, and unless parties could procure a carriage, they were forced to take that mode of conveyance.
The Barbaulds travelled part of the time in diligences,
and for the rest in their own carriage, which was by far




1786.]            ANIMAL MAGNETISM.                  143
the most agreeable and independent manner of making
a journey at that time, as they could easily procure
fresh horses at the post-stations, and rapidly and pleasantly see the country.
AIx, February 9,1786....   ith regard to ourselves, we have at length
quitted Marseilles, where, to confess the truth, we stayed
long enough to be pretty well tired of it; for we had scarce
any acquaintance, and no amusements (the play excepted)
but what we could procure to ourselves by reading or walking.  Some delightful walks we did take under a bright sun
and a clear blue sky, which would have done honor to the
fairest months in the English calendar.  We sailed one fine
day to the little chateau d'lf, a league from the port. It is
used as a prison for extravagant or disorderly young men,
whom their parents get shut up here, - sometimes to avoid
the disgrace of a more public punishment. We had a great
pleasure at Marseilles in seeing your friend Mr. Howard: he
was well and in good spirits.  He went by the name of the
English Doctor, and as such has prescribed, he told us, with
tolerable success. If you have a mind to strike a good stroke
in London, introduce magnetism;'t is in France the folly
of the day. There is a society at Marseilles for that purpose,
composed of gentlemen.  They boast they can "lay asleep "
when they please, and for as long as they please; and that
during this sleep or trance the mind can see the operations
going forward in the corporeal machine, and predict future
events. One of them offered to try his skill on Mr. Barbauld;




144            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. VII.
but after a long and unpleasant operation of rubbing the tem-ples and forehead, he was obliged to desist without success.
Mr. Howard will tell you, however, they operate better at
Lyons, as he saw several women at the hospital put to sleep
in a minute by only passing the hand over their forehead.
At Marseilles we again bought a carriage (an English
chaise), in which we hope to perform the rest of our journey;
at least to Paris. The road from Marseilles to Toulon is over
mountains which, though not very high, are the beginning
of the Alps.  They are in many parts quite naked and
craggy; in others covered with forests of pines; and in
many they have had the industry to make terraces one over
another to the very top, on which they have planted vines,
though the culture must demand prodigious labor, for they
must bring all the earth. The almond-trees, which are now
in full flower, scattered here and there, embellish the scene.
At Toulon we saw the arsenal, which contains the corderie,
the salle d'armes, the naval stores, etc.  There is something
horrible in the clanking of the chains of the galley-slaves,
who are chained two and two, and employed in various works
within the place. Three or four galleys lie in the harbor,
but they are not used except for lodging the formats.  From
Toulon we went to Hieres; and how think you did we go?
On foot every step of the way, and it is nine miles at least.
We went on foot because the roads are still so bad we dared
not venture in a carriage.  Hieres is a specimen of the
Italian climate and Italian productions: to the south it is
open to the sea; every other quarter is fenced with hills.




1786.]                    HIERES.                        145
The town lies on the descent of the hill, and is surrounded
with groves of orange and lemon trees, glowing in the brightest beauty, and with all the variety of color, from the palest
lemon to the deep and almost blood-red species of orange.
The leaves, of a vivid green, give a relief to the fruit, which
is in so great an abundance that I have hardly seen apple-trees
so full. It is a delicious spot, quite the garden of the Hesperides, and enjoys a constant verdure.  The hedges are
composed of myrtle, holm-oak, and lentisk, of the ashes of
which latter they make a lye with which they preserve their
raisins.  They gather green peas soon after Christmas; every
month brings its peculiar harvest. Besides the corn, wine,
and oil, which they share in common with their neighbors,
they have vast quantities of strawberries, peaches, kidneybeans, all kinds of fruit and garden stuff. Sweet waters and
essences are distilled from the orange-flowers and the peel
of the bergamot, the cedrat, and some other kinds valuable
for their fragrance. Some of the orange-gardens are worth
from twenty to twenty-six thousand livres a year. From an
opposite hill there is a view of the town; above it a convent
of Bernardines, and higher still the ruined walls and castle
of the old town; the whole surrounded with a bright circle
of green and gold, and houses of a shining white in the
midst of the orange-gardens; farther, the paler green of the
olives; to the south, the sea and the fishery salt-works; and
opposite, the islands of Hieres, where is plenty of game.
Winter is seen peeping at this little paradise from the top
of a distant mountain covered with snow; and sometimes,
7                                 J




146             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. VII.
indeed, he sends a hoar-frost, after which the oranges drop
by hundreds from the trees.
To complete our expedition and vary the mode of travelling, we returned as follows: I upon the bourrique of a
paysanne, between two loaded panniers, Mr. B. walking
before; and the woman, a stout, sunburnt, cheerful Provenial, by the side of the ass, driving, guiding, and hallooing it onward.   Bread and figs, which we put in  the
pannier and ate as we went along, were our breakfast. I
rode thus two leagues, and walked with Mr. B. the third.
And now, having touched the utmost limit of our long tour,
it is with inexpressible pleasure we reflect that every step
we shall for the future take will bring us nearer again to
those dear friends in whose society we hope to spend the
rest of our life.  We propose returning by Nismes, Mlontpelier, and Bordeaux.  Aix is a clean, pretty town; the
baths and the fountains of hot water are worth seeing. It
is full of clergy and men of the law. We got acquainted
with two gentlemen (an officer and an ecclesiastic) who were
very civil to us; but we could not help being diverted with
the eagerness with which they recited their own verses (for
they were both versifiers), tleir gestures, their compliments
to each other, and their total freedom  from  that awkward
bashfulness which hangs on us English when we have written
something clever that we long to bring into notice, and do
not know how to bring it about.




1786.]         LETTER TO MRS. BEECROFT.                147
CARCASONNE, February 15, 1786.
If at any time, and in any place, a letter from my dear
Mrs. Beecroft has always given me a sensible pleasure, she
will judge how grateful it must have been to my heart to be
remembered by her with so much kindness and affection,
and to be informed of her welfare, when the long absence,
when the tracts of land and seas between us and those most
dear to our hearts, render accounts from  England doubly
interesting. And indeed, when I reflect that I am transported from  the banks of the Waveney to the shores of the
Mediterranean, I am ready to cry out with Simkin, 
"Methinks we're a wonderful distance from home."
The scenes we have passed through gratify curiosity and fill
the imagination; but you, my dear friend, in the mean time,
have found yourself in situations which awaken feelings the
most tender and interesting..... M. ay you experience,
may you feel, all the sympathies, all the tender charities, of
every relation, all of which you are so fitted to adorn!
The ladies of this country, if I may trust what their own
countrymen say of them, are not fond of these domestic ties;
they wish not to be mothers of a numerous offspring  and
their husbands, whose claim to the honor is somewhat more
dubious, are still less flattered with being fathers to them.
But let me give you some account of our route. From Calais
we coasted, as I may say, the rich plains of Flanders and
Artois, which, however, had lost their peculiar beauty, as
the harvest was got in. We passed through a part of Haute
Picardie, and, leaving Paris on our right, advanced into




148             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. VII.
Champagne, where we first saw  the production that most
distinguishes the climate of France from ours, - the boasted
vineyards. Having visited the venerable cathedral of Rheims,
we crossed several pleasant streams, and from Troyes traced
the delightful windings of the Seine to its very source. We
next visited Dijon in the midst of the vine-clad hills of
Burgundy, and from thence, crossing the Saone, struck into
Franchecomte; and from  Dole to Besangon travelled along
the banks of the Doux, a fine, full stream, through a country
more varied and rich with prospects than we had yet seen.
From varied, the country became romantic, and from  hilly,
mountainous; nature preparing, as it were, for her more
majestic scenes, till at length she swells into full grandeur,
and from the heights of Mount Jura the Alps are discovered
to the astonished traveller.
At Geneva we were greatly delighted with the society and
the situation; but the winter advanced so fast upon us that
we were obliged to abandon our design of visiting Switzerland.  From Geneva to Lyons we were still in the midst of
les belles horreurs, steep mountains, cascades, and lakes.  At
Lyons the winter was still at our heels; so down the rapid
Rhone we sailed in search of the climate of perpetual spring,
but like some enchanted island it seemed to fly from our
pursuit. At Lyons it was the vent du Rhone, at Avignon la
bise, at Marseilles the mistral, which opposed our wishes;
till at length, in the orange-groves of Hieres, we found the
most delicious temperature of air and a verdure perpetually
flourishing. But long before we reached Hieres, between




1786.]                    NISMES.                    149
Lyons and Avignon, we got amongst the olive grounds, the
figs, the almonds, and pomegranates, which spread over all
Provence and Languedoc.  But they have not here the
green pasture, the lowing herd, the hawthorn hedge, the
haunt of birds, nor the various family of lofty trees which
give us shade in summer and shelter in winter. As-we have
been chiefly at inns hitherto, I cannot say a great deal of the
inhabitants in general.  That they are more lively and eager
in their gestures and manner than the English is evident;
but, as to that great air of gayety you mention, and which
one naturally expects to find in France, it has not struck us;
perhaps it might if we were more intimately admitted into
their families, and saw the young and the gay; but this I
assure you, they are not to be found, even in Provence,
singing and dancing under every green tree.  WVe have
lately visited Nismes, a place interesting by its antiquities.
La Maison Carree is the most delicate and finished piece of
architecture that can be conceived; and the amphitheatre
gives the most striking idea of Roman greatness.  It is
calculated to hold 18,000 people; its vast cirque cannot be
beheld from a distance without astonishment, - all the other
buildings sink into nothing before it.  An antiquity perhaps
more beautiful still than either of them is the Pont du Gard,
some leagues from Nismes, constructed to convey water to
the town. It looks great as if made by the hands of giants,
and light as if wrought by fairies.  Nismes has likewise a
more modern work, of which they boast much, -the fountain, and walks belonging to it. This, as well as the Place




150            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. VII.
de Perou at Montpelier, is laid out in a style which a
Brown or a Shenstone would but little approve; long,
straight walks, trees cut into form, water stagnating in stone
basins and exactly symmetrized.  All this suits but ill with
what we have been taught to call taste; yet there is an air
of magnificence, and even of gayety, that in its kind gives
pleasure. The very exhibition of art and expense gives an
air of grandeur.  Its being a work made by men suggests
the cheerful idea that it was made for men; whereas our
more rustic scenes seem made, if not for melancholy, at least
for solitary musing; and, in the last place, the exact proportion contrasts it with the surrounding country.
You know, probably, that Montpelier is famous for perfumes.  One man, who has got a large fortune by them, has
planted a garden with rose-trees, several thousands in number, which in summer perfume the air to a considerable
distance.
I hoped to have finished this letter where I began it, at
Montpelier; but not having been able to do it gives me an
opportunity to tell you that we have seen at Pesenas an
echantillon of the diversions of the Carnival.  The young
men of the town, with the young ladies, masked, followed
by the paysans and paysannes, danced by torchlight in the
streets, upon the esplanade, and all round the town, to the
music of the drum and fife, followed by a number of spectators of all ranks, all enjoying the cheerful scene. Pesenas is
a delightful place; the peach and apricot already are in blossom
there, so is the bean; numbers of almond-trees are in full




1786.]                 THOULOUSE.                     151
bloom  various shrubs are green with spring, and some trees
begin to put out.  To crown all, we found there a very
lovely Englishwoman, with whom  and her husband we
spent two pleasant days.  We are now going to Bourdeaux,
and so to Orleans and Paris; after which I am sure we shall
long to return home.
Mrs. Barbauld observed with  natural interest and
anxiety the condition of the French Protestants, and
mentions in her letters that those of the sect at Marseilles were forced to hold their services in a countryhouse, no other edifice being allowed them; and at
Nismes they could meet only in the open air, though
that town was considered the centre of Protestantism
in France, and the members of that church in Nismes
were estimated at thirty thousand persons.
To DR. AIKIN.
THOULOUSE, February 27, 1786.
I begin this letter from Thoulouse, though I shall probably not finish it before we get to Bourdeaux.  We got here
last night, and hoped to have walked about the town to-day,
where they say there is a good deal to be seen; but we are
confined to our room by a pretty heavy fall of snow, which
has continued the whole day.  We are at present convinced
that it is a vain expectation to escape from winter by going
to these southern climates; at Bengal, I suppose it may be
done: but the southern provinces of France differ more in




152            LIFE OF MRS. BARBALULD.          [CHAP. VII.
the duration than in the degree of their winter; and beyond
all doubt they have more sudden and violent changes of
weather than we have.  In consequence, they dress warmer
than we do. The pelisse, the muff, the fur gloves and shoes,
the hussar cloak and flannel linings, are all common here,
and found necessary.  Yet it is also true that through a
great part of the winter they enjoy the most delicious
weather; and that, with regard to one or other of their
productions, there is not any time of the year in which you
do not meet with harvest or blossoms; for, before the gathering of olives is over, the almond-tree is in flower.  Till
within these four days we have had fine weather for a long
time; and Lower Languedoc, through which our route has
lain since we crossed the Rhone, has worn all the lovely
features of spring. At Pesenas (the last place where we
made any stay), the peach, apricot, and bean were beginning
to blossom; the gardens were all green with various vegetables, the fields with corn, and a few trees were even in
leaf.  But their springs are apt to be premature.  Here (in
Upper Languedoc) it is colder.
Gratified as we have been by the spring of Nature, we
have been no less so by the hoary ruins of Antiquity. The
vast cirque of the amphitheatre at Nismes fills the mind
with an amazing idea of Roman greatness.  It is defaced by
a number of buildings in the area; which, however, are to
be demolished, and the venerable ruin kept in better repair.
To repair a ruin carries a better sound with it than to build
a ruin, as we do in England.  La Mfaison Carree is a bijouz;
it has all that the utmost delicacy and richness of architec



1786.]               THE CARNIVAL.                     153
ture can give.  But we prefer to them  both the Pont du
Gard.
Nismes is the very centre of the Protestants.  They are
computed to be thirty thousand, and the richest part of the
inhabitants; for here, as the Dissenters in England, they
give themselves to trade. They have no church, nor even
barn; but assemble in the desert, as they call it, in the open
air, in a place surrounded by rocks which reverberate the
voice. The pulpit is movable, and there are a few seats of
stone for the elders. On their great festivals, they say, the
sight is very striking.
I wish you, who have a quarrel to some of our English
axioms of taste in gardening, could see the public walks of
Nismes and Montpelier; both  (especially the latter) laid
out with great magnificence, but quite in the old style of
terraces, fountains, strait alleys, and exact symmetry: but
the whole is great, and was to me very new.  We intended
to have taken the canal at Beziers, but the bad weather prevented us.  From Narbonne till near Thoulouse we had on
our left a long chain of mountains, the Pyrenees. I love to
see those everlasting boundaries of nations.  We had not,
however, any wish to cross them and try the Spanish accommodations; there are difficulties  enow  of that kind in
France. This is the height of the Carnival, and we have
seen, as we came along, the dance on the green, and the
masque by torchlight; but in general I am afraid there is a
good deal of coarseness in the mirth of the vulgar, and of
licentiousness in the gayety of the rich.  From Narbonne to
7*




154            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. VII.
Thoulouse there are a great many chdteaux, pompous buildings with towers, but no ornamental grounds about them as
in England, nor anything in the avenues, hedges, etc., that
has a look of neatness. I fancy the rats hold a glorious
sabat in some of them.  I should tell you that at Montpelier
we saw the anatomical theatre, where they have two hundred students, who shave and dress hair to pay their board
and lodging, and attend dissections and study surgery with
great application the rest of their time; and they say they
make better progress than those that have money. I am
sorry I cannot send you a slip of Rabelais's scarlet gown, with
which sacred relique the students are invested when they
take their degrees.  The meaning of which I take to be
this,- that laughing may cure you when physic would
miss.
The situation of Thoulouse seems calculated for trade, as
the noble canal of Languedoc meets there the still more
noble river of the Garonne; yet it is not commercial, as the
great ambition of all the rich inhabitants is directed towards
gaining a seat in Parliament, which ennobles them; and
then they leave trade.  You may guess with what feelings
we saw the seat of that parliament which condemned Calas.
The spirit of the times, however, thank Heaven! is greatly
altered.
BOURDEAUX, March 3.   We are arrived here to-day. The
road from Thoulouse to this town is remarkably pleasant.
It lies mostly along the banks of the Garonne, and several
fine rivers which fall into it; the Tarn, the Aveyron, etc.




1786.]                  BOURDEAUX.                    155
On the other side is a ridge of hilly ground quite sandy,
covered with vines, which indeed have a most desolate
appearance at this time of the year; but fancy can spread
the foliage and hang the purple clusters. On the river-side
are fine rich valleys covered with corn, and here and there
pasture-ground: no more olives, but groves of oak; no more
almond-blossoms, but hedges of hawthorn.   On Shrove
Tuesday (which was a remarkably fine day) every town and
every village was poured out upon the road, all dressed
and dancing,'each lad with his lass. What I should not
have supposed, they dance too on Ash Wednesday; for,
though the churches were pretty full in the morning of
dismal-looking figures in black hoods, who came to confess
the sins of the Carnival, the greater part put the English
interpretation upon a holy day, and considered it as a holiday.  Though we have not yet seen much of Bourdeaux, a
walk this afternoon has convinced us it is a more magnificent
town than any we have yet seen in France. It happens, too,
to be the fair..... The road from Tours to Orleans on the winding
banks of the Loire is delightfully pleasant; but we had not
fine weather enough to enjoy all its beauty; for we have
had the second winter you speak of, in all its severity of
snow and frost.  We were particularly pleased, however,
with Tours.  It has one street of more complete beauty
than any street I have yet seen, terminated at one end by a
fine bridge over the Loire, at the other by one of the noblest
malls in the kingdom. Blois is delightful from its situation,




156            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. VII.
and interesting from the events which have taken place
within its now deserted walls.  Orleans is entirely a town
of commerce; and it seems to flourish, for they live remarkably well there. Trade may have been despised formerly in
France; but I am sure it cannot be now there are such towrns
as Lyons, B1ourdeaux, and Orleans, where it displays its
effects in all the pride of opulence. We have been now a
month in Paris, and here the objects of curiosity crowd upon
us. In the provinces they are scattered here and there; but
in the capital, palaces, pictures, statues, public gardens,
meet you at every step, and all the powers of observation
and organs of perception are agreeably filled.  The societies
of Paris do not obtrude themselves in like manner on your
notice; on the contrary, it is pretty difficult to get sufficiently into them to judge of their complexion and character.
We shall have been, however, in a few of them, and shall
have seen many agreeable individuals.  English is very
much studied here at present: there are a great many who
read, and some who talk it.  Everything of English fabric
and workmanship is preferred here, and not without reason.
They have an idea here very contrary to ours; for they say
the English invent, and the French bring to perfection.
They are going to enclose all Paris and its suburbs by an
immense wall.  It puts one in mind of hedging in the cuckoo;
but it is to prevent smuggling.  We have had the good
fortune to get very clean lodgings: they are near the Pont
Royal and the Tuileries, both which we often cross, and
never without fresh admiration at the number of beautiful




1786.]                     PARIS.                        157
buildings and gay objects. I like the gardens of the Tuileries
better than our St. James's Park; for, though they are somewhat disgraced by the old-fashioned parterre, yet on the
whole they are more gay, more lively; the view from  the
terrace commands a greater variety of objects; the Tuileries
is more adorned, and the various groups of all rankssome taking lemonade, some sitting on the grass, some even
reading -give an air of ease and enjoyment more than is
to be seen in our Park.  This is rather an unfortunate time
for seeing paintings, as the king's pictures are all taken down
in order to be arranged and put up in the gallery of the
Louvre, which is preparing for their reception: and when
that fine building is filled with so noble a collection, it will
have few things in Europe superior.
One great advantage which Paris has as a town over
London is its quais, by which means they enjoy their river
and the fine buildings upon it.  As to the streets, most of
them  are certainly narrow, but not absolutely impracticable
to the poor pieton, as I had been taught to believe; for, when
not dressed, I walk about a good deal.  They say, however,
a great many accidents happen, which their boasted police
takes more care to stifle than to prevent; if a man is run
over by a coach, they dare not put it in any public papers.
The streets are full of little cabriolets, which drive very fast;
they are forbidden, but people have them  notwithstanding.
We have been at two of their academies, that of Sciences,
and that of Belles Lettres.   Several eloges were read, well
drawn up; prizes proposed, etc.  They clap hands as at the




158             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. VII.
playhouse, when a sentiment or expression pleases them.
The theatre sinks in France as well as England; for, as Mrs.
Siddons stands alone, we may well say it sinks. They are
building a very fine church, St. Genevieve; and in general
there is a good deal of new building as well as in London.
We have yet a vast deal to see; but we shall see it as fast
as we can, that we may return to those friends who will be
only dearer to us from absence.
The following letter to Mrs. Taylor of Norwich contains some excellent remarks on the condition of the
stage in France, and has quite an extended description
of Paris as then seen by tourists.
To MIRS. TAYLOR.
PARIS, June 7, 1786.
DEAR MADAM, - Though we expect now very soon to finish our long pilgrimage, I cannot quit this country without
giving you a little testimonial that in it we think of those
beloved English friends from whom the sea now divides us:
they are often recalled to my mind by different and opposite
trains of thinking, -for contrast, you know, is one source
of association; and when I see the Parisian ladies covered
with rouge and enslaved by fashion, cold to the claims of
maternal tenderness, and covering licentiousness with the
thin veil of a certain factitious decency of manners, my
thoughts turn away from  the scene, and delight to contemplate the charming union formed by deep affection and




1786.]                    PARIS.                       159
lasting esteem, — the mother endowed with talents and
graces to draw the attention of polite circles, yet devoting
her time and cares to her family and children,    English
delicacy, unspoiled  beauty, and unaffected  sentiment,when  I think of these (and your friends will not be at
a loss to guess -where I look  for them), it gives the
same relief to  my mind as it would to my eye, when
wearied and dazzled by their sand-walks and terraces, if it
could repose upon the cheerful and soft green of our lawny
turf.  I would not, however, have you imagine that I am
out of humor with Paris, where we have enjoyed much
pleasure; only it is the result of our tour, that, taking in all
things, manners and government as well as climate, we like
our own country best: and this is an opinion certainly favorable to our happiness, who shall probably never leave England again. The weather with us is, and has been, extremely
hot. The trees are in their freshest green; but one sees that
the grass will soon be burnt if we have not rain. Indeed,
they are obliged every'day to water the turf in all their
gardens. where they are solicitous about verdure.  The environs of Paris are charming, yet, I think, evidently inferior
to those of London.  Yesterday (Whitsunday) we were
gratified with a view of all the magnificence of Versailles.
In compliment to the day the water-works played, and there
was the brilliant procession of the cordon bleu; in consequence of which all Paris in a manner was poured into Versailles; and I was ready to forgive the enormous expense
and ostentation of this palace, when I saw numerous people




160             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. VII.
of all sorts and degrees filling the rooms and wandering in
the gardens, full of admiration, and deriving both pleasure
and pride from their national magnificence; and many a one,
I dare say, exulted in the thought that the grand monarque's
horses are better lodged than is the King of England himself.
The grand gallery filled with Le Brun's paintings is of a
striking beauty; the gardens are full of water thrown up in
artificial fountains, and glittering through artificial bosquets;
the walks are adorned with whole quarries of marble wrought
into statues.  In short, art and symmetry reign entirely;
and I hope they will never attempt to modernize these
gardens, because they are a model of magnificence in their
kind, and art appears with so much imposing grandeur that
she seems to have a right to reign. The petit fTrianon, belonging to the Queen, is in another style; with cottages and
green lawns and winding walks of flowering shrubs in the
English mode, which indeed prevails very much at present.
There is a person here, the Abbe D'Hauy, who teaches the
blind to read by means of books printed expressly for them
in a relief of white. The undertaking is curious; but they
are at present somewhat in the state of the blind men
brought up for painters in the island of Laputa, who were
not so perfect in the mixing their colors but that they sometimes mistook blue for red.
The French stage is not, I think, at present very brilliant; three of their best actors have lately left it. But at
the Italian theatre they have a delightful little piece, which
under the name of a comic opera draws tears from  all the




1786.]                    PARIS.                       161
world. It is called Nina, or La Folle d'Amour, and Mademoiselle Du Gazon acts the part of Nina, and does it with
such enchanting grace, such sweet and delicate touches of
sensibility and passion, as I never saw upon any theatre. It
is the sweet bells jangled out of tune, but not harsh, no
raving, no disorder of dress; but every look and gesture
showed an unsettled mind, and a tenderness inimitable.
At the Opera they have likewise an actress full of grace,
Mademoiselle St. Huberti; but there it is a grace beyond
mere nature.  Everybody (that is, everybody who follows
the fashion) leaves Paris in the summer, which was not the
case some years ago.  We stay now for a fine show, - the
procession on the Fete Dieu, in which all the tapestry of
the Gobelins is exposed in the streets. We shall return by
Calais and proceed immediately to London, where we shall
take lodgings for some time.
Will you do me the favor to remember us with grateful
affection to all our friends at Norwich?  There are so many
that claim our esteem, I do not attempt to enumerate them;
but do not forget to give a kiss for us to each of your dear
boys, and to assure Mr. Taylor of Mr. Barbauld's and my
affectionate esteem.
As the travellers turned their steps homeward, Mrs.
Barbauld's letters show that she felt rather impatient
to return to England, and expressed much pleasure at
the prospect of meeting again her family and friends.
While the Barbaulds were in Paris, the  termination
K




162             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. VII.
came of the affair of the Diamond Necklace, mysterious and disgraceful in all its incidents.   In this
case the notorious Cardinal Rohan figured, and Marie
Antoinette was personated by a girl named Leguet or
D'Oliva, at the instigation of the principal in the plot,
Madame Lamotte.   The trial and its result are well
known; Talleyrand Perigord wrote to a friend: "Attend
narrowly to that miserable affair of the necklace.  I
should not be surprised if it overturned the throne."
To DR. AIIN.
PARIS, June 7, 1786..... The affair of Cardinal Rohan,  which has so
much engrossed the talk at Paris, is at length decided; but.'we have not been able to see without indignation the decisions of the Parliament altered in almost every instance by
the pleasure of the King; so that judicial proceedings are
mere child's play in this country.  A grocer has got himself
into the Bastille by writing a pamphlet on this occasion; in
which he insinuates that the Queen herself was in the plot,
and that Madame Oliva was the cloud by means of which
she played the fable of Ixion on the poor Cardinal.  In
short, people's conjectures are as much afloat since the
decision as before.  The king of Prussia is reported to have
said, " Qu'il falloit que le Cardinal montrat beaucoup d'esprit
pour prouver qu'il n'avait 6te que bete."  Among the long
list of titles which figure at the head of his Meomoire, that
of Academicien is not found: the reason, they say, is, that
* The Diamocnd Necklace.




1786.]                    PARIs.                       163
his avocat, at the request of the Academy (who feared tliey
might be disgraced by the fellowship of such an associate),
persuaded him  to leave it out, by telling him that, for the
other titles, they implied no parts; but that of Academicien,
— supposing a man of superior genius and knowledge —
might hurt him in his trial, as his only defence must rest on
his proving himself un imbecille; and so much for the
Cardinal.
We were the other day at the Museum, a place lately set
up, intended as a repository for works of art; likewise as a
centre of communication with the learned in any part of
Europe, who, by corresponding with M. de la Blancherie,
may have their discoveries published or their questions
answered, if possible to answer them; nay, I believe I need
not have put in that restriction, for a Frenchman is never at
a loss to answer any question.  The plan seems good; but I
was greatly diverted with the following question, published
in one of their weekly papers: "Whether the societies
called Clubs in England, and now imitated in Paris, might
not tend to render their members morose and taciturnes;
since by the laws of such meetings only one person must
speak at a time, and that only for a certain number of
minutes  "  An author may read his piece at this Museum;
but as the doors are not locked, it may chance that the company slip away one by one and leave him alone, as I suspect
might be the case with a young novel-writey whom  we in
like manner escaped from there the other day. By the way,
I have found out the reason why the French have so little
poetry: it is because everybody makes verses.




164            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. VII.
We have been at Versailles and St. Cloud: the latter is
now fitting up for the Queen.  The situation is far more
delightful than Versailles; but that, by force of expense,
has a magnificence which no palace I have seen can compare
with.  We saw it on Whitsunday, when the waters play.
The environs of Paris are now very pleasant; and they are
very animated, without being, I think, quite so crowded as
those of London.  They do not make hay here till St.
John's day (the 24th of June), which I think is later than
near London; yet the weather has been very hot.
I was recommended to an English nun; and, after going to
see her twice, she had the goodness to send a parcel of books
to convert me: so you see there is some zeal left in the
female convents at least; as to the priests and monks, I
believe they have very little indeed.




1786.]            RETURN TO ENGLAND.                  165
CHAPTER VIII.
THE BARBAULDS RETURN TO ENGLAND.- THEY RESIDE IN LONDON FOR
A FEW MONTHS. - SOCIAL LIFE THERE. - REMOVAL TO HAMPSTEAD. 
HAMPSTEAD AND ITS INHABITANTS. -MRS. BARBAULD WRITES " AD-,
DRESS TO THE OPPOSERS OF THE REPEAL OF THE CORPORATION AND
TEST ACTS." -CAUSE OF THE ACT AND OCCASION FOR THE REPEAL.
-FINAL SUCCESS OF THE ADVOCATES OF THE MEASURES.
IN  the following letter from London, written immediately after their return, Mrs. Barbauld describes
to Dr. Aikin their last foreign sight-seeing at Chantilly,
and gives the pretty inscription held by a Cupid on the
Isle d'Amour.  Home, to the traveller of true feeling
and heart, is always the happiest part of his or her
journey, and Mrs. Barbauld speaks of the "pleasing
emotion" with which she again viewed the shores and
white cliffs of her native island.  The travellers had a
good passage from  Boulogne to Dover, and landed in
England much benefited by their journey, which brought
with it health and rest and a pleasing variety of experiences; a change of scene, climate, and society.
LONDON, June 29, 1786.
MY DEAR BROTHER, -I am happy to write to you again
from English ground.  We set out from  Paris on the 17th,




166              LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.             [CHAP. VIII.
but went no further than Chantilly, as we meant to devote
the whole of the next day to seeing that noble seat of the
Prince of Conde, which, both for the house and grounds, is
the finest we have seen in France. The stables, which hold
three hundred horses, are a most beautiful piece of architecture. There is a noble museum and armory in the palace; a
fine piece of artificial water in the gardens, which are laid
out partly in the English, partly in the French style, and in
the best taste of both; a dairy floored and lined with marble,
and in which all the utensils are of marble or fine porcelain;
a menagerie; an orangerie, all the plants of which (some
hundreds) being set out and in full blossom  diffused the
richest perfume I ever was regaled with.  L'isle d'Amour is
one of the prettiest parts of the garden, abounding with
alleys and walks, some close, others gay and airy, formed by
light lattice-work covered with privet and adorned with the
greatest profusion of honeysuckles and roses.  In the centre
of the island is a statue of a Cupid without wings or quiver,
holding a heart with these lines: 
" Noffrant qu'un cceur h la beaute,
Aussi nud que la verite,
Sans armes comme l'innocence,
Sans ailes comme la constance,
Tel fut l'Amour au siecle d'or;
On ne le trouve plus, mais on le cherche encore."
The temple of Venus is a large saloon, in which are fountains continually throwing up water, which falls again into
agate vases, leaning over which are Cupids of marble.  Tle




1786.]           RETURN TO ENGLAND..167
whole room is painted, and breathes a coolness and gayety
quite enchanting.  As we were walking in these gardens we
had the pleasure of seeing a balloon fly over our heads; it
was in full sail for England with M. Tetu, who had set off
from Paris that morning. However, with our humbler mode
of travelling we got to Dover first: for the lightning caught
the car, and, though the aerial traveller received no damage
from it, he was obliged to lie by to refit his balloon, which
descended not far from Boulogne. From Boulogne we took
our passage.  We had intended to have gone on to Calais,
but it was four posts more; and besides, we were told that
the passage from  Boulogne, though longer, was generally
performed in less time, and was now preferred; which we
found to be true: we were obliged, indeed, to wait a day for
a vessel, but we- got over in less than four hours. And not
without a pleasing emotion did we view again the green
swelling hills covered with large sheep, and the winding
road bordered with the hawthorn hedge, and the English
vine twisted round the tall poles, and the broad Medway
covered with vessels, and at last the gentle yet majestic
Thames.  Nor did we find these home-scenes had lost of
their power to strike or charm us by all we had seen abroad.
To MRS. BEECROFT.
LONDON, July 7, 1786.
I feel an impatience at being again on English ground,
and yet not being able to hear news of you. My imagination pictures you with a lovely burden in your arms,whether boy or girl she is not able to determine, but a




168            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. VIII.
charming infant, however, that exercises your sweet sprightliness in entertaining it, and delights your sensibility by its
early notice.  But of this delightful circumstance I want to
be certain......  In the mean time let me give you some
account of ourselves. After having spent so much time at
Paris that we were obliged to give up our original design of
visiting Flanders, we returned by way of Chantilly...
I could not help being struck with the neatness and
civility of all the inns on the road from Dover to London.
In neatness the English are acknowledged to excel; and
though the upper rank in France may practise politeness
with more ease and grace than we do, yet it is certain that
the lower orders are much less respectful and more grossier
than ours of the same class.
I do not know how it is, I think verily London is a finer
town than Paris; and yet it does not appear to me since my
return so magnificent as it used to do: I believe the reason
is, that Paris has so much the advantage in being built of
stone.  Another advantage to the environs derived from that
is, that they are not fumigated by the abominable brickkilns which are so numerous near our metropolis.
There is not much new at present in French polite literature.  M. Florian has published a didactic romance, " Numa
Pompilius," in imitation of Telemachus, but it is heavy.
Mrs. Barbauld in her letter from  Caroline Street,
where they lived in lodgings while undecided as to
their future plans, writes to her brother of Burns, " the
Scottish ploughman," whose poems she was reading.




