1807. } 
Charles Mill, at Woollading, new the 
refidence of Lord Robert Spencer, and 
of which parifh the father of Otway. the 
poet had been rector; a circunitance 
which rendered it claliic ground to Mrs. 
Smith, and infpired thofe beautiful fon- 
wets in which his name is fo happily in- 
troduced; here alfo fhe trantlated thofe 
very intereftine extracts from Les Caufes 
Celcbres which have been fo defe srvedly 
admired, and which was a mott ditheult 
undertaking from the fingularity of the 
work, and the obfcurity oi Pthe law-ter ms. 
Again it became neceflary for Mrs. Smuth 
to exert her fortitude, when {he parted 
from her eldeft fon, who had «been ap- 
pointed to a writerfhip in Bengal; and 
when the fecond was fnatched trom her 
by a rapid and malignant fever, which 
more or lefs affeéted the whole family, 
and SN carried him off after an ulnels 
of three days. Other domeftic c¢alami- 
ties, infupy portable to a {pirit like hers, 
overtook | her very foon afterwards; and 
circumftances which delic: ACY foninde us 
to detail, determined her to quit her huf- 
band’s houfe, and withdraw with moti of 
her children to a finall cottage near Chi- 
chefter—a ftep approved of by her ee, 
and which fhe was fully juttitied in taking 
in the opinion of thofe who knew the true 
motives which inducéd it. The charm- 
ing novel of Emmeline was written at 
this place, in the courfe of a few months; 
the novelty of the defcriptive fcenery 
which Mrs. Smith firft mtroduced, and 
the elegance of the ttvle, obtained for it 
the moft unbounded fuccels, and encreaf- 
ed the ardour and perfevering application 
of the author, which brought forward fe- 
veral other works of the fame kind, al- 
molt all equally pleating, and which fol- 
lowed with a rapidity and pees truly 
aftonithing. 
Mrs. Sinith after the hae of fome 
tune removed to Brighthelmftone, where 
fhe continued till 1793, and where her 
talents introduced her to many dutin- 
guifhed and literary characters: circum- 
{tances and the Jove of chan we next ear- 
ried her to another part of Suffex. Her 
third fon had entered the army, and 
ferved on the contment in the campaign: 
of that year, as enfign in the 14th regi- 
ment; he had been diftinguifhed for his 
good condutt, but unfortunately received. 
a dangerous wound before Dunkirk, 
which made the amputation of his leg 
neceflary. He returned to England in this 
melancholy fituation; and fuch a dif- 
_treiling event, combining with other 
cautles, preyed on the conttitution of 
Memoirs of Mrs. Charlotte Smith. 
247 
his mother, who, having Eonerimied a 
very alarming rheumatic complaint, was 
advifed to try the Bath waters, and thither 
fhe removed in 1794, where in the fprin 
of 1795, that which fhe confidered as the 
heavicit of her domeftic calamities befel 
her, in the death of her fecond daughter, 
a lov ely and gimiable young woman, of a 
rapid decline. She had been two years 
the wife of the Chevalier de Foville, an 
emigrant. Mrs. Smith is faid never to 
have recovered this attli¢tion; but at 
times the original chearfulnels: of her 
temper returned, and latterly the never 
mentioned her lott da ughter. Her love 
ef change, which might always be num- 
bered among her foibles, was now be- 
Game! tn! habitael reftlefsnefs; and fhe 
continued to wander from place to place, 
in ie of attaining that happinefs which 
ever feemed to elude her purfuit. Her va- 
rious re ies may be traced in her 
poems. In 1801, fhe had to lament the 
death of that fon who lott his limb in the 
fervice of his country, which took place 
at Barbadoes, where the affairs of his fa- 
wily had called him, and by hisardent{pirit 
and exertions, the property fituated there 
was difpofed of; but he was not deftined 
to reap the benefit of his fuccefsful nego~ 
ciation, he fell a victim to the yellow te- 
ver, from the. benevolence of his difpofi- 
tion in attending his fervant, who was 
firft feized with the malady. His lofs 
was deeply regretted by his mother and 
faunly. In 1803, Mrs: Smith again chan- 
ged her habi tation, and removed from the 
neighbourhood of Tunbridge Wells, toa 
village i in Surry, regarding it as her na- 
tive foil, having pafied her infancy at her 
father’s place at Stoke, and there fhe had 
long expreffed a-delive that all her for- 
rows might repofe. Her wifhes have 
been complied with; fhe refts. near her 
mother and many of her anceftors in the 
parifh-church of that village. Death 
clofed ber long fafferings in her 57th year, 
on the 28th of Odtober , 1806, after a 
moft tedious and painful illnefs, which 
had totally exhautted her frame; but the 
powers of her extraordinary mind loft 
neither their firength nor their brilliancy. 
She was a widow at the time of her dit 
folution, and from that circumitance be= 
came poilefled of her own fortune. Of 
a tamily of twelve children, fix only are 
living, three fons and three daughters. In 
her then furviving fons fhe was particularly 
happy, having lived to fee the two elder 
ones, advanced to honourable and lucra- 
tive eppomiments in’ the civil fervice of 
Todia, and both.as high in character as 
112 in 
