CRITICAL NOTICES OP NEW PUBLICATIONS. 329 



uneducated. For this purpose, we shall extract an anecdote related 

 by Dr. Orpen, which we do with the more satisfaction, as the lady 

 who communicated it wished it to be made as public as possible. 



"When Miss resided with her brother, in the Parish of , (of 



which he was rector), they had a neighbour, a gentleman of handsome for- 

 tune, whose eldest child, and only daughter, was deaf and dumb. Miss 



used every argument with this gentleman that humanity, parental feeling, 

 or Christianity could dictate, to send his daughter to London, to the person 



who taught Lady 's daughter, that she might be taught to read and 



write, as the only means of making herself acquainted with God,* or Christ, 

 or moral duly, or a hope of immortality ; adding, that if he did not do so, it 

 required no spirit of prophecy to foretell the dangers that must surround 

 her when she grew up. The father replied, that it was sufficient punish- 

 ment for him to have to feed and clothe a creature who could never be of 

 any credit or comfort to him, and whom he could not look to seeing genteelly 

 married, without incurring further expense for her ; and that he considered 

 she would be a heavy burden on him and on his sons after him ; vowing 

 that he would never do more than feed and give her covering; always end- 

 ing the argument by wishing her dead. This girl, even when a child, was 

 uncommonly beautiful, engaging in her manners, most obliging and affec- 

 tionate, and highly grateful for any little attention shown her ; and, not- 

 withstanding her father's severity, was endeavouring, by each little endear- 

 ment in her power, to win his love ; but he continued to hate the sight of 

 her, calling her his curse. As her mind was an uncultivated waste, she 

 could not endure to be alone ; and naturally seeking for some social circle, 

 she turned from the frowns she received in the parlour, to the smiles and 

 kindness with which the servants always treated her in the kitchen, where 

 her efforts to assist them and relieve their trouble, her ingenuity in making 

 herself understood, and her readiness to acquire all that they could teach 

 her, combined with her sweet temper, gained her the utmost compassion and 

 kindness that they had the power or the liberty of bestowing. Each servant, 

 however, was laid under a strict injunction to prevent her being seen by 

 any person who visited at the house, and, also, not to tell any one that there 

 was such a being in existence. The constant repulses and unkindness of her 



father, at last forced her to make the kitchen her home. Miss , whom 



she loved so much, continued to visit her, and to exhort the servants to be 

 fond of her, and careful of one who, under the awful privations of speech, 

 hearing, language, society, education, and revelation, was ignorant of God, 

 and consequently had not the consolation of religion to support her under 

 her father's cruelty, and who had been bereaved of a mother's tenderness 

 and care at three years of age. This young lady grew up a lovely, graceful, 

 interesting girl to her seventeenth year, when her father discovered that she 

 was with child, and flogged her severely. He then summoned up the but- 

 ler, footman, coachman, and gardener ; and with threats and imprecations 

 that he would have the life of the man who had brought this disgrace upon 

 him and on his sons, compelled each of them to take an oath declaring their 

 innocence respecting the young lady's situation. From this period, she was 

 more strictly concealed than ever, and her father affected to pity her; but 

 so unconscious was she that sin or shame was attachable to her state, that 

 she would sometimes make a doll, like a baby, with her kerchief, and kiss, 

 caress, and clasp it to her bosom ; and then signify, with a joyful counte- 

 nance, that she was looking forward to the delight of fondling and nursing a 

 living baby. It was observed that, from the time she became very large, 

 her father staid within doors ; and one morning, on finding herself extremely 

 ill, she naturally went to her only parent, her father, and clasping him in her 



* It must be evident to every one who reflects on the matter at all, that the uninstructed deaf 

 and dumb have no idea whatever of the existence of an Almighty Power. — Eds. 



VOL. V. NO. XVIII. 2 T 