1787.]        BURNS, AND OTHER POETS.                169
She mentions some  other instances of uneducated
poets, who lacked, however, the true genius and poetic
fire of Burns, and were soon forgotten.  Her comparison of the simple and unstudied but genuine and
natural poetry of Burns with that of Shenstone, elegant, polished, and elaborately correct, but rather feeble
and wanting strength of thought and expression, rather
surprises one now when the verdict of another age has
placed Burns in the foremost ranks of British poets for
his genius and song.  Dugald Stewart, in his sketch of
Burns, says that the Collection of Songs, prepared and
edited with an essay by Dr. Aikin, he put into the
poet's hands, and " he read" the book "with unmixed
delight, notwithstanding his former efforts in that very
difficult species of writing." This mighty master of
song may have owed some of his inspiration to the
taste of Dr. Aikin, and been led by his classical knowledge and study, which were embodied in the essay, to
more extended and elevated thought on the subject.
To DR. AIKIN.
CAROLINE STREET, January 31, 1787.
I do not owe you a letter,'t is true; but what of that? I
take it for granted you will like to hear from me; and to
hear from or write to you gives me more pleasure than most
things in this great city.  The hive is now full; almost
everybody that intends to come to town is come, and the
streets rattle with carriages at all hours.  Do not you
8




170             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. VIII.
remember reading in the " Spectator " of a great black tower,
from which were cast nets that catched up everybody that
came within a certain distance   This black tower I interpret to be this great smoky city; and I begin to be afraid
we are got too much within its attraction, for the nets seem
to be winding round about us; nay, we had some serious
thoughts last week of setting up our tent here...
We are got into the visiting way here, which I do not
consider quite as idle employment, because it leads to connections; but the hours are intolerably late.  The other day
at Mrs. Chapone's none of the party but ourselves was come
at a quarter before eight; and the first lady that arrived
said she hurried away from  dinner without waiting for the
coffee. There goes a story of the Duchess of D- -, that she
said to a tradesman, "Call on me to-morrow morning at four
o'clock "; and that the honest man, not being aware of the extent of the term morning, knocked the family up some hours
before daybreak. Last week we met the American bishops at
Mr. V's, if bishops they may be called, without title,
without revenue, without diocese, and without lawn sleeves.
I wonder our bishops will consecrate them, for they have
made very free with the Common Prayer, and have left out
two creeds of the three.  Indeed, as to the Athanasian
Creed, the King has forbidden it in his chapel, so that will
soon fall.
I have been much pleased with the poems of the Scottish
ploughman, of which you have had specimens in the Review.
His "Cotter's Saturday Night " has much of the same kind
of merit as the " Schoolmistress" of Shenstone; and the




1787.]             LITERARY GOSSIP.                  171
"Daisy " and the " Mouse," which I believe you have had in
the papers, I think are charming. The endearing diminutives
and the Doric rusticity of the dialect suit such subjects extremely.  This is the age for self-taught genius: a subscription has been raised for a pipe-maker of Bristol, who has been
discovered to have a poetic turn; and they have transplanted
him to London, where they have taken him  a little shop,
which probably will be frequented at first and then deserted.
A  more extraordinary instance is that of a common carpenter at Aberdeen, who applied to the professors to be
received in the lowest mathematical class: they examined
him, and found he was much beyond it; then for the next,
and so on, till they found he had taught himself all they
could teach him; and, instead of receiving him as a student,
they gave him a degree.
Miss Bowdler's Essays are read here by the graver sort
with much approbation. She is the lady who betook herself
to writing, upon having lost her voice; but, above all, the
"Political State" for 1797 is read by everybody.  The
Eton boys have published a periodical paper among themselves, which they say is clever.  Dr. Price has a letter
from Mr. Howard, dated Amsterdam; he says the Emperor
gave him  a long audience.  A pasquinade was fixed upon
the gate of the lunatic hospital at Vienna, — " Joseplius,
ubicunque secundus, hic primeus."  And now, after this idle
chit-chat, good part of which I have written while my hair
was dressing, let me tell you I long to hear from  you, and
to hear you are well; and so, with Mr. B's and Charles's
love to all, I bid you adieu.




172            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.    [CHAP. VIII..
Among the papers of Josiah YWedgwood, of Etruria,
Miss MIeteyardcl found this little note from  Mrs. Barbauld.  It shows the domestic life and cares of the
writer, who was evidently as good a housekeeper as she
was excellent in literary pursuits.
Mrs. Barbauld's compliments to *Mr. Wedgwood, begs
the things she bought may be sent to No. 8 Caroline Street,
Bedford Square, to-morrow morning by seven; if, however,
that hour is too early, they may be sent this afternoon.
They must be packed fit for Hampstead.
CAROLINE STREET, March 30, 1787.
In the year 1787, Mr. Barbauld, having received a call
from the Dissenters of Hampstead to become their pastor, removed there, and this note is an indication of
their change of residence from London to this pleasant
village.  At that time Hampstead was a wild and rural
place, and I-Iampstead Heath was still noted as the
resort of robbers and footpads, who made it exceedingly
dangerous for the unwary or unarmed traveller whom
they might meet.  The village was beautifully situated,
and its close proximity to London made it a delightful
residence, without destroying its rural attractions.  The
lover of nature and society was equally favored by an
abode there, for it was the home of many of the cultivated and literary people of the day, and finely situated
near open and pleasant country.  Its great height and




1787.]                  HAMPSTEAD.                        173
the view  to be obtained  from  the top of the Heath
gave one a feeling of freedom  and exhilaration.  Akenside, writing to a friend a few years before this, dates
his letter, " From  Hampstead's Airy Summit."   Leigh
Hunt wrote several poems on this rural and picturesque
suburb, now  greatly changed  for the visitor of to-day,
who sees the famous Heath very much  contracted by
the buildings which have been placed close to it, and
can hardly realize that the rapidly increasing town was
ever so wild and rustic in its scenery. Now it is neat,
and has an air of comfort, but the Heath is no longer
the deserted place it once was.  The following sonnet
of Leigh Hunt, describing Hampstead as the Barbaulds
knew  it, was published in the "Foliage"  in 1818, a
small collection  of original and  translated  poems by
him.
"A steeple issuing from a leafy rise,
With farmy fields in front, and sloping green,
Dear Hampstead, is thy southern face serene,
Silently smiling on approaching eyes.
Within, thine ever-shifting looks surprise,
Streets, hills, and dells, trees overhead now seen,
Now down below, with smoking roofs between, 
A village revelling in varieties.
Then northward what a range, -
With heath and pond
Nature's own ground; woods that let mansions through,
And cottaged vales, with pillowy fields beyond,
And clumps of darkening pines, and prospects blue,




174              LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.             [CHAP. VIII.
And that clear path through all where daily meet
Cool cheeks, and brilliant eyes, and morn-elastic feet."
To DR. AIKIN.
HAMPSTEAD, September 5, 1787.
I am very glad to be informed what is the proper method
to engage you to write verses, and should enclose herewith
an order for a score or two of lines, if I thought the command
were certain to be as efficacious as the lovely Anna's.
"The generous Muse, whom harsh constraint offends,
At Anna's call with ready homage bends;
Well nlay she claim, who gives poetic fire,
For what her lips command, her eyes inspire."
Come va l'Italiano?  I have read a volume of Goldoni's
Plays; which are not all worked up to superior excellence,
as you may suppose, since he wrote sixteen in a season. Two
are taken from  Pamela; but he has spoiled the story by
making Pamela turn out to be the daughter of an attainted
Scotch peer, without which salvo for family pride he did not
dare to make her lover marry her.  Goldoni's great aim seems
to have been to introduce what he calls comedies of character, instead of the pantomime, and the continual exhibition
of harlequin and his cortege, which was supported only by
the extempore wit of the actors.  There is in his Teatro Comico a critique which puts me much in mind of Shakespeare's
instructions to the players.  It abounds with good sense, -
which and a desire to promote good manners seem in what
I have read to be his characteristics.  I find by him that the
prompter repeats the whole play before the actors.




1787.]             CORRESPONDENCE.                  175
Our plot begins to thicken, as      says.  We have taken
into our family for six months, and perhaps longer, a young
Spaniard who comes solely to learn English.  We dined
with the young man, his uncle, and another Spaniard, who
is secretary to the ambassador, at Mr. W-'s, where there
Was a great mixture of languages.  The secretary, as well as
French and Spanish, spoke English very well; the young
man, Spanish and French; and the uncle, though he had
been several years in England, only Spanish.  As Mr. W -
had told us they were strict Catholics, we expressed a fear
lest we should not be able to provide for the youth agreeably
on fast days; but he said, " Tout jour est jour gras pour
moi": to which the uncle learnedly added, -that it was
not what went into the mouth, but what came out of it, that
defileth. As far as we have yet seen (but he has been with
us only two days), we find him very well behaved and easy
in the family; but the great difficulty is to entertain him:
he is quite a man, of one or two and twenty, and rather looks
like a Dutchman than a Spaniard. Did you ever see seguars,
- leaf-tobacco rolled up of the length of one's finger, which
they light and smoke without a pipe? - he uses them.
"And how does Mr. B~- bear that 1 " say you: 0, he keeps
it snug in his room. I would not advise the boys to imitate
his accent in French, for he pronounces it with a deep guttural.  I fancy he would speak Welsh well.
It gave me very great pleasure the other day to see my
father's old friend, Dr. Pulteney, whom  Dr. Garthshore
brought to us. It is a strange and mixed emotion, however,




176            LIFE OF MILS. BARBAULD.    [CHAP. VIII.
which one feels at sight of a person one has not seen for
twenty years or more. The alteration such a space of time
makes in both parties at first gives a kind of shock; — it is
your friend, but your friend disguised.
We are making a catalogue of our books,; and I have left
a great deal of space under the letters A and B for our future publications.
At Hampstead Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld lived on
Church Row, in a quaint old house, still standing,
though in a very dilapidated condition.  They had a
very pleasant circle of friends and neighbors there, and
also visited in London.  Near by, at Hackney, Dr.
Priestley and Mr. Wakefield resided, the latter being
one of the teachers in the Dissenting college in that
town; and Dr. Priestley, who was Dr. Price's successor
in the chapel at Hackney, lectured to the students as a
labor of love.  Dr. Aikin at this time was living in
Broad Street, London, and they were able to see much
of him and his family, which was mutually gratifying.
The old Presbyterian Chapel, of which Mr. Barbauld
was the minister from 1787 to the year 1802, is believed
to have been established in the reign of Charles II. by
one of the ejected nonconformist clergymen whose
lives are recorded by Dr. Calamy. The chapel in which
Mr. Barbauld preached is supposed to have been the
second on the site it occupied, and was probably erected




1788.]             CORRESPONDENCE.                 177
in the year 1736, as the first building was becoming
unfit for use.  A  third and handsome edifice is now
placed there, and occupied by the present congregation,
under the able and devoted pastoral care and preaching
of Dr. Sadler, the present minister.  He is well known
in the literary world by several excellent works, and
as the  careful biographer and judicious  editor of
the Diaries of Henry Crabb Robinson, whose reminiscences have given the world so much that is personal
and valuable concerning many interesting and eminent
men and women.  The congregation of the chapel became Unitarian at the time of the religious change
which carried many Presbyterians into that sect, and
its members are now of that belief.
From Mrs. Barbauld's letter describing her first impressions about a "seguar," evidently then a novelty,
we learn that they soon had applications for scholars,
and M/r. Barbauld took some young men as pupils into
his family.  Mrs. Barbauld also gave daily instruction
to a young lady, whose mother moved to Hampstead
that she might be near this excellent and accomplished teacher.  Some years later she taught another
pupil on the same plan.
HAMPSTEAD, February, 1788.
We are waiting with great impatience for two things, your
book and my sister, - your child and your wife, that is to
say..
8*                            L




178             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.    [CHAP. VIII.
I have been reading an old book, which has given me a
vast deal of entertainment, - Father Herodotus, the father
of history, and the father of lies too, his enemies might say.
I take it for granted the original has many more beauties
than Littlebury's humble translation, which I have been perusing; but, at any rate, a translation of an original author
gives you an idea of the times totally different from what
one gains by a modern compilation.  I am much entertained
in observing the traces of truth in many of his wildest fables;
as where he says it was impossible to proceed far in Scythia
on account of vast quantities of feathers which fell from heaven and covered all the country.
Wie are reading, too, Sir T. More's "Utopia."  He says
many good things; but it wants a certain salt, which Swift
and others have put into their works of the same nature. One
is surprised to see how old certain complaints are. Of the
frequent executions, for instance: twenty men, he says, being hung upon one gibbet at a time; of arable land turned
to pasture, and deserted villages in consequence.
I hope the exertions which are now making for the abolition of the slave-trade will not prove all in vain. They will
not, if the pleadings of eloquence or the cry of duty can be.
heard.  Many of the most respectable and truly distinguished
characters are really busy about it, and the press and the
pulpit are both employed; so I hope something must be
done.  I expect to be highly gratified in hearing Mr. Hastings' trial, for which we are to have tickets some day. This
impeachment has been the occasion of much pomp, much




1788.]       TRIAL OF WARREN HASTINGS.            179
eloquence, and much expense; and there, I suppose, it will
end. As somebody said, It must be put off for the judges
to go their circuit, resumed late, and so it will fall into the
summer amusements.
In the preceding letter to Dr. Aikin, the first expression of strong feeling and protest against the slavetrade was uttered by Mrs. Barbauld, and the great
horror she felt against it later induced her to write her
spirited poem  to Mr. Wilberforce, the champion of
freedom for the oppressed blacks. She alludes to the
trial of Warren Hastings, that famous trial which drew
forth the eloquence of the greatest orators of the age,
who were inferior probably to none of any age, ancient
or modern.  This memorable trial,which lasted from
1788 to 1795, was conducted by England's ablest statesmen and pleaders; and unquestionably the eloquence
of Burke, who headed the prosecution, was founded on
truth and outraged justice, which cried out for redress
at the monstrous cruelty and rapacity shown by Hastings in his government to the Begums of Oude.  This
famous impeachment, which began the trial, was moved
by Burke the 4th of April, 1786; and the trial which
called forth so much of power and eloquence, which
drew  crowds to Westminster Hall during the time
when, according to Macaulay, "the high court of Parliament was to sit, according to forms handed down
from the days of the Plantagenets, on an Englishman




180             LIFE OF MlRS. BARBAULD.    [CHAP. VIII.
accused of exercising tyranny over the lord of the holy
city of Benares and the ladies of the princely house
of Oude," was opened the 17th of February, 1788.  All
London was excited over it for a time; but the protracted length of the trial rather wore out the interest
of all but those immediately concerned in the prosecution and defence.
HIAMPSTEAD, May, 1789. 
I often please my mind with the sweet scenes of domestic
happiness which you must enjoy: yourself in the arms of
Mr. and Mrs. Dixon, and your children in yours.  Apropos
of the sweet children, I should not be at all alarmed at
their speaking Norfolk; depend upon it, it will be only temporary where the parent does not speak it: and, after all,
they should know the language of the country.  I remember
when I was in Lancashire being reproved for my affectation
in not speaking as the country folks did, when in truth it
was beyond my abilities.
London is extremely full now: the trial, the parliamentary
business, and fetes and illuminations, and the Shakespeare
Gallery have all contributed to fill the great hive. But,
among these various objects, none is surely so interesting as
the noble effort making for the abolition of the slave-trade.
Nothing, I think, for centuries past, has done the nation so
much honor; because it must have proceeded from the most
liberal motives, - the purest love of humanity and justice.
The voice of the negroes could not have made itself heard
* To Mrs. Beecroft. -ED.




1789.]         HER LIBERAL SENTIMENTS.              181
but by the ear of pity; they might have been oppressed for
ages more with impunity, if we had so pleased.
HAMPSTEAD, Angust, 1789.*.... I do not doubt but your attention, as well as that of
every one else, has been engaged lately by the affairs in
France.  We were much gratified a fortnight ago by seeing
Lord Daer, who had been at Paris at the beginning of the
commotions, and had seen the demolition of the Bastille, and
with hundreds more ranged through that till now impregnable castle of Giant Despair.  He told us, that after all the
prisoners in the common apartments had been liberated,
they heard for a long time the groans of a man in one of the
dungeons, to which they could not get access, and were at
length obliged to take him  out by making a breach in the
wall, through which they drew him out after he had been
forty-eight hours without food; and they could not at last
find the aperture by which he was put into the dungeon.
Every subject of public interest, and all efforts in
behalf of humanity and progress, met with the most
genuine enthusiasm  and a disinterested participation
from Mrs. Barbauld.  A firm believer in the march of
intellect, the growth of liberal political and religious
views, the progress  and improvement of humanity
everywhere, she never hesitated  to  speak  for the
oppressed  and  unfortunate, and  make  known  her
sympathies and convictions at the risk of uttering unpopular sentiments.  The thrilling events of the open~ To iIrs. Beecroft. -ED.




182             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. VIII.
ing of the French Revolution were hailed by her as
well as many others, who, prompted by their love of
liberty and desire of freedom, thought they discerned
in the beginning of the demands for representation and
less taxation, and the royal concessions, a chance for
better government and happier times in France, not
dreaming of the license and the horrors of the demagogues who committed such crimes in the name of freedom.  Mrs. Barbauld's poem  on "The General Rising
of the French Nation," expected in 1792, shows her
hope and anticipation of freedom  and peace for this
unhappy nation, destined, alas! to so many struggles,
and never long at rest since that period,   its share of
the world's history for the last century being a bloody
and unfortunate record.  After exhorting the nation to
rise and crush the despotic powers from without who
attempt its destruction and inthralment, and painting
the swift termination to the strife if the country will
unite, and"Briareus-like extend thy hands,
In millions pour thy generous bands,
That every hand may crush a foe;
And end a warfare by a blow."
Mrs. Barbauld concludes with the following fine lines:
"Then wash with sad repentant tears
Each deed that clouds thy glory's page;
Each frenzied start impelled by fear,
Each transient burst of headlong rage.




1789.]          APPEAL FROM  HER  BROTHER.                    183
"Then fold in thy relenting arms
Thy wretched outcasts where they roam,
From pining want and war's alarms,
O call the child of misery home!
"Then build the tomb, - O not alone
Of him who bled in Freedom's cause;
With equal eye the martyr own
Of faith revered and ancient laws.' Then be thy tide of glory staid;
Then be thy conquering banners furled;
Obey the laws thyself hast made,
And rise the model of the world!"
Dr. Aikin  himself was extremely  industrious, and
felt anxious to see his sister using her fine talents and
keen imagination  constantly.   He regretted  that she
did  not more frequently  favor the  world  with  some
works worthy of her reputation  for genius and  brilliancy of thought.  In  the year 1790, he very warmly
expressed himself to this effect, in the following sonnet
to his sister:"'Thus speaks the Muse, and bends her brows severe:Did I, Lsetitia, lend my choicest lays,
And crown thy youthful head with freshest bays,
That all the expectance of thy full-grown year
Should lie inert and fruitless? 0 revere
Those sacred gifts whose meed is deathless praise,
Whose potent charms the enraptured soul can raise
Far from the vapours of this earthly sphere!
Seize, seize the lyre! resume the lofty strain!




184              LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. VIII.'T is time,'t is time! hark how the nations round
With jocund notes of liberty resound, -
And thy own Corsica has burst her chain!
O let the song to Britain's shores rebound,
Where Freedomn's once-loved voice is heard, alas! in vain."
September, 1790.
MIY DEAR AIRS. BEECROFT,-  It is but lately that I heard
you were returned from  your delightful expedition, or I
should have written sooner; for I am  sure so kind  and
charming a letter as yours demanded an early acknowledgment.  I do not say I envy you your party and your tour,
because I have in some measure enjoyed it along with you.
I have tracked you to the top of Skiddaw, seen you impress
the mountains with your light and nymph-like step, and
skim over the lakes with a rapid and smooth motion, like a
bird that just touches them with her wing without dipping
it.  I have contemplated the effect such scenes must produce on minds so turned to admire the beauties of nature as
yours and your poetical companions'; and I have watched
till imagination has kindled, and beauty has swelled into
sublimity.  Indeed, independently of scenes so wildly picturesque, a journey is the most favorable thing in the world
for the imagination; which, like a wheel, kindles with the
motion: I shall therefore certainly expect it to produce some
fruit.
I suppose you are now returned to your course of instructive reading, and your sweet employment of instructing your
little charge.  Pray, have you seen Sacontala, an Indian




1790.]              CORRESPONDENCE.                    185
drama translated by Sir William Jones? You will be much
pleased with it.  There is much fancy and much sentiment
in it, - much poetry too, and mythology: but these, though
full of beauties, are often uncouth and harsh to the European
ear.  The language of nature and the passions is of all
countries.  The hero of the piece is as delicate and tender a
lover as any that can be met with in the pages of a modern
romance; for I hope you can pardon him  a little circumstance relative to the costume of the country, which is just
hinted at in the poem: I mean the having a hundred wives
besides the mistress of his heart.  So much for works of entertainment! There is a publication of higher merit set on
foot in France by Plabaut St. Etienne and some others,
La Feuille Villageoise, of which I have seen the first number.
The respectable object of it is to instruct the country people
(who are there remarkably ignorant) in morals, in the new
laws and constitution of their country, in the state of the
arts and new discoveries as far as can be of practical use to
them, and, in short, to open their minds and make them
love their duties.  M. Berquin is engaged in something
similar; but this is more extensive.  There is room for all
true patriots to exert themselves in every way in France,
for their situation seems still but too precarious.
Mrs. Barbauld was sensibly affected by the animated
sonnet of Dr. Aikin, and also much excited to thought
and composition by the inspiring events of the period,soon, unfortunately, to be turned into scenes of carnage,




186           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.    [CHAP. VIII.
domestic strife, and war involving all Europe in its
general results.  Hope, roused by the spirit of freedom,
which appeared to animate the French in the beginning
of the struggle for liberty, was soon destroyed by the
horrible events of the Revolution, and the crimes committed in the name of liberty made it almost worse
than tyranny in its manifestations. In the year 1790,
the rejection of the bill for the repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts produced her indignantly eloquent
and impressive Address to the opposers of the repeal.
This Act was one made in the reign of Charles II.,
and by one clause of it all persons before admission
into any office in corporations, or the acceptance of any
position, civil or military, under the crown, were obliged
to receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the forms and custom of the Church of England.
Already the movement for a repeal had been agitated
by the Dissenters in the year 1730, but the Whig
leaders, fearing it would break their party, managed by
the adroitness of Sir Robert Walpole to avert the
attempt, though Dr. Hoadly, Bishop of Salisbury, said
he had so often given his opinion as to " the unreasonableness of these laws in a social light, and the profaneness of them theologically considered," that he must
support the repeal of them if the measure was introduced.  In this feeling many churchmen joined him;
but, according to Lord Hervey's "Memoirs," the queen




1790.]    THE CORPORATION AND TEST ACTS.        187
was persuaded to send for the Bishop, and use her influence to quiet his conscientious scruples by telling
him  that "all times were not proper to do proper
things."  That time the measure was avoided, though
with some murmurings from the Dissenters.  Again
they moved to have the unjust laws abolished in 1789,
and'again it was rejected, being felt by many of the
most liberal of the Whig party to be revolutionary and
dangerous, as the tendency of the French Revolution
had been to introduce violence and agitation in English
affairs. Fox proposed the abolition of these religious
tests; Pitt opposed the motion; and Edmund Burke
stated that, had the repeal been moved for ten years
before that time, he should probably have supported
Mr. Fox in his position, but he had many strong reasons
for believing that many of the persons calling themselves Dissenters were men of factious and revolutionary dispositions, and unmoved by any motives of
religion or conscience. The bill was rejected by a very
large majority, and not until 1828 did the measure
pass, being then opposed, says Sir Robert Peel in his
"Memoirs," "with all the influence and authority of
the government recently appointed."   Lord  Eldon
vainly described this bill to be "as bad, as mischievous,
and as revolutionary as the most captious Dissenter
could wish it to be."  It was followed by similar concessions to the Roman Catholics in ensuing years.




188              LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.               [CHAP. IX.
CHAPTEP  IX.
MRS. BARBAULD'S " POETICAL EPISTLE" TO WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.HORACE WALPOLE'S REMARKS ON MRS. BARBAULD. - LETTERS. - DR.
JOHNSON'S CHARACTER.- MRS. BARBAULD'S " REPLY" TO MR. WAKEFIELD'S PAMPHLET ON WORSHIP. - SHE VISITS SCOTLAND. - VARIOUS
IMPRESSIONS OF THE HIGHLANDS. - MRS. BARBAULD WRITES ESSAYS
ON AKENSIDE'S " PLEASURES OF THE IMAGINATION," AND ON COLLINS'S ODES. - MEETS GENERAL PAOLI. -LETTERS.
IHE " Poetical Epistle to William  Wilberforce on
the Rejection of the Bill for Abolishing the SlaveTrade" appeared in 1791.  It was true, too true, in its
descriptions of the horrors of slavery, and of course
roused the fury  of those who  upheld  the iniquitous
trade.  Mrs. Barbauld begins her poem, -
"Cease, Wilberforce, to urge thy generous aim!
Thy Country knows the sin, and stands the shame I
The Preacher, Poet, Senator in vain
Has rattled in her sight the Negro's chain;
With his deep groans assailed her startled ear,
And rent the veil that hid his constant tear;
Forced her averted eyes his stripes to scan,
Beneath the bloody scourge Mlid bare the man,
Claimed Pity's tear, urged Conscience' strong control,
And flashed coiviction on her shrinking soul."




1790.]                ANTISLAVERY ZEAL.                        189
The influence of the best and wisest sons and daughters
of Great Britain had been used by them to excite the
interest and move the sympathy of the nation about
the sufferings of the blacks; but the time was not come
for the abolition  of this terrible traffic, which  has involved  so  many  souls  in  crime  and  produced  such
misery  for humanity.
"In vain, to thy white standard gathering round,
Wit, Worth, and Parts and Eloquence are found:
In vain, to push to birth thy great design,
Contending chiefs, and hostile virtues join;
All, from conflicting ranks, of power possestTo rouse, to melt, or to inform the breast.
When seasoned tools of Avarice prevail,
A Nation's eloquence, combined, must fail:
Each flimsy sophistry by turns they try;
The plausive argument, the daring lie,
The artful gloss, that moral sense confounds,
Th' acknowledged thirst of gain that honor wounds 
Bane of ingenuous minds! - the'unfeeling sneer,
Which sudden turns to stone the falling tear:
They search assiduous, with inverted skill,
For forms of wrong, and precedents of ill;
With impious mockery wrest the sacred page,
And glean up crimes from each remoter age."
Mrs. Barbauld then  describes the baleful effects of
slavery on its votaries, and how, 
"Injured Afric, by herself redrest,
Darts her own serpents at her tyrant's breast.




190              LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.              [CHAP. IX.
Each vice, to minds depraved by bondage known,
With sure contagion fastens on his own;
In sickly languors melts his nerveless frame,
And blows to rage impetuous Passion's flame."
She paints a picture of the domestic tyranny which
is known to have been common in West Indian households, -
" Lo! where reclined, pale Beauty courts the breeze,
Diffused on sofas of voluptuous ease,
With anxious awe her menial train around
Catch her faint whispers of half-uttered sound 
See her, in monstrous fellowship, unite
At once the Scythian and the Sybarite! -
See her, with indolence to fierceness joined,
Of body delicate, infirm of mind,
With languid tones imperious mandates urge;
With arni recumbent wield the household scourge;
And with unruffled mien, and placid sounds,
Contriving torture, and inflicting wounds."
A  trustworthy  writer, an  eyewitness  of some  of
these terrible scenes, describes one where a fair and
delicate lady was reclining at her ease, while her favorite  handmaidens  unpacked  a  trunk  of new  and
beautiful costumes, just arrived  by a ship  from  England; a nail which  unseen  protruded from  the edge
caught and tore one of the frail and gauzy fabrics worn
in that sultry country, the product of some Indian
loom.   The  indignant and  furious  mistress, not of
her temper, but of the unfortunate  slave,    instantly




1790.]             POEM  AGAINST SLAVERY.                     191
had  her severely  whipped for her carelessness.  The
cruel treatment of these masters and mistresses brought
at last a terrible retribution, when the slaves rose and
in their turn inflicted tortures and death, which they
thought only a just return for long years of suffering.
In vain, the poet says, are all the humane arguments
and efforts for the cause of the negro, and youth and
beauty lose their softness and tender humanity under
the hardening influence of slavery.
" And anxious Freedom eyes her drooping fires;
By foreign wealth are British morals changed,
And Afric's sons, and India's, smile avenged.
"For you, whose tempered ardor long has borne
Untired the labor, and unmoved the scorn;
In Virtue's fasti be inscribed your fame,
And uttered yours with Howard's honored name;
Friends of the friendless - Hail, ye generous band!
Whose efforts yet arrest Heaven's lifted hand,
Around whose steady brows, in union bright,
The civic wreath and Christian's palm unite:
Your merit stands, no greater and no less,
Without or with the varnish of success:
But seek no more to break a nation's fall,
For ye have saved yourselves, - and that is all.
Succeeding times your struggles, and their fate,
With mingled shame and triumph shall relate;
While faithful History, in her various page,
Marking the features of this motley age,
To shed a glory, and to fix a stain,
Tells how you strove, and that you strove in vain."




