AIKIN’s GENERAL “BIOGRAPHY. 
With-two passages telative to her own 
tastes and feelings in the last years -of 
her life we reluctantly close our ex- 
tracts. Qos lhe La dihtens 
-'« T ho more expect to arrive at the age of 
the duchess of Marlborough, than to that of 
Methusalem ; neither do I desire it. 1 have 
Yong thought myself useless to the world. 
pe one generation. pass away ; and 
itis gone; for 1 think there are very few of 
those left that flourished in my youth. You 
vill perhaps call these melancholy reflec- 
tions: they are not so. There is a quiet 
after the abandoning of pursuits, something 
like the rest that follows a laborious day. I 
tell you this for your comfort. It was for- 
merly a terrifying view to me, that I should 
one day be an old woman. I now find that 
nature has provided pleasures for every state. 
Those are only unhappy who will not be 
contented with what she gives, but strive to 
break through her laws, by affecting a per- 
stuity of youth, which appears to me 4s 
ttle desirable at present as the babies do to 
ou, that were the delight of your infancy. 
pad at the end of my paper, which shortens 
‘the sermon.” 
Re oe 
«¢ Daughter! daughter! don’t call names ; 
ou are always abusing my pleasures, which 
48 what no mortal will bear. Trash, lumber, 
gad stuff, are the titles you give to my fa- 
_yourite amusement. If I called a white 
staff a stick of wood, a gold key gilded 
brass, and the ensigns of illustrious orders, 
coloured strings, this may be philosophically 
true, but would be very ill received. We 
_ have all our play-things , happy are they that 
can be contented with those they ean ob- 
tain: those hours are spent in the wisest 
manner, that-can easiest shade the ills of 
life, and are the least productive of ill con- 
_ sequences. I think my time better employed 
im reading the adyentures of imaginary peo- 
ple, than the duchess of Marlborough, who 
_ passed.the latter years of her life in paddling 
with her will, and contriving schemes of 
plaguing some, and extracting praise from 
others, to no purpose; eternally disappointed, 
and eternally fretting. The active scenes are 
_ Over at my age. I indu'ge, with all the art 
IT can, my taste for reading. If I would 
" eonfine it to valuable books, they are almost’ 
Be 
507 
as rare as yaluable men.- I must be content 
with what I can find. As I approach a se 
cond childhood, [ endeavour to enter tata 
the pleasures of it. Your youngest son 1s, 
perhaps, at this-very moment riding on a 
poker, with great delight, not at all regret~ 
ting that it is nota gold one, and much less 
wishing it an Arabian horse, which he could 
pot know how to manage. Iam reading an 
idle tale, not expecting wit or truth in it, 
and am very glad it is not metaphysics to 
puzzle my judgment, or history to mislead 
my opinion: he fortifies his health by exer- 
cise; I calm my cares by oblivion. The 
methods may appear low to busy people; 
but, if he improves his strength, and I for- 
get my infirmities, we both attain very desir- 
able ends.” 
On the whole ‘it may safely be af- 
firmed, that Lady Mary’s present letters 
confirm the pretensions of her sex to 
peculiar excellence in the epistolary 
style; and that however highly France 
may estimate her Sevigné, a may 
claim a loftier station for her Montagu. 
In wit, perhaps, they were equal; and 
if our countrywoman is surpassed in 
tender sentiment and the lighter graces 
by her French rival, she greatly sur- 
passes ser in philosophy, in good sense, 
in solidity, and energetic conciseness. 
The poetry of Lady Mary, partakes 
much of the character of her prose. 
The Town Eclogues, all of which ap~ 
pear to have been hers, and many other 
of her earlier and’ lighter pieces, are 
well known:—as a specimen of her later. 
and grayer ones, we select two stanzas 
written in her Italian retreat, which af- 
ford a better summary of her life, and’ 
most other lives, than any which it is in 
our power to offer. oth 
*« Wisdom, slow product oflaborious years, 
The only fruit that life's cold winter bears ; 
Thy sacred seeds in vain in youth we lay, 
By the fierce stormoof passion torn away. 
«* Should some remain ina rich gen’rous soil, 
They longlie hid, and must be rais’d with toil; _ 
Faintly they struggle with inclement skies, — 
No sooner born than the poor planter dies.” 
Mar. XIII. General Biography; or Lives, Critical and Historical, of the most eminent. 
Persons of all Ages, Countries, Conditions, and Professions, arranged accoxding to” 
‘4 © Alphabetical Order. Composed by J. Aixin, M.D. the Rev. Tuomas Morcan, 
and Mr. Wiriiam Jounstox. 4to. yol. LV. (from Fab. to Gyl.))! »: 
Mie 
HAVING already noticed this inte-_ 
“résting work (sce Ann. Rev- for 1802, 
'p- 617.) we shall content ourselves, on 
"present occasion, with announcing 
the appearance of the fourth volume, | 
nd givine a short summary of its con- 
ents, The volume before us compresj 
herids the letters F. and G’, under which 
anumber of first-rate characters are ine 
cluded, Among the sovereigns, the 
Prussian Frederics hold the highest 
rank; and of these, the life of Frederic 
the third, or the Great, as he is usually 
called,is detailed considerably at length, 
