manuscripts, which, being much increased by his son and grandson, was by the last presented to the public, and having suffered a considerable injury from a destructive fire in Palace Yard, was for its greater security deposited in the British Museum. Sir John Cotton, the grandson of the donor of the library, after losing two sons (one of whom, a young man of uncommon merit, died of the smallpox in his twenty-fifth year), left four daughters; Jane, married to Thomas Hart, Esq. of Warfield, whose only child, John Hart Cotton, left no family; Elizabeth Stewart, married to Thomas Bowdler, Esq.; Frances, who died unmarried; and Mary, married to Basil, Earl of Denbigh, grandfather of the present Earl. The four sisters were much distinguished for elegant manners, polite accomplishments, and varied and extensive reading. Mrs. Bowdler had also great skill and taste in music. Having passed her early years in France, she became intimately acquainted with the French language, in which she conversed and wrote with almost greater facility than in her native tongue. She was also well read in Italian, and had some knowledge of Latin and Hebrew. In France she acquired likewise many accomplishments, and an easy elegance of manner, which was uncommonly pleasing; but she retained her English principles and her English heart. At Angers, where her father chiefly resided, it was then the fashion to send young Englishmen of rank and fortune to finish

their education. His hospitality, and the accomplishments of his daughters, made his house the resort of all the best society, both French and English, and the years spent there were always remembered by Mrs. Bowdler with peculiar delight. Such scenes are not, however, free from danger to the best tutored mind. She there contracted a friendship with a young French lady,

*

* This continued through the remainder of their lives, and Mrs. Bowdler was enabled, at a much later period, to contribute to the comfort of the friend of her youth, who, having been deprived, under the French Revolution, of a small pension from the King, which constituted her whole means of subsistence, was obliged to depend for support upon a faithful servant, who shared with her the scanty provision which his industry could procure. She gladly accepted some assistance from Mrs. Bowdler and her family, which was continued till her death, at the advanced age of ninety-seven. The following interesting letter was written by her, when she must have been eighty-three or eighty-four. The postscript was added by her servant.

"Rien n'égale, ma bonne amie, la satisfaction que j'ai, du moyen que vous avez trouvé, de renouveller notre commerce. J'ai reçu votre seconde lettre par Liège à son temps de date, et quoique je ne vous en aie fait tous mes remercimens aussitôt, ce n'a pas été faute du désir le plus empressé de vous en témoigner ma reconnoissance. A l'égard de j'ignore comme vous les moyens de me faire passer ce que vous nommez, à moins que vous n'ayez quelques connoissances à Liège ou en Suisse, qui ayent un correspondance avec quelque banquier à Rome, ou à Paris. Voilà les seules ressources que je puisse imaginer dans la misérable position où je me trouve. Hélas! Hélas! cela aura t-il une fin? - Dieu sur tout! Mon courage et ma confiance en sa providence croissent avec mes peines, et je mange le pain le plus bis sans dégoût, mais nous n'en avons pas notre suffisance. Les autres denrées nous

Mademoiselle Desperaux, who was a few years older than herself, and strongly attached to the Romish faith. Mrs. Bowdler became thereby exposed to many endeavours to alter her principles; and these were seconded by the arguments of a pious, but very artful Jesuit, who skilfully selected the points which were likely to receive some support from those notions of the authority and antiquity of the church, which she had imbibed. All these, however, were resisted with a firmness which, perhaps, few girls of eighteen could have exhibited. Her correspondence with the Jesuit is still

manquent; mais, trève à mes lamentations, je ne finirois pas si je vous contois tous nos misères et les miens personels. Me voilà retombée dans mes craintes pour mon pauvre gardien, Joseph, qui à l'heure que je parle, va peut-être attraper un billet noire, car on fait aujourd'hui une levée de troupes depuis 25 ans jusqu'à 40, et il ne les a pas. Ma resource est dans la Providence," &c.

"De Joseph.

"Enfin j'ai attrappé le billet blanc. La Providence m'a bien servi, car quel chagrin pour moi d'avoir été obligé d'abandonner Mademoiselle dans le tems qu'elle a le plus besoin de moi, et moi besoin d'elle. Enfin nous voilà encore une fois hors d'inquiétude. Dans trois semaines j'aurai attrappé 40 ans, și cela peut me mettre à l'abri je serai bien aise. Je vous remercie, Madame, de l'intérêt que vouz voulez bien prendre à moi; j'en ai toute la reconnoisance possible. Je fais arranger ma petite maison le mieux possible, pour que Mademoiselle y soit à son aise. Je suis avec toute la sensibilité et la reconnoissance possible de ce que Madame fait pour Mademoiselle elle n'a plus que cette ressource à present. J'ai l'honneur d'être," &c.

preserved, and affords striking proof of early talent, much acquaintance with the points in dispute, as well as the greatest diffidence and humility. After her marriage, the superintendence of her domestic concerns, which she never permitted herself to neglect, and the education of her children, in which she had no assistance from a governess, seemed likely to furnish full employment for her time. Yet she found opportunity to pursue her private studies with unwearied application. I often look back with wonder as well as gratitude," says one of those who enjoyed the privilege of being her scholar," on those years when I can account for the employment of every hour from eight in the morning till nine at night, and know not how it was possible for her to do all that I know was done before or after those hours. The notes in her Bible, and the perusal of books, in order to collect them; her work on the Revelation, of which only a very small part is published, and which, with the plan which accompanies it, required immense labour: her papers on various and very different subjects; many things written for the Christian Magazine; some very ingenious remarks on Mr. Kennedy's Scripture Chronology, which contain very laborious calculations * ; — all

* "I certainly had something in my head when I wrote the note, page 30, which I afterwards forgot. The same has happened to me on many other occasions, for I always wrote with my door open to children and servants, who were coming and

I

this, and much more, must, I think, have been chiefly done before we went to her at eight in the morning. Her manner of teaching children was so uncommonly pleasant, that I never knew a child who did not like to be with her. Indeed she was a favourite with all young people; and much information and instruction might be gained from her familiar conversation. Many useful inventions originated with her: the dissected maps, now in very general use; the chronological cards, which were highly approved by many of the best judges, but are now out of print, and an ingenious contrivance to teach music to the blind, were all invented by her. To those who have read her notes on the Bible, or her other works, I need not say, that she made the sacred Scriptures her constant study. Her religion was cheerful, and free from enthusiasm ; but warm, sincere, and deeply-rooted. Of the comfort it afforded her in life and in death I was a constant witness. She retained her health and vivacity to a very advanced age, and when at last her faculties decayed, her mind was still at work to do good."

going about the common concerns of the family, which, however trifling in themselves, I always considered as the duty of The my station, and always gave them my chief attention. Calculations in the letter to a friend (on Scripture Chronology) obliged me, indeed, sometimes to bolt my door, but yet I was so often disturbed that I went over many of them six or seven times." Letter from Mrs. B. in 1771.