192             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. IX.
Horace ~Walpole, the connoisseur, collector, and patron
of letters, the holder of several sinecure places of value
under government, the cynical and bitter writer of letters which are full of severe comments on society and
his acquaintances, inveighs violently against Mrs. Barbauld.  We see in him, as a representative of the government party, something of the spirit which was felt
in their ranks against the outspoken  sentiments of
liberal thought.  He wrote, in 1791, to one friend:
"Not a jot on Deborctl.... (Mrs. Barbauld), whom
you admire: I have neither read her verses, nor will, as
I have not your aspen conscience. I cannot forgive the
heart of a woman that is party per pcle blood and
tenderness, that curses our clergy and feels for negroes."  In writing Miss Hannah More in the same
year, he alludes again to the" Epistle " to Wilberforce,
and tells Miss More that her poem  on slavery, then
lately published, differs widely from that of her friend,
to whom  he evidently felt the very strongest dislike
as one of the opposition party.   "Deborah may cant
rhymes of compassion, -  she is a hypocrite; and you
shall not make me read, nor with all your sympathy
and candor can you esteem her.  Your compassion for
the blacks is genuine, sincere from  your soul, most
amiable: hers, a measure of faction."
In a letter to Miss Berry, in 1791, Walpole tells her
of a meeting which was held at the Crown and Anchor




1790.]      HORACE WALPOLE'S VIRULENCE.         193
Tavern in the Strand, for the purpose of celebrating the
anniversary of the French Revolution. He uses much
abusive and ungentlemanly language about the people
who were expected to meet there, and speaks of Mrs.
Barbauld and Miss Helen Maria Williams as Deborah
and Jael, and of the rioters arrested for some offensive
demonstrations elsewhere says, "Eleven of these disciples of Paine are in custody, and Mr. Merry, Mrs. Barbauld, and Helen Williams will probably have subjects
for elegies. Deborah and Jael, I believe, were invited
to the Crown and Anchor, and had let their nails grow
accordingly; but somehow  or other no poissonnieres
were there, and the prophetesses had no opportunity
that day of exercising their talents or talons." In a
letter in the previous year, after Mrs. Barbauld's
pamphlet containing the address to the opposers of the
Corporation and Test Acts had appeared, he wrote to
Miss Berry, then on the Continent, and in mentioning
to her Burke's new book, just then published, "Reflections on the French Revolution," adds, " His foes show
how deeply they are wounded by their abusive pamphlets."  He numbers among the opponents of Burke,
Mrs. Macaulay "and the virago Barbauld, whom Mr.
Burke calls our Poissardes, who "spit their rage at
eighteen-pence a head."  Walpole's virulence and malice were so evident in his letters, that even the testimony of Miss Berry, who combated the opinion of
Q9.     XM




194            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. IX.
Lord Macaulay as one well acquainted with the best facts
of his character, - knowledge, she says, which was " acquired by long intimacy," - was powerless to remove the
impression caused by his own words, which were commented on by Macaulay as showing the cynical and
bitter nature of the man. These expressions of party
feeling, however, show plainly that, though Mrs. Barbauld may have been disliked as one who held and
expressed liberal, perhaps radical, opinions, she was yet
dreaded as a powerful and influential champion of freedom  of thought, of progress, and of humanity. The
talents and brilliancy which they would have welcomed
to their own cause as a great acquisition of strength
and power, the Tories and more conservative members
of the opposition dreaded, and would fain have despised.
To DR. AIKEN.
HAMPSTEAD, May, 1791.
What do you say to Pitt and Fox agreeing so well about
the affair of libels? Is there anything behind the curtain?
I hope not; for I own I have felt myself much interested
for Fox since his noble and manly behavior, mixed with so
much sensibility and tempered with so much forbearance towards Burke. It puts one in mind of the quarrel between
Brutus and Cassius.
I am reading with a great deal of interest Ramsay's " History of the American Revolution"; and I do not wonder that
the old story of Greece and Rome grows, as you say, flat,




1791.]      HER OPINION OF DR. JOHNSON.              195
when we have events of such importance passing before our
eyes, and from thence acquiring a warmth of color and authenticity which it is in vain to seek for in histories that
have passed from hand to hand through a series of ages.
How  uniformly great was Congress, and what a spotless
character Washington! All their public acts, etc., are remarkably well drawn up.  We are reading in idle moments,
or rather dipping into, a very different work, Boswell's longexpected "Life of Johnson."  It is like going to Ranelagh;
you meet all your acquaintance: but it is a base and mean
thing to bring thus every idle word into judgment, - the
judgment of the public.  Johnson, I think, was far from a
great character; he was continually sinning against his conscience, and then afraid of going to hell for it.  A Christian
and a man of the town, a philosopher and a bigot, acknowledging life to be miserable, and making it more miserable
through fear of death; professing great distaste to the country, and neglecting the urbanity of towns; a Jacobite, and
pensioned; acknowledged to be a giant in literature, and yet
we do not trace him, as we do Locke, or Rousseau, or Voltaire, in his influence on the opinions of the times. We cannot say Johnson first opened this vein of thought, led the
way to this discovery or this turn of thinking. In his style
he is original, and there we can track his imitators. In
short, he seems to me to be one of those who have shone in
the belles lettres, rather than, what he is held out by many to
be, an original and deep genius in investigation.
In this letter Mrs. Barbauld, commenting on the




196            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.       [CHAP. IX.
"Life of Johnson" just then published, blames that newsmonger and gossip, Boswell, not unreasonably, for the
ill-judged personalities and trivial scraps of talk with
which he crowded the biography of his friend, otherwise a valuable and extraordinary piece of work. Dr.
Aikin, in alluding to Dr. Johnson at this time, when
the Life had caused his character and peculiarities to be
much discussed, wrote of him  as follows: "He had
not, indeed, a grain of the noble enthusiasm, the calm
simplicity, the elevated purpose, of a great man. His
temper, habits, and system equally disqualified him
from attaining that character.  He was able with great
accuracy to compare every literary and moral idea. with
the standards in his own mind, and to detect all false
pretensions within his own compass.  But there were
heights in both to which he could not ascend. His life
fell far short of his writings, and his faults and asperities were rather aggravated than softened by age."
Dr. Aikin evidently had a strong desire to reduce some
of the blind admiration for Dr. Johnson which was felt
in a certain circle before the Life appeared, and so expressed himself frequently. In the following letter to
her friend Mrs. Beecroft, Mrs. Barbauld contrasts the life
of Mirabeau, whose eloge she had been reading, and
that of Dr. Price, minister of the Dissenting Chapel at
Newington Green, a man noted for his Christian virtues
and fine character. Dr. Priestley, who succeeded him




1791.]         MIRABEAU AND DR. PRICE.               197
in the chapel at Hackney, preached his funeral discourse.  Mr. Barbauld a few years later was called to
fill Dr. Price's place at Newington.
HAMPSTEAD, May 7, 1791..... You ought, I think, to come to London  every
spring, to peep into the Exhibition and Shakespeare Gallery,
and to see our proud metropolis when she adorns her head
with wreaths of early roses, and perfumes her crowded streets
with all the first scents of the spring. So uncommonly fine
has the weather been this year, thatin March, if you were
in a flower-shop, you might have imagined it the glowing
month of June.
I last Sunday attended with melancholy satisfaction the
funeral sermon of good Dr. Price, preached by Dr. Priestley,
who, as he told us, had been thirty years his acquaintance,
and twenty years his intimate friend. He well delineated
the character he so well knew. I had just been reading an
e1oge of Mirabeau, and I could not help in my own mind
comparing both the men and the tributes paid to their memories. The one died when a reputation raised suddenly by
extraordinary emergencies was at its height, and very possibly might have ebbed again had he lived longer: the other
enjoyed an esteem, the fruit of a course of labors uniformly
directed through a long life to the advancement of knowledge
and virtue, a reputation slowly raised, without and independent of popular talents. The panegyrist of the one was obliged
to sink his private life, and to cover with the splendid mantle




198             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.             [CHAP. IX.
of public merit the crimes and failings of the man: the
-private character of the other was able to bear the severest
scrutiny; neither slander, nor envy, nor party prejudice, ever
pretended to find a spot in it. The one was followed even
by those who did not trust him: the other was confided in
and trusted even by those who reprobated his principles.  In
pronouncing the eloge on Mlirabeau, the author scarcely dares
to insinuate a vague and uncertain hope that his spirit may
hover somewhere in the void space of immensity, be re-joined
to the first principles of nature; and attempts to soothe his
shade with a cold and barren immortality in the remembrance
of posterity. Dr. Priestley parts with his intimate friend with
all the cheerfulness which an assured hope of meeting him
soon again could give, and at once dries the tear he excites.
To DR. AIKIN.
HAMPSTEAD, 1791.... I do not know whether I said so before, but I cannot
help thinking that the Revolution in France will introduce
there an entire revolution in education, and particularly be
the ruin of classical learning, the importance of which must
be lessening every day; while other sciences, particularly
that of politics and government, must rise in value, afford
an immediate introduction to active life, and be necessary
in some degree to everybody.  All the kindred studies of
the cloister must sink, and we shall live no longer on the
lean relics of antiquity.
Apropos of France, Mrs. Montague, who entertains all the




1791.]            AN AMERICAN POEM.                  199
aristocrats, had invited a marchioness of Boufflers and her
daughter to dinner. After making her wait till six, the marchioness came, and made an apology for her daughter, that
just as she was going to dress she was seized with a deqolt
momentanee du monde, and could not wait on her.
There is a little Frenchman here at Hampstead who is
learning the language, and he told us he had been making
an attempt at some English verses.. "I have made," says
he, "four couplets in masculine and feminine rimes." " 0
sir," says I, " you have given yourself needless trouble; we
do not use them."  " Why, how so  " says he; "have you no
rules, then, for your verse? "  "Yes, sir; but we do not use
masculine and feminine rimes."  Well, I could not make him
comprehend there could be any regular poetry without these
rimes.
Mr. Brand Hollis has sent me an American poem, "The
Conquest of Canaan," - a regular epic in twelve books; but
I hope I need not read it.  Not that the poetry is bad, if the
subject were more interesting.  What had he to do to make
Joshua his hero, when he had Washington of his own
growth?
We are at present reading Anacharsis, and are much
pleased with it.  There is nothing of adventure, nothing
like a novel; but the various circumstances relating to the
Greeks are classed and thrown together in such a manner as
to dwell on the mind.  It has just the effect which it would
have if in the Museum, instead of being shown separately
the arms and dresses of different nations, you had figures




200            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. IX.
dressed up and accoutred in them: the Otaheitan mourner
walking to a morai; the warrior full armed in the attitude
of attack; and the priest with all the various instruments
of sacrifice before the altar. Thus they become grouped in.the mind.
I want you to propose a metaphysical question to your society, which Mr. B     and I have had great debates upon;
and I want to know your opinion and my sister'. It is
this: If you were now told that in a future state of existence
you should be entirely deprived of your consciousness, so
as not to be sensible you were the same being who existed
here, - should you or should you not be now interested in
your future happiness or misery? or, in other words, Is continued consciousness the essence of identity?
In the year 1792 appeared Mrs. Barbauld's "Remarks
on Mr. Gilbert Wakefield's Inquiry into the Expediency and Propriety of Public or Social Worship."  This
pamphlet of Mrs. Barbauld's was designed to correct
what she and many others thought a dangerous and
irreligious view  of worship.  His "Inquiry" was answered chiefly by Dissenters, and it startled many of his
warmest admirers.  It was a serious injury to himself,
for Dr. Aikin states that the sentiments he expressed
therein caused him to lose one of his two pupils, —a
loss he could ill afford.  Miss Aikin, in a letter written
many years after the "Reply," mentions her aunt's
criticism  on Mr. Wakefield's "Inquiry," and says that




1792.]           "EVENINGS AT HOME."               201
she thinks that Mrs. Barbauld misunderstood the views
of the writer of the " Inquiry," and her " Reply" was
made under a mistaken idea of Mr. Wakefield's sentiments.  There is not much question as to Mrs. Barbauld's comprehension of what Mr. Wakefield said. In
common with many others, she was surprised and distressed by his "Inquiry"; and her "Reply," which was
characterized by her usual strength of thought and
beauty of language, was made to his expression of
radical and startling sentiments.  She answered what
he said, not with a critical spirit, but feeling a natural
desire to correct some of his statements.
Her Discourse for the Fast, entitled "Sins of the
Government, Sins of the Nation," was published in 1793.,
At this time Mrs. Barbauld contributed some of the
stories and allegories which formed a part of Dr. Aikin's
book, "Evenings at Home," which appeared in 1792.
This work was, as previously stated, for the most part
from  the hand of Dr. Aikin, but his sister's share consisted of several charming tales and other pieces. Of
the ninety-nine pieces which make up the work, fourteen were her productions. In the following letter to
Mrs. Beecroft, she thanks her for her kind invitation to
Mr. Barbauld, while she was away in Scotland, and she
then describes to her friend her visit to the
"Land of brown heath and shaggy wood;
Land of the mountain and the flood."
9*




202           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.       [CHAP. IX.
Mrs. Barbauld's poetic eye and taste for the wild and
picturesque was much gratified by her visit to Scotland.
Of it she writes, "It is a country strongly marked
with character. Its rocks, its woods, its water, its
castles, its towns, are all picturesque, generally grand."
One Captain Bent was among the first Englishmen to
explore the Highlands of Scotland, and he wrote an
account of his wanderings, in which he pronounced the
mountains hideous with their gloomy masses of brown
and dirty purple heather.  A  taste for the wild and
picturesque was not then cultivated. He contrasts the
terrible gloom and deformity which he considers are
the chief features of the country with the beauty of
Richmond Hill; tame and insipid we should now judge
it to be in comparison.
Another traveller, a man who should have seen
beauties where ordinary minds might fail to observe
them, - Oliver Goldsmith, - explored the wild  and
almost unknown scenery of the Highlands in 1753.
In a letter to Bryanton, Edinburgh, September 26,
he writes: "Shall I tire you with a description of
this unfruitful country, where I must lead you over
their hills all brown with heath, or their valleys scarce
able to feed a rabbit?.... Every part of the country
presents the same dismal landscape. No grove or brook
lend their [sic] music to cheer the stranger."  One can
hardly credit the fact that the author of the "Trav



1793.]        HER VISIT TO SCOTLAND.            203
eller" and the "Deserted Village" should have shown
so little taste and sensibility; but in a letter written a
little later on his journey to his uncle, the Rev. Thomas
Contarine, from Leyden, he says of Holland: "I was
wholly taken up observing the face of the country.
Nothing can equal its beauty. Wherever I turn my eye,
fine houses, elegant gardens, grottos, vistas, presented
themselves. Scotland and this country bear the highest
contrast: there, hills and rocks intercept every prospect; here it is all a continued plain."  Sixty years
had not greatly changed impressions gained about the
Highlands which were expressed by R. Frank Philanthropus, in the "Northern Memoirs," printed in 1694.
He wrote, "It is a part of the creation left undressed;
rubbish thrown aside when the magnificent fabric of
the world was created; as void of form as the natives
are indigent of morals and good manners." When Mrs.
Barbauld visited the Highlands, a great improvement
had taken place in the habits and manners of the
natives. No longer the puppets of faction and moved
at will by the hand of adventurers and then abandoned
to their unhappy fate as rebels, the people were becoming industrious and honest. Travelling was no longer
dangerous, for roads had been cut, streams bridged, and
inns had been placed in pleasant situations. The dens
of robbers had been abandoned by their inmates for
honest occupations and homes.




204            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. IX.
It is believed that on this occasion Mrs. Barbauld
carried with her, and read to Dugald Stewart, the
version of Btirger's "Lenora," by William Taylor of
Norwich, her scholar in early life. Of this poem, Miss
Aikin says that it made Sir Walter Scott a poet.  In
writing to Mr. Murch of Bath, in 1841, she says of Mr.
Taylor, "A remarkable anecdote belongs to his incomparable version of Burger's'Lenora,' which I heard
from  the lips of Sir Walter Scott himself, as he was
relating it to Mrs. Barbauld.  After reminding her that
long before the ballad was printed she had carried it with
her to Edinburgh and read it to Mr. Dugald Stewart,'He,' said Scott,'repeated all he could remember of it
to me, and this, madam, was what made me a poet.  I
had several times attempted the more regular kinds of
poetry, but here was something that I thought I could
do.'"
BUXTON, October, 1794.
MY DEAR MRS. BEECROFT, - Is it permitted me to renew a
correspondence which has been too long interrupted, though
our friendship, I trust, never has? Strange indeed would it
be, if the esteem and affection I owe you could ever subside,
or if I could ever forget the marks of kindness and attention
I have always received from you. How good it was of you
to invite Mr. Barbauld while I have been rambling!  I
should have been more satisfied with being away if he had
accepted your offer; for I should have known then that he
would have no occasion to regret any of the beautiful scenes




1794.]         DESCRIPTION OF SCOTLAND.              205
I have enjoyed without him.  I have been much pleased
with Scotland.  I do not know whether you ever extended
your tour so far: if you have not seen it, let me beg that
you will; for I do not think that in any equal part of
England so many interesting objects are to be met with as
occur in what is called the little tour, — from Edinburgh
to Sterling, Perth, and Blair, along the pleasant windings of the Forth and Tay; then by the lakes, ending
with Loch Lomond, the last and greatest, and so to Glasgow; then to the Falls of the Clyde, and back by Dumfries; which last, however, we did not do, for we returned
to Edinburgh.  Scotland is a country strongly marked with
character. Its rocks, its woods, its waters, its castles, its
towns, are all picturesque, generally grand. Some of the
views are wild and savage, but none of them insipid, if you
except the bleak, flat, extended moor. The entrance into
the Highlands by Dunkeld is striking; it is a kind of gate.
I thought it would be a good place for hanging up an inscription similar to that of Dante, " Per me si va..."
Edinburgh is so commanding a situation for a capital, I
almost regretted it was not one, and that the fine rooms at
Holyrood House are falling into ruins. The old and the new
town make the finest contrast in the world; but, beautiful as
the new town is, I was convinced, after being some days in
it, that its perfect regularity tends towards insipidity, and
that a gentle waving line in a street, provided it is without
affectation, and has the advantage of some inequality of
ground, is more agreeable than streets that cut one another
at right angles.




206            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. IX.
We were much struck with the Falls of the Clyde and its
steep banks richly wooded.  Indeed, wherever the country
is wooded it is beautiful, and it is everywhere improving in
that respect: millions of trees are planted every year; but
it is some time before planted trees form a feature of the
country. A belt of wood, dotted clumps, a circlet of firs on
a hill, have not the easy and natural appearance of a wood
that fills the hollow of a valley, and shapes itself to the
bendings and risings of the ground. And now let me whisper in your ear that I long very much to be at home again:
the limits which I had set myself not to exceed are expired;
and besides, I do not like this country, which has all the
dreariness without the grandeur of scenery of that Which we
have left. The Crescent, however, has a beautiful appearance in a deep hollow surrounded by hills.  It looks like a
jewel at the bottom of an earthen cup.
In the year 1795 appeared Mrs. Barbauld's essay
which was prefixed to the illustrated edition of Akenside's "Pleasures of the Imagination," and in 1797 she
also wrote another critical essay in a similar style,
which was the introduction to an illustrated edition of
Collins's " Odes." The essays are written ably and with
discrimination, and display poetic knowledge, taste,
and judgment, but in the opinion of Miss Aikin are
"less marked with the peculiar features of her style
than any other of her prose works."  The next letter
feelingly mentions the French emigrants who were




1795.1      FRENCH REFUGEES IN ENGLAND.              207
driven to the friendly asylum  of England by the horrors of the Revolution, and received there kind treatment; though many of them, who were too proud to
make their wants known, suffered terrible privations.
The adventures of these poor people in reaching England were most extraordinary, and some of them  read
like fiction, so strange and wonderful was their escape
from death at the hands of the infuriated demagogues
in power, some of thern drowning in their passage in
little boats across the stormy channel.
To MRS. BEECROFT.
September 2, 1795... Your emigrants are very interesting people.  I
think the English character has never appeared in a more
amiable light than in the kind and hospitable attentions
which have been pretty generally shown to these unfortunate
people. I was much amused with Louvet, and interested;
though I confess the interest was somewhat weakened by
the reflection that he was by profession a bookseller and a
writer of romances; and I think one may discover a few
traits de plume in the high coloring he gives to the attachment between himself and his wife.  What has still more
interested me, -because I have a higher opinion of her
character, and  greater confidence in her sincerity, -is
L'Appel de Miadame Roland. - What talents! what energy
of character  what powers of description! But have you
seen the Second Part, which has not been printed here, and
which contains memoirs of her life from the earliest period




208             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. IX.
to the death of her mother, when she was one-and-twenty 2
It is surely the most singular book that has appeared since
the " Confessions of.Rousseau "; a book that none but a
French woman could write, and wonderfully entertaining. I
began it with a certain fear upon my mind,- What is this
woman going to tell me? Will it be anything but what
will lessen my esteem  for her? If, however, we were to
judge of the female and male mind by contrasting these confessions with those I just now mentioned, the advantage in
purity, comme de raison, will be greatly on the side of our sex.
In the following letter to Mrs. Beecroft, Mrs. Barbauld tells her of her meeting with  General Paoli,
whom, the reader will remember, she had warmly
eulogized in her "Address to the Corsicans," published
in the year 1773, in her "Collected Poems."  One can
fancy the feeling of interest and emotion with which
she met the hero, though it was "thirty years" after
the poem was written.
To MRS. BEECROFT.
HAMPSTEAD, July 25, 1796.. I do not know the present course of your reading, but I imagine that two works, at least, have employed
the leisure of both of us, - Roscoe's "Lorenzo" and Mrs.
D'Arblay's "Camilla."  The former is a very capital work:
I only wish that, instead of making Lorenzo the Magnificent
the centre round which everything revolves, he had made the




1796.]               CORRESPONDENCE.                   209
history of literature itself the professed subject of his work,
and taken the Medici only in connection with that. And
how do you like " Camilla " X Not so well, I am afraid, as the
former publications from  the same hand.  I like, however,
the story of Eugenia, where the distress is new, and the
character of that amiable imbecille the uncle; and Mrs. Arlberry's character is very well drawn.  I was struck, on reading the work, with the persuasion that no second work of an
author, who has written the first after being in possession of
his powers, can help falling off, and for this reason, -every
one has a manner of his own, a vein of thinking peculiar to
himself; and on the second publication, though the incidents may be all new, the novelty resulting from  this
originality is gone forever.  I think Gibbon says, in his
very entertaining Memoirs,, that nothing can renew  the
pleasure with which a favorite author and the public meet
one another for the first time.
I am just now reduced to regret, my clear friend, that I
have taken such.small paper.  It cuts short what I was
going to tell you of General Paoli, whom I met the other
day.  Had it been thirty years ago, it would have made
my heart beat stronger.  He told us a good deal about his
godson and aid-de-camp, Buonaparte, who was going to
write Paoli's annals, when be was called upon to give ample
matter for his own annals.
The next letter was written to her friend Mrs. Carr,
of Hampstead, while the Barbaulds were making one
of their little trips for health and relaxation.   Mrs.
-




210             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. IX.
Barbauld always seems to have found enjoyment and
attraction in the country, and her love of nature was a
constant source of the simplest and purest pleasure.
To MRS. CARR.
PIT COT, NEAR BRIDGEND, July 18, 1797.
W.. We flattered ourselves with seeing some of the beauties of South Wales in coming hither, but we were completely
disappointed by the state of the weather.  This country is
bleak and bare, with fine views of the sea, and a bold rocky
coast, with a beach of fine hard sand.  We have been much
pleased with watching the coming in of the tide among the
rocks, against which it dashes, forming columns of spray
twenty and thirty foot high, accompanied with rainbows,
and with a roar like distant cannon.. There are fine caverns
and recesses amongst the rocks; one particularly, which we
took the opportunity of visiting yesterday, as it can only be
entered at the ebb of the spring-tides.  It is very spacious,
beautifully arched, and composed of granite rocks finely
veined with alabaster, which the imagination may easily
form into are semblance of a female figure, and is, of course,
the Nereid of the grotto. We wished to have stayed longer,
but our friend hurried us away, lest the tide should rush in,
which it is supposed to do from subterraneous caverns, as it
fills before the tide covers the sand of the adjacent beach.
I was particularly affected with the fate of two lovers (a
young gentleman and lady from Clifton), whose friends were
here for the sake of sea-bathing.  They stole out early one




1797.]             CORRESPONDENCE.                    211
morning by themselves, and strolled along the beach till
they came to this grotto, which, being then empty, they
entered.  They admired the strata of rock leaning in different directions. They admired the incrustation which covers
part of the sides, exactly resembling honeycomb; various
shells imbedded in the rock; the sea-anemone spreading its
purple fringe, - an animal flower clinging to the rocks.
They admired the first efforts of vegetation in the purple
and green tints occasioned by the lichens and other mosses
creeping over the bare stone.  They admired these together;
they loved each other the more for having the same tastes;
and they taught the echoes of the cavern to repeat the vows
which they made of eternal constancy.  In the mean time
the tide was coming in: of this they were aware, as they
now and then glanced their eye on the waves, which they
saw advancing at a distance; but, not knowing the peculiar
nature of the cavern, they thought themselves safe; when on
a sudden, as they were in the furthest part of it, the waters
rushed in from  fissures in the rock with terrible roaring.
They climbed from  ledge to ledge of the rocks, —but in
vain; the waters rose impetuously, and at length filled the
whole grotto. Their bodies were found the next day, when
the tide was out, reclining on a shelf of rock; he in the
tender attitude of supporting her in the very highest accessible part, and leaning his own head in her lap, -so that
he must have died first.  Poor lovers S If, however, you
should be too much grieved for them, you may impute the
whole, if you please, to a waking dream  which I had in
the grotto.




212             LIFE OF MBS. BARBAULD.            [CHAP. X.
CHAPTER X.
THE BARBAULDS VISIT BRISTOL. - THEY MEET DR. BEDDOES. — HIS
CHARACTER. - THEY VISIT DORKING,   CALL ON MADAME D'ARBLAY.
-THER ACCOUNT O0 THE VISIT, AND IMPRESSION OF MR. AND MRS.
BARBAULD. —MR. ROGERS'S ANECDOTE OF A POEM OF MRS. BARBAULD. - LETTER FROM MRS. BARBAULD TO MISS MORE. - SHE
FORMS A FRIENDSHIP WITH THE EDGEWORTHS.- MISS EDGEWORTH'S
ACCOUNT OF IT. - MRS. EDGEWORTH'S DESCRIPTION OF MR. AND MRS.
BARBAULD. -SUGAR NOT USED BY THE OPPONENTS OF THE SLAVETRADE. —CHARACTER OF DR. PRIESTLEY BY MRS. BARBAULD.
ADDRESS TO HIM BY HER. - JOANNA BAILLIE. - HER TRAGEDIES. -
DR. AIKIN'S DESCRIPTION OF HIS VISIT TO KIBWORTH.
TN  Mrs. Barbauld's letter from  Bristol, where they
were making one of their visits at the house of
Dr. and Mrs. Estlin, she writes to Mrs. Carr of meeting in that city Dr. Beddoes.  He was celebrated for
his endeavors to introduce the use of gases in the cure
of certain diseases, and with various friends he spent
much time and money in the pursuit of his investigations.  He had a few years before married Anna, one
of the daughters of Richard Lovell Edgeworth, and own
sister of Maria Edgeworth.  He was the friend of Dr.
Darwin the author of the "Botanic Garden,"and the




IF79.]        VISIT TO HANNAH MORi.             213
patron of Sir Humphry Davy, who characterized him as
"a truly remarkable man, but more admirably fitted to
promote inquiry than to conduct it." Dr. Beddoes had
a marked and extraordinary love of investigation and
an enthusiasm  for his chosen researches.  He attempted the cure of pulmonary complaints by prescribing and administering gases through inhalation.
In the "Life of the Wedgwoods" one reads of the
experiments made, and finds that Thomas Wedgwood,
who was suffering from a pulmonary complaint, passed
several months at the house of Dr. Beddoes, and also
assisted him  with money for continuing his institution  where the treatment of poor patients was
pursued gratuitously.  Mr. Wedgwood hoped to be
benefited by the medicated airs which he inhaled, but
he does not appear to have gained any relief therefrom.  Dr. Beddoes seems to have had many odd
fancies, one of which Mrs. Barbauld  speaks of in
her letter. Dr. and Mrs. Estlin-had a large boardingschool in Bristol. Sir Henry Holland, in his Reminiscences, mentions their school with pleasure, and
affectionately reverts to the memories of days passed
there.
During this visit to the Estlins, Mr. and Mrs,
Barbauld also visited Miss Hannah More at her cottage, Cowslip Green, passing with her and her sisters,
a delightful day.




214             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD,             [CHAP. X.
To MRS. CARB.
BRISTOL, August, 17D7,
We are here very comfortably with our friend Mrt Estliti
who, like some other persons that I know, has the happy
art of making his friends feel entirely at home with him:he and Mrs. E. follow their occupations in the morning, and
we our inclinations. The walks here on both sides the river
are delightful; and the scenery at St. Vincent's rocks,
whether viewed from above or below, is far superior, in my
opinion, even to the beautifully dressed scenes that border
the Thames, though these exceed it in fine trees.....
I have seen Dr. Beddoes, who is a very pleasant man; his
favorite prescription at present to ladies is, the inhaling the
breath of cows; and as he does not, like the German doctors,
send the ladies to the cow-house, the cows are to be brought
into the lady's chamber, where they are to stand all night
with their heads within the curtains.  Mrs.  ~, who has a
good deal of-humor, says the benefit cannot be mutual; and
she is afraid, if the fashion takes, we shall eat diseased beef.
It is a fact, however, that a family have been turned out of
their lodgings, because the people of the house would not
admit the cows: they said they had not built and furnished
their rooms for the hoofs of cattle.
In the same year Dr. Aikin, who was quite ill,
found the necessity of change of air and scene.  He
therefore passed four months at Dorking in- Surrey.
There he was cheered by the society of Mr. and Mrs.
Barbauld, who made him  a visit.  In the "Monthly




1797.]        VISIT TO MADAME D'ARBLAT.           21t
Magazine" of that year there appeared an. animated and
appreciative description of the beanties of thie nattral
objects and landscape gardening in that part of Surrey, from  the pen of Dr. Aikin.  In the Diary of
Madame  D'Arblay, there is the following  description of a call made her by Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld,
then with Dr. Aikin.  In  a letter to  her father
dated Bookham, 1797, she writes: "Imagine my surprise the other day, my dearest padre, at receiving
a visit from Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld! We had never
visited, and only met one evening at Mr. Burrow's
by  appointment, whither I was carried  to  meet
her by Mrs. Chapone.  They are at Dorking on a
visit to Dr. Aikin, her brother, who is there at a lodging for his health. I received them with great pleasure,
for I think highly both of her talents and her character,
and he seems a very gentle, good sort of a man."
The next year, Madame D'Arblay, in writing to her
sister, Mrs. Phillips, from  West Ramble, Dorking,
says: 
"I was extremely surprised to be told by the, maid a
gentleman and lady had called at the door, who sent in a
card and begged to know if I could admit them, and to see
the names on the card were Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld. I had
never seen them more than twice: the first time, by their
own desire, Mrs. Chapone carried me to meet them at Mr.
Burrow's; the other time, I think, was at Mrs. Chapone's,




216             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. X.
You must be sure I could not hesitate to receive with thankfulness this civility from the authoress of the most useful
books, next to Mrs. Trimmer's that have been yet written
for children; though this with the world is probably her
very secondary merit, her many pretty poems, and particularly songs, being generally esteemed. But many more have
written those as well, and not a few better; for children's
books she began the new walk which has since been so well
cultivated, to the great information as well as utility of
parents.
"Mr. Barbauld is a Dissenting minister, —an author
also, but I am unacquainted with his works. They were in
our little dining-parlor, -the only room that has any chairs
in it, - and began apologies for the visit; but I interrupted,
and finished them  with my thanks."  (Madame D'Arblay
had just moved. into her new cottage, named by her, after
her last novel, Camilla Cottage; and it was in much disorder,
for her marriage with M. D'Arblay had been one of affection,
hardly of prudence, and they were very much straitened in
their income.) " She is much altered, but not for the worse
to me, though she is for herself, since the flight of her youth,
which is evident, has also taken with it a great portion of an
almost set smile, which had an air of determined complacence
and prepared acquiescence that seemed to result from  a
sweetness which never risked being off guard. I remember
Mrs. Chapone's saying to me, after our interview,' She is a
very good young women, as well as replete with talents; but
why must one always smile so?  It makes my poor jaws
ache to look at her.'  We talked, of course, of that excellent




1797.]            MADAME D'ARBLAY.                     217
lady; and you will believe I did not quote her notions of
smiling..... Her brother, Dr. Aikin, with his family, were
passing the summer at Dorking on account of his ill health,
the air of that town having been recommended for his complaint. The Barbaulds were come to spend some time with
him, and would not be so near without renewing their acquaintance. They had been walking in Norbury Park, which
they admired very much; and Mrs. Barbauld very elegantly
said,' If there was such a public officer as a legislator of
taste, Mr. Lock ought to be chosen for it.' They inquired
much about M. D'Arblay, who was working in his garden,
and would not be at the trouble of dressing to appear. They
desired to see Alex" (her son), "and I produced him; and
his orthographical feats were very well timed here, for, as
soon as Mrs. Barbauld said,' What is your name, you pretty
creature' he sturdily answered,' B 0 Y.'
"Almost all our discourse was upon the Irish rebellion.
Mr. Barbauld is a very little, diminutive figure, but wellbred and sensible.  I borrowed her poems afterwards, of Mr.
Daniel, who chanced to have them, and have read them with
much esteem of the piety and worth they exhibit, and real
admiration of the last amongst them, which is an epistle to
Mr. Wilberforce in favor of the demolition of the slave-trade,
in which her energy seems to spring from the real spirit of
virtue, suffering at the luxurious depravity which can tolerate, in a free land, so unjust, cruel, and abominable a traffic.
" AWe returned their visit together in a few days, at Dr.
Aikin's lodgings at Dorking, where, as she permitted M.
10




218            LIFE'OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. X.
D'Arblay to speak French, they had a very animated discourse upon buildings, French and English, each supporting
those of their own country with great spirit, but my monsieur, to own the truth, having greatly the advantage both
in manner and argument.  He was in spirits, and came
forth with his best exertions. Dr. Aikin looks very sickly,
but is said to be better; he had a good countenance."
In Rogers's "Table-Talk " there is an anecdote related
by him of Madame D'Arblay in her old age, which is
not out of place here.  He says: "I know  few lines
finer than the concluding stanza of'Life' by Mrs.
Barbauld, who composed it when she was very old.'Life! we've been long together,
Through pleasant and through cloudy weather;'Tis hard to part when friends are dear;
Perhaps't will cost a sigh, a tear;
Then steal away, give little warning,
Choose thine own time;
Say not Good Night, - but in some brighter clime
Bid me Good Morning.'
Sitting with Madame D'Arblay. some weeks before
she died, I said to her,'Do you remember those lines
of Mrs. Barbauld's "Life" which I once repeated to
you?'' Remember them!'  she  replied;'I  repeat
them to myself every night before I go to sleep.'"
Mr. Henry Crabb Robinson alludes to a conversation
with Mr. Rogers, who repeated to him this anecdote in




1799.]           LETTER TO MISS MORE.                  219
1837, and also spoke of Mrs. Barbauld, as he always
did when she was mentioned, with great affection and
regard.
FROM MRS. BARBAULD TO Miss H. MORE.
HAMPSTEAD, 1799.
DEAR MADAM, -You have done me both honor and pleasure in the gratification you have indulged me with, of receiving, from the respected hand of the author, a treatise which
every one who reads will peruse.  I dare not speak to you,
who write with so much higher views than those of fame, of
the brilliancy of the style, or the merit of the work considered as a literary composition.  You will be better pleased if,
passing over these excellences which, though every person of
taste must feel them, every person solicitous for the interests
of virtue and religion must consider as subordinate ones, I
express my ardent wishes that your benevolent intentions
towards the rising generation, and your unwearied exertions
in every path where good is to be done to your fellow-creatures, may meet with ample success.  The field is large, and
laborers of every complexion, and who handle their tools
very differently, are all called to co-operate in the great work.
Mlay all who have the good of mankind in view preserve for
each other the esteem and affectionate wishes which virtue
owes to virtue, through all those smaller " differences which
must ever take place between thinking beings seeing through
* The differences, however, were by no means small between Miss More's
and Mrs. B-'s religious opinions.




220             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. X.
different mediums, and subjected to the weakness and imperfection of all human reasoning. Mr. Barbauld and myself recollect with infinite pleasure the delightful and interesting day we passed under your roof the summer before last.
It was only damped by your indisposition; and the accounts
I have heard of your health have not been such as to favor
the hope that you have been much freer from it of late.
Spare yourself, I entreat you, for the world cannot spare you;
and consider that, in the most indolent day you can possibly
spend, you are in every drawing-room, and every closet, and
every parlor window, gliding from place to place with wonderful celerity, and talking good things to hundreds and hundreds of auditors."  I do not know where you are at this moment, but if at home, I beg you will give Mr. Barbauld's and
my affectionate respects to all and every one of your sisters,
and accept, my dear madam, the assurance of high esteem
with which
I am your obliged and affectionate
A. L. BARBAULD.
Miss Edgeworth has been named among the friends
and contemporaries of Mrs. Barbauld.  They met first
in 1799, and till Mrs. Barbauld's death were firm  and
devoted friends.  In the spring of the year 1799 the
Barbaulds visited the Edgeworth family, who were at
Clifton  for the health of one of the children.   In
Maria's  Memoir of her father, she speaks  of the
friendship  which was then formed and the mutual
* Alluding to " Strictures on Education," by H. More, 1790.




