BLUESTOCKING. 109 



Her possession of this singular charac- 

 teristic exposed her to the laughter of 

 the vulgar, though from those who knew 

 her history it drew forth commisera- 

 tion. 



When I first knew her, the personal 

 charms that nature had bestowed on her 

 were on the wane; and from others I 

 learned, that, like the widow of Sichseus, 

 she had once fondled the gentle god, and 

 that, like her, had been deceived and de- 

 serted; but not like her did she immo- 

 late herself, and cherish the dying hope 

 that her shade would follow her destroyer 

 in all his wanderings. She resolved to 

 haunt with her real presence the authors of 

 her disappointment, and they must have 

 supposed her gifted with the power of 

 ubiquity for, wherever the happy couple 

 went, they found this victim of unrequited 

 affection. On one occasion, for mixing a 

 little of the animosity of the viper with 

 the innocence of the dove, she found her- 



