> 1797:] 
who, poffefling the energies of intelleét, 
have exhibited them but at intervals, and 
always with a diminifhed power; who, 
after the languor which difappointed 
hopes have left in the foul, have, in de- 
fpair, exerted a fingular fortitude ; till 
the human form itfelf, yielding to its fe- 
verith exittence, the invincible mind may 
be faid to have {urvived amidft the ruins 
of its corporeal frame, and that with the - 
flow waftings and filent ftrokes of atro- 
phy, finks with murmurs unheard into 
an oblivious grave. When fuch a cha- 
ra€ter is a man of genius, we cannot 
foybear a fich;. but when, as now it is, 
an amiable fémale, it is in vain I feek 
for exprefiion ! 
With fuch.a charaéter was I lately ac- 
quainted: our acquaintance was. cafual 
and interrupted; but her death revives 
thefe recolle€tions, and the perutal of one 
of her works gives me the hiftory of her ~ 
life, which till this moment J knew not. 
Mifs Eliza Ryves, whofe death is re- 
corded in the Obituary for May, 1797, 
was defcended from a family of diftinc- 
tion m Ireland. She was deprived of an 
affluent independence, by the unfavour- 
able decifion of a law-fuit3; or, as fhe ex- 
a it, * fhe had been deprived of 
rer birth-right by the chicanery of law.” 
She informed me of the nature of the 
circumftance, and, as much as I recolleét, 
the female part of the family had been 
left with a magnificent portion, while 
the paternal eftate had gone to fupport 
the name and honour of an elder bro- 
ther. But in this ftatement I may not 
be correét. The little fhe had was, how- 
ever, expended in the law-{uit. 
I firft met with her at the Britifh Mu- 
feum. The fingularity of her occupa- 
tion could not fail of exciting curiofity. 
She had before her the fuperb and volu- 
minous manufcript of old Froiffart, the 
hiftorian, which the feemed to tranflate. 
Lord Berner’s verfion, publifhed in the 
reign of Henry VIII, lay at her fide. It 
-was evident, that his Lordthip was em- 
ployed by our authorefs as a {py on 
Froiffart, to inform her of what was go- 
ing forward in the French camp; but his 
lordthip himfelf wanted an interpreter, 
and {poke ina language not much more in- 
telligible than was the ancient French of 
_Froiffart. 
Literature was a magnet that equally 
attradied us. She wasknown and efteem- 
€d vy afriend of mine ; and the gift of 
fome of her poems proved to me that 
fhe was no vulgar writer. Some vifits 
Were reciprocally given. It was in thefe 
-Montuiy Maa, No. AXII. 
Tribute to the Memary of Mifs Ryves. 
Q13 
I partially learned her misfortunes, and 
admired the fingular exertions of her li- 
terary powers. In her former hours of © 
tranguillity, fhe had publifhed two vo- 
lumes of poems, which are harmonious and 
elegant. Her poetical talent was, however, 
improved, J think, after this publication, 
and the clofe of their recolleétions will af- 
ford a proof of the pathetic tendernefs of 
her mind. She had written a tragedy, and 
feveral comedies, which were all in MS. 
But latterly, when her diftrefles were of 
the moft ursent’nature, fhe looked up to’ 
her pen for a refource. We can eafily 
conceive the impediments which a female 
mutt encounter, in her attempts of traf- 
ficking with bookfellers. She has fre- 
quently returned from‘ their fhops, . to 
haften to her bed; exhaufted by mi- 
fery, the fought, in a difturbed repofe, 
fome temporary oblivion of her grief ; 
but even the dreams of the unfortunate, 
with a cruel {port of the imagination, 
revive and prolong the miferies of the 
Bact 
She told me fhe had written, for a 
newfpaper, much political matter, for 
which fhe had been il] paid; much poetry 
for another, in which fhe had been one 
of the correfpondents of Della Crufca; 
and in payment of her verfes, got nothing 
but verfes: but the moft aftonifhing ex- 
ertion from a female pen, was that of 
having compofed entirely the hiftorical 
and political parts of {ome annual work ; 
which I fufpect was an annual regifter. 
All thefe laborious exertions were not 
profitable. A bookfeller advifed her to 
adopt the mode of tranflation. , She was 
ignorant of the French language. She 
purchafed fome elementary works, retired 
to an obfcure part of Iilington, ard in 
lefs than two months, fhe acquired the 
language fufficiently to give the public a 
verfion of Rouffeau’s *¢ Social Compaét:’” 
which, Iam told, is well tranflated ; but 
which, I fear, fold little. Afterwards, fhe 
tranflated the Abbé Raynal’s Letter to 
the National Affembly ; and, at length, 
De la Croix’s ** Review of the Confti- 
tutions of the principal States in Europe,’’ 
wich intelligent notes, in two thick vo- 
lumes, Svo. Thefe indefatigable and 
mafculine attempts for an honeft inde- 
endence were all fruitlefs; they not only 
left her as they found her, but with a 
health now much broken, and with {pirits 
now almoft exhaufted. 
During her labours of tranflation, 
Hope had breathed a whifper in her 
lonely ear. For fome years her come- 
dies were in poffeflion of the hands of the 
ee Managers, 