1799.]        THE EDGEWORTH FAMILY.              221
pleasure it afforded, and says: "Among the friends he
(Mr. Edgeworth) formed during this summer in England, and in consequence of the publication of his
sentiments on education, was Mrs. Barbauld.  Her
writings he had long admired for their classic strength
and elegance, for their high and true tone of moral and
religious feeling, and for their practically useful tendency.  She gratified him by accepting an invitation to
pass some time with us at Clifton; and ever afterwards, though at a great distance from each other, her
constant friendship for him was a source of great pleasure and just pride."  Later on in the Memoir, Miss
Edgeworth remarks that Mrs. Barbauld was the first
person who made some unanswerable objections to certain parts of Mr. Edgeworth's book on "Practical Education." Miss Aikin says that one of Mrs. Barbauld's
letters to Miss Edgeworth contains "some excellent
criticisms on Mr. E's'Practical Education.'"  In
the observations on  " Practical Education"  in  the
Memoir, Miss Edgeworth says that "Mrs. Barbauld
was further well prepared to urge against his plan the
tendency to foster aristocratic pride and perhaps ingratitude. The one-and-twenty other good reasons she
said could be given, my father spared her."  She objected to the mode by which he proposed to entirely
separate children from all or any association with servants.  In his own immense family, consisting of an




222           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. X.
almost patriarchal number of relations and children, the
entire absence of domestics about the children might
be secured; but in ordinary families his plan was
neither practicable nor desirable.
Mrs. Edgeworth wrote of this visit of the Barbaulds
in a letter to one of the family in Ireland: "We met
at Clifton Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld.  He was an amiable
and benevolent man, so eager against the slave-trade
that when he drank tea with us he always brought
some East India sugar, that he might not share our
wickedness in eating that made by the negro slave.
Mrs. Barbauld, whose'Evenings at Home' had so
much delighted Maria and her father, was very pretty,
and conversed with great ability in admirable language."  Among the first measures urged by the most
enthusiastic opponents of the slave-trade was that of
persuading all whom  they could influence to abstain
from the use of sugar and other West Indian articles
which were the manufacture or raised by the labor of
slaves.' Many conscientious persons did actually adopt
this plan of abstinence from the articles of slave labor;
but naturally the numbers who did not use these commodities were not great enough to prevent the demand
for them, and consequent supply by slave labor. Dr.
Aikin, in writing his sister at this time, tells her that
he, though considering the plan an unpractical one, has
at last yielded to the custom, saying, "I am at length




1799.]         ANTI-SLAVERY SCRUPLES.             223
become a practical anti-saccharist.  I could not continue
to be the only person in the family who used a luxury
which grew  less and less sweet from  the reflections
mingled with it.  I do not in this matter look to effects.
They are in the hands of Providence, and I neither expect nor despair about them. I resign the use of sugar
merely on the conviction that, feeling as I do about
the mode in which it is procured, I cannot justify the
use of it to myself.  It is a personal affair to me,
and I neither feel a desire to make nor trouble myself
about consequences.  The sacrifice I find less than I
expected; it is, indeed, almost too little to make to
principle with the idea of merit. I know not whether
mere economy might not do as much.  But with respect to the young people, and even children, who have
entirely on their own accord resigned an indulgence
important to them, I triumph and admire! Nothing is
to be despaired of, if many of the rising generation are
capable of such conduct."
The preceding letter to Miss More, written in the
year 1799, shows the warm feeling of friendship existing
between these two eminent women.  It was occasioned
by the receipt of Miss More's new book, the " Strictures
on Female Education," which was a powerful work,
and highly valued at the time of its publication3 as the
state of education was extremely poor. This book was
the third prose work of its gifted author, and a very




224            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. X.
able, sensible criticism of the subject. One lady said
of it, showing how indifferent people were to the state
of education for women, "Everybody  will read her,
everybody admire her, and nobody mind her."
TO DR. AND MRS. ESTLIN.
HAMPSTEAD, December 5, 1799.
MY DEAR FRIENDS, - It is now much longer than I wish it
ever to be since any letter has passed between us; I wish,
therefore, to hear news of you both; particularly as you are
drawing near the end of a session, the fatigues of which must
always more or less give some wear and tear to your health
and exhaust your spirits.  I hope you have not forgotten
that, in order to recruit them, you proposed coming, both of
you, to London this Christmas; and I hope that you have
by no means forgot that it was a part of the plan to give us
as much of your time at Hampstead as you can spare consistently with other engagements.  Write us word, then,
that you are preparing to pack off the boys and come to us;
and I assure you we shall feel more enlivened by the news
than by ten gallons of Dr. Beddoes's most vivifying air. How
often do we recall the heartfelt pleasures we enjoyed in the
daily and unrestrained intercourse of Southendown,- the
philosophic discussions, the infantile mirth, the caves, the
rocks, and especially the two nymphs, to whom —if they
are now within your circle- we beg to be affectionately remembered!....
We have been much entertained by the "Annual Anthol



1800.]              CORRESPONDENCE.                  225
ogy "; there are some charming pieces in it. To pass from
poetry to divinity, have you seen a small piece, which has
been much read and speculated upon here, Apeleutheros 
Some attribute it to one person, some to another; but the
fact is, the author has kept his secret well. It is written with
great candor, but is slight, considering the importance of
the subject to be discussed.  It has not been published; and
I cannot avoid a melancholy sensation on reflecting, that such
are the. times we live in, that a bookseller dares not publish
a pamphlet written with perfect decency, and in which,
moreover, there is not a word of politics.  But we should not
be better in France. How the revolutions of that country
mock all calculation! I should suppose that the late events
have not tended to bring newspapers into more request than
they were at Southendown.
May I soon receive a favorable answer with respect to
your health, spirits, and good intentions with respect to London and Hampstead!  Come and brighten the chain of
friendship, as the Indians say.
To MRS. KENRICK.
HAMPSTEAD, 1800.
MY DEAR FRIEND, - Whether or no I received the letter
which you forgot to write, I shall not tell you; I only know
that I am often reproached by my correspondents for negligence; and for the life of me I cannot think of anything
that has hindered the arrival of my letters, except the cause
to which you are inclined to attribute the failure of yours.
10*                            o




226             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.            [CHAP. X.
Be that as it may, I most certainly have received from  you
one letter which has given me a great deal of pleasure, and
for which I will no longer defer my affectionate thanks.
And what shall I tell you first? That we are well, that we
have rubbed tolerably through the winter, and that we have
been enjoying the sudden burst of spring, which clothed every
tree and every hedge in verdure with a rapidity seldom  observed in our climate.  The blossoms were all pushed out at
once, but unfortunately few have remained long enough to
give the expectation of fruit. I fear it may be the same with
your beautiful apple-orchards.  We often picture to ourselves
the beautiful country, and still oftener the affectionate friends
and the interesting family with whom we spent so happy a
fortnight last summer.
If all that has happened had not happened, or the memory
of it could be washed away with Lethe, how usefully and
respectably might Dr. Priestley now be placed at the head of
the Royal Institution, which is so fashionable just now in
London! I went a few mornings ago to hear Dr. Garnet,
who is at present the only lecturer, and was much pleased to
see a fashionable and very attentive audience, about one
third ladies, assembled for the purposes of science and improvement.  How much is taught now, and even made a
part of education, which, when you and I were young,Nvas
not even discovered! It does some credit to the taste of the
town, that the Institution and the Bishop of London's lectures have been the most fashionable places of resort this
winter.  I have received, however, great pleasure lately from




1800.]          THE ROYAL INSTITUTION.               227
the representation of De Montfort, a tragedy which you probably read a year and a half ago in a volume entitled " A Series
of Plays on the Passions."  I admired it then, but little
dreamed I was indebted for my entertainment to a young
lady of Hampstead whom I visited, and who came to Mr.
Barbauld's meeting all the while with as innocent a face as
if she had never written a line.  The play is admirably acted
by Mrs. Siddons and Kemble, and is finely written, with
great purity of sentiment, beauty of diction, strength and
originality of character; but it is open to criticism, -I cannot believe such a hatred natural. The affection between
the brother and sister is most beautifully touched, and, as
far as I know, quite new. The play is somewhat too good
for our present taste.
In this letter, written to her friend Mrs. Kenrick, Mrs.
Barbauld speaks of Dr. Priestley, and the unfortunate
odium  he had incurred by his opinions, which prevented his receiving an invitation to preside over the
Royal Institution, -a position for which his great talents and information well fitted him.  This Institution,
then recently founded by Count Rum'ford, was becoming exceedingly popular, and continues, under its present able professors, to hold a very high position in the
scientific world.  The names of Sir Humphry Davy and
Professor Faraday in the past, of Professors Tyndall and
Huxley in the present, give the Institution a grand history for the past and a brilliant record for the ]present




228            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. X.
day.  Mrs. Barbauld, in alluding to "all that has happefed," referred to the treatment of Dr. Priestley at the
Birmingham riots, which was caused by a popular inpression against Dr. Priestley as an advocate of revolutionary and seditious opinions. The mob, after searching in a tavern where Dr. Priestley had not dined with
some factious agitators of treasonable sentiments, hunted
for him  elsewhere, crying out that "they wanted to
knock the powder out of Dr. Priestley's wig." Finding he
was not where they supposed him to be, they proceeded
to burn his chapel, and then destroyed his house, with
all his valuable philosophical instruments, manuscripts,
and library.  He with his family barely escaped with
their lives. All the great and good qualities of this justly
celebrated man could not save him  from suffering from
the consequences of his advanced state of thought regarding politics, and his rather radical religious opinions.  Though one may not accord with his political
bias or articles of belief, yet it is ever to be regretted
by the lovers of free inquiry and utterance that he
should have been obliged to leave the country he so
much loved for any other, even though that country
was tle site of a modern republic, and his political
views must have -been gratified in his American home
by the observation of the earliest efforts of the founders
of our present republic, which probably more nearly
embodied his ideas of government than any other attempted in recent times.




1800.]      HER ADDRESS TO DR. PRIESTLEY.                229
Mrs. Barbauld, in her characters, has one of Dr. Aikin,
which is easily known to the reader.  That addressed
"Happy old man! " contains the portrait of one of the
trustees of the Warrington Academy.  Mrs. Vaughan,
mother of Mr. Benjamin Vaughan  of Bristol, is portrayed in that description,' Such were the dames of old heroic days,
Which faithful story yet delights to praise."
Miss Aikin, in writing to Dr. Channing, says of it:
"If you will turn to one of Mrs. Barbauld's characters
(it was written, by the way, for the mother of Mr. Benjamin Vaughin, a grand-looking old lady, whose figure
I still recall), you will fully understand what kind of
spirit I longed to inspire into my sex." The character
of Dr. Priestley is the longest of these, and really very
finely touched by the hand of appreciative friendship.
It begins, -
" Champion of Truth, alike through Nature's field,
And where in sacred leaves she shines reveal'd,Alike in both, eccentric, piercing, bold,
Like his own lightnings, which no chains can hold;
Neglecting caution, and disdaining art,
He seeks no armor for a naked heart."
The character is clearly drawn and not overdone, as
the praise is just and discriminating.
Mrs. Barbauld addressed the following lines to Dr.
Priestley some years after this.




230              LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.               [CHAP. X.
To DR.'PRIESTLEY.
December 29, 1792.
Stirs not thy spirit, Priestley! as the train
With low obeisance, and with servile phrase,
File behind file, advance, with supple knee,
And lay their necks beneath the foot of power?
Burns not thy cheek indignant, when thy name,
On which delighted Science loved to dwell,
Becomes the bandied theme of hooting crowds?
With timid caution, or with cool reserve,
When e'en each reverend brother keeps aloof,
Eyes the struck deer, and leaves thy naked side
A mark for Power to shoot at? Let it be.
"On evil days though fallen, and evil tongues,"
To thee the slander of a passing age
Imports not.  Scenes like these hold little space
In his large mind, whose ample stretch of thought
Grasps future periods. - Well canst thou afford
To give large credit for that debt of fame
Thy country owes thee. Calm thou canst consign it
To the slow payment of that distant day, 
If distant, - when thy name, to Freedom's joined,
Shall meet the thanks of a regenerate land.
In the Life of Joanna Baillie we read of the curiosity
felt by the literary world as to the authorship of the
" Plays of the Passions," and the many guesses hazarded
about it. Mrs. Barbauld mentions Miss Baillie in her
letter to Mrs. Kenrick, and tells her how much amazed
she was at finding  the author was  not one of the
already celebrated writers to whom it had been attrib



1800.]           MISS JOANNA BAILLIE.                231
uted, but "a young lady of Hampstead whom" she
visited, "and who came to Mr. Barbauld's meeting all
the while with as innocent a face as if she had never
written a line."   Many years later Mrs. Barbauld addressed Miss Baillie in her poem  "Eighteen Hundred
and Eleven," 
"-Then, loved Joanna, to admiring eyes,
Thy storied groups in scenic pomp shall rise:
Their high-souled strains and Shakespeare's noble rage
Shall with alternate passion shake the stage."
The reader can fancy he sees Joanna and  Agnes
Baillie making a morning call on this eminent and
respected woman whose acquaintance they had formed
on moving to Hampstead.  Miss Lucy Aikin, in a
letter, describes the visit, and how  Mrs. Barbauld
praised the Plays "with all her heart."  The biographer
of Miss Baillie says of Mrs. Barbauld's praise, and how
highly she was esteemed, that she "was an excellent
woman who was raised to an unchallenged eminence in
the lettered circles of her own day, as she is in danger
of being undervalued in another generation."  One can
imagine how pleasant it must have been to tie calm
and reserved young woman to hear her book so highly approved of and justly commented on by a person whose judgment was so valuable and impartial.
Miss Aikin says in one part of her own Recollections
of Joanna Baillie, "I well remember the scene, - she




232            LIFE OF MRS. BARBATJLD.         [CHAP. X.
and  her  sister arrived on a morning call at Mrs.
Barbauld's; my aunt immediately introduced the topic
of the anonymous tragedies, and gave utterance to her
admiration with the generous delight in the manifestations of kindred genius which distinguished her."  "The
sudden delight" which Miss Aikin thinks must have
been felt by the author of the tragedies at hearing this
entirely spontaneous tribute and discriminating criticism did not move Joanna Baillie from her stern composure; and Mrs. Barbauld must have learned from
others the authorship of the Plays which she alluded
to in her letter, where she tells Mrs. Kenrick of witnessing the representation of one of them, De Montfort,
which was then being personated in its leading characters by Mrs. Siddons and Kemble.
HAMPSTEAD, October, 1801.
MY DEAR MRS. CARR, — Though I hope the time approaches when we shall be within reach of one another again,
I feel the want of our accustomed intercourse too strongly
not to wish to supply it in some manner by a letter.  Besides, I want to wish you joy on the peace, which came at
last so unexpectedly, and -almost overwhelmed us with the
good news. We have hardly done illuminating and bouncing and popping upon the occasion. The spontaneous joy
and mutual congratulations of all ranks show plainly what
were the wishes of the people, though they dared not declare
them. And now France lies like a huge loadstone on the




1801.]              CORRESPONDENCE.                    233
other side the Channel, and will draw every mother's child
of us to it.  Those who know French are refreshing their
memories, - those who do not, are learning it; and every
one is planning in some way or other to get a sight of the
promised land.
Our Hampstead neighbors are returning to us from  the
lakes, and the sea, and the ends of the earth. I have been
puzzling myself to account for this universal disposition
amongst us to migrate at a certain time of the year and
change our way of life; and I have been fancying that we
English lie under the same spell which the fairies are said to
do, - by which during a month every year they are obliged
to be transformed, and to wander about exposed to adventures.  So some of our nymphs are turned into butterflies
for the season, others into Naiads, and sport about till the
sober months come, when they resume their usual appearance and occupation of notable housewives, perhaps in Cheapside or the Borough. As to you, you carry your cares with
you, and therefore must be pretty much the same, except the
dripping locks of the Naiad; but Sarah, I imagine, is at this
moment skimming along the shore like a swallow, or walking with naked feet like a slender heron in the water, or nestling among the cliffs.  Wherever she is, my love to her.
In a letter from  Dr. Aikin to his sister, there is a
short description of a trip he made to their birthplace
and early home.  It is dated July 7, 1800.  "Would
you have thought me, my dear sister, a likely man for




234           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. X.
such a flight of sentiment, as that, being about forty
miles from Kibworth, I could not forbear to visit it?
In fact, it had long been the subject of my waking and
sleeping thoughts, especially of the latter, and I was
resolved to give way to the impulse. So yesterday I
left S''s, mounted on his old mare, which I had
tried  before in a couple of short excursions, and
boldly pushed on for Kettering, twenty-seven miles,
that evening. This morning, starting early, I came to
Harborough to breakfast, and thence, with beating
heart, the five miles to Kibworth."  After a long account
of the changes which he observed, he adds, "I found
that I had no acquaintance living at Kibworth; so,
mounting again, I made a slow circuit quite through
the town, which I found vastly lessened in my eyes;
yet our old house still makes a respectable figure.
It is inhabited by the widow Hlumphreys.  The casement window and balcony remain as before..
"I made a complete tour of the churchyard, and
recognized many familiar names among the tombs, but
was disappointed in not meeting with that of our grandfather.  Had he a monument?  There were several
become illegible through a coating of moss...
"Such has been my visit to my native village. I am
not sorry I made it, though I scarcely know whether
to call the impression on the whole agreeable or otherwise."




1801.]            THE ISLE OF WIGHT.                 235
The following letter to Mrs. Carr contains a description of a trip made by the Barbaulds to the Isle of
Wight, which Mrs. Barbauld says she thinks Bonaparte
might like for some of his numerous family as a kingdom.  At this time the English felt there was a prospect of invasion from  the French, and made many
preparations to meet such an attack. But the disaffected
classes at home were also a cause of anxiety, as it was
doubtful how they would behave in the event of such
an occurrence.
SOUTHAMPTON, July 10.
MY DEAR MRS. CARR, — Have you ever seen the Isle of
Wight.'If not, you have not seen the prettiest place in the
king's dominions.  It is such a charming little island! In
this great island, which we set foot on half an hour ago, the
sea is at such a distance from the greater part of it, that you
have no more acquaintance with it than if you were in the
heart of Germany; and even on the coast, England appears
no more an island to the eye than France does; but in this
little gem of the ocean called the Isle of Wight you see and
feel you are on an island every moment. The great ocean
becomes quite domestic; you see it from every point of view;
you have it on the right hand, you look and you have it on
the left also; you see both sides of the island at once, - you
look into every creek and corner of it, which produces a new
and singular feeling.  We have taken three different rides
upon and under high cliffs, cornfields, and villages down to




236              LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.             [CHAP. X.
the water's edge, and a fine West India fleet in view, with
the sails all spread, and her convoy most majestically sailing
by her.  We saw Lord Dysart's seat, and Sir Richard Worsley's: at the former there is a seat in the rock which shuts
out every object but the shoreless ocean, for it looks towards France: at the latter there is an attempt at an English
vineyard; the vines are planted on terraces one above another.  Another day's excursion was to the Needles; we
walked to the very point, the toe of the island; the sea-gulls
were flying about the rocks like bees from a hive, and little
fleets of puffins with their black heads in the water.  Allumr
Bay looks like a wall of marble veined with different colors.
The freshness of the sea-air, and the beauty of the smooth
turf of the downs on which we rode or walked, was inexpressibly pleasing.  The next day we visited the north side
of the island, richly wooded down to the water's edge, and
rode home over a high down with the sea on both sides and
a rich country between, the corn beginning to acquire the
tinge of harvest-time. In short, I do believe that if Buonaparte were to see the Isle of Wight, he would think it a very
pretty appanage for some third or fourth cousin, and would
make him king of it    if he could get it.




1802.]          REMOVAL TO NEWINGTON.                  237
CHAPTER XI.
REMOVAL OF THE BARBAULDS TO STOKE NEWINGTON. -CAUSE OF IT. -
LINES TO MRS. BARBAULD BY DR. AIKIN. - HISTORY OF THE CHAPEL.
-LETTERS. -THE ANNUAL REVIEW.- MRS. BARBAULD EDITS WITH
ESSAY A "SELECTION." -MISS AIKIN'S OPINION ABOUT THIS ESSAY.
-DIARY OF MR. ROBINSON, AND HIS INTRODUCTION TO MRS. BARBAULD. — WORDSWORTH'S ADMIRATION OF "LIFE." - HIS REMARKS
ABOUT MRS. BARBAULD. -SIR HENRY HOLLAND'S RECOLLECTIONS
OF NEWINGTON SOCIETY AND MRS. BARBAULD.- SHE WRITES THE
"LIFE OF RICHARDSON." —ANECDOTES ABOUT IT.-MISS AIKIN'S
LETTERS. - ANECDOTES. -MR. BARBAULD'S DEATH. —HIS CHARACTER, BY MRS. BARBAULD.
LN the year 1802, Mr. Barbauld accepted the position
of pastor to the society of Newington Green, which
had formerly been Dr. Price's. Their reason for leaving
Hampstead and the numerous friends there to whom
they were warmly attached, the  pleasant home and
circle of literary and cultivated people who were their
neighbors, was the wish which had long been felt and
expressed by Mrs. Barbauld and her brother that they
might live nearer each other, so that they could meet
daily.  Dr. Aikin having been for some little time a
resident of Stoke Newington, decided them  in favor of
Mr. Barbauld's accepting this call, which would insure




238              LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.            [CHAP. XI.
them the wished-for arrangement. Dr. Aikin suffered
very much from  ill health, and was finally forced to
abandon the practice of his profession in London, and
confine himself almost exclusively to the literary pursuits which have given him a good reputation for taste
and study.  For the purer air and more perfect rest he
removed to Stoke Newington in 1798, and the addition
to his society made by the presence of his sister and
Mr. Barbauld was exceedingly gratifying to him.  They
had  many  friends around  them, and  amid  literary
pursuits and social intercourse with congenial minds
found  much  to  cheer and  brighten  their declining
years.
In the poetical epistle addressed by Dr. Aikin to his
sister at Geneva, from which some lines have already
been quoted, the following are taken; they very strongly breathe the wish now fulfilled by the Barbaulds, removal to Newington.  He says, -
"Yet one dear wish still struggles in my breast,
And points one darling object unpossest: -
How many years have whirled, their rapid course,
Since we, sole streamlets from an honored source,
In fond affection as in blood allied,
Have wandered devious from each other's side;
Allowed to catch alone some transient view,
Scarce long enough to think the vision true!
0 then, while yet some zest to life remains,
While transport yet can swell the beating veins,




1802.]          REMOVAL TO NEWINGTON.                239
While sweet remembrance keeps her wonted seat,
And fancy still retains some genial heat;
When evening bids each busy task be o'er, 
Once let us meet again to part no more!"
The village of Stoke Newington was very rural when
the Barbaulds removed there, and even now, though
much more populous, still retains something of its.
early aspect.   William  Howitt, in  "The Northern
I-eights of London," says of the Green, " It is one of
the oldest places of the parish, and has had ancient
houses and distinguished inhabitants.  It had, till of
late years, a still, out-of-the-way look, surrounded in
most parts by large old trees, and green lanes led to it
on all sides.  Population and houses have now crowded
up to it on all sides." For the most part the hamlet
of Stoke Newington lies in the parish of Islington, and
it is rather to the north of London.  Now it is a part
of the great metropolis.  "The Presbyterian Chapel at
Newington Green, which dates from 1708, has a history
of considerable interest," says Mr. Howitt.  "Like most
other Presbyterian Chapels in England, it found its congregation go over at a particular crisis to Unitarianism,
to which it still adheres. It has had a succession of able
ministers, some of whom are of world-wide notoriety."
And among these celebrated names he mentidns those
of Dr. Price and Mr. Rochemont Barbauld.   In the
graveyard of the chapel are buried Dr. Price and Mr.




240            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. XI.
and Mrs. Barbauld, with other members of the society.
An aged survivor of the society remembers well the
face and figure of Mrs. Barbauld, and still shows her
pew in the chapel, where there are two mural tablets,
one commemorative of Dr. Price, the second of Mrs.
Barbauld.  The following letter is the first to be copied
which is dated from  the Barbaulds' new home.  In it
one traces something of the over-shadowing anxiety
which the state of Mr. Barbauld's health must have
caused to the affectionate heart of Mrs. Barbauld.  One
contemporary writer speaks of Mr. Barbauld, when in
early life, as "a queer little man," and in his later
years the peculiarities of his mind became extremely
marked. For several years he was extremely excitable,
and showed some eccentricities of conduct which increased upon him to the fatal termination of his life.
Mrs. Barbauld must have exercised much self-control
and firmness to have busied herself, under these trying
circumstances, in various literary labors.
STOKE NEWINGTON, January 14, 1802.
MY DEAR MRS. BEECROFT, -  Why have I not written
to you. Ah, why indeed! I wish you would furnish me
with a good reason. Long ago. I should have done it, it is
true..... And pray when do you and the lovely        and
-go to France? for I take-it for granted that you go;
and indeed you ought to go: for who would reap more
amusement and information, or communicate more of it to




1803.]             CORRESPONDENCE.                  241
your friends, than yourself? I met with three of the tourists
lately.  Mr., who was formerly a Grecian, is turned
Egyptian: the Egyptians are the first people in the world,
the tutors of the Greeks and the inventors of all arts and
sciences.  Mr. -       deals in anecdotes and manners; and
Mrs. -   seems to have felt most enthusiasm for the great
man.  My enthusiasm is all gone,- not for Buonaparte, for
with regard to him I never had any, - but for most things.
I wish there were any process, electric, galvanic, or through
any other medium, by which we might recover some of the
fine feelings which age is so apt to blunt: it would be the
true secret of growing young.  One affection, however, I
hope will never die in my heart,.- the dear affection of friendship.
To MRS. SMITH.
STOKE NEWINGTON, February 26, 1803.
DEAR MADAM,- It would have given me great pleasure
to have been among those friends who crowd about you to
congratulate your arrival again on English ground; but the
distance first, the severity of the weather, and then indisposition consequent upon it, prevent my having that pleasure.
I cannot content myself, however, without writing a line to
welcome you all home. We hear you have been very much
pleased with Paris, which indeed was to be expected. The
canvas people and the marble people must be sufficient to
make a rich voyage of it, even if the French people had not
opened their mouths.....
We are apt to accuse some of you travellers of bringing us
1l                             P




242             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. XI.
over an influenza from Paris, softened indeed in passing over
the Channel, but severe enough to set us all a-coughing.  We
try to amuse ourselves, however, with reading; and among
other things have been greatly amused and interested with
Hayley's Life of Cowper, which I would much advise you to
read if it comes in your way.  Hayley, indeed, has very little merit in it, for it is a collection of letters with a very
slender thread of biography; but many of the letters are
charming, particularly to his relation, Lady Hesketh; and
there is one poem to his Mary, absolutely the most pathetic
piece that ever was written. We have also read, as I suppose you have done, Madame de Stael's Delphine.  Her pen
has more of Rousseau than any author that has appeared for'a long time.  I suppose you have heard it canvassed and
criticised at Paris....
To MRS. BEECROFT.
July 28, 1803.
I am glad to find you have spent the spring so pleasantly.
But when you say you made the excursion instead of coming
to London, you forget that you might have passed the latter
end of a London winter in town after enjoying the natural
spring in the country.  WVe have been spending a week at
Richmond, in the delightful shades of Ham walks and Twickenham meadows.  I never saw so many flowering limes and
weeping-willows as in that neighborhood: they say, you
know, that Pope's famous willow was the first in the country;
and it seems to corroborate it, that there are so many in the
vicinity. Under the shade of the trees we read Southey's




1803.]              CORRESPONDENCE.                  243
Amadis, which I suppose you are also reading.  As all Englishmen are now to turn knights-errant and fight against the
great giant and monster Buonaparte, the publication seems
very seasonable.  Pray, are you an alarmist?  One hardly
knows whether to be frightened or diverted on seeing people
assembled at a dinner-table, appearing to enjoy extremely
the fare and the company, and saying all the while, with a
most smiling and placid countenance, that the French are to
land in a fortnight, and that London is to be sacked and
plundered for three days, -  and then they talk of going to
watering-places. I am sure we do not believe in the danger
we pretend to believe in; and I am sure that none of us can
even form an idea how we should feel if we were forced to
believe it.  I wish I could lose in the quiet walks of literature all thoughts of the present state of the political horizon.
My brother is going to publish " Letters to a Young Lady
on English Poetry"; he is indefatigable.  "I wish you
were half as diligent!" say you.  "Amen," say I.  Love to
Eliza and Laura, and thank the former for her note.  I shall
always be glad to hear from  either of them.  How delightful must be the soft beatings of a heart entering into the
world for the first time,- every surrounding object new, fresh,
and fair, all smiling within and without! Long may every
sweet illusion continue, that promotes happiness, and ill befall the rough hand that"would destroy them!
In 1802, Mr. Arthur Aikin, the son of Dr. John
Aildn, Mrs. Barbauld's brother, undertook the care and




244           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. XI.
editorship of the "Annual Review," an excellent work
which unfortunately met with little encouragement,
and the enterprise was abandoned in 1808. Mrs. Barbauld "reluctantly took part of the poetry and polite
literature in one or two of the earliest volumes, and
gave that critique on the'Lay,' which the author said
he had approved and admired the most," says Miss
Aikin in writing to a friend and alluding to the pleasant acquaintance between Sir Walter Scott and her
aunt.  One writer in speaking of the queens of London
society, Mrs. Montague and others, says of Mrs. Barbauld,
who is named among them, that at this time she " was
laying down the sceptre and consenting to be private and
homely."  Mrs. Barbauld never made any pretensions
to rule in her sphere. To her the republic of letters
was real, and she was a firm believer in the equality of
man and a state of freedom. All her writings prove
her reasonable hope and belief in human progress, and
manifest a great degree of modesty.  To have disclaimed her position in the world of letters would have
been affectation, but she never claimed what was not
offered her.  The next letter in order describes a visit
to Tunbridge Wells, to Miss Taylor of Norwich, afterwards Mrs. Reeve.
TUNBRIDGE WELLS, August 11, 1804.
I may call you dear Susan, may not I  for I can love you,
if not better, yet more familiarly and at my ease, under that




1804.]             TUNBRIDGE WELLS.                 245
appellation than under the more formal one of Miss Taylor,
though you have now.a train to your gown, and are, I suppose, at Norwich invested with all the rights of womanhood.
I have many things to thank you for:- in the first place, for
a charming letter, which has both amused and delighted us.
In the next place, I have to thank you for a very elegant
veil, which is very beautiful in itself, and receives great additional value from being the work of your ingenious fingers.
I have brought it here to parade with upon the Pantiles,
being by much the smartest part of my dress.  0 that you
were here, Susan, to exhibit upon a donky, — I cannot tell
whether my orthography is right, but a donky is the monture in high fashion here; and I assure you, when covered
with blue housings, and sleek, it makes no bad figure:- I
mean a lady, if an elegant woman, makes no bad figure upon
it, with a little boy or girl behind, who carries a switch,
meant to admonish the animal from time to time that he is
hired to walk on, and not to stand still. The ass is much
better adapted than the horse to show off a lady; for this
reason, which perhaps may not have occurred to you, that
her beauty is not so likely to be eclipsed: for you must know
that many philosophers, amongst whom is, are decidedly
of opinion that a fine horse is a much handsomer animal than
a fine woman; but I have not yet heard such a preference
asserted in favor of the ass, - not our English asses at least,
- a fine Spanish one, or a zebra, perhaps.....
It is the way to subscribe for everything here, - to the library, etc.; and among other things we were asked on the




246            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. XI.
Pantiles to subscribe for eating fruit as we pass backwards
and forwards.' How  much 2"  "Half-a-crown."  "But
for how long a time  "  "As long as you please."  "But I
should soon eat half-a-crown's-worth of fruit."  "0, you are
upon honor! "
There are pleasant walks on the hills here, and picturesque
views of the town, which, like Bath, is seen to advantage by
lying in a hollow. It bears the marks of having been long a
place of resort, from the number of good and rather old-built
houses,- all let for lodgings; and shady walks, and groves
of old growth.  The sides of many of the houses are covered
with tiles; but the Pantiles, which you may suppose I saw
with some interest, are now paved with freestone.
We were interested in your account of Cambridge, and
glad you saw not only buildings, but men. With a mind
prepared as yours is, how much pleasure have you to enjoy
from seeing! That all your improvements may produce you
pleasure, and all your pleasures tend to improvement, is the
wish of                         Your ever affectionate.
In 1804, Mrs. Barbauld was able to devote herself
sufficiently' to literary labors to offer a "Selection from
the Spectator, Tatler, Guardian, and Freeholder," with
an Essay on the genius, thoughts, and style of the
writers whose papers she thus edited. This Essay added
greatly to the value of the book. Though it has been
regarded by many competent authorities as, perhaps, her
best piece of literary labor in the critical and discrim



1804.]      HER ESSAY ON THE ESSAYISTS.           247
inating study of the writings and beauties of the great
English authors chosen, I have not included it among
the prose essays in this selection of her works, as it
cannot properly be separated from  the Selection to
which it serves as an introduction and a study, and of
which it is a masterly review.  It makes the reader
well acquainted with the salient points of character,
the distinguishing marks of genius, and the peculiarities of style of the various authors whose works are
included in the Selection.
Miss Lucy Aikin has so well represented the merit
of this Essay as a critical analysis of the writers Mrs.
Barbauld had studied, that her own words best convey
her thoughts about her aunt's performance.  She says
of it: "This delightful piece may perhaps be regarded
as the most successful of her efforts in literary criticism,
and that it should be so is easily accounted for. There
were many striking points of resemblance between her
genius and that of Addison.  As prose writers, both
were  remarkable  for uniting wit of the light and
sportive kind with vividness of fancy, and a style at
once rich and lively, flowing and full of idiom; both of
them rather avoided the pathetic; in both, the sentiments of rational and liberal devotion were blended
with the speculations of philosophy and the paintings of
a fine imagination; both were admirable for the splendor they diffused over a serious, the grace with which




248           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.       [CHAP. XI.
they touched a lighter, subject..... The humorous
delineation of manners and characters, indeed, in which
Addison so conspicuously shone, was never attempted
by Mrs. Barbauld; in poetry, on the other hand, she
surpassed him in all the qualities of which excellence
in that style is composed. Certainly this great author
could not elsewhere have found a critic so capable of
entering, as it were, into the soul of his writings, culling their choicest beauties, and drawing them forth for
the admiration of a world by which they had begun
to be neglected. Steele and the other contributors to
these periodical papers are also ably, though briefly,
characterized by her; and such pieces of theirs are
included in the'Selection' as could fairly claim enduring remembrance."
The Essay opens with the observation, "that it is
equally true of books as of their authors, that one generation passeth away and another cometh." The mutual
influence exerted by books and manners on each other
is then remarked; and the silent and gradual declension
from what might be called the active life of an admired
and popular book to the honorable retirement of a
classic is highly but impressively traced; closed by
remarks on the mutations and improvements which
have particularly affected the works in question.
In the Diary of Mr. H. C. Robinson, the following
interesting reminiscences of his first'introduction to




