OLD MAIDS. 373 



affections will be let loose upon him : one touch, or one look, that stirred 

 the chord of her feelings, would fix her destiny : any incident, however 

 trivial, that developed a correspondent tone of sensibility in one of the 

 opposite sex, would make him the idol of her young heart ; and yet this 

 creature, whose very frame is love, lives and dies an Old Maid." 



Involuntary Maids ! aye, there are many of these they form, 

 doubtless, the majority of the " order." The account given of them 

 is capital, a little overdrawn perhaps, but we would not alter a 

 shade. Read it, Maidens, and if it does not delight you, there is no 

 faith in truth or genius it sparkles with little poetical gems. 



In our estimation, however, the most Fascinating picture of Old 

 Maidism is found amongst "Inexplicable Old Maids," although the 

 two stories illustrating " Accidental Old Maids" will probably be 

 more generally liked. There is one short extract we cannot forbear 

 making, from the second of the stories, descriptive of woman's love 

 in its purest and most intense form. 



" I had no thought but of him I lived only in his presence : to see 

 him was rapture, to be folded in his arms safety and content ; I was his 

 body and soul but Henry was too pure and too noble to triumph over 

 my utter abandonment of self: no word ever escaped his lips, but which I 

 could repeat fo you without raising a blush upon your cheek ; and no 

 child ever reposed with more conscious security on the bosom of its 

 mother, than 1 did upon that of Henry: his honour was my safety, for in 

 his presence I forgot every thing but my love I was even terrified at the 

 vehemence of my own passion, and have hidden my burning face from 

 him, lest my irrepressible emotions might betray him." 



Commend us, however, to Miss P., the mysterious Old Maid. 

 We know of no piece of humour superior to the account given by 

 herself and her lover, of the 'mystery' which broke off their mar- 

 riage ; indeed the entire conversation is one of the best specimens of 

 colloquial writing in our language, having much of the ease and 

 grace of Horace Walpole. Its great charm to us consists in the 

 beautiful view it gives of human life. Our extract is long, but we 

 are sure it is not misplaced. 



" You are a brilliant example of an Old Maid occupying her natural 

 position in society. Is sorrow an inmate of your friend's dwelling, you 

 visit it, and by your sympathy and tender condolence and assistance 

 rob it of its bitterness : does death snatch away from some fond mother 

 her only and idolised child, your paradise receives her, for your heart 

 tells you that her agonies will be kept alive if she remain on the spot 

 which had been blessed by her little cherub, and though even here she 

 may indulge her anguish, for a mother's grief 



' Fills the room up of her absent child, 



Lies in his bed, walks up and down with her, 



Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words, 



Remembers her of his gracious parts, 



Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form. 



Thus has she reason to be fond of grief ! ' 



Yet your kind care and quiet consolations come like balm upon her 

 wounded spirit ; and when she leaves your beautiful home, gratitude to 

 her benefactress soothingly breaks up the current of her woe, and she 

 mingles again in the common affairs of life sorrowing indeed, but the 

 first keen sting removed. Is any sweet girl pining in thoughtfulness, or 



