DR. ERASMUS DARWIN'S LIFE. 179 



to time, his indulgence to all my wishes, his active 

 desire to see me amused and happy, proved incessant. 

 His house, as you know, has ever been the resort of 

 people of science and merit. If, from my husband's 

 great and extensive practice, I had much less of his 

 society than I wished, yet the conversation of his 

 friends, and of my own, was ever ready to enliven the 

 hours of his absence. Aa occasional malady made me 

 doubly enjoy health, so did those frequent absences 

 give a zest even to delight, when I could be indulged 

 with his company. My three boys have ever been 

 docile and affectionate. Children as they are, I could 

 trust them with important secrets, so sacred do they 

 hold every promise they make. They scorn deceit and 

 falsehood of every kind, and have less selfishness than 

 generally belongs to childhood. Married to any other 

 man, I do not suppose I could have lived a third part 

 of the years which I have passed with Dr. Darwin ; he 

 has prolonged my days, and he has blessed them.' 



" Thus died this superior woman, in the bloom of 

 life, sincerely regretted by all who knew how to value 

 her excellence, and passionately regretted by the 

 selected few whom she honoured with her personal and 

 coniidential friendship." * 



I fiind Miss Seward's pages so fascinating, that I am 

 in danger of following her even in those parts of her 

 work which have no bearing on Dr. Darwin. I must, 

 however, pass over her account of Mr. Edgeworth and 

 of his friend Mr. Day, the author of 'Sandford and 

 Merton,' " which, by wise parents, is put into every 



• ' Memoirs,' &o., p. 14. 



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