1804.]          VISIT OF H. C. ROBINSON.          249
and friendship for Mrs. Barbauld will attract the attention of the reader.  In the first entry under the year
1805, after her return to England, he writes, "In December I formed a new acquaintance, of which I was
reasonably proud, and in the recollection of which I
still rejoice. At Hackney I saw repeatedly Miss Wakefield,* a charming girl. And one day at a party, when
Mrs. Barbauld had been the subject of conversation,
and I had spoken of her in enthusiastic terms, Miss
Wakefield came to me, and said,'Would you like to
know Mrs. Barbauld?'  I exclaimed,'You might as
well ask me whether I should like to know the Angel
-Gabriel!'' Mrs. Barbauld is, however, more accessible.
I will introduce you to her nephew.' She then called
to Charles Aikin, whom  she soon after married; and
he said:'I dine every Sunday with my uncle and
aunt at Stoke Newington, and I am expected always to
bring a friend with me. Two knives and forks are laid
for me. Will you go with me next Sunday?' Gladly
acceding to the proposal, I had the good fortune to
make myself agreeable, and soon became intimate in
the house.
"Mr. Barbauld had a slim figure, a meagre face, and a
shrill voice.  He talked a great deal, and was fond of
dwelling on controversial points in religion. He was
by no means destitute of ability, though the afflictive
* Daughter of Gilbert Wakefield.
11 




250           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. XI.
disease was lurking in him, which in a few years broke
out, and, as is well' known, caused a sad termination to
his life.
"Mrs. Barbauld bore the remains of great personal
beauty.  She had a brilliant complexion, light hair,
blue eyes, a small, elegant figure, and her manners were
very agreeable, with something of the generation then
departing. She received me very kindly, spoke very
civilly of my aunt, Zachary Crabbe, and said she had
herself once slept at my father's house.  Mrs. Barbauld
is so well known by her prose writings that it is needless for me to attempt to characterize her here. Her
excellence lay in the soundness and acuteness of her
understanding, and in the perfection of her taste. In
the estimation of Wordsworth she was the first of our
literary women, and he was not bribed to this judgment
by any especial congeniality of feeling, or by concurrence
in speculative opinions. I may here relate an anecdote
concerning her and Wordsworth, though out of its
proper time by many, many years; but it is so good
that it ought to be preserved from oblivion. It was
after her death that Lucy Aikin published Mrs. Barbauld's collected works, of which I gave a copy to Miss
Wordsworth. Among the poems is a stanza on Life,
written in extreme old age. It had delighted my sister,
to whom I repeated it on her death-bed. It was long
after I gave these works to Miss Wordsworth that her




1804.]              H. C. ROBINSON.               251
brother said,'Repeat me that stanza by Mrs. Barbauld.' I did so. lie made me repeat it again.  And
so he learned it by heart.  He was at the time walking
in his sitting-room  at Rydal, with hands behind him;
I heard him mutter to himself,'I am not in the habit
of grudging other people their good things, but I wish
I had written those lines,' and repeated to himself the
stanza which I have already quoted,'Life we've been long together," etc.
In naming a number of poetesses, Wordsworth himself, in writing to Mr. Dyce in 1830, put Mrs. Barbauld
at the head of the list.  He mentions Helen Maria
Williams, Charlotte Smith, Anna Seward, and others,
and adds of Mrs. Barbauld, that, "with much higher
powers of mind," she "was spoiled as a poetess by
being a Dissenter, and concerned with a Dissenting
Academy..... One of the most pleasing passages in
her poetry is the close of the lines of'Life,' written,
I believe, when she was not less than eighty years of
age," and he quotes it to his friend. " He much admired
Mrs. Barbauld's Essays, and sent a copy of them, with
a laudatory note, to the then Archbishop of Canterbury,
his friend," says the biographer of the poet.
The great Lake Poet appears to have disregarded
the fact that his own father was an attorney, and acted
as agent to a nobleman, and he himself consented to
hold an office of small honor but fair salary,-that of




252           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.       [CHAP. XI.
stamp distributor, - and later receive a pension from
government; all of which makes it rather unjust in
him to blame Mrs. Barbauld for the position in life to
which she was born.  She was certainly liberal and
catholic in her views of life, and evinced in her writings the extent and depth of her study as much as any
writer of her time, being very remarkable for her talents
and power of thought. She might have been born in
a more elevated position in a worldly point of view;
but it is to be doubted whether the powers of mind she
displayed would have been any better developed and
cultivated elsewhere. And prejudices from which she
was singularly free might then have greatly detracted
from the generous, pure, and simple style of her writings. Worldly position did not dazzle her, nor had
wealth and rank alone any charms for her; though
she was not insensible to the attractions of mind and
amiability of character, when they rose superior to
these conditions of life, which develop beauties and
charms, or materially detract from them, if allowed to
exert too strongly the love of display and of power.
After Mr. Robinson's introduction, he was a frequent
visitor at Mrs. Barbauld's house, and nearer intimacy
only increased his respect and admiration for her fine
talents and amiable, womanly character.'In the reminiscences of Sir Henry Holland, he tells the reader
that he passed his vacation in the holidays of 1803 at




1804.1           SIR HENRY HOLLAND.                253
Stoke Newington.  He was then at Dr. Estlin's school
at Bristol, and afterwards, for a time, a pupil of the Rev.
Mr. Turner of Newcastle, of whom mention has been
made. He says of it that the vacation was spent at the
house of Dr. Aikin, "a very old friend of my father."
"His sister, Mrs. Barbauld, who lived close to him, and
his daughter, Lucy Aikin, gave a certain literary repute
to this then tranquil village, since absorbed, like so
many others, into the huge mass of the metropolis. I
met in several parties, at one or the other house, several
writers of repute of that day, now almost or wholly
forgotten,   the warm  admirers of Mrs. Barbauld's
masculine understanding and gentle feminine character.
She well merited this admiration of the excellence of
her English prose style; it is enough to say that I have
heard it warmly praised both by Mackintosh and Macaulay. Each specified the essay on the'Inconsistency
of Human Expectations' as an example of this excellence."
This was the first visit of Sir Henry to the great
city, of which he has since been an ornament, and
where he was honored as a professional and social addition to its already full ranks of brilliant and talented
men.  Mr. Crabb Robinson also alludes to Mrs. Barbauld's essay on "Inconsistency in Our Expectations "
as her "famous essay "; and in writing to his friend
Mr. Benecke, in 1835, he says: "I wish Mrs. Benecke




254            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.       [CHAP. XI.
would amuse herself, or procure some friend to do so,
by translating Mrs. Barbauld's'Essay on Inconsistent
Expectations.'  I hold it to be one of the most exquisite morsels of English prose ever written. And it
had the most salutary effect on me. When a young
man I met with it, and so deeply was I impressed with
it, that I can truly say I never repined at any one
want or loss, or the absence of any good that has befallen me."
During the year 1804, Mrs. Barbauld was requested
to prepare for publication, and edit with a memoir,
such of Richardson's letters, and those of his contemporaries and friends included in his correspondence, as
she might consider valuable.  This large collection of
letters from  the hand of the novelist and his friends
was bought of Richardson's grandchildren.  The correspondence was very voluminous and rather tedious.
As one can fancy the letters of the author of Sir Charles
Grandison would be found, they prove prosy and dull.
The Life and the criticism  of his novels are admirable, and probably Richardson owes to the excellence
and attractive style of the biography the majority of
his readers at the present day.  The real value of the
six volumes of the "Life and Letters" lies in that
one which is the production of Mrs. Barbauld, and the
remaining volumes are interesting only from their connection with her bright and pleasant account of his




1804.]             SAMUEL ROGERS.                 255
career, and notices of his friends and his novels.
In Rogers's "Table-Talk" there is an anecdote of Mrs.
Barbauld which may interest the reader, and I add to
it her own note, taken from  Richardson's Life, on the
same subject.  She also mentions her meeting with the
pilgrim who so greatly admired Clarissa Harlowe that
he journeyed to the scene of her residence at Hampstead.
Mr. Rogers's description of the meeting is as follows:
One day, as she was going to Hampstead in the stagecoach, she' had a Frenchman for her companion; and,
entering into conversation with him, she found that he
was making an excursion to Hampstead for the express
purpose of seeing the house in the Flask Wcdll  where
Clarissa Harlowe lodged.  What a compliment to the
genius of Richardson! "  Mrs. Barbauld, in the life of
Richardson, in alluding to the character of Clarissa, and
mentioning her flight from London to the celebrated
tavern called the Flask, - from its situation in the Flask
Walk, at the end of that pleasant path in the village
of Hampstead, and long celebrated as the resort of
fashion and conviviality, being the meeting-place of the
noted Kitcat Club,- also describes the meeting, and the
surprise of the foreigner, who evidently had firm faith
in the truth of the story of Clarissa, and did not for a
moment doubt the veracity of Richardson.
Mrs. Barbauld says of this incident: " The writer of




256            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. XI.
these observations well remembers a Frenchman who
paid a visit to Hampstead for the sole purpose of finding out the house in the Flask Walk where Clarissa
lodged, and was surprised at the ignorance or indifference of the inhabitants on that subject.  The Flask
WFalk was to him  as much classic ground as the rocks
of Meillerie to the admirers of Rousseau; and probably,
if an English traveller were to make similar inquiries
in Switzerland, he would find that the chdlets of the
Valais suggested no ideas to the inhabitants but such
as were connected with their dairies and their farms.
A constant residence soon destroys all sensibility to
objects of local enthusiasm."
The "Life of Richardson" was generally admired.
Mr. Rogers quotes Charles James Fox's opinion about
it: "He thought Mrs. Barbauld's'Life of Richardson'
admirable; and regretted that she had wasted her talents on writing books for children, (excellent as these
books might be,) now that there were so many pieces
of that description."  In the Recollections of the previous year, Rogers speaks of hearing Fox repeating
with Mrs. Fox that song of Mrs. Barbauld's,"Come here, fond youth, whoe'er thou be," etc.
and criticising the first verse as being exceedingly ungrammatical. This was on the occasion of a visit made
by Mr. Rogers to the great statesman at his home, St.
Anne's Hill.




1805.]          NEWINGTON BOOK-CLUBS.                257
To MRS. BEECROFT.
DORKING, September, 1805...... We came hither to take lodgings somewhere in this
beautiful country, but found none vacant; so we have been
some time at Burford Bridge, a little quiet sort of an inn in
the centre of the pleasant walks; and a few days with our
friends the C    s. This is very much of a corn country, and
we are in the midst of harvest: the window at which I am
now writing looks into a corn-field, where a family have established their menage. The man and his wife are reaping
the corn; a cradle with a young child in it is brought into
the field by break of day, and set under a hedge; the mother
makes a sort of tent with her red cloak to shelter it from the
weather; and there she gives it suck, and there they take
their meals; two older children either watch the cradle or
run about the fields.  A young baronet here has incurred
great and deserved odium by forbidding the poor to glean in
his fields: and effectually to prevent them, the plough immediately follows the sickle; yet probably this man can talk
of the wisdom of our forefathers, and the regard due to ancient observances. This country is remarkable for great richness of wood, which Autumn has as yet only touched with
his little finger; in a month's time they will be enchanting.
Another agrement here is, that you see no soldiers; though
I confess you are put in mind of them by a military road
lately cut over Box Hill, -I hope, a very needless precaution.
One finds little glimpses of the life of Mrs. Barbauld,
at this time, in the letters of Lucy Aikin.  In one she
Q




258           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. XI.
writes of the book-club at Stoke Newington, and after
describing some of its rules, and the differences of
opinion as to its arrangement and management, she
adds, "It is a great hobby-horse with my Aunt Barbauld and me." Again she writes: "The Barbaulds are
going next week to lodgings in town, which they have
taken for a few weeks, in order to see everything and
everybody with little trouble. They wish me to go
and share their gayety, but I feel by no means equal
to racketing at present, and my father shows little inclination to intrust me to the prudence of my aunt, who
is at least forty years younger than I am."
In Mrs. Barbauld's correspondence with Miss Edgeworth, there was much about new books and their
authors.  In one letter she asks Miss Edgeworth if she
has yet seen " Mr. Scott's new poem'Marmion,'" and
strongly advises her to obtain it and read it, if she has
not already done so.
To MRS. SMITH.
STOKE NEWINGTON, January 7, 1806.
DEAR MADAM, -I think there is a spell against our profiting by your kind invitations. The occasion on which you
now ask us to Parndon is a very interesting one, and we
should have had great pleasure in keeping with you your
silverfeast, as the Germans call it when a couple have lived
happily a quarter of a century together. But at present it is
impossible.....




1806.]           LIFE AT NEWINGTON.                  259
It is perhaps, after all, as well for me that there is a circumstance which.imperiously says "You cannot go"; because,
apart from that consideration, if I were tempted by my inclination, a violent cold. which I have upon me would, I fear,
make me unequal to a winter journey.  Meantime my heart
is with you, and Mr. Barbauld's, and most cordially do we
join in congratulations and wishes that the latter half of your
lives may be as happy as the former; for more I think it
cannot be, as you seem to me to have all the ingredients, external and internal, of which that precious compound happiness is composed; for a compound I maintain it to be, and
of a vast many ingredients too, - begging Mr. Harris's pardon, whose dialogue on the subject I read at sixteen with
great edification. But your happiness may be multiplied,
however, as your numerous family spreads abroad into the
world, and you have the pleasure of seeing them acquire for
themselves in their own families that esteem and consideration which they now derive from yours. May this and every
succeeding year increase your satisfaction in them, and find
and leave you both happy! etc., etc.
Miss Aikin tells an anecdote which shows the strong
feeling of interest and admiration felt for Mrs. Barbauld. When her brother, Arthur Aikin, Esq., was canvassing for votes for the position of secretary to the
Society of Arts, "one man, a sword-cutler, to whom  he
had no introduction, gave his vote to him as Mrs. Barbauld's nephew, and begged to introduce him  to his




260            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. XI.
family."  She writes of meeting Rogers, the poet, his
brother and sister, at the Barbaulds' at dinner. " Nothing," she adds, " could be more agreeable.  Mr. Rogers
laid himself out to be entertaining"; and that he probably always did when with Mrs. Barbauld, whom he respected and loved.  The vein of cynicism  in him  was
subdued and quieted by her amiable temper. In another
letter to her brother, Miss Aikin describes the efforts of
her mother and herself to prepare their minds to teach
one of her brother's children. For the benefit of her
little nephew, they were studying a work on "Practical
Education," at which, she says, "My Aunt Barbauld
laughs excessively; she says'I know that everybody
reads works on education as pleasant works,' but this
is the first time that ever I heard of anybody's sitting
gravely down to study them  for use.'"  In 1806, Miss
Aikin, in writing Mrs. Taylor, tells her that the Estlins of Bristol, whom the Barbaulds had often visited,
were there "on a visit to the Barbaulds, and we meet
almost daily."
To MRs. J. TAYLOR OF NORWICH.
1806.
I am now reading Mr. Johnes's " Froissart," and I think
I never was more struck with the horrors of war, - simply
because he seems not at all struck with them; and I feel
ashamed at my heart having ever beat with pleasure at the
names of Cressy and Poitiers.  He tells you the English




1808.]         DEATH OF MR. BARBAULD.             261
marched into such a district; the barns were full, and cattle
and corn plentiful; they burned and destroyed all the villages, and laid the country bare; such an English earl took
atown, and killed men, women, and little children; and he
never makes a remark, but shows he looks upon it as the
usual mode of proceeding.
Mrs. Barbauld required all the variety of occupation,
the cheer of society, and the sympathy of. friends, in
this period of her life.  She had a long and anxious
interval of care and distress of mind, arising from the
mental condition and excitable temperament of Mr.
Barbauld.  At length the blow came, -perhaps in a
direction which she had dreaded, biut it would appear
to have been a new phase of the disease from which he
suffered. Mr. Barbauld was found drowned in the New
River, November 11, 1808.  One of his peculiarities
was an excessive use of water, and he. may have fallen
in while prompted with a fancy to use the river for
the purpose of ablution; or a sudden seizure of a more
violent nature may have caused, his unhappy death.
The dangers and anxiety which had so long impended
over and harassed the feeling heart of Mrs. Barbauld
now became a terrible reality, and she was deeply
affected by these painful trials, and the distressing
event which terminated the life of her husband.  She
herself, in the sketch of him contributed by her to the




262            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAr. XI.
"Monthly Repository of Theology and General Literature," feelingly alluded to the malady of Mr. Barbauld,
and there stated that the disease was hereditary. As a
touching tribute of unwearied and devoted affection,
tempered with impartial judgment and discernment, I
quote from her description of his character and mental
powers.
"The scenes of life Mr. Barbauld passed through were
common ones, but his character was not a common one.
His reasoning powers were acute, and sharpened by exercise;
for he was early accustomed to discussion, and argued with
great clearness; with a degree of warmth, indeed, but with
perfect candor towards his opponent.  He gave the most
liberal latitude to free inquiry, and could bear to hear those
truths attacked which he most steadfastly believed, the more
because he steadfastly believed them; for he was delighted to
submit to the test of argument those truths which he had
no doubt could, by argument, be defended. He had an uncommon flow of conversation on those points which had
engaged his attention, and delivered himself with a warmth
and animation which enlivened the driest subject.  He was
equally at home in French and English literature; and the
exquisite sensibility of his mind, with the early culture his
taste had received, rendered him an excellent judge of all
those works which appeal to the heart and the imagination.
His feelings were equally quick and vivid; his expressive
countenance was the index of his mind, and of every instan



1808.]       CHARACTER OF MR. BARBAULD.                263
taneous impression made upon him.  Children, who are the
best physiognomists, were always attracted to him, and he
delighted to entertain them with lively narratives suited to
their age, in which he had great invention.  The virtues of
his heart will be acknowledged by all who knew him.  His
benevolence was enlarged; it was the spontaneous propensity
of his nature, as well as the result of his religious system.
He was temperate almost to abstemiousness, yet without
any tincture of ascetic rigor. A free, undaunted spirit, a winning simplicity, a tendency to enthusiasm, - but of the gentle and liberal kind,-  formed the prominent lineaments of
his character. The social affections were all alive and active
in him.  His heart overflowed with kindness to all,- the
lowest that came within his sphere. There never was a human being who had less of the selfish and worldly feelings,they hardly seemed to form a part of his nature. His was
truly the charity which thinketh no ill.  Great singleness of
heart, and a candor very opposite to the suspicious temper of
worldly sagacity, made him  slow to impute unworthy motives to the actions of his fellow-men; yet his candor by no
means sprang from  indifference to moral rectitude; for,
when he could  no longer resist conviction, his censure
was decided, and his indignation warm  and warmly expressed.  His standard of virtue was high, and he felt no
propensities which disposed him to lower it. His religious
sentiments were of a most pure and liberal cast; and his p, lpit services, when the state of his spirits seconded the ardor
of his mind, were characterized by the rare union of a fervent




264              LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. XI.
spirit of devotion, a pure, sublime philosophy, supported by
arguments of metaphysical acuteness. He did not speak the
language of any party, nor exactly coincide with the systems
of any. He was a believer in the pre-existence of Christ, and,
in a certain modified sense, in the Atonement; thinking those
doctrines most consonant to the tenor of Scripture;.....
but he was too sensible of the difficulties which press upon
every system not to feel indulgence for all, and he was not
zealous for any doctrine which did not affect the heart.  Of
the moral perfections of the Deity he had the purest and
most exalted ideas; on these were chiefly founded his system
of religion, and these, together with his own benevolent
nature, led him to embrace so warmly his favorite doctrine
of the final salvation of all the human race, and indeed, the
gradual rise and perfectibility of all created existence.....
His latter days were oppressed by a morbid affection of his
spirits, in a great degree hereditary, which came gradually
upon him, and closed the scene of his earthly usefulness; yet
in the midst of the irritation it occasioned, the kindness of
his nature broke forth, and some of his last acts were acts
of benevolence."
An  affecting  "Dirge,"  written  November, 1808,
attested to the depth of his widow's grief and the
Christian fortitude with which she met this terrible
shock  and  affliction.   She touchingly  and fervently
prays that she may be taught and supported" To welcome all that's left of good,
To all that's lost resigned."




8O09.]          EDITS "BRITISH NOVELISTS."              265
CHAPTER XII.
MRS. BARBAULD EDITS "BRITISH NOVELISTS." -PREPARES A " SELECTION" FOR THE YOUNG, CALLED "THE ENFIELD SPEAKER." -PUBLISHES POEM "EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND ELEVEN. "-CRITICISMS ON
THIS POEM. - STYLE OF IT. - MR. ROBINSON'S DIARY. - LETTERS. -
SOCIAL ACTIVITY OF MRS. BARBAULD.- SHE MEETS SCOTT AT DINNER. - MRS. FARRAR'S RECOLLECTIONS. - MRS. BARBAULD AND
BYRON'S POEM.  MISS EDGEWORTH'S VISIT. -MR. ROBINSON'S
PICTURE OF MRS. BARBAULD.- DR. CHANNING VISITS HER. - OLD
AGE AND ITS TRIALS.-LOSS OF HER OLD FRIENDS.-DEATH OF
DR. AIKIN. -MRS. BARBAULD'S CHEERFULNESS AND PATIENCE. -
ILLNESS AND DEATH.  MISS AIKIN'S ESTIMATE OF HER CHARACTER.
-MISS EDGEWORTH'S REMARKS. - TABLET TO MRS. BARBAULD'S
MEMORY. - ANECDOTES. - MRS. BARBAULD'S POETRY. - HER PROSE
WORS. - HER POSITION IN ENGLISH LITERATURE.  HER CHARACTER.- HER INFLUENCE.-HER PERSONAL APPEARANCE. -THE JUSTICE OF THE CLAIMS TO RESPECT AND VENERATION HER LIFE INSPIRES.
IN  the year 1809, Miss Edgeworth wrote a friend
that Dr., now  Sir Henry, Holland, in his visit at
Edgeworthstown, had much to say of Mrs. Barbauld,
and  greatly interested  her old friends there by his
conversation about her.  In the same year Miss Edgeworth  again  refers to  her, and mentions correcting
"Belinda" for Mrs. Barbauld, who is going to insert
12




266            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. XII.
it in her collection of novels, with a preface.  While
still very much prostrated and depressed by the death
of Mr. Barbauld, she had the strength of mind and
fortitude to busy herself with her beloved pursuits;
and being asked to edit a "Collection of the British
Novelists," she consented to occupy herself with the
arrangement and preparation of their works and lives.
She wrote also for the edition an introductory essay
which is still of value and interest in connection with
the novels.  The biographical and critical notices of
each writer, and the events of his or her career; their
genius, style, and position in the ranks of literature,
are admirable, full of life and spirit, and charmingly
clear and concise. Sir Walter Scott acknowledged his
indebtedness to Mrs. Barbauld for some of his material
used in the biographies prefixed by him  to the novels
in Ballantyne's edition of "British Novelists."   This
" Collection of the British Novelists" prepared by Mrs.
Barbauld consisted of fifty volumes, and appeared in
the year 1810.
In Mr. Robinson's diary, he wrote, for the year 1810,
of one day - " In the afternoon I sat with Mrs. Barbauld, still in all the beauty of her fine taste, correct
understanding, as well as pure integrity."
June 18, 1810.
MY DEAR MRS. TAYLOR,-A thousand thanks for your
kind letter; still more for the very kind visit that preceded




1810.],       MRS. MONTAGUE'S LETTERS.               267
it; though short, too short, it has left indelible impressions
on my mind; my heart has truly had communion with yours,
-your sympathy has been balm to it; and I feel there is
no one now on earth to whom I could pour out that heart
more readily, - I may say, so readily, - as to yourself. Very
good also has my dear, amiable Mrs. Beecroft been to me,
whose lively sweetness and agreeable conversation has at
times won me to forget that my heart is heavy.
I am now alone again, and feel like a person who has been
sitting by a cheerful fire, not sensible at the time of the temperature of the air; but, the fire removed, he finds the season
is still winter.  Day after day passes, and I do not know
what I do with my time; my mind has no energy, nor power
of application. I can tell you, however, what I have done
with some hours of it, which have been agreeably employed
in reading Mrs. Montague's Letters.  I think her nephew
has made a very agreeable present to the public; and I was
greatly edified to see them  printed in modest octavo, with
Mrs. Montague's sweet face (for it is a very pretty face) at
the head.  They certainly show a very extraordinary mind,
full of wit, and also of deep thought and sound judgment.
She seems to have liked not a little to divert herself with the
odd and the ludicrous, and shows herself in the earlier letters
passionately fond of balls and races and London company;
this was natural enough at eighteen. Perhaps you may not
so easily pardon her for having early settled her mind, as she
evidently had, not to marry except for an establishment.
This seems to show a want of some of those fine feelings that




268            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. XII.
one expects in youth; but when it is considered that she
was the daughter of a country gentleman with a large family
and no fortune to expect, and her connections all in high
life, one is disposed to pardon her, especially as I dare say
she would never have married a fool or a profligate. I heard
her say -what I suppose very few  can say —that she
never was in love in her life.  Many of the letters are in
fact essays; and I think, had she turned her thoughts to
write in that way, she would have excelled Johnson.
I have also turned over Lamb's" Specimens of Old Plays,"
and am much pleased with them. I made a discovery there,
- that La Motte's fable of Genius, Virtue, and Reputation,
which has been so much praised for its ingenious turn, is borrowed from Webster, an author of the age of Shakespeare,or they have taken it from some common source, for a Frenchman was not very likely to light upon an English poet of
that age; they knew about as much of us then, as we did
fifty years ago of the Germans. It is surprising how little
invention there is in the world; no very good story was ever
invented. It is perhaps originally some fact a little enlarged;
then by some other hand embellished with circumstances;
then by somebody else, a century after, refined, drawn to a
point, and furnished with a moral.  When shall we see the
moral of the world's great story, which astonishes by its
events, interests by the numerous agents it puts in motion,
but of which we cannot understand the bearings or predict
the catastrophe? It is a tangled web, of which we have not
the clue.  I do not know how to rejoice at this victory,




1811.]' THE ENFIELD SPEAKER."                269
splerrdid as it is, over Buonaparte, when I consider the horrible waste of life, the mass of misery, which such gigantic
combats must occasion.  I will think no more of it; let me
rather contemplate your family: there the different threads
all wind evenly, smoothly, and brightly.
In the year 1811, Mrs. Barbauld prepared for the
use of young ladies an excellent selection of prose and
poetical works of the best English writers; this was
called the "Enfield  Speaker," and appeared in  one
volume.
STOKE NEWINGTON, May, 1811.
MY DEAR MRS. KENRICK, -  I have been-thinking what to
liken our uncertain and unfrequent correspondence to. I
cannot liken it to the regular blow of flowers that come out
and blossom in their proper season. It is rather like the
aloe, that, after having been barren season after season, shows
signs of life all on a sudden, and pushes out when you least
expect it. But take notice, the life is in the aloe all the
while, and sorry indeed should I be if the life was not all
the while in our friendship, though it so seldom diffuses itself
over a piece of paper.  How much I long to see you again!
I wish you would come and see me this summer; the journey,
I should hope, would not be too much for you, and in coming to see me you would be near all your friends. Do think
of it!.... I believe I am writing you an enormous letter; but
I have been in a course of letter-reading.  I am wading




270            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. XII.
through the letters of Madame du Deffand, in four volumes.
Have you read them.   Walpole and she wrote every week,
and they were continually grumbling at one another, yet
they went on. Walpole, poor man, seems to have been terribly afraid that this old blind lady was in love with him;
and he had much ado to reduce her expressions of friendship
to something of an English standard. This lady appears to
have been very unhappy.  She was blind, indeed; but she
had everything else that could make age comfortable: fortune, friends, talents, consideration in the world, the society
of all the wits and all the people of rank of Paris, or who
visited Paris; but she totally wanted the best support of all,
-religious feelings and hope.; and I do not know anything
that is likely to impress their importance more on the mind
than the perusal of these letters. You see her tired of life,
almost blaspheming Providence for having given her existence; yet dreading to die because she had no hopes beyond
death.  A lady told me she would not on any account let
her daughter read the letters.  I think, for my part, they
give in this view as good a lesson as you can pick out of Mrs.
More's " Practical Piety," which, if you have not read, I cannot help it.
Adieu! do let me hear from you soon. I wonder, say you,
the woman has the face to ask it.  That's true, but I hope
you will, notwithstanding.  Nothing will give more pleasure to
Your ever affectionate, friend.




1811.]             CORRESPONDENCE.                   271
To MIss F.
STOKE NEWINGTON, Seiptember, 1811.
"And when did you hear from Miss F.' "  "Pray, madam,
when did you hear from Miss F. i "  "I hope Miss F. is
well!  Is she got to E-  yet "  This is a specimen of
the questions often asked me by those who'have been too
much interested in the hours they enjoyed of your company
while you were in this part of the world not to feel an
interest in you when you had left it.
To these I reply, that I have not heard; that I shall he
most happy at any time to hear, when dear Miss F. feels
any inclination to write; that I do not think she is particularly fond of writing letters; and that I have too much of
her taste in this respect, and am conscious of too many sins
of my own in this matter, to urge any claims on other people, supposing I had them, which in this instance I do not
pretend to have. At presen,t, however, I cannot resist taking the opportunity, as the children say, of Mr. -'s conveyance... chiefly to express the affectionate remembrance
which must always dwell in my heart of one so dear to
me.....
We have had the very beautiful and interesting sight of a
balloon sent off from the neighboring fields.  The carriages
of all sorts, eager countenances exhibited from windows, tops
of houses, and church steeples, made a gayer spectacle, I
think, than any exhibition within walls could have been
made.  I saw it like a majestic dome among the trees; it
swelled, it rose gently, it vibrated; then it sprang up into




272            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. XII.
the sky, light as -what shall I say? what can I say of a
substance that is itself lighter than air? I must say, I believe, as light as thought,  as your thoughts, I mean, for
mine are often heavy, etc., etc.
In the year, 1811 Mrs. Barbauld wrote the fine poem
which the reader will find in the Selections from  her
works; it being considered the most perfect long poem
she wrote. The prophetic gift was certainly not hers;
but the fervor and spirit which the poem on the year
"Eighteen Hundred and  Eleven" displays, and the
finished and eloquent descriptions in  it, the grand
ideas of freedom, and the hope for its future which she
expresses, are very powerful.  It must impress the
reader with the highest sense of the author's genius
and style of thought, power of language and imagination. The time at which she wrote this poem was one of
the deepest national distress and gloom. War on every
side had made Great Britain for years the scene of constant military preparation, and had drawn from her
soil the best and bravest of her sons, leaving her with
an enormous and exhausting debt and decimated population, in mourning the loss of sons, brothers, and husbands slain in war.
Mrs. Barbauld - with the grand and patriotic purpose
of warning her countrymen against the want of national
integrity and honor, and the spirit of luxury, after mak



1811.]    "EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND ELEVEN."            273
ing a beautiful apostrophe to the land she loves, admonisJling Great Britain that she cannot escape the consequences of unrighteous war   opens a splendid description of the wealth, culture, science, and art of
England, with these lines, which evince very strongly
her love of country, and that her very affection for her
native land did not blind her to the faults, seeing
which she felt forced to reprove and caution.  The
piece begins, 
"Yet, 0 my country, name beloved, revered,
By every tie that binds the soul, endeared,
Whose image to my infant senses came,
Mixt with religion's light and freedom's holy flame."
And continuing this address, she gives her reader a
truly magnificent picture of London, and its former
greatness, with "the faded glories" which shall draw
the future traveller in ages to come from distant lands
to muse sadly on the ruins of so much that was once
great and renowned. The reader will not fail to be impressed with the strength of energy, power of description, and beauty of language in this poem. Though,
happily for the world, England has not fallen under the
evil days she predicted, her hope for freedom  and
true liberty of thought in America, and the vision of
the Genius of Freedom, have found a partial realization here, in our great republic, while this- has been
12*                                R




274           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.    [CHAP. XII.
gained by the horrors of war which she so much deprecated.
The warning voice, which spoke from a mind and
heart filled with true patriotism, one would suppose
must have affected all who read the grand and elevated
words of this poem. But there were those who could
not bear with equanimity the thought that others who
differed with them in sentiment should express their
views freely. Mrs. Barbauld, in common with other
liberal and progressive thinkers and writers, was the
victim of a reviewer. Under the cover of an anonymous article in the " Quarterly Review," she was made
the subject of a most malignant and ungentlemanly
attack, personal in its nature and wholly unwarranted
by the spirit or opinions contained in her poem.
I have Miss Aikin's authority for stating the author
of this unfeeling and cruel attack to be one who should,
for the sake of poetry and true literature, have spared
the venerable author of so much that has given
pleasure and instruction.  At the time Miss Aikin
wrote her Memoir of Mrs. Barbauld, she was apparently ignorant of the authorship of this review of the
poem "Eighteen Hundred and Eleven"; for she speaks
of the review and its anonymous nature, but does not
hint any surmises about the writer of it. In 1845, in
writing to her friend Mr. Mallet, she says: "If you see
the last and preceding numbers of the' Gentleman's




1811.]    "EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND ELEVEN."        275
Magazine,' you will find an article on Southey's Life in
the first of them, and some pretty sharp comments of
mine in the second, exposing the vileness of his conduct to Mrs. Barbauld. It is impossible now to doubt
that all the scurrilities of the'Quarterly' respecting
her were his. I am persuaded that he hated most literary women; and latterly all Dissenters."
The article was neither indicative of good feeling nor
literary taste and judgment; being full of personalities, and utterly wanting in discrimination as to Mrs.
Barbauld's just and acknowledged claims to respect as
a poetess and a literary woman of ability. This cutting, satirical notice of the poem "Eighteen Hundred
and Eleven" appeared in the " Quarterly Review" for
1812.  The reviewer says he had hoped the nation
might be saved without the aid of Mrs. Barbauld, but
"not such, however, is her opinion; an irresistible impulse of public duty - a confident sense of commanding talents- has induced her to dash down her shagreen spectacles and her knitting-needles, and to sally
forth, hand in hand with her renowned compatriot,* in
the magnanimous resolution of saving a sinking country by the instrumentality of a pamphlet in prose and
a pamphlet in verse."  Of her former works he says,
"They have been of some utility, though they display
not much of either taste or talents: are something
* William Roscoe.




