' 
246 
the many hours which had been loft, in 
going to and from Southgate. would now. 
be retrieved by a cloler application 
to his duties: but thefe hopes were 
fallacious; the time which fhould have 
been occupied ix, the counting-houfe 
or on the exchange, in keeping up or ex- 
tending commercial connections, was 
frittered aw ay in Sah: but expentive 
puriuits ; and Mus. Smith, ever fanguine, 
fondly imagined “ more advantageous to 
her family to retire into the country, and 
give up the buiinefs to the prudent mia- 
nagement of her father-in-law, who,equal- 
ly tired with his fon’s inability and im- . 
provident conduét, acceded to this pro- 
pofal, and confented to purchafe an eltate 
in Hampfhire, called Lys Farm, on which 
was a tery handfome new- built manfion, 
fufficiently commodious for a more ex 
tenfive eftablifiment than that of Mr. 
Smith. But he bad no fooner removed 
thither, than he began enlarging the 
houfe, and making additions to the gar- 
den and oifices on an extenfive plan ; his 
agricultural purfuits became expentfive 
and ruinous in proportion to his inexpe- 
rience; and Mrs. Smith foon found, that, 
although her tafte for rural fcenery, and 
for amore elegant fociety was gratified 
by the change of fituation ; yet her do- 
meftic comforts were by no means in- 
creafed, and the had only bartered one 
{pecies ‘Of mifery for another. Here fhe 
loft her eldeft fon, a boy of very fuperior 
intelleét, and who promifed to partake 
much of his mother’s genius: this was a 
deep affliction to his mother; he did not 
long furvive his erandfather, the tather 
of Mr. Smith, w hofe death was far from 
being an advantage to his daughter-in- 
law, “for in him fhe it a fieady “and af- 
feétionate friend, who had always her in- 
tereft and happinefs at heart. He left a 
very large property among his grandchil- 
dren, of which there were ieveral, belides 
the eight children of his youngeft fon; but 
his will was fo extremely prolix and con- 
fufed, that no two lawyers underfiood it ; 
in the fame manner, from whence the 
truftees appointed by it, refufed to act, 
and Mr. Smith became, as principal exe- 
cutor, poflefled of the entire management 
of thefe extenfive concerns, in the con- 
duct, of which he acted wath fo little cau- 
tion, and fo little to the fatisfaction of the 
feveral collateral branches of the family 
concerned, that they felt themfelves com- 
pelled to appeal to the law. As the confe- 
quences that ‘enfued have been already 
detailed,* let it futfice to fay, that Mrs. 
* See Third Volume of Public Charaéters. 
Memous of Mrs. Charlotte Smith. 
fApril fy 
Smith did not in the heur of diftrefsdeferté 
her hufband, but fhared in the mifery he 
had brought on himfelf, and exerted 
the powers of her mind with fuch indefa~ 
tigable zeal, that, atter the jpace of a tew 
months, the fucceeded in difentanyling, 
hua from his immediate embarrafiments, 
and the property was vefted in the hands 
of trufiees, two of them gentlemen con- 
neéted with Mr. Smith’s family, high in 
fituation and affluent in circumitances. 
It was feon after thele. events, that 
Mrs. Smith thought of colle¢ting fuch 
poems as the had “originally written for 
her amufement; they were firft offered 
to Dodiley and refuled; they were after- 
wards fhewn to Dilly in the Poultry, who 
alfo declined having any thing to do with 
then. 
gree of judgment thefe decifions were 
made: through the intereft of Mr. Hay- 
ley, they were at length printed by Dod- 
fley on Mrs. Smith’ = account, and the ra- 
pid fale, and almoft immediate demand 
for a jecond edition, fufiiciently juitified 
the author's confidence in her own powers, 
aid encouraged her to proceed 1 la a line, 
which,as it might render her in a great de- 
gree independent of the perfons who had 
now the management of the affairs, con- 
tributed to divert her thoughts,and to lead ~ 
her mind into the vifionary regions of 
fancy, rendering the fad realities fhe was 
fuffering under, in fome meafure lefs 
poigna int. The full encreafing derange- 
ment of Mr. Smith’s affairs foon after 
obliged him to leave England, and in the 
aut iinn of 1784, he eflaiied his family 
ina gloomy and inconvenient chateau in 
Normandy, very injedicioufly chofen nine 
miles from any town ; his wife’s fufferi ings 
in this very inconvenient and coinfortlefs 
fituation, where fhe gave birth to. her 
younselt child, were fuch, that few wo- 
ten couid have borne with fortitude; 
but her admirable mind and “perfevering 
fpirit full fupported her; and again lite- 
rary purfuits ferved to lighten her cares 
during the very fevere winter which hap- 
pened that year; and when her health 
would not admit of her gving. cut, fhe 
tranilated into Englith, the nowel of Ma- 
non l’Efcaut, by the Abbé Prevoft. It 
was afterwards publifhed, and cenfured 
as being immoral; but the faét was, it fei] - 
accidentally ia her way wen fhe had not 
much opportunity of feleétion, and at a 
time when ihe eagerly fought for any re- 
fource to mitigate her anxieties. In the 
{pring of 1785, the family returned to 
Englaud, and feon after refided im the 
ancient manfion. then belonging to Sir 
Charles 
It has been feen with what de-- 
