concerns. And love shall be all what I will tell you in this letter. In
one happy night I read my husband's poem, 'The Messiah.' I was extremely
touched with it. The next day I asked one of his friends who was the
author of this poem, and this was the first time I heard Klopstock's
name. I believe I fell immediately in love with him. At the least, my
thoughts were ever with him filled, especially because his friend told
me very much of his character. But I had no hopes ever to see him, when
quite unexpectedly I heard that he should pass through Hamburg. I wrote
immediately to the same friend, for procuring, by his means, that I
might see the author of the 'Messiah' when in Hamburg. He told him that
a certain girl in Hamburg wished to see him, and for all recommendation
showed him some letters in which I made bold to criticise Klopstock's
verses. Klopstock came, and came to me. I must confess that, though
greatly prepossessed of his qualities, I never thought him the amiable
youth whom I found him. This made its effect. After having seen him for
two hours I was obliged to pass the evening in a company which never had
been so wearisome to me. I could not speak. I could not play. I thought
I saw nothing but Klopstock.
"I saw him the next day, and the following, and we were very seriously
friends. But the fourth day he departed! He wrote soon after, and from
that time our correspondence began to be a very diligent one. I
sincerely believed my love to be friendship. I spoke to my friends of
nothing but Klopstock, and showed his letters. They rallied me, and said
I was in love. I rallied them again, and said that they must have a very
friendshipless heart if they had no idea of friendship to a man as well
as to a woman. Thus it continued eight months, in which time my friends
found as much love in Klopstock's letters as in mine. I perceived it
likewise, but I would not believe it. At the last, Klopstock said
plainly that he loved; and I startled as for a wrong thing. I answered
that it was no love, but friendship, as it was what I felt for him; we
had not seen one another enough to love (as if love must have more time
than friendship). This was sincerely my meaning, and I had this meaning
till Klopstock came again to Hamburg. This he did a year after we had
seen one another for the first time. We saw; we were friends; we loved;
and we believed that we loved; and a short time after I could even tell
Klopstock that I loved. But we were obliged to part again, and wait two
years for our wedding. My mother would not let marry me a stranger. I
could marry then without her consentment, as by the death of my father
my fortune depended not upon her; but this was an horrible idea for me,
and thank heaven I have prevailed by prayers. At this time, knowing
Klopstock, she loves him as her lifely son, and thanks God that she has
not persisted. We married, and I am the happiest wife in the world."
This was written in March 1758, after they had been about four years
married. Writing again in the beginning of May, she thus sketches the
life they led together: "It will be a delightful occupation for me to
make you more acquainted with my husband's poem. Nobody can do it better
than I, being the person who knows the most of that which is not yet
published, being always present at the birth of the young verses, which
begin always by fragments here and there of a subject of which his soul
is just then filled. He has many great fragments of the whole work
ready. You may think that persons who love as we do have no need of two
chambers; we are always in the same. I, with my little work, still only
regarding sometimes my husband's sweet face, which is so venerable at
that time with tears of devotion and all the sublimity of the subject,
my husband reading me the young verses and suffering my criticism."
With this we may compare what Klopstock says, writing of her: "How
perfect was her taste! how exquisitely fine her feelings! she observed
everything even to the slightest turn of the thought. I had only to look
at her, and could see in her face when even a syllable pleased or
displeased her; and when I led her to explain the reason of her
remarks, no demonstration could be more true, more accurate, or more
appropriate to the subject. But, in general, this gave us very little
trouble, for we understood each other when we had scarcely began to
explain our ideas."
But all this happiness, too bright for earth, or for long endurance, was
about to be suddenly extinguished. There is another letter from Meta to
Richardson, dated 26th August, in which she informs him that she has a
prospect of being a mother in the month of November, and of thus
attaining what has been her only wish ungratified for these four years.