276             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. XII.
better than harmless."  In concluding the article, which
is only a repetition of abuse, and the harshest, most
narrow  criticism, the writer warns Mrs. Barbauld, at
her peril, to use satire again, evidently considering that
weapon his pet instrument; and certainly in his hands
it became one of torture to his victims. Mr. Roscoe's
pamphlet, "Occasional Tracts relative to the War between  Great Britain  and  France,"  was  the  prose
pamphlet which roused the wrath of the reviewer.
Mr. William Turner, the friend and contemporary of
Mrs. Barbauld, in his sketch of her speaks of this article as follows:"On this poem a critique was published in the'Quarterly
Review,' which, I must think, was anything but creditable
to the writer.  He had a right to smile at what many of her
best friends flattered themselves would prove at least a very
premature prognostic of the decline of British glory, and, if
he pleased, to sneer at her exultation in the prospect of
American freedom; but the contemptible affectation of
undervaluing her talents, and placing her before his readers
as a mere writer of lessons for children, is disgraceful only to
himself. It is agreeable to wish that the article may have
been the production of some one who was really as ignorant
of the excellent author and her works as he indeed professes
himself.  At the same time it is satisfactory that she lived
to see the Colunbian States advanced so near to the realization of all her wishes for them; while none would rejoice




1811.]    ENGLAND AND THE UNITED STATES.           2-77
more fervently that her apprehensions for her own beloved
country were, for the present at least, without foundation."
One of the most displeasing parts of this poem  to
the critic of the "Quarterly" was the thought which
Mrs. Barbauld expressed as to the brilliant future of
America, and the transfer of the greatness and prosperity of England to our Western Continent.  No critic
reprimanded Bishop Berkeley for his poem on that subject, and Lord Macaulay, a few  years later, wrote unchallenged two passages which contain this same idea
clothed in his magnificent prose. Bishop Berkeley, in
his enthusiasm  for his New World project, the college
which he hoped to start in the Bermudas, wrote the
beautiful lines which close his poem  "On the Prospect
of Planting Arts and Learning in America ":"Westward the course of empire takes its way;
The first four acts already past,
A fifth shall end the drama with the day:
Time's noblest offering is the last."
And Macaulay, some years later, made use of the very
images and metaphors of Mrs. Barbauld, clothing them
in his magnificent, sonorous prose, and adding another
to'the list of those who have predicted, it is to be
hoped without foundation, the future downfall of England. I insert here the passages in which Macaulay
alludes to the possible destruction of the prosperity




278           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. XII.
and civilization of Great Britain. Speaking of the
Catholic Church, in his review of Mrs. Austin's translation of Ranke's history of the Popes, he says: "And
she may still exist in undiminished vigor when some
traveller from New Zealand shall, in the midst of a vast
solitude, take his stand on a broken arch of London
Bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul's." In his essay on
Mitford's "History of Greece," he enlarges, on the same
idea: "And when those who have rivalled her greatness
shall have shared her fate, when civilization and knowledge shall have fixed their abode in distant continents,
when the sceptre shall have passed away from England, when, perhaps, travellers from  distant regions
shall in vain labor to decipher on some mouldering
pedestal the name of our proudest chief, shall hear
savage hymns chanted to some misshapen idol over the
ruined dome of our proudest temple, and shall see a
single naked fisherman wash his nets in the river of the
ten thousand masts, her influence and the glory will
still survive, —fresh in eternal youth, exempt from
mutability and decay, immortal as the intellectual principle from which they derive their origin, and over
which they exercise their control."  Walpole, Volney,
Henry Kirke White, and Shelley, have made use of
this image, conveying the downfall of Great Britain.
Mrs. Barbauld was deeply wounded by the insults
and  personal remarks which this poem, her latest




1811.]            FRIENDLY VISITS.              279
publication, received from the prejudice and malignity of a critic who seems to have seen in its gifted
and venerable author only a mark for unfeeling sarcasm,
and the utterance of party spirit.  Her judgment of
the future, her spirit of prophecy, may be doubted: her
gloomy forebodings have been proved untrue; but the
highly patriotic spirit and the just pride with which
she feelingly alludes to the heroes whose fame she
sings, - the men of learning whose names are Britain's
glory,-and the scenes made almost sacred by their
influence to the future pilgrim whose progress she
describes and whose thoughts she conceives in viewing
these grand ruins, should have softened the heart
and restrained the hand of the critic from its ungracious
and unjustifiable censure.  So severely did the aged
author feel the treatment she received, that she laid
aside all thoughts of collecting and publishing her,works, then long out of print and much sought after,
feeling that the day would come when her name would
secure respect, and her memory be properly honored;
and she left it with perfect confidence  "to men's
charitable speeches, to foreign nations, and to the next
ages."
In the following letter to her friend Mrs. Beecroft,
Mrs. Barbauld mentions her stay at Bristol, and a day
pleasantly passed at the home of her old friend Miss
Hannah More, who, with her sisters, was living in her




280            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. XII.
delightful residence at Barley Wood, the cottage which
she built after living for a time at Cowslip Green. Mr.
Robinson, in 1811, refers frequently to calling on Mrs.
Barbauld, and to the pleasure which it gave him. He
often went to play chess with her,  a game which they
both enjoyed.
TO MRS. BEECROFT.
STOKE NEWINGTON, January 1, 1813.
Many happy New Year's to you, my dear friend, and may
they bring you increasing joy in your children and your
children's children, and in your circle of friends, and in the
various occupations of all sorts which the exercise of your
talents or the offices of kindness engage you in! To you I
may wish this with cheerful hope of its fulfilment. At my
time of life, to look forward to New Year's is to contemplate
the prospect of increasing languor and growing infirmities.
Not, I am sure, that I have any reason to complain, for time
deals gently with me; and though I feel that I descend, the
slope is easy, and greatly thankful I am that I have, so accessible and so near me, the friends and relatives that were
assembled at Christmas in order to help me to despatch your
noble turkey. It was indeed so large that I had some difficulty in persuading them that it came to me enclosed in a letter; but I pleaded your known veracity, and they submitted.
Accept, my dear friend, my best thanks, and believe me,
though my pen (it is a naughty pen) has been idle, I did not
want it to put me in mind of so dear a friend.




1813.]              CHARLES LAMB.                  281
Yes, I have been at Bristol this summer, and spent there
almost the only month that could be called summer in the
last year. I spent some days at Bath, some at that delightful place, Clifton; and I spent a day with Hannah More and
her four sisters at her charming cottage under the Mendip
hills, which she has named Barley Wood, and which is
equally the seat of taste and hospitality.  We have had a
meeting here for an auxiliary Bible Society. Many ladies
went, not indeed to speak, but to hear speaking; and they
tell me they were much entertained and interested. I honor the zeal of these societies; but it has become a sort of
rage, and, I suspect, outgoes the occasion.
In Mr. Robinson's diary for 1812 he alludes to a
party at Charles Aikin's where he went "with Wordsworth, and there met Mrs. Barbauld, the Aikins, Miss
Jane Porter, Montgomery the poet, Roscoe," and other
eminent people. He refers to a call made on the family
of Dr. Aikin, where Charles Lamb was warmly praised
by the family.  He remarked on the universality of
taste and freedom  from  prejudice of this excellent
family, to whom, by their own request, he introduced
Lamb a little while after.  Mrs. Barbauld also desired
the acquaintance, and Mr. Robinson speaks of bringing
them  together.  In May of the same year, Mr. Robinson speaks of an ungenerous attack on Mrs. Barbauld
which was made by Coleridge in one of his extraor



282           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.    [CHAP. XI-I.
dinary rambling conversations, which were termed lectures in the advertisement of them. In this he made
some remarks on Mrs. Barbauld, of which Robinson
says, "I cannot forgive him for selecting clone (except
an attack on Pope's "Homer," qualified by insincere
praise) Mrs. Barbauld. She is a living writer, a woman,
and a person who, however discordant with himself in
character and taste, has still always shown him civilities and attentions. It was surely ungenerous."....
In this Mr. Robinson was quite right; Mrs. Barbauld
had shown Coleridge much kindness, and her admiration
of his talents and anxiety for his future progress were
finely expressed in the lines addressed to him in 1797.
In these she exhorted him to use with energy the genius
and powers of mind which he showed he possessed.
But his habits of indolence and the vice of opiumeating were his great misfortunes, and more powerful
than the voice of duty and of friendly warning. He
rather resented the poem, it is to be believed, and
says some rather disagreeable things of Mrs. Barbauld
in some of his letters and diaries,-repeating also
something said by Charles Lamb, who, when himself,
had a high admiration of Mrs. Barbauld.  These remarks are unworthy of notice, being evidently the result
of a morbid and unhappy state of mind in Coleridge.
Lamb used jocosely to call Mrs. Barbauld and Mrs.
Inchbald, the novelist, " the two bald women."




1813.]             STATE OF SOCIETY.                   283
To MRS. J. TAYLOR.
May, 1813..... There is certainly at present a great deal of zeal in
almost every persuasion; certainly much more in England,
as far as I am able to judge, than when I was young. I often
speculate upon what it will produce, — not uniformity of
opinion certainly; that is a blessing we seem not destined
here to enjoy, if indeed it would be a blessing. But will it
tend to universal toleration and enlarged liberality of thinking i or; with increase of zeal, will the church spirit of bigotry revive, and unite with the increasing power of government to crush the spirit of research and freedom of opinion 1
Bible societies, missionary schemes, lectures, schools for the
poor, are set on foot and spread, not so much from a sense of
duty as from being the real taste of the times; and I am
told that Mrs. Siddons's readings are much patronized by the
evangelical people, as they are called, of fashion, who will
not enter the doors of a theatre. Would that withf all this
there could be seen some little touch of feeling for the miseries of war, that are desolating the earth without end or
measure! One should be glad to see some suspicion arise
that it was not consistent with the spirit of the Gospel; but
this you do not see even in good people..... Friends at a distance do not want some medium
of sympathy, though they do not meet.  I have sometimes
looked upon new books in that light. When I peruse a book
of merit to be generally read, I feel sure, though not informed
of it, that precisely the same stream of ideas which is flowing




284           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.      [CHAP. XII.
through my mind is flowing through my friend's also; and
without any communication, either by word or letter, I know
that he has admired and criticised, and laughed and wept, as
I have done.
In June of this year Mr. Robinson speaks of a call
on Mrs. Barbauld. He says: "Had a pleasant chat with
her about Madame De Stael, the Edgeworths," etc.
And he then goes on to relate an anecdote of Mr.
Edgeworth and Mrs. Siddons, which shows some of Mr.
Edgeworth's peculiarities. Mrs. Siddons, perhaps, would
have consented to join the society which, I think, was
proposed by Lord Byron for the suppression of that
excellent man Mr. Edgeworth, who was very trying
in many ways; though four agreeable and charming
women found him  sufficiently attractive and interesting to marry.  In the preceding letter to Mrs.
Taylor, Mrs. Barbauld comments on the state of religious zeal and the very numerous charitable societies
then in vogue, the motive being not a sense of duty so
much as the spirit of the times. She questions whether
liberality of opinion will go hand in hand with all these
benevolent plans, and hopes for it.
To MRS. FLETCHER.
September, 1813.
MY DEAR MADAM, - I have to thank you for your very
entertaining letter. I would have undergone a good wetting, 




1813.]              MRS. MONTAGUE.                  285
and even a suspicion of danger, to have enjoyed the grandeur
of your thunder-storm.  Indeed, I am rather partial to a
death by lightning, and, were I to choose the mode of my
departure, should certainly prefer to be "by touch ethereal
slain." However, as I have no right to choose for you, I am
glad you got shelter under the roof of your hospitable though
penurious farmer. Surely he must be a phenomenon even in
the Highlands; but I believe it is rare in all professions for
the same person to amass and to enjoy riches. Even with
regard to the treasures of the mind, which one should suppose would include the power of using them, the laborious
collector of facts and dates produces some ponderous volume,
which sleeps on the shelf till some light and airy wit skims
it for tale and anecdote, or some original genius shapes and
moulds it into a system.
I am now reading the third and fourth volumes of Mrs.
Montague's Letters. To me, who have lived through all the
time she writes of, they are interesting - independent of the
wit and talent - as recalling a number of persons and events
once present to my mind; they are also, I think, very entertaining, though, as letters, somewhat studied. With all her
advantages she seems not to have been happy. She married
not Mr. Montague from affection.  It is evident she looked
upon him as a wise and kind friend, but nothing more; a
little too wise sometimes, when he kept her in the country
longer than she liked.' To a person so married, nothing will
fill the mind and give a permanent interest to life but children. She lost her child; and notwithstanding all that na



286            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. XII.
ture and all that fortune had given, and high cultivation, and
chosen society, and public esteem, she speaks of life as a
thing to be got through, rather than to be enjoyed.
In this letter to her friend Mrs. Fletcher, Mrs. Barbauld expresses the interest she has felt in reviving old
associations and times past by reading the letters of
Mrs. Montague which had recently been published by
her nephew.  The letters must have brought back to
her memories pleasant and sad of the circle whose
members had mostly passed away, of which she was
one of the few survivors.
To MRS. BEECROFT.
STOKE NEWINGTON, September, 1813.
We have had great pleasure in seeing again our friend Dr.
H - after a tour through Spain, Sicily, and Greece. Pray,
do you intend to learn modern Greek? I suspect it will grow
quite fashionable, from the many tourists to Athens we have
had of late; particularly if Eustace succeeds in-persuading us
to have nothing to do with the French jargon, as he is pleased
to call the language of Bossuet and of Racine. I suppose
you have read Lord Byron's Giaour, -and which edition? 
because there are five, and in every one he adds about fifty
lines; so that the different editions have rather the sisterly
likeness which Ovid says the Nereids had, than the identity
expected by the purchasers of the same work. And pray do
you say Lord Byron, or Byron, in defiance of the y and our
old friend in Sir Charles Grandison    And do you pronounce




1813.]                 OLD AGE.                     287
Giaour hard g or soft g? And do you understand the poem
at first reading? — because Lord Byron and the Edinburgh
reviewers say you are very stupid if you don't; and yet the
same reviewers have thought proper to prefix the story to
help your apprehension. All these, unimportant as you may
think them, are matters of discussion here.
Mrs. Barbauld, in the following letter to Mrs. Estlin
and her husband, speaks of old age and the false
sentiment of Pope regarding the last years of life.
She thinks the "idea beautiful, but false," and says the
later years of life are usually spent in ill-health or
lethargy. But whatever may have been her observation
of others, such was not her case. She was interested
and animated by all that passed in the world, and
though not an active participant in literature and bookmaking, was a reader of all that was new and valuable.
Society had its charms for her, and the circle she graced
was often adorned by her genial and kindly presence.
Her fine, conversation and beautiful face lent an additional attraction to the intelligent and literary gatherings where she was frequently to be seen.
STOKE NEWINGTON, December, 1813.... If you ask what I am doing,- nothing.  Pope, I
think, somewhere says, "The last years of life, like tickets
left in the wheel, rise in value."  The thought is beautiful,
but false; they are of very little value. They are generally




288             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.           [CHAP. XII.
past either in struggling with pains and infirmities, or in a
dreamy kind of existence; no new veins of thought are
opened; no young affections springing up; the ship has
taken in its lading, whatever it may be, whether precious
stones or lumber, and lies idly flapping its sails, and waiting
for the wind that must drive it upon the wide ocean.
Have you seen Lord Byron's new poem, "The Bride of
Abydosi" and have you read Madame de Stail's "Germanyl"
You will find in the latter many fine ideas, beautiful sentiments, and entertaining remarks on manners and countries;
but in her account of Kant and other German philosophers
she has got, I fancy, a little out of her depth. She herself
is, or affects to be, very devotional; but her religion seems
to be almost wholly a matter of imagination, - the beau ideal
impressed upon us at our birth, along with a taste for beauty,
for music, &c. As far as I understand her account of the
German schools, there seems to be in many of them a design
to reinstate the doctrine of innate ideas, which the cold philosophy, as they would call it, of Locke discarded. They
would like Beattie and Hutcheson better than Paley or
Priestley. I do not like Lord Byron's poem quite so well as
his last; and I cannot see any advantage in calling a nightingale bulbul, or a rose gul, except to disconcert plain English readers.
To DR. AND MRS. ESTLIN.
STOKE NEWINGTON, January, 1814.
Yes, my dear friends,'t is as I said: you are snowed up at
the Hyde, very comfortable, I dare say, with a fine library




1814.]                CORRESPONDENCE.                    289
and prints, &c., and I hope a cheerful Christmas party;- at
least, if the party is there, you will make them so. But
whether the enclosed will ever come to your hands is a melancholy consideration; for if you offer to stir, I expect you
will be buried in the snow, in which case I intend to write
your epitaph, — "Here lies, &c., in candor and purity of
mind equalling the snow that covers them"; or "Reflecting light from  heaven  on the world around them"; or
" They were lovely in their lives, and in their deaths they
were not divided "; or
"While far from home
They sought to roam,
By wandering fancies seized,'T wixt earth and sky
They buried lie,
For so the Fates have pleased."
The lines, I own, are not very finished; but it is not worth
while to take much pains about them, unless one were sure
of the catastrophe.  On the supposition, however, that you
will be reading this comfortably by Mr. Coates's fireside,
accept, my dear friends, my thanks for the pleasant days —
very pleasant, but very few - that you were so good as to
bestow  upon me; if you can enlarge the gift, most thankfully shall I receive it.
STOKE NEWINGTON, January, 1814.
-MY DEAR MRS. BEECROFT, -  There are animals that sleep
all the winter; I am, I believe, become one of them: they
creep into holes during the same season; I have confined
13                                  s




290             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. XII.
myself to the fireside of a snug parlor.  If, indeed, a warm
sunshiny day occurs, they sometimes creep out of their holes;
so, now and then, have I. They exist in a state of torpor;
so have I done: the only difference being, that I have all
the while continued the habit of eating and drinking which,
to their advantage, they can dispense with. But my mind
has certainly been asleep all the while; and whenever I have
attempted to employ it, I have felt an oppression in my head
which has obliged me to desist.  What wonderful events
have passed during the last few months! How new is the
very name of peace to us all; and to those of thirty and under, it is a state that, since they were able to reflect at all
on public affairs, they have never known. London seems to
have nothing to do now, but to give feasts and pop away all
the spare gunpowder in rockets and feux-de-joie in honor of
its illustrious guests. Everybody has been idle since these
royal personages came amongst us. It is in vain even to bespeak a pair of shoes,- not a man will work; and I imagine
Alexander must be greatly puzzled, when the concourse in
the streets from morning till night shows how many there
are that are doing nothing, and the shops and manufactures
how much has been done.
In the preceding letter to Mrs. Beecroft, Mrs. Barbauld rejoices most sincerely at the universal peace
which then  pervaded  Europe.   She speaks of the
strange feeling it must give to the young, to experience
this new sensation which they could never have previously known.  Here, as everywhere in her writings,




1814.]            PEACE IN EUROPE.                 291
she expressed her great horror of war and its attendant
evils. In the following letter to Mrs. Fletcher, Mrs.
Barbauld is full of excitement on the extraordinary
events which succeeded each other with startling rapidity in France.  And Spain, she writes, — " Spain has
disappointed all our hopes,'Down with the Cortes!
up with the Inquisition!' being the popular cry there."
She thinks that the lesson to be learned from all these
changes and revolutions is, "that the concerns and
destinies of all the world are too high for us; that we
must wait the winding up of the drama, and be satisfied in promoting and enjoying the happiness in our
own little circle." She speaks of the three distinguished
women then in London, who were the objects of great
interest,-  Madame de Stael, Miss Edgeworth, and the
Duchess of Oldenburgh.  "The kings and emperors,"
then in London after the peace, and the rejoicing at the
happy termination of the long struggles, she hopes will
bring Mrs. Fletcher and Miss Fletcher to London.  In
her letter to the same friend, written in August of the
same year, she speaks of the quiet of London after the
close of this crowded season.
To MRS. FLETCHER.
STOKE NEWINGTON, June, 1814.
What do I think of the French! In the first place, it
requires some time before one can think at all, events succeed.




292            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD,          [CHAP. XII,
each other with such astonishing rapidity.  The constitution
held out to the king's acceptance was indeed all one can wish,
-the principles of liberty were carried further than even in
ours, - but you see he has not signed it; and if he had, it
is a jest to talk of a constitution, when three or four foreign
armies are in the kingdom.
France, proud France, gallant France, is a conquered country. I do not think we yet know her real inclinations; convulsed by a revolution, tyrannized over by a despot, and owing
her deliverance to her very enemies, - how she is humbled,
how much she has suffered; but how much she has inflicted!
The French, however, have a better chance for happiness with
the mild imbecility of the Bourbons than with Napoleon.
This was written a week ago; and now Spain — Spain
has disappointed all our hopes: "Down with the Cortes, -
up with the Inquisition! " and, as at Naples some years ago,
the few fine spirits who would have rejoiced in a better order
of things will be consigned to dungeons. I do not know
what we can gather from the contemplation of all these revolutions but this: that the concerns and destinies of all the
world are too high for us; that we must wait the winding
up of the drama, and be satisfied in promoting and enjoying
the happiness of our own little circle....
The three persons who have most engaged the attention of
London societies this year have been women: Miss Edgeworth, Madame de Stael, and now the Duchess of Oldenburgh, who shows, they say, a most rational and unsated curiosity.  But kings and emperors are now appearing on the




s184.]             PEACE IN EUROPE.                    293
stage, and the lesser lights must " pale their ineffectual fires."
Dear madam, will not you and Miss F. come to London to
see all these sights?  You are much mistaken if you think,
as you seem to do, that you shall find us anxiously speculating about the liberties of Europe.  We shall be squeezing to
get a sight of Alexander, and taking tickets for fetes, and
looking at the Prince's fireworks, and criticising the Oldenburgh hat, and picking up anecdotes to shine with in the
next party.  Shall I be equally mistaken, or shall I not,
when I suppose that you in Edinburgh are deep in mathematics and metaphysics with Dugald Stewart?  I want to
know how his work is relished.  I am glad he has spoken a
good word for final causes, the search for which, under the
guidance of judgment and impartiality, certainly assists investigation as truly. as it is the reward of it.
To MRS. FLETCHER.
STOKE NEWINGTON, August, 1814..... What an alteration a few weeks has made in London! If you but crossed the street a month ago, you had a
chance of meeting a prince or an emperor; and now it is
empty beyond the usual emptiness of summer, and everybody you meet has been, or is planning to go, across the
Channel.  I am  sorry to say, that among my female acquaintance the joy of bringing home, cleverly concealed,
shawls, lace, &c., seems to dwell more upon the fancy than
museums of art or new scenes of nature; and truly, some of
the young men seem better able to criticise French cookery




294             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. XII.
than French conversation, or the Venus and Apollo.  Is
there not something strange and rather revolting in speaking
of the French, as most have done for these twenty years
past, with the utmost abhorrence and contempt,- and pouring ourselves over their country the moment it is accessible,
to mix in their parties and bring home their fashions....
We have been full fed with novels lately, and shall be with
poems.  Think of a thick quarto of -'s, entitled FragmeAts, being only a taste of the second part of a poem, which
I suppose he means to give us some time or other. I should
like to supply him with a motto:  " And of the fragments
there were taken up twelve baskets full."
To MRS. ESTLIN.
1814.
My days of travelling are now nearly over; yet I find a
little variety as necessary, perhaps, to relieve the tedium of
life, as once it was to recruit from its toils aind avocations.
I do not know how it is with you at Bristol, but in most
places there has' been lately a migration into France of almost
all who could command money and time.  I was amused
with the contrast between a lively, pleasant-tempered man
and a poco curante.  "How do you like France 1 " said I to
the first.  "I have spent," said he, " seven weeks of uninterrupted happiness."  " How do you like France? " to the
second.  "I have been there because one must go, one is
ashamed not to have been; it is a thing over."  "A lively
nation  ", "Manners quite spoiled, no agreeable company."
"It is possible they may not be partial to the English just




1814.]        WALTER SCOTT IN LONDON.                295
now,-as we have so lately been with fire and sword into their
territory;but the museums. "  "Valuable, to be sure;
but they do not properly belong to Paris."  "The theatres,
sir? "  "Now and then, when Talma acts: but to visit all
their little-paltry theatres, and every evening, as some do,I had rather sit at home in my chamber and read." And so
ended my dialogue with the poco curante.  Not with such
indifference, but with the strong feelings which you who witnessed the destruction of the Bastille can appreciate, Mr.
says he should abhor going to Paris. As to the ladies who
go, they think of nothing but smuggling lace and silk shawls.
In the following letter to Mrs. Estlin, Mrs. Barbauld
herself alludes to meeting the lion of the London season,
Sir Walter Scott; and Miss Aikin also mentions it in a
letter written to her brother.
MY DEAR MRS. ESTLIN, -I have just been reading, as
probably you have also, six close volumes of Miss Seward's
letters, which she informs us was only a twelfth part of her
correspondence in, I think, twenty years. I have also been
reading a letter of the poet M -'s to my brother, in which,
apologizing for his long silence, he says, "I verily believe
that if I had been an antediluvian, I could have let a hundred years pass between every letter, and feel the most violent twinges of conscience every day of that century for my
omission, without their working any reformation in that respect."  Now I look upon myself to be between both these
characters; to which I approximate most, I must leave you
to determine.




296            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. XII.
Everybody has been abroad, this uncommonly fine summer,
but my brother and sister and myself.  I spent one day only
at Hampstead, - where I met Walter Scott, the lion of this
London season, - and one day at Chigwell.  The road to
Chigwell is through a part of Hainault Forest; and we stopped
to look at Fairlop oak, one of the largest in England; a complete ruin, but a noble ruin, which it is -impossible to see
without thinking of Cowper's beautiful line, "Who lived
when thou wast such."  The immovable rocks and mountains present us rather with an idea of eternity than of long
life. There they are, and there they have been before the
birth of nations.  The tops of the everlasting hills have
been seen covered with snow from the earliest records of
time. But a tree, that has life and growth like ourselves,
that, like ourselves, was once small and feeble, that certainly
some time began to be,- to see it attain a size so enormous,
and in its bulk and its slow decay bear record of the generations it has outlived, — this brings our comparative feebleness strongly in view.  " Man passeth away, and where is
he  " while " the oak of our fathers " will be the oak of their
children, and their children.
In Miss Aikin's letter to her brother Edmund, in
1815, she tells him  of a dinner at the Carrs' in Hampstead, when her aunt and their family were invited to
meet Scott.  "Nothing could persuade my father to go,
so my aunt said she would take me instead, and I had
not the grace to say no. A charming day we had. I
did not, indeed, see much of the great lion; for we




1815.]          THE BLESSING OF PEACE.               297
were fourteen at dinner, of whom about half were constantly talking, and neither at table nor after was I
very near him; but he was delighted to see my aunt,
and paid her great attention, which I was very glad of.
He told her that the'Tramp, tramp,''Splash, splash'
of Taylor's'Lenora' which she had carried into Scotland
many years ago, was what made him  a poet."  This
interesting anecdote, which Mrs. Barbauld's modesty
naturally prevented her telling her correspondent, pleasantly connects her with the "Wizard of the North" as
an inspiration and a friend.
STOKE NEWINGTON, January, 1815.
MY DEAR MRS. BEECROFT, - Thanks for your kind letter,
and for the finest turkey I ever saw, which arrived without
accident, and fulfilled the end of its being- its fattening, at
least -last Tuesday amid the commendations of the whole
party.  I cannot tell where the spirit went; but I hope it is
animating some other vehicle, and rising by degrees in the
scale of existence, till perhaps it may come at length (who
knows) to eat turkeys itself.
I give you joy of the Peace.  It ought to last at least for
this next twenty years; for though I am  afraid war and
peace must always take their turns, like day and night in
the natural world, I think War ought to be satisfied, as the
other dark and unlovely power is, with share and share alike.
The two striking features of the present times in Britain are
religion and charity; and I should think they are both of
them well inclined to pacific measures.
13*




298            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD         [CHAP. XII.
-In-thisletter Mrs. Barbauld again alludes to the happy
event which had filled the minds of people,   Peace;
and she thinks it should last long to compensate for
the terrible times which had passed. In Mrs. Barbauld's
letter of 1814 to Mrs. Estlin, she speaks of the people
who rushed over to France at the opening of that
country, which war had long closed to the English, and
tells her of the smuggling done by the ladies, who think
of nothing but running in silks and satins; while some
of the men who go over seem to have very little taste
or enjoyment of the country. She mentions one gentleman, who told her he had "rather sit at home in his
chamber and read" than visit the French theatres.
And he found fault in the same strain with everything
French.  In the following letter of condolence with
Mrs. Fletcher on the loss of her daughter, one sees the
tender feeling and warm sympathy which came directly
from  the amiable writer's heart.  Her friends always
found her full of interest and thought for them in the
joyful and sad events in which all must have their
share.
April, 1817.
DEAR MADAM, - It has been the impulse of my heart to
write to you, and yet I hardly know how. mWhat can I say?
How can I express the shock this awful, this most affecting
event has given me, has given all of us! How are the fairest hopes destroyed! How  are the dearest ties severed!
When was the uncertainty of life and all its hopes exempli



1817.]     MRS. FARRAR'S "RECOLLECTIONS."            299
fled in a more solemn manner! Dear Grace! I had hoped
myself some time, perhaps this summer, to see more of her, 
to see her open the stores of her mind, - to see the modest
flower expand and show all its lustre; but it is shut up
forever here, to blow, I trust, in a happier climate. Young
as she was, she has seen, perhaps, the best of life. Like
Young's Narcissa, " She sparkled, was exhaled, and went to
heaven."  No long sickness to wear the mind as well as
body; none of the decays incident to a more advanced
period; she leaves life, it is true, in all its freshness, but
without having tasted its cares or sorrows.
And is it nothing to have raised and cultured such a mind?
Is she not fitter for another state, with higher powers, than
many a one who has passed sixty years of a drowsy existence! May we not presume that- like a forward schoolboy,
who has run rapidly through his classes and left the school,
while others of his own age and standing are still drudging
on -she will step into a higher form  with more advantages? O but, I think I hear you say, the mother's heart
must bleed.  It must; I know  it.  God comfort you, my
dear Mrs. F., and Mr. F., and all your family. Your mind
will turn, I know it will, to the promising children you still
have.  One jewel has fallen from your maternal crown, but
many remain; you are still rich.  May God enable you to
bear what he has laid upon you!
In Mrs. Farrar's " Recollections of Seventy Years" she
mentions Mrs. Barbauld, and says that her mother
made her acquaintance while she was writing' "for




300           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. XII,
the benefit of her little nephew, Charles Aikin, those
hymns and lessons which have since delighted so
many children both in the Old and New World."
She adds that this acquaintance was kept up: "I remember sitting on Mrs. Barbauld's lap and her asking
me if I could read, and what book I was then reading;
I answered'Barbauld's Lessons,' quite unconscious that
I was sitting in the lap of their author.  She then said' I suppose you study geography, and can tell me what
ocean is between England and America?'" Mrs. Farrar
adds that, her mother having relatives in America to
whom  she wrote often, she was able to answer this
question; but fearing that the next might be more
difficult, she slid down from the perch, where she was
very comfortable, and ran off.  She says, "I often met
her after I was grown up, and remember her as a sweetlooking, lively old lady, wearing her gray hair, which
was then uncommon, reading aloud to a circle of young
people on a rainy morning in the country. She read
well; the book was'Guy Mannering,' then just published."  Mrs. Barbauld then made them all draw their
impressions of the witch, and kept that d6ne by Mrs.
Farrar's sister.  "The kind old lady " and her pleasant
manners made much of an impression on the youthful
mind of Mrs. Farrar, who long after recalled with pleasure her venerable friend.
Mr. Robinson, in the diary for 1816, writes of Febru



1817.]          HER OPINION OF BYRON.              301
ary 11, "I walked to Newington and dined with Mrs.
Barbauld and Miss Finch; Miss Hammond and Charles
Aikin were there. As usual, we were very comfortable;
Mrs. Barbauld can keep up a lively argumentative
conversation as well as any one I know, and at an
advanced age (she is turned seventy) she is certainly
the best specimen of female Presbyterian society in
the country. - N. B. Anthony Robinson requested me
to inquire whether she thought the doctrine of Universal Restoration scriptural.  She said she thought we
must bring to the interpretation of the Scriptures a
very liberal notion of the beneficence of the Deity to
find the doctrine there."
In July of the same year, Mr. Robinson wrote of
taking tea and playing chess with Mrs. Barbauld. In the
diary of May 26, 1817, he made the following entry: 
"After dining with the Colliers I walked to Newington,
and took tea with Mrs. Barbauld.  I found that Dr.
Aikin had been very seriously ill.  Mrs. Barbauld
herself retains her health and faculties, and is an interesting instance of a respected and happy old age.  I
played chess with her, and then went to Becher's late."
In 1818 he writes, "Mrs. Barbauld speaks contemptuously of Lord Byron's new poem (' Beppo'), as being
without poetry and in horrible versification. It may
be so."  Many of Mrs. Barbauld's sentiments regarding
her contemporaries are worthy of note.  She said in




302            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. XII.
one letter, of Lord Byron, that he "filled a leaf in the
book of fame, but it is a very blotted leaf."   Rogers
says that she told him "she thought Byron wrote best
when he wrote about the sea or swimming."  Curiously
enough, William  Howitt charges Byron with plagiarizing from her this figure, which is really Shakespeare's,"The earth hath bubbles as the water hath,
And this is of them."
In Mrs. Barbauld's poem, "Washing-Day," the same
idea had been conceived by her," Earth, air, and sky, and ocean hath its bubbles,
And verse is one of them, -this most of all."
In a letter of Miss Edgeworth's to Mrs. Edgeworth,
written October, 1818, she says, "We went to see Mrs.
Barbauld at Stoke Newington.  We waited some time
before she appeared, and I had leisure to recollect
everything that could make me melancholy,   the very
sofa where you and my father sat.  I was quite undone
before she came in, but forced to get through it. She
was gratified by our visit, and very kind and agreeable."
In the following letter to Mrs. Beecroft, Mrs. Barbauld
is full of enthusiasm for America and its future; and
after speaking of the ever new and interesting phases
presented by a study of history to the thinker of
enlarged and liberal views, she says, " What is the whole
field of ancient history, which knew no sea but the
Mediterranean, to the vast continent of America, with
its fresh and opening glories?"




