EMPLOYMENTS. 121 



Some actors, it must be acknowledged, 

 have put forward pretensions to emulate 

 the performance of the two former the 

 latter stood alone and remained unrivalled. 

 Shakespere's Lady Macbeth and Mrs. Siddons 

 have gone to the grave together. 



After spending some months in Lon- 

 don, without any benefit to my still 

 declining health, I was sent to my fa- 

 ther's residence in the country, where I 

 spent my time principally in reading ; 

 for I had begun to acquire sedentary 

 habits. Sometimes I employed myself in 

 gardening; at others, I was induced to ac- 

 company an affectionate sister in rambling 

 over the neighbouring downs, and often in 

 gossiping with and listening to the tales of 

 the villagers; one of whom, I remember, 

 was an old smuggler, who would amuse 

 me with accounts of his feats of courage, 

 or of cunning telling 



" Of most disastrous chances, 

 Of moving accidents by flood and field, 

 Of hair-breadth 'scapes-," 