1818.]          PROSPECTS OF AMERICA.                303
STOKE NEWINGTON, November 14, 1818.
Our tourists are mostly now returned.  Such numbers
have resided more or less abroad, that I cannot help thinking
the intercourse must influence in some degree the national
manners, which I find by Madame de Stael are not yet to
the taste of our neighbors. They allow us to be respectable,
but they plainly intimate they do not think us amiable.
When I read such censures, I cannot help saying in my
mind to the author: I wish you knew such a one, and
such a one, of my acquaintance; I am  sure you could not
but love them. Yet, after all, I fear we must acknowledge
something about us dry, cold, and reserved; more afraid of
censure than gratified by notice; very capable of steadiness
in important pursuits, but not happy in filling up the pauses
and intervals of life with ingenious trifles, and spontaneous,
social hilarity.....
It seems to me that there is more room for authors in history than in any other department. It is continually growing.  It is like a tree, the dead leaves and branches of which
are continually pruned and cleared away, and fresh green
shoots arising.  How much less interesting since the French
Revolution are the glories and conquests of Louis XIV.!
What is the whole field of ancient history, which knew no
sea but the Mediterranean, to the vast continent of America,
with its fresh and opening glories! Will they be wise by
our experience, peaceable, moderate, virtuous? ~No: they
will be learned by our learning, but not wise by our experience. Each country, as each man, must buy his own experience.




304            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. XII.
To MRS. TAYLOR.
STOKE NEWINGTON, December 8, 1818.
I will write, now my dear friend is better, is recovering,
is, I hope, in a fair way to be soon quite well, and all herself
again; and she will accept, and so will Mr. T. and Mrs. R.,
my warmest congratulations. To tell you how anxious we
have been, would, I trust, be superfluous, or how much joy
we have felt in being relieved from that anxiety. It is pleasant to have some one to share pleasure with; and though I
could have had that satisfaction in a degree with every one
who knows you, it is more particularly agreeable to me at
this time to have your dear Sarah to sympathize with and
talk to about you.  Among other things, we say that you
must not let mind wear out body, which I suspect you are a
little inclined to do. Mind is often very hard upon his
humble yokefellow, sometimes speaking contemptuously of
her, as being of a low, mean family, in comparison with
himself; often abridging her food or natural rest for his
whims.  Many a headache has he given her, when, but
for him, she would be quietly resting in her bed. Sometimes he fancies that she hangs as a dead weight upon
him, and impedes all his motions; yet it is well known
that, though he gives himself such airs of superiority, he can
in fact do nothing without her; and since, however they
came together, they are united for better for worse, it is for
his interest as well as hers that she should be nursed and
cherished and taken care of. - And so ends my sermon.
In  the year 1819, Mrs. Barbauld lost one of her




1819.]             CORRESPONDENCE.                 305
earliest and most intimate friends, Mrs. Kenrick, to
whom several of her letters in these pages were addressed.
Miss Aikin, in writing about this time, says, " We are
all quite well here; my aunt Barbauld hears as quick
as ever."  And in writing Mrs. Taylor of Norwich in
the same year, 1819, she says, "My aunt Barbauld,
though complaining a little occasionally, has continued
to make many visits, and enjoy, I think, a great deal of
pleasure this summer."  In the following letter to Mrs.
Fletcher of Edinburgh, her old friend, Mrs. Barbauld
writes of making visits, and the pleasure of travelling
in a post-chaise with agreeable companions, when "you
may sulk in a corner if you choose; nay, you may sleep
without offence," and "you talk, and yet you are not
bound to talk."
STOKE NEWINGTON, September, 1819.
How good you are to me, my dear Mrs. F., and how kind
and how cheering are your expressions of regard! I will
not tell you how much you have made me love you by your
late visit. Your kindness, your frankness, the interest you
have made me take in your family, the thought how much
your own feelings have been tried, have made me look on
you with mingled reverence and affection. I hope the Misses
F.'s visit to London will have made sufficiently favorable
impressions to induce them sometimes to repeat it; and yet
I fancy I hear them saying that, after all, this great overgrown mass of buildings, these pushing, bustling, crowded
streets, this hubbub and hum  of the busy hive, that
T




306             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. XII.
poverty and crime which form the background of the gay
picture, are not so attractive as their own Edinburgh, with
its picturesque site, - the singularity of the Old, the splendor of the New town,- with the remembrances that attach
(softened by being only remembrances) to the decayed palace
and the closed doors of the halls of legislation, with taste
and the spirit of inquiry emanating from the seat of literature
and spreading its influence over society, and with all the
romantic stories attached to glen and brook and heath, impressed with the still recent footsteps of a wild and hardy
race, but lately brought within the pale of civilized society,stories the treasure-house of the poet and the novelist. And
if they do make this preference, I have not much to say
against it, provided you keep your Edinburgh as it is, and do
not imitate us too much.
Our weather is still pleasant. I am going to spend two or
three days at, Mr. and Miss B. and myself in a postchaise. An agreeable companion in a post-chaise - though I
would not advertise for one - is certainly an agreeable thing.
You talk, and yet you are not bound to talk; and if the
conversation drops, you may pick it up again at every brook
or village, or seat you pass, - "What's o'clock?" and
"How's the wind 1"  "Whose chariot's that we left behind  "  You may sulk in a corner if you will; nay, you
may sleep without offence.
In the following letter to Mrs. Estlin, congratulating
her on the happy marriage of her son, she feelingly
alludes to the loss of Mrs. Kenrick; and though in



1819.]               CORRESPONDENCE.                   307
firmities had made life less desirable to her, yet she is
sensible of the blow to herself in the departure of her
old and valued friend.
MY DEAR MRS. ESTLIN,- I was just going to write to
you when I received your kind letter, for I had heard of
your son's marriage, and wished to congratulate you on the
event; but I do it with much more pleasure now  that I
learn from your letter the full satisfaction and pleasure that
you feel in the match.  You are fortunate, my dear friend,
in having so excellent and well principled a son; fortunate
in having him  married agreeably to your wishes; and very
fortunate in having him and your other children within a
walk of your door or within it.
We are all pretty much as usual; for myself, indeed, I am
sensible I grow weaker both in mind and body, and I am
sensible it is natural and right it should be so. How many
friends have I survived!  A very dear one Mrs. Kenrick
was. I had no prospect, indeed, of ever seeing her again,
nor, with the privations she suffered, (of which her almost
total deafness was the severest) could I wish her to live;
yet there is a melancholy in the thought, Gone forever! which
no other separation can inspire. But why do I write in this
strain to you, when I write on purpose to congratulate you
on a wedding. How  soon children become, from  playthings, subjects of education; then objects of anxiety for
their settling in the world; and then, very often; are transplanted wide away from their parents' home, -  perhaps to
America.  The more particularly fortunate you: so I began,
and so I conclude.




308            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.       [CHAP. XII.
In Mr. Robinson's diary the entry for January 21,
1821, is as follows: —" I called on the Colliers, and then
went to Mrs. Barbauld's. She was in good spirits, but
she is now the confirmed old lady.  Independently of
her fine understanding and literary reputation, she would
be interesting. Her white locks, fair and unwrinkled
skin, brilliant starched linen, and rich silk gown, make
her a fit subject for a painter.  Her conversation is
lively, her remarks judicious and always pertinent."
In July of the same year he writes, " I went to Mrs.
Barbauld's, where I was soon joined by Charles and
Mary Lamb.  This was a meeting I had brought about
to gratify mutual curiosity.  The Lambs are pleased
with Mrs. Barbauld, and therefore it is highly probable
that they have pleased her. Mrs. C. Aikin was there,
and Miss Lawrence.  Lamb was chatty, and suited his
conversation to his company, except that, speaking of
Gilbert Wakefield, he said he had a peevish face. When
he was told Mrs. Aikin was Gilbert Wakefield's daughter,
he was vexed, but got out of the scrape tolerably well.
I walked with the Lambs by the turnpike, and then
came home."
STOKE NEWINGTON, October, 1822.
MY DEAR MRS. CARa,-I think I never was so long
without seeing you since we were acquainted. May I hope
that it will not be much longer. I want to know of the
health and welfare of every individual of you....  My




1822.]          VISIT OF DR. CHANNING.                 309
love to your young ladies; tell them  I am  sorry they must
wait to be married till Parliament meets again; but everybody says it is the most difficult thing in the world.  Dr., indeed, has accomplished it, in spite of obstacles; but
he is a man of energy and perseverance.  Englishmen are
said to love their laws; that is the reason, I suppose, they
give us so many of them, and in different editions.
Dr. Channing, in writing to Mrs. Kinder of London,
in 1823, after his return to America, says of Mrs. Barbauld, whom  he had called on with Mrs. Kinder in
1822, "I recollect with much pleasure the visit which
we paid with you to Mrs. Barbauld.  It is rare to meet
with such sensibility, mildness, and, I may say, sweetness, united with the venerableness of old age; and
I was particularly gratified with seeing, in a woman so
justly distinguished, such entire absence of the consciousness of authorship. I trust that she is still living,
for her life seemed to me a blessing, both to herself
and her friends; and if so, I beg you to assure her of
our affectionate and very respectful remembrances."
In December of 1822, her brother, Dr. John Aikin, the
beloved companion of her early years, and the object
of her deepest affection through a long life, died, after
a long and tedious illness, which somewhat reconciled
his family and friends to his loss.
In the following letter Mrs. Barbauld asks, " What
does life offer at past eighty  (at which venerable age




310            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.       [CHAP. XII.
I arrived one day last June)? And I believe you will
allow that there is not much of new, of animating, of
inviting, to be met with after that age."  With all the
disabilities and the failing strength of the long years
which bring in their train so many infirmities to all, she
was very cheerful; and her last years were passed amidst
an affectionate family circle, while she was the beloved
object of solicitude to many friends.  Her brother's
family and his son Charles -her adopted son, " the little
Charles" for whom  she wrote the "Early Lessons,"
and whose early years called forth so much affection
and thought froit her- united in devoted care and attention to her. Friends and kindness she did not lack,
though a long life naturally left her in her declining
years somewhat lonely, as most of her earlier companions
were taken from her by death. In 1823 she lost another
very dear friend, Mrs. John Taylor of Norwich.  This
lady was endeared to her by long intimacy and great
excellence of character. She was never very near her
for any length of time, but visits exchanged, and a
correspondence, kept up a very close friendship. In a
letter to one of Mrs. Taylor's daughters, Mrs. Barbauld
spoke truly and affectionately of her character and
amiable traits.  She says, "Receive the assurance of
my most affectionate sympathy in those feelings with
which you must be now contemplating the loss of that
dear woman, so long the object of your respect and




1823.]              CORRESPONDENCE.                  311
affection; nor, indeed, yours only, but of all who knew
her.  A  prominent part of those feelings,,however,
must be, that the dear object of them is released from
suffering, has finished her task and entered upon her
reward..        Never will she be forgotten by those
who knew  her! Her strong sense, her feeling, her
energy, her principle, her patriotic feelings, her piety,
rational yet ardent, - all these mark a character of no
common sort.  When to these are added those of relation or friend, the feeling must be such as no course of
years can efface."
LETTER TO -.
STOKE NEWINGTON, October 25, 1823.... The enigma you do me the honor to ask for will
accompany this.  But I have first to find it; for though I
have looked a good deal, I have not yet been able to lay my
hands on it. I beg to make proviso that if I should want
myself to insert it in any publication, I may be at liberty to
do it. Though, truly, that is not very likely; for well do I
feel one faculty after another withdrawing, and the shades of
evening closing fast around me; and be it so! What does
life offer at past eighty (at which venerable age I arrived one
day last June). And I believe you will allow that there is
not much of new, of animating, of inviting, to be met with
after that age.  For my own part, I only find that many
things I knew, I have forgotten; many things I thought I
knew, I find I know nothing about; some things I know, I




312             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. XII.
have found not worth'knowing; and some things I would
give -0 what would one not give —to know are beyond the
reach of human ken.  Well, I believe this is what may be
called prosing, and you can make much better use of your
time than to read it.
I saw yesterday two boys, modern Greeks, in the costume
of their country, introduced by Mr. Bowring, who has the
charge of them, -" Du  Grec, - ab, mae soeur, du Grec; ils
parlent clu Grec/"  I have been reading one or two American novels lately. They are very well, but I do not wish
them to write novels yet. Let them  explore and describe
their new country   let them  record the actions of their
Washington, the purest character, perhaps, that history has
to boast of; let them enjoy their free, their unexpensive,
government, number their rising towns, and boast that Perse-.
cution does not set her bloody foot in any corner of their
extensive territories. Then let them kindle into poetry; but
not yet - not till the more delicate shades and nicer delineations of life are familiar to them - let them  descend to
novels.  But, tempted by writing to you, I am running on
till my eyes are tired, and perhaps you too.  Compliments
to Mrs.  -, and all your family.  If I find the riddle, I
will send it to you; meantime I am, with the truest esteem
and friendship,
Your affectionate friend.
Mrs. Barbauld was well aware of the decline of
strength and the fast approaching close to her life.
She plainly saw her own increased feebleness and the




1824.]                 OLD AGE.                     313
want of energy which overcame her.  Without repining or complaints she cheerfully awaited the cay of
release.  In the following letter to Mrs. Estlin, she
speaks of having " arrived at a period when life has
no more to give, and every year takes away from the
powers both of mind and body."
STOKE NEWINGTON, January, 1824.
MY DEAR MRS. ESTLIN, - I will not say I was not disappointed in being obliged to give up the hope of seeing you
this year; but you know best the time that suits you, and I
dare say have done what is right and proper.  With regard
to myself, I do not reckon much upon any enjoyment that
has months between it and me.  I am arrived at a period
when life has no more to give, and every year takes away
from the powers both of body and mind; when the great
tendency is to inaction and rest, and when all subjects of
thankfulness or congratulation must be, not how much you
enjoy, but how little you suffer.  Then the powers of man
strive - how vainly - to penetrate the veil, to pierce the
thick darkness that covers the future; life seems of no value
but for what lies beyond it, and even our views of the future are perhaps cheerful or gloomy according to the weather
or our nerves.
STOKE NEWINGTON, February, 1824.
MY DEAR MRS. BEECROFT, - The state of my eyes - which
have been very weak of late, and are giving me a hint that
they have served me nearly long enough - has hindered me
for some time from answering your kind letter.  Long may
14




314            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. XII.
you enjoy that activity and flow of spirits which makes life
indeed a blessing; and which by conversation, by the very
look of a happy and social spirit, communicates pleasure to
all within its influence. But, you will say, a social spirit
often leads one to mourn.  It is very true; we are just now
sympathizing with.... But what is all this to you. will
you say; these are not your acquaintance or connections.
Why, that is very true; but I have so long been accustomed
to see you take part with ready and affectionate sympathy in
the habits, connections, and trains of ideas of your friends,
that I am always apt to suppose that where I am  intimate
you cannot be a stranger, and that where I am interested
you cannot be indifferent. I heard a lady say once, that she
should not at all care or interest herself about anything
which might happen to her friends or relations when she was
out of the world, —I mean, if she were to know it now.
How unnatural! I need not tell you/,I think, that she was
not a parent.  Nor do I like those metaphysical moralists,
who, by a refinement of subtle investigation, assert that
our anxiety for our friends proceeds only from  a wish
to avoid, for ourselves, the pain we are conscious we should
feel whenever they suffer.  Miserable evasions of Nature's
best feelings!
In iMr. Robinson's diary he writes of November 4,
1824, "Walked to Newington; Mrs. Barbaulc was going out, but she stayed a short time with me.  The old
lady is much shrunk in appearance and is declining




1824.]                  OLD AGE.                      315
in strength.  She is but the shade of her former self,
but a venerable shade.  She is eighty-one years old,
but she retains her cheerfulness, and, seems not afraid
of death.  She has a serene hope and quiet faith,delightful qualities at all times, and in old age peculiarly enviable."  In Mr. Robinson's reminiscences of
past years there is one written in a letter to his brother
in 1852, in which he speaks of "the spirit of Mrs.
Barbauld's  famous essay," that on  "Inconsistency."
And in another letter, a few  days later, to the same
person, he says of an incident, " This reminds me of
my leave-taking  of Mrs. Barbauld  on  my going to
France, anno 182-.  She was suffering from  a severe
cold with a cough.'I hope I shall find you better on
my return.''Why so?''That seems a foolish question;
health is better than sickness.''Not always; I do not
wish to be better.  But don't mistake me, I am not at
all impatient, but quite ready.'  She died a few weeks
after my leave-taking.   It was her brother who wrote
the couplet she might have written, and which I make
no apology for repeating as a pious wish:-' From the banquet of Life rise a satisfied guest,
Thank the Lord of the Feast, and in hope go to rest.'"
STOKE NEWINGTON, November 23, 1824.
It is so long since I heard of you or yours, that I begin to
be impatient, and moreover I am disappointed; for you cer



316            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.          [CHAP. XII.
tainly did flatter me some time ago with the idea that I
should see you here before this summer was endcle. And
now, while I had hardly finished my sentence, your kind
letter arrives.  Let me beg of you to give up your reasons
against paying me a visit before this year is concluded.
Think of my age, and come to me while my eyes serve me
to look on your countenance, and my ears can catch your
words, and my heart can be exhilarated by the conversation
of a friend.
I think  nothing  flourishes more in Newington  than
schools.  We have several set up lately, besides charityschools, of which so many have been established that I
should imagine there is not an individual among the lower
order who cannot get his son instructed, if he really desires it.
We have some little Greek boys here, who, in their national
costume, are great objects of curiosity. They are protected
by Mr. Bowring.  By the way, are you not sorry Lord
Byron is dead, just when he was going to be a hero.  He
has filled a leaf in the book of fame, but it is a very blotted
leaf.
It is amazing how building increases everywhere near
London, though, as I said, my neighbors decrease.  This is
the necessary lot of age.  One of our ministers prays that
when we come to die we may have nothing to do but die.
In one sense the petition is rational; but if it means nothing to do for ourselves, nothing to do for others, nothing
to do in any of the useful stations of life,- the languor and
privations, if not the sufferings, of age, more than balancing




1824.]                OLD AGE.                     317
its few enjoyments, - then, truly, I do not think the blessing
is much to be prayed for. I am rather getting into a melancholy vein, and I ought not, for I have much to be thankful for, and shall have more when your next letter comes to
tell me, as I hope it will, such a day, such an hour, I have
taken my place for London, thence to proceed to Newington,
where you will be sincerely welcomed by, dear Mrs. Estlin,
your affectionate friend.
Mrs. Barbauld suffered from an asthmatic complaint
for some time before her death, and it greatly limited
her activity, though her excellent constitution for a
long time resisted the disease.  But finally she died
rather suddenly, after a few days of severe illness. She
had consented, in view of her weak state of health, to
become an inmate of her adopted son Charles's family,
though it was hard for her to leave her own old home,
endeared to her by many associations, for aly other.
She paid a visit to her sister-in-law, Mrs. John Aikin,
previous to leaving Newington for her nephew's house
in London; and while with her the illness suddenly'
manifested itself which terminated her life. She calmly
and quietly expired, March 9, 1825, in the eighty-second
year of her age.
Miss Aikin says very well and truly of her aunt,
"To claim for this distinguished woman the praise of
purity and elevation of mind may well appear superfluous. Her education and connections, the course of her




318            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.         [CHAP. XII.
life, the whole tenor of her writings, bear abundant
testimony to this part of her character.  It is a higher,
or at least a rarer, commendation, to add, that no one
ever better loved'a sister's praise,' even that of such
sisters as might have been peculiarly regarded in the
light of rivals.  She was acquainted with almost all the
principal female writers of the time; and there was
not one of the' number whom she failed frequently to
mention in terms of admiration, esteem, or affection,
whether in conversation, in letters to her friends, or in
print.  To humbler aspirants in the career of letters,
who applied to her for advice or assistance, she was
invariably courteous, and in many instances essentially
serviceable.  The sight of youth and beauty was peculiarly gratifying to her fancy and her feelings; and
children and young persons, especially females, were
accordingly large sharers in her benevolence. She loved
their society, and would often invite them  to pass
weeks or months in her house, when she spared no
pains to amuse and instruct them; and she seldom
failed, after they had quitted her, to recall herself from
time to time to their recollection, by affectionate and
playful letters  or welcome  presents.   She  passed
through a long life without having dropped, it is believed, a single friendship, and without having drawn.
upon herself a single enmity which could properly be
called personal." This is just and not partial praise,




1825.]                   DEATH.                    319
dictated by the writer's connection with Mrs. Barbauld.
It appears to be a plain statement of facts, and amply
borne out by her own writings, her letters, and the
testimony of her other contemporaries.
The praise of one "sister" and friend is worthy
attention here. Miss Edgeworth, in a letter written
March 15, 1825, says, "You have probably seen in the
papers the death of our admirable friend, Mrs. Barbauld.
I have copied for you her last letter to me, and some
beautiful lines written in her eightieth year. There is
a melancholy elegance and force of thought in both.
Elegance and strength —qualities rarely uniting without injury to each other - combined most perfectly in
her style, and this rare combination, added to their
classical purity, forms, perhaps, the distinguishing characteristics of her writings.  England has lost a great
writer, and we a most sincere friend."  In the year
1840, Mrs. Barbauld's adopted son and nephew, Charles
Rochemont Aikin, placed a tablet in the Newington
Green Chapel.  This tablet is of white marble, of a
simple form, laid on a black ground; and the monument is placed on the wall opposite another, which was
erected to the memory of Samuel Pogers, the poet, who
for many years was a trustee of the Chapel.  A tablet
to Dr. Price's memory also has a plabe in the edifice.
The inscription which I copy is from the pen of Mrs.
Barbauld's eldest nephew, Arthur Aikin, Esq., Secretary




320             LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.            [CHAP. XII.
to the Society of Arts, Adelphi, for many years.  It
must be admired for its simplicity, its truth, and the
point and elegance of the language. The inscription is
as follows: 
IN MEMORY OF
ANNA L.ETITIA BARBAULD,
DAUGHTER OF JOHN AIKIN, D. D,
AND WIFE OF THE REVD. ROCHEMONT BARBAULD,
FORMERLY THE RESPECTED MINISTER OF THIS CONGREGATION.
SHE WAS BORN AT KIBWORTH IN LEICESTERSHIRE, 20TH OF JUNE, 1743,
AND DIED AT STOKE NEWINGTON, 9TI MARCH, 1825.
ENDOWED BY THE GIVER OF ALL GOOD
WITH WIT, GENIUS, POETIC TALENT, AND A VIGOROUS UNDERSTANDING,
SHE EMPLOYED THOSE HIGH GIFTS
IN PROMOTING THE CAUSE OF HUMANITY, PEACE, AND JUSTICE,
OF CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY,
OF PURE, ARDENT, AND AFFECTIONATE DEVOTION.
LET THE YOUNG, NURTURED RY HER WRITINGS, IN THE PURE SPIRIT
OF CHRISTIAN MORALITY,
LET THOSE OF MATURE YEARS CAPABLE OF APPRECIATING
THE ACUTENESS, THE BRILLIANT FANCY, AND SOUND REASONING
OF HER LITERARY COMPOSITIONS,
LET THE SURVIVING FEW WHO SHARED
HER DELIGHTFUL AND INSTRUCTIVE CONVERSATION,
BEAR WITNESS THAT THIS MONUMENT RECORDS
NO EXAGGERATED PRAISE.
In conversation with Mr. James Martineau recently,
he spoke to the writer very affectionately of Mrs. Barbauld and her charm of manner, her kindly' nature, and
her interest in the young.  This eminent man received
what may be termed an inherited friendship from  Mrs.




1825.]       A GROUP OF HER FRIENDS.            321
Barbauld, who, to the last, was peculiar in her ability
and power to interest herself in the rising generation,
and in that way kept up her own freshness of thought
and vivacity. Once he called on her in the little, oldfashioned house where she lived, in Newington, and
found with her two gentlemen who had risen to take
leave. After a few affectionate parting words, they
went, saying, as they handed her a package, "Well, we
will leave these with you, as you can make them useful."
When they had gone, she turned to Mr. Martineau,
then fresh from his academic studies, and asked if he
knew who these gentlemen were.  Then she told him
one was Samuel Rogers, the poet; the other, Sir James
Mackintosh.  The package she gave him, saying it
would interest him, and her eyes were too sensitive for her
to read much, and especially Greek characters. On opening it, he found it consisted of a number of Greek newspapers, sent by Lord Byron from Greece, and containing
some description of the struggle there, into the midst
of which he had thrown himself with so much impetuosity and zeal, costing him his life in the same year,
1824.  One cannot help thinking with interest of that
little group, - the aged poet, Mrs. Barbauld, Mr. Rogers,
Sir James Mackintosh, and the young man, - now one
of the "great, half-recognized philosophers of the day,"
as the Spectator lately termed him, - the Rev. James
Martineau. That brilliant thinker, philosophical and
14                          u




322            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. XII.
finely cultivated writer and talker, Sir James Mackintosh, said of the *essay "On Inconsistency in Our
Expectations," that he considered it the finest in the
language for the depth of thought, clearness of the
reasoning, and perfect finish of style which Mrs. Barbauld displayed in its composition.  He was a warm
friend and sincere admirer of Mrs. Barbauld for many
years.
In Mr. Robinson's Diary for 1825, he writes: "This
morning I read to the young folks Mrs. Barbauld's'Legacy.' This delightful book has in it some of the
sweetest things I ever read.'The King in his Castle,'
and'True Magicians' are perfect allegories in Mrs. Barbauld's best style. Some didactic pieces are also delightful."  This "Legacy," of which he speaks, was
printed several months after Mrs. Barbauld's death, and
intended particularly for the young.  Several of the
allegories and tales will be found among the "Selections" from  her works given at the close of the volume; "True Magicians" being placed first, as it was
in the original volume.
In Mr. Rogers's "Reminiscences" he says of Mrs.
Barbauld, that, "strangely enough, in spite of her correct taste, Mrs. Barbauld was quite fascinated by Darwin's Botanic Garden, when it first appeared, and
talked of it with rapture; for which I scolded her
quite heartily."  Rogers would not have thought her




1825.]            LITERARY FANCIES.               323
admiration so odd, had he known that Cowper even
was fascinated by the "Botanic Garden," and addressed some complimentary verses to Dr. Darwin,
written in connection with Hayley, his friend, and
afterwards his biographer.  Wordsworth  once said,
"Darwin had not an atom  of feeling; he was a mere
eye-voluptuary.  He has so many similes, all beginning with'so,' that I used to call the'Botanic Garden'
so-so poetry."  Miss Aikin says that Mrs. Barbauld
criticised "Lalla Rookh" somewhat.  "As my aunt
Barbauld says," she writes, "'t is my flower-dish, sweet
and gay, and tastefully arranged, but the flowers do not
grow there; they are picked up with pains here and
there."  Mrs. Barbauld was extremely simple in her
taste, and preferred classical purity and natural description to the novel and startling.  When Byron published his " Bride of Abydos," she wrote to Mrs. Estlin,
" I cannot see any advantage in calling a nightingale
bulbul, or a rose gul, except to disconcert plain English
readers."  In 1818, Mr. Robinson says, "Mrs. Barbauld
speaks contemptuously of Lord Byron's new  poem,
[' Beppo'] as being without poetry, and in horrible versification.  It may be so."  This was on an occasion
when he dined with her, and found a number of people
there, and saw young Mr. Roscoe, who was calling on
her.  The conversation turned on Byron's new poem,
which he had been reading as he walked,-a habit of
Mir. Robinson's.




324           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. XII.
Lord Brougham, in one of his speeches, made an
eloquent tribute to Mrs. Barbauld's memory.  In his
"Discourse on the Objects, Advantages, and Pleasures
of Science," he writes: " Children's books have at all
times been made upon the pernicious plan of exciting
wonder, generally terror, at whatever risk.  The folly
and misery occasioned by this error it would be difficult
to estimate.  The time may come when it will be felt
and understood.  At present, the inveterate habits of
parents and nurses prevent the children from benefiting
by the excellent lessons of Mrs. Barbauld and Miss
Edgeworth."
In one place we find Mrs. Barbauld's hymns spoken
of as follows: - "In devotional poetry she never has
been, and probably never will be, excelled."  And the
writer then praises very highly the "Address to the
Deity," and "A  Summer Evening's Meditation," as
very elevated in sentiment and feeling. In a charming
review  by W. O. B. Peabody of Miss Aikin's edition
of her aunt's works, he says of Mrs. Barbauld: "Endowed with a mind masculine in its grasp, and no less
fitted to be the communicant than the recipient of
knowledge, she devoted, through an unusually  long
life, every faculty of her soul to the most hallowed
purposes.  Whether we look at her as a poetess inculcating moral lessons in harmonious strains; as an
essayist, seldom beneath, and not unfrequently equal to,




1825.]         VISIT TO HANNAH MORE.              325
our most classical writers; as a theologian, the powerful and consistent supporter of its tolerant and reasonable side; or as a politician denouncing despotism
and advocating a wise and philosophic freedom, - we
confess we know not in which character to admire her
most."
Mrs. Barbauld's poems are characterized by her easy
versification, -the smooth and polished style, which
leads the reader from thought to thought without startling the mind, -  and their influence is elevating and
pleasing. Her high tone of thought, pure and deep sentiment, her powers of description and imagination of things
seen, and aspirations towards the unknown, the beautiful, and the grand, are her peculiar charms as a poet.
Mrs. Barbauld's poetry places her among the writers
of that English school which has for its head Cowper, 
named as "the most popular poet of his generation"
by Southey, —the school of descriptive, didactic, and
picturesque versification.  The writers of this style of
poetry are distinguished for their high tone, religious
feeling, and love of the beautiful and true in nature and
man.  Calm and unexciting in their style, they present
no glaring or startling effects of the terrible or tragic,
relying on simple and natural word-pictures of scenes
and characters to interest and attract the reader. In
the peculiar powers of mind Mrs. Barbauld displayed,
her devotional and beautiful hymns, her long poems




326           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. XII.
on various subjects of interest which called them forth,
-- " Corsica," the " Epistle" to William  Wilberforce,
and " Eighteen Hundred and Eleven, the " Address to
the Deity," and "A Summer Evening's Mleditation,"excel; and these poems convey to the mind an idea of
her range of thought. She loved liberty and toleration
for all men, and this feeling prompted the "Address to
the Corsicans," and the " Epistle " to Mr. Wilberforce, 
the first being an animating voice of encouragement to
a patriotic and struggling people, the second a fervent
expression of hope and sympathy for the slaves.  She
wrote many bright and witty verses, which show that
humor, fancy, and sentiment went hand in hand, and
combined to make a rare union of strength and imagination in her writings. There is a pleasing and
noticeable variety in Mrs. Barbauld's poems, and she
ranges over a wide field of thought, which Dryden tells
us is well for a poet:" Happy who in his verse can steer
From grave to light, from pleasant to severe."
Though Mrs. Barbauld was gifted with great facility
of expression, and wrote very easily, she was very particular about the preparation and composition of her
works published; and many very pretty and pleasing
poems have never been printed, as she did not consider
them of sufficient interest for the public, and properly finished in their style. "To a friend who had




1825.]        CHARACTER OF HER POETRY.            327
expressed his surprise at not finding inserted in her
volume a poem which he had admired in manuscript,
she well and characteristically replied,'I had rather it
should be asked of twenty pieces why they are not here,
than of one why it is.'" The works, when first prepared,
after her reluctance to appear before the public had
been overcome, were issued on this plan.  Miss Aikin
followed it out most conscientiously, and I have omitted
many poems and prose pieces not of present interest, as
being suggested by passing events, or addressed to one
or another friend.
In Mr. Turner's sketch of Mrs. Barbauld, from which I
have just quoted, he names the following poems as being
among his treasures, and given him by Mrs. Barbauld in
manuscript: "A Fragment of an Epic Poem, occasioned
by the Loss of a Game of Chess to Dr. Priestley, in Consequence of an Unreasonable Drowsiness "; "Verses on
the Birth of Dr. Priestley's Son" (Joseph Priestley, Esq.,
of Tindale, near Dudley, who continued and published
his father's Memoirs); "Verses written on the Back of an
old Visitation Copy, of the Arms of Dr. Priestley's Family,
with a Proposal for a new Escutcheon." Also he mentions another, "' An Invocation to the Muse' for help
to describe the various romantic scenes to which she
had been taken while in Yorkshire," - in a letter to Mrs.
Priestley. This had been in his possession, but was lost.
In his -list he included" The Inventory of the Furniture




328           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. XII.
of Dr. Priestley's Study," which Mrs. Barbauld did not
print; and this poem, with the lines on "The Deserted
Village," were the only pieces first printed by Miss
Aikin,  the only exceptions to the rule made by Mrs.
Barbauld.  Miss Aikin assigns as her ground for this
departure from  her aunt's arrangement of her plans
the fact that no reason existed at the date of her
publication  for retaining  the jeu  cd'esprit on  Dr.
Priestley's furniture.  The lines on "The Deserted
Village," she gave "partly for the sake of connecting
the name of their author as a contemporary with that of
a poet who has so long been enrolled among the classics
of his country.  It may also be mentioned, that Goldsmith, whose envy is well known, bore involuntary
testimony to the merit of these lines by exhibiting no
sentiment but mortification on hearing them read in a
London circle."  Dr. Goldsnith was able neither to
control nor to conceal his envy, and the amusing scenes
described by Boswell will show this.  The lines were
exceedingly graceful in their allusion to him, and should
have pleased the warm-hearted but eccentric poet. Long
after this poem was written, Mrs. Barbauld told Mr.
Robinson, " I never shall be tired of reading Goldsmith's'Deserted Village.'"  Among the poems omitted there
are some beautiful lines.  Those on the death of Mrs.
Martineau, the ancestress of Mr. James Martineau,
~contain a fine thought about the death of the aged:



1825.]              HER PROSE WORKS.                   329
"'T is Virtue's triumph,
Nature's doom."
And in a poem  addressed to Miss. Rigby she has commemorated the filial devotion of this young lady, who
was in attendance on an invalid mother at Buxton.  To
her and of her she says, -
"Thus some tall column graceful rears its head
To prop some mould'ring towers with moss o'erspread;
Whose stately piles and arches yet display
The venerable graces of decay."
The prose works of Mrs. Barbauld are varied in style
and character.  We must consider her as an essayist, a
biographer, a critic, and a writer of charming allegories
and tales.  The "Prose Hymns " and " Early Lessons"
also give her another title to the reader's attention, as
one who had a peculiar and happy talent for adapting
thought, and simplifying, not degrading, ideas, so that
young chTldren might early learn to think.  It is not
worth while here to question how many books written
for children teach them to use their reasoning powers,
but certainly there are very few.  Amusement, excitement, and novelty or wonder, perhaps terror, form the
marked characteristics of a large part of this class of
literature.  Mrs. Barbauld's books for children formed
an era, gave a new  direction to the range of books
intended for the young, and formed the basis of all our
present standard works for children, and some of which




330            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.       [CHAP. XII.
we owe to several of Mrs. Barbauld's contemporaries
and friends, - Dr. Aikin, Miss Edgeworth, Mr. Day, and
others.  The "Prose Hymns" of Mrs. Barbauld I have
already spoken of at length, and need only add that
these beautiful hymns are as unique in their style and
execution as they are original and perfect in thought
and simplicity.
As an essayist, Mrs. Barbauld was very felicitous in
her clear, forcible, and thorough investigation and comprehension of her theme, in her grasp of thought, and in
the calm, judicial, yet graceful and animated, treatment
of the subject she had before her. In her prose as well
as her poetry she never offered her work to the public
without the most perfect finish which it was possible
to give it. She felt that the most self-commending and
noble thought could not dispense with the added lustre
of the choice and elegant language in which she carefully clothed her sentiments and opinions. As I have
said, the essay "On Inconsistency in Our Expectations" has an acknowledged and prominent rank, being
thought by those whose opinions are of value to stand
at the head of that class of literature.
In Mrs. Barbauld's " Life of Richardson," she proved
herself a faithful and judicious narrator of facts, and
chronicler of the novel-writing bookseller, Richardson.
It was not an easy life to present to the world. Dullness, one feels, must have been its marked characteristic,




1825.]          HER CRITICAL ESSAYS.              331
and yet she was able to draw from the dull and prosy
little man's life, and his relations with the small circle
who admired him  and made much of him, an exceedingly attractive and yet true picture of his career. The
writing, reading, and publishing of his novels, and afterwards the perusal of them  by the world of fashion,
formed the great events of his daily life.  Yet from
these simple materials Mrs. Barbauld wrote a biography
which is charming, animated, and spirited. The memory
of Richardson is but a name when one tries to wade
through his prolix, tedious "Sir Charles Grandison";
but his biography almost vivifies him for the present
generation.
In Mrs. Barbauld's critical essays she showed discrimination and taste.  As the train of thought was
dictated by the work to be considered, less scope was
allowed her for originality or freedom of design; but
these articles are models of that kind of writing, and
of enduring and permanent interest, taken in connection
with the works of which they serve as an introduction
and study. Her political pamphlets — which gave her
a high and deserved reputation for liberality of thought,
and an honest, fearless expression of her views and
sentiments- were called forth by arbitrary and narrow
legislation; and her earnest protest against injustice,
intolerance, and inhumanity, must gain the respect and
admiration of this later age. It is plainly to be seen




332            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. XII.
that this fearless protest was dictated by conscience, for
she had no personal gain to expect by the success of
her party, and exposed herself to ungenerous and impertinent criticism and attacks, in her noble efforts for
the unfortunate and oppressed.
The allegories and tales of Mrs. Barbauld present her
in another light to our attention.  They are bright,
fanciful, and imaginative; full of airy flights of fancy,
and gra6eful in their conception, turn of thought, and
expression.  Through  this apparently unstudied and
figurative style of writing she conveyed many truths
and ideas to the minds of her readers, and while they
thought they read for pleasure and amusement, great
and important ideas insensibly influenced and affected
them.  The allegories for the young are delightful
specimens of this class of writing, and in the " Hill of
Science" AMrs. Barbauld " tried her strength with Addison, and sustained no defeat."  She showed in that
piece her power of imagination and perfect ability to
sustain and complete her imaginary dream by clothing
it in the language of fancy and giving it an air of
natural and unstudied description.  The tales partake
of this figurative, allegorical style, and convey always
some good ideas, some profound yet simple truths,
adapted to the age of those for whom  they were prepared.  Miss Aikin very justly thinks "the allegorical
or enigmatical style"  "peculiarly  adapted  to  her




1825.]      HER APPEARANCE AND MANNERS.            333
genius," and says "even her conversation was often
enlivened with these graceful sports of wit and imagination."  The reader will observe the tendency to the
allegorical and fanciful in several of her letters, and her
"Dialogues" and "Riddles" also prove her air adept in
this species of writing.
I have spoken of Mrs. Barbauld's mental characteristics, her genius, and her devotion to learning. Shall I
not do the reader injustice by forgetting that interest
may be felt in her personal appearance, her manners,
and her character?  Few women of learning have left
an impression on the memory of those who knew them
intimately and socially more pleasing and attractive
than Mrs. Barbauld. She was very small and perfectly
formed. Her figure was fine, and she carried herself with
dignity and elegance.  Her hair, which was abundant,
was in early life light, and in her later years became gray.
Her complexion was fair and brilliant, her features
were very regular and finely formed, and her air and manner was that of a person favored by perfect health, - for,.which she was remarkable during her long life.  There
are several portraits of Mrs. Barbauld, which are now
in the possession of her great-niece, Mrs. Le Breton of
laarnpstead, who kindly showed them to me.  One of
these, a silhouette, had a peculiar interest, as it was the
work of Mrs. Barbauld, when, as LTetitia Aikin, she
charmed and adorned the Warrington society.  In this




334           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. XII.
manner she took portraits of almost all of the tutors,
scholars, and her friends at Warrington, and of these
many are still in possession of her nieces. This picture
gives her quite marked features, and the classic arrangement of the hair shows the fine shape of her head.
After Mrs. Barbauld's death, an old friend sent the
family a miniature taken from  memory by a young
man who was deeply in love with Miss Aikin, and he
thought, under the agitating circumstances of that state
of mind, being convinced that his suit was hopeless, that
the portrait was quite good, and did justice to the attractions which had made him a worshipper at a distance.
This picture is colored, and represents Miss Aikin in
full evening dress, and her very profuse light and wavy
hair is arranged in an elaborate manner.  The features
are quite decided, and the whole character of the face
would seem to show that it must have been a fair likeness of this eminent woman at that time.  The third
portrait is quite small, but very distinct, and evidently
conveys an excellent idea of the subject.  This is a
miniature medallion in bas-relief, done by Mr. Wedgwood.  It is about an inch in length, and an oval, being
intended to be set and worn as a brooch.  The treatment of the head is thoroughly classical, and the simple
arrangement of the hair and the delicate lines of the
face indicate great attention and care in its execution.  Mr. Wedgwood did this little portrait by his




1825.]              HER PORTRAITS.                 335
own prompting, and it adds another to the long list of
great and distinguished men and women whose faces
are known to the present generation in this forim.
The silhouette of Mrs. Barbauld which formed the
portrait published in her Collected Works prepared by
Miss Aikin was done by Mrs. Hoare of Hampstead.
It was considered an excellent portrait by her brother,
Dr. John Aikin, and her adopted'son, Charles Aikin, and
undoubtedly, for those who knew  her well, the likeness was good; but, very naturally, it has not the merit
of a regular portrait. It is delicate in execution, and
certainly has wonderful expression. for a silhouette.  It
has a slight stoop of the shoulders, which the family
remember as characteristic of Mrs. Barbauld late in life;
and this picture pleased them  so much that they used
it in preference to the charming portrait by Miss
Smirke, which I have had engraved and placed at the
beginning of this volume.  This portrait, of which Miss
Catherine Aiken, her great-niece, allowed me to have a
copy, hangs in Mrs. Le Breton's house at Hampstead;
and having carefully studied "the original picture I can
assure the reader of the excellence of the engraving.
The portrait was done by Miss Smirke, daughter of
Robert Smirke, R. A., and is in pencil.  It is perhaps
twice as large as the engraving, and has an extraordinary delicacy of touch and finish, well suited to the
character of the subject and the refined, beautiful fea



336           LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. XII.
tures and expression of Mrs. Barbauld.  Mrs. Le Breton
possesses also a pencil sketch simply done in outline by
her father, Charles Rochemont Aikin, Esq.  This was
evidently very good, and like his aunt in feature,
though, of course, there are' no details of shade to conplete the effect and give character to the expression.
In the Exhibition of Deceased Masters of the British
and Foreign School, held a year or more since in London, there was a portrait by George Romney, - whose
fame, never small, has greatly increased of late, till he
is considered second only to Sir Joshua Reynolds in his
style of painting. This portrait purported to be one of
Mrs. Barbauld, and it is not impossible that it should
have been the work of Romney, who was a native of
Dalton in Lancashire, and as Warrington is in that
county he might have  known Mrs. Barbauld and
sketched her.  It is a beautiful portrait, and her family
desired to buy it; but as no authentic information was
possessed by them of such a painting having ever been
done of Mrs. Barbauld, nor were they able to obtain
any as to its history from its owners, they could not
feel certain that it was a portrait of their aunt.
I have touched upon Mrs. Barbauld's position as a poet
and prose writer, and noted the varied powers of mind,
the genius, the elegance, the learning and study, she displayed. I have placed before the reader the simple, yet
it is to be hoped not uninteresting, study of the events




1825.]          HER NOBLE QUALITIES.            337
of her career, the social and literary claims she has upon
the attention and regard of the present generation, and
the merits of her title to an enduring and elevated place
in English literature. The great mass of books written
now renders it almost impossible for the ordinary reader
to study even the works of authors which are now
classic, as Mrs. Barbauld should be justly considered.
But she has other claims to the admiration and high
regard which the world owes her, besides her rank as a
writer. Mrs. Barbauld was a thinker, a student, a lover
of progress and humanity, and a noble, true-hearted
woman, who did a genuine and active work. She was
a true friend, an affectionate sister, a devoted and tender
wife. Mind and heart formed a rare union and well
balanced her character.  She was governed in her
views by reason, and her enthusiasm, though not wanting, was restrained by common-sense and practical
judgment.  Her heart was warm, full of love and
sympathy for all mankind; but the expansion of her
interest did not make her overlook the claims of those
around her, and her duties to her own little circle. In
"the little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness
and of love" she was most charming and attractive;
as the author and poet she was respected and admired;
but as a woman, a friend, and a relation, she was beloved and revered. Her greatest opponents could not
find anything to say against her motives, her honesty,
15                            V




338            LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD.        [CHAP. XII.
or her character.   They might scorn her opinions,
doubt her judgment, differ with her in her conclusions;
but malice and envy found no mark in her pure and
simple integrity of purpose, her open and free expressions of the love of religion, humanity, and progress
which formed part of her character and influenced her
career.
Mrs. Barbauld exhibited in her life her principles
and convictions.   She was liberal in her religious
views, and tolerant in her estimate of others.  A lover
of liberty, she desired it-for all, and used her influence
and her best efforts to secure justice, religious freedom,
and liberty for all men.  She was one of the earliest
opponents of slavery in England, and made her voice
of protest heard when the question was agitated by
Mr. Wilberforce, that the boast might be true, which
was made, that the laws of England knew no slavery.
She had " the generous shame,"
" The unconquerable mind, and Freedom's holy flame,"
which Gray describes as attending the love and progress of poetry.  Mrs. Barbauld was one of the great
minds which belong to  all time for their catholic
spirit, their enlightened faith, their love of freedom, their
hope for humanity, their communion with nature, and
their appreciation of truth and beauty in human life
and the great possibilities for the future of the world




1825.]            THE SPIRIT OF HER LIFE.                  339
which  characterize them.   Born  in  a station of life
which  opened to  her very  limited  opportunities for
greatness, she has left an indelible impress upon the
literature of which her works form  a very small portion; but the spirit which animated her writings, 
that lives, and will continue to have its influence.  Her
".... life has flowed
From its mysterious urn a sacred stream,
In whose calm depth the beautiful and pure
Alone are mirror'd; which, though shapes of ill
May hover round its surface, glides in light,
And takes no shadow from them."








INDEX.








INDEX.
Aberdeen, University of, 8.            AIKIN, A. L. (continued).
Academy at Kibworth, 7.                    Takes silhouettes, 33.
Academy at Northampton, 7, 8.              Writes Mouse's Petition, 33.
Academy at Warrington, 5, 18-20,           Visits Dr. and Mrs. Priestley,
29-33, 55, 111, 112.                       33-38.
Academy proposed to Miss Aikin, 56.        Writes Address to the Deity, 35,
ADAMS, MR. JOHN, 117.                        36.
ADDISON, 11, 247.                          Her character of Dr. Priestley,
Address to Mrs. Priestley, 28.               36.
Address to Mr. William  Turner, 37,        Poem addressed to William Tur38.                                        her, 37, 38.
Address to the Corsicans, 45-49,           Letters, 39, 40.
208, 326.                                Poems printed, 44, 45.
Address to the Deity, 35, 36, 326.         Extracts from Corsica, 45-49.
Address to the Opposers of the Re-         Groans of the Tankard, 49.
peal of the Corporation and Test         Miscellaneous Pieces published,
Acts, 52, 53, 186.                         50.
Advertisement to Early Lessons, 86.        Fox's praise of them, 51.
AGHRIM, LORD, 113.                         Her imitation of Dr. Johnson,
AIKIN, ANNA L2ETITIA.                        51, 52.
Birth, 7.                              The Vision of Anna published,
Parentage, 7, 12.                        52, 53.
First studies, 12                     Her marriage to Mr. Barbauld,
Precocity, 12, 13.                       54.
Anecdote by Mrs. Cappe, 13.            See Barbauld.
Domestic education, 14.           AIKIN, ARTHUR, 243, 244, 259,
Early impressions, 15, 16.          319.
Classical education, 16, 17.      AIKIN, CHARLES ROCHEMONT, 85, 86,
Removal to Warrington, 18.          249, 299, 300, 310, 317, 319, 335,
Life there, 26 - 29.                336.
Her Address to Mrs. Priestley, AIKIN, EDMUND, 296.
28.                             AIKIN, JOHN, M. D.
Extract from letter, 29.               His Memoir, 2, 14, 21, 23.
Her Ode to Wisdom, 29.                 Settles at Warrington, 42.
Admiration expressed by A. H.          His character, 42.
Rowan, 32.                          Prints his sister's poems, 44.




344                             INDEX.
AIIIN, JOHN, M. D. (continued).    Annual Review, 243, 244.
Publishes Miscellaneous Pieces Anti-saccharists, 222, 223.
with his sister, 50, 86.      Archbishop of Canterbury, 251.
Essay printed, 92.
Removal to Yarmouth, 111, 112, BAILLIE, Miss AGNES, 231.
117, 121, 124, 131, 141, 165, BAILLIE, MiSS JOANNA, 5, 230-232.
169, 176.                     BARBAULD, ANNA LEBTITIA.
Address to Mrs. Barbauld, 125.      Academy buildings, 23, 24.
Sonnet to her, 183, 184.             Meets Mr. Barbauld, 55.
Character of Dr. Johnson, 196,      Answers the proposal for Young
200, 201.                           Ladies' College, 56 - 59, 60, 61.
Visits Dorking, 214, 215.            Visits London, 62.
On sugar, 222, 223.                  Sees Strawberry Hill, 62.
His character by Mrs. Barbauld,      School at Palgrave, 62, 64.
229.                              Scholars, 64, 65.
He visits Kibworth, 233, 234.        Studies, 65, 66.
Removal to  Newington, 237,          Her own account of school life,
238.                                 70, 71, 73.
Address to his sister, 238, 239,     Dr. Johnson's remarks, 73, 74.
243, 253, 281, 301, 329, 335.      Devotional Pieces printed, 74.
Death, 309.                          Her contemporaries, 75-81.
A couplet by him,-315.               Meets Miss More, 81.
AIKIN, Miss LUCY, 1, 2, 13, 27-29,       Visited by her, 81.
36, 45, 50, 64, 66, 96- 99, 111, 112,  Adopts her nephew, Charles
201, 204, 221, 229, 231, 232, 244,       Aikin, 85.
247, 250, 253, 257-260, 274, 275,      Early Lessons printed, 86.
295, 296, 305, 317, 318, 323, 324,     Comments on Autumn, a Frag327, 328, 332, 335.                      ment, by Horace Walpole, 88.
AIKIN, MRS. C. R., 249, 308.             Prose Hymns written, 97-99.
AInIN, REV. JOHN, D. D., 4.              Visits London, 102.
Assistant of Dr. Doddridge, 8.       Mrs. Montague's new house, 102,
Character of him by G. Wake-           103.
field, 8, 9.                      Visit to Norwich, 105-107.
Settles at Kibworth, 8, 9.          Addressed by Miss More in her
Anecdote of him, 13, 14.               poem Sensibility, 109-111.
Teaches his daughter, 17.            Address to Dr. Enfield, 112,113.
Removal to Warrington, 18.           Vacations, 113.
Classical tutor, 20.                Visit to London, 113, 114.
Theological tutor, 20, 25.           Meets Miss Burney, 116, 117.
Letter to him from Mr. Seddon,       Leaves Palgrave, 121.
25, 26.                           Sails from Dover, 121.
Aix, 111-113, 141, 142.                  Returns to England, 165.
AKENSIDE, 173, 206.                      Removal to Hampstead, 172.
An  Inquiry  into those Kinds of         Life there, 176, 177.
Distress which excite Agreeable        Takes a pupil, 177.
Sensations, 51.                        Poem  on French  Revolution,
Animal Magnetism, 142.                     182.




INDEX.                               345
BARBAULD, A. L. (continued).          BARBAULD, A. L. (continued).
Address to the Opposers of the        Death of Mr. Barbauld, 261.
Repeal of the Corporation and       His character by his wife, 262Test Acts, 186.                       264.
Poetical Epistle to William Wil-      Dirge, 264.
berforce, 188-191.                  Edits Collection of British NovRemarks of H. Walpole on it,            elists, with Essay, 266.
192, 193.                           Edits Enfield Speaker, 269.
She writes Reply to G. Wake-          Mrs. Barbauld writes Eighteen
field's Inquiry, 200, 201.            Hundred and Eleven, 272Writes Discourses, 201.                 274.
Pieces for Evenings at Home,          Review of it, 274-279.
201.                                Attack on her by Coleridge, 281,
She visits Scotland, 201- 204.          282.
Writes Essays on Akenside and         Death of her brother, 309.
Collins, 206.                       Her character of Mrs. Taylor,
Meets Paoli, 208.                       310, 311.
Visits Bristol, 212, 213.             Her own declining years, 312Visits Dorking, 214, 215.                  315, 317.
Visits Madame D'Arblay, 215.          She dies, 317.
Visits Clifton, 220-222.              Her character by Lucy Aikin,
The Edgeworths, 220 - 222.              317, 318.
Letter to Miss More, 223.             Inscription on monument, 320.
Characters, 229..                     Reminiscence by Mr. Martineau,
Address to Dr. Priestley, 230.          320, 321.
Miss Joanna Baillie's Call, 231,      Her Legacy, 322.
232.                                Her Criticisms, 322, 323.
Visits Isle of Wight, 235.            Her Hymns, 324.
Removal to Newington Green,           Her Poems, 325 -329.
237.                                Unpublished Poems, 327, 328.
Anxiety  about Mr. Barbauld,          Her position as a writer, 329240.                                  332.
Contributes Critique to Annual        Her personal appearance, 333,
Review, 244.                          334.
Selection from  Spectator, etc.,      Portraits of Mrs. Barbauld, 333with Essay, 246 - 248.                336.
Compared to Addison, 247, 248.        Her claims to notice and respect,
Mr. Robinson's introduction to          336-338.
her, 248-250.                       Conclusion, 338, 339.
Wordsworth's remarks on her, BARBAULD, MR. ROCHEMONT.' 250, 251.                          His descent, 54.
She writes Life of Riclardson,        His parents, 54.
254 -256.                           Birth, 55.
Meeting with the Frenchman,           Early years, 55.
255, 256.                           Marries A. L. Aikin, 55.
Life at Newington, 257, 258.          Settles at Palgrave, 55.
Visit to London, 258.                 Resigns his parish, 121..
15 X




346                             INDEX.
BARBAULD, MR. R. (continued).        CARR, MRS., 209, 212, 296.
Continental visit, 122.          CARTER, MISS ELIZABETH, 79.
Returns to England, 165.        Cecilia, 116.
Called to Hampstead, 172.       CHANNING, DR., 36, 229, 309.
Chapel, 179, 201.               CHAPONE, MRS., 117.
Visits Dorking, 214, 215, 231.   ChapterofModernApocrypha, 52, 53.
Becomes pastor of Newington  CHARLES II., 176, 186.
Green Chapel, 237, 239, 240.  Christian Miscellany, 52.
Peculiarities of character and  Christian Reformer, The, 52.
appearance, 249, 250.         Clifton, 220.
His death, 261.                 COLERIDGE, S. T., 5, 281, 282.
Tribute to him  by Mrs. Bar- Collected Poems, Mrs. Barbauld, 208.
bauld, 262 - 264.             Collection of British Novelists, 266.
BATHURST, Bishop of Norwich, 106. COLLIERS, 301, 308.
BECHER, MR., 301.                    COLLINS, WILLIAM, 206.
BEDDOES, DR., 212, 213.              CONTARINE, REV. THOMAS, 203.
BEECROFT, MRS., 196, 201, 208, 279, Corsica, 45-49,-326.
290, 302.                          COWPER, WILLIAM, 114, 322, 323,
Belinda, 265.                          325.
BELSHAM, Miss, 29, 40.  See KEN- CROKER, JOHN WILSON, 52.
RICK.                              Crown and Anchor Tavern, 192, 193.
BENECKE, MR. and MRS., 253.          CURRAN, JAMES, 32.
BENT, CAPTAIN, 202.
BERKELEY, BISHOP, 277.               DAER, BASIL, LORD, 113.
BERRY, Miss, 192, 193.               D'ARBLAY, MADAME, 79, 80, 215Birmingham riots, 20, 208.             218.
Bishop of Landaff's Address, 21.     DARWIN, DR., 212, 322, 323.
Bookham, 215.                        DAVY, SIR HUMPHRY, 213, 227.
BOSCAWEN, MRS., 77, 78, 109.         DAY, THOMAS, 329.,BOSWELL, JAMES, 45, 73, 196.        Declaration of Indulgence, 9.
Branghtons, 116.                     DELANY, MRS., 79.
Bristol, 212.                        DE MORVEAU, M., 130, 131.
BROUGHAM, LORD, 323, 324.            DENMAN, THOMAS, LORD, 96, 97, 113.
BROWN'S Amusements, etc., 11.        DE ROHAN, CARDINAL, 162.
BRYANTON, MR., 202.                  Deserted Village, 203, 328.
BURGER, 204.                         DE STAEL, MADAME, 284, 291.
BURKE, HON. EDMUND, 77, 79, 116, DEVONSHIRE, DUCHESS OF, 119.
179, 187, 193.                    Devotional Pieces, 74.
BURNEY, DR., 73.                     Diamond Necklace, 162.
BURNEY, MISs. See D'ARBLAY.          Dissenters, 9-12, 251.
BURNS, 168.                          Dissenting Academy, 251.
BURROWS, MR., 117, 215.              DIxoN, MISS, 88.  See Beecroft.
BYRON, LORD, 301, 302, 321, 323.    DODDRIDGE, DR., 4, 7, 8, 13.
Dorking, 214, 215.
CALAMY, DR., 176.                   Dover, 122.
CAPPE, MR., 13.                     DRYDEN, JOHN, 326.
CAPPE, MRS., 13.                    DYCE, MR., 251.




INDEX.                             347
Early Lessons, 73, 99, 329.         GODWIN, WILLIAM, 115.
EDGEWORTH, MISS ANNA,-212.          GOLDSMITH, DR., 202, 203, 328.
EDGEWORTH, MISS MARIA, 212, 220- Grandison, Sir Charles, 254, 331.
222, 258, 265, 284, 291, 302, 319, GRAY, THOMAS, 338.
329.                              Groans of the Tankard, 49.
EDGEWORTH, R. L., 212, 220-222,
284.                              Hackney, 176.
Edinburgh, 204.                     HAMMOND, MISS, 300.
Eighteen Hundred and. Eleven, 272- Hampstead, 172, 173, 176, 177.
274, 326.                         HARLOWE, CLARISSA, 255.
ELDON, LORD, 107.                   HASTINGS, WARREN, 179.
ENFIELD, DR., 21, 24, 105.          HAWKINS, SIR JOHN, 11.
Enfield Speaker, 269.               HAYLEY, WILLIAM, 323.
Epistle to William Wilberforce, 179, HERVEY, LORD, 186, 187.
188, 192, 326.                    Highlands, 202, 203.
ESTLIN, DR., 21, 212, 213.          Historical Society Cheshire and LanESTLIN, MRS., 253, 260, 287, 295,   cashire, 23.
297, 306, 313, 323.               HOADLY, DR., 186, 187.
Etruria, 24.                        HOARE, MRS., 335.
Evelina, 116.                       HOLCROFT, T., 115.
Evenings at Home, 43, 201.          Holland, 203.
Exhibition of Deceased Masters, 336. HOLLAND, SIR HENRY, 213, 252, 253,
265.
FARADAY, PROFESSOR, 227.            HOWARD, JOHN, 5, 22, 141, 142.
FARR, DR., 21.                      HOWITT, WILLIAM, 239.
FARRAR, MRS., 299, 300.             HUNT, LEIGH, 173.
FERRIER, DR., 22.                   HUXLEY, PROFESSOR, 227.
FINCH, MISS, 301.
Flask Walk, 255.                    INCHBALD, MRS., 281, 282.
FLETCHER, MISS, 291.
FLETCHER, MRS., 285, 290, 291, 298. JENNINGS, MISS, 7.
Foliage, 173.                       JENNINGS, REV. JOHN, 7.
FORDYCE, DR., 41, 42.               JOHNSON, DR., 6, 11, 45, 76, 77, 195,
Fox, CHARLES JAMES, 51, 119, 187,   196.
256.                              JOHNSON, JOSEPH, 44, 114, 115.
French Emigrants, 206, 207.
French Protestants, 251.            KEMBLE; MR., 232.
French Revolution, 182, 183, 193.    KENRICK, MRS., 227, 230, 305-307.
Kibworth, 7, 8, 233, 234.
GELL, SIR WILLIAM, 64, 97, 113.     KINDER, MRS., 309.
General Biographical Dictionary, 42. Kitcat Club, 255.
Geneva, 126.
Gentleman's Magazine, 274.          Lalla Rookh, 323.
GEORGE II., 54.                     LAMB, CHARLES, 5, 281, 308.
RGORGE III., 80.                    LAMB, MARY, 308.
GIBBON, E., 30, 31, 34.             LAMOTTE, MADAME, 162.
GIBSON, DR., 22.                    LE BRETON, MRS., 333, 335.




348                            - INDEX.
Leeds, 28, 33.                       Magdalen College, 30, 31.
LEGUET, MADEMOISELLE, 162.           MALLET, MR., 274.
Letters of-Mrs. Barbauld.            MALTHUS, 21.
To Dr. Aikin, 62,63, 67- 69; 72, Manchester New College, 22.
73-75; 81-85; 87, 88; 92- MARTINEAU,  PROFESSOR RUSSELL,
94; 99, 100; 100-102; 115,   22, 23.
116; 117, 118; 119, 120; 123, MARTINEAU, REV. JAMES, D. D.,22,
124; 127-130; 131-133; 133-   23, 320, 321, 328.
138; 143-146; 151-154; 154-  MASON, REV. WILLIAM, 88.
158; 162-164; 165-167; 177- Medical Memoir, 42.
179; 198-200.                 METEYARD, Miss, 3.
To Mrs. Beecroft (Miss Dixon), Miscellaneous Pieces, 51.
89,90; 90-92; 94, 95; 147-  MONTAGUE, MRS. ELIZABETH, 5, 56,
151; 167, 168; 180, 181; 184,   75-78, 102, 103, 116, 286.
185; 197, 198; 204,-206; 207, MONTGOMERY, JAMES, 281.
208; 240, 241; 242, 243; 257; Monthly Magazine, 43, 214, 215.
280, 281; 286; 289, 290; 302; Monthly Repository of Theology and
313, 314.                       General Literature, 261.
To Mrs. Carr, 210, 211; 232, MORE, LORD, 113.
233; 235, 236; 308, 309.      MORE, MISS HANNAH, 3, 5,76- 81,86,
To Dr. and Mrs. Estlin, 224, 225;   102, 109 -111, 192, 223, 279, 280.
287, 288; 288, 289; 294, 295; Mouse's Petition, 33.
295, 296; 307; 313; 315-317. MURCH, MR., 204.
To Mrs. Fletcher, 291- 293; 293,
294; 305, 306.                Ode to Wisdom, 29.
To Miss F, 271, 272.        Odes of Collins, 206.
To Mrs. Kenrick (Miss Belsham), OLDENBURGH, DUCHESS OF, 291.
40-42; 49, 50; 138-141; 225- On Inconsistency in Our Expecta227; 230; 232; 269, 270.        tions, 51, 253, 254, 322, 330.
To Miss More, 107-109; 219, On the Prospect of planting Arts and
220.                            Learning in America, 277.
To Mrs. Smith, 241, 242; 258, On Romances, 52.
259.                          On Monastic Institutions, 51.
To Mrs. Taylor, 122; 158-161; OPIE, MRS., 105.
266-269; 282, 283; 304.       OSSORY, COUNTESS OF, 63.
To Miss Taylor (Mrs. Reeve), Oude, Begums of, 179.
244- 246.                     Oxford, 30, 31.
Leyden, 203.
Lichfield, 106.                      Palgrave, 55, 62, 64, 121.
Life, 250, 251.                      PAOLI, GENERAL, 47,208.
London, 62, 102, 172.                Paris, 161, 162.
PEABODY, W. O. B., 324.
MACAULAY, LORD, 9-12, 179, 194, PEEL, SIR ROBERT, 187.
253.                              PERCIVAL, DR., 21.
MACAULAY, MRS., 193.                 Percy, 102.
MACKINTOSH, SIR JAMES, 5, 123, 321, PHILANTHROPUS, R. FRANK, 203.
322.                               PHILLIPS, MRS., 215.




INDEX.                             349
PHIPPS, HON. AuoGSTUS, 113.         Sensibility, 109-111.
PiozzI, MRS., 74.                   Ser Bertrand, 51.
POPE, 287.                          SEWARD, MIS ANNA, 251.
PORTER, MIss JANE, 281.             SHELLEY, P. B., 278.
PORTLAND, DUCHESS OF, 79.           SHENSTONE, WILLIAM, 169.
Practical Education, 221.           SHERIDAN, R. B., 102, 116.
PRICE, DR., 176, 196, 197, 237, 239, SIDDONS, MRS., 232, 284.
240, 319.                         Silhouettes, 33.
PRIESTLEY, DR. JOSEPH, 5, 19, 20,' SMIRKE, MISS, 325.
24, 25, 27, 28, 33-36, 176, 179, SMIRKE, R., 325.
196, 227- 229.                    SMITH, DR. ADAM, 30.
PRIESTLEY, MRS., 5, 27, 28.         SMITH, MISS C., 251.
PRIOR, 79.                          Society of Arts, 259, 325.
Prose Hymns, 97- 99, 329, 330.      SOUTHEY, ROBERT, 274- 279, 325.
Spectator, 11, 321.
Quarterly Review, 274-279.          STEWART, DUGALD, 5, 169, 204.
Strawberry Hill, 61, 62.
Recollections of Seventy Years, 299, Surrey, 214, 215.
300.                              SWIFT, DEAN, 79.
REYNOLDS, SIR JOSHUA, 116, 336.
RICHARDSON, SAMUEL, 254-256, 330, TALBOT, MISS, 79.
331.                              T4LLEYRAND, PERIGORD, 162.
RIGBY, MISSES, 29, 329.             TAYLOR, DR. JOHN, 20, 21.
ROBINSON, MR. H. C., 5, 177, 218, TAYLOR, Miss, 244.
248-254, 266, 280-282, 284, 308, TAYLOR, MRS. JOHN, 158, 260, 305,
314, 315, 322, 323.                 310, 311.
ROGERS, MR. SAMUEL, 5, 51, 218, TAYLOR, WILLIAM, 64, 65, 106, 113,
219, 255, 256, 259, 260, 319,   204, 296.
321.                              TAYLORS, 105.
ROMNEY, GEORGE, 336.                Tempest, 92.
ROSCOE, WILLIAM, 5, 22, 275, 276, TEMPLETOWN, LORD, 113.
281, 323.                         Test Act.  See Corporation, etc.
ROWAN, A. H., 32.                   TURNER, MR., 35-38.
Royal Institution, 227.             TURNER, WILLIAM, 35, 37, 38, 253,
RUMFORD, COUNT, 227.                  276, 277, 327, 328.
TYNDALL, PROFESSOR, 227.
Sacred Dramas, 109.
SADLER, DR., 177.                   VAUGHAN, MR. B., 229.
SALISBURY, BISHOP OF, 186, 187.     VAUGHAN, MRS., 229.
SAYERS, DR., 64, 65, 105, 106, 113.   VESEY, HON. A., 77.
School for Scandal, 102.            VESEY, MRS., 77, 78.
Scotland, 201 -204.                 Vision of Anna, etc., 52, 53.
SCOTT, SIR WALTER, 5,204,244,266, VOLNEY, 278.
295, 296.
SEDDON, MR., 23-26.                 WAKEFIELD, GILBERT, 8, 9, 20, 21,
Selama, 51.                           176, 200, 201, 249, 308.
SELKIRK, EARL OF, 113.              WAKEFIELD, MISS, 249.




350                          INDEX.
WALPOLE, HON. HORACE, 61, 62, WHITE, H. K., 278.
88, 192-194, 278.              WILBERFORCE, WILLIAM, 179, 188,
WALPOLE, SIR ROBERT, 186.          192.
Warrington, 21:-26, 44.          WILLIAMS, H. M., 193, 251.
WATTS, DR., 6.                   WILLIAMS, MISS, 76.
WEDGWOOD, JOHN, 21, 24.          WILLOUGHBY, LORD, of Parham, 18.
WEDGWOOD, JOSIAH, 3, 24.         WINGATES, 12.
WEDGWOOD, THOMAS, 213.           WORDSWORTH, WILLIAM, 5, 15, 250WEST, LADY MARY, 44.               252, 281, 323.
THE END.