She writes from Hamburg, where she was on a visit to her family, while
her husband had been obliged to make a journey to Copenhagen. It was the
first time that they had been separated. It is remarkable that she seems
to have had more than a mere apprehension, almost an assured foreboding,
of what awaited her. Klopstock rejoined her at last about the end of
September; her last lines, written to him before his return, are dated
the 26th of that month. The two following months they spent together at
Hamburg. From that place poor Meta was never to return. There, where she
had first drawn breath, she died in childbed on the 28th of November.
[Klopstock lived till 1803, and was then buried under a lime tree in the
churchyard of Ottenson, near Altona, by the side of his Meta and the
child that slept in her arms.]
ELIZABETH BLACKWELL.
[1720.]
JAMES BRUCE.
The piety and domestic virtues of Elizabeth Blackwell entitle her to
rank among the best women whose names have found their way into public
history; a fortune which has happened to her and Lady Rachel Russel, and
two or three other virtuous women; but which has, in the instance of
most of their sex who have attained to celebrity, been a calamity upon
their memory, being a rank at which it is not easy for a woman to arrive
by the practice of those private and retiring virtues and graces which
are the real solid ornaments of the female character. Elizabeth
Blackwell was the daughter of a stocking merchant in Aberdeen, where she
was born about the beginning of last century. The first event of her
life which is now known, was her secret marriage with Alexander
Blackwell, and her elopement with him to London. He had received a
finished education, and was an accurate Greek and Latin scholar. He had
studied medicine under the famous Boerhaave, and, in travelling over the
Continent, had lived in the best society, and had acquired an extensive
knowledge of the modern languages. He was, however, unsuccessful in his
endeavours to secure a comfortable livelihood. After having in vain
attempted to get into practice as a physician, and having now a wife
also to provide for, he applied for the situation of corrector of the
press to a printer of the name of Wilkins, and for some time continued
in that employment. He then set up a printing establishment in the
Strand, but became involved in debt, and was thrown into prison.
It was this circumstance that brought into practice the talents and
virtues of Mrs Blackwell. She resolved, by an unexampled labour for a
woman, to effect the delivery of her husband. She had in her girlish
days practised the drawing and colouring of flowers, a suitable and
amiable accomplishment of her sex. Engravings of flowers were then very
scarce, and Mrs Blackwell thought that the publication of a Herbal might
attract the notice of the world, and yield her such a remuneration as
would enable her to discharge her husband's debts. She now engaged in a
labour which is at once a noble and marvellous monument of her
enthusiastic and untiring conjugal affection, and interesting evidence
of the elegant and truly womanly nature of her own mind. Having
submitted her first drawings to Sir Hans Sloane and Dr Mead, these
eminent physicians encouraged her to proceed with the work. She also
received the kindest countenance from Mr Philip Miller, a well-known
writer on horticulture. Amongst those who were honoured in patronising
her labour of piety was Mr Rand of the Botanical Garden at Chelsea. By
his advice Mrs Blackwell took lodgings in the neighbourhood of this
garden, from which she was furnished with all the flowers and plants
which she required for her work. Of these she made drawings, which she
engraved on copper, and coloured with her own hands. Her husband
supplied the Latin names and the descriptions of the plants, which were
taken principally from Miller's "Botanicum Officinale," with the
author's permission.
In 1737, the first volume, a large folio, came out under the following
title, "A Curious Herbal, containing 500 Cuts of the most useful Plants
which are now used in the Practice of Physic. Engraved in Folio
Copperplates, after Drawings by Eliz. Blackwell." The profits which Mrs
Blackwell received from this work enabled her to relieve her husband
from prison. The adventures of Blackwell after his release are well
known. Having devoted much of his attention to agricultural science, he
obtained for some time a lucrative employment from the Duke of Chandos.
He was subsequently invited to Sweden on account of a work he had
published on agriculture. He went there, leaving his wife in England. He
was received with honour at the court of Stockholm, where he lived with
the prime minister, in the enjoyment of a salary from the government.
During this period of prosperity he had continued to send large sums of
money to his wife, who was now making arrangements to leave England with
her only child and join her husband. But heaven, which often brings
human histories to a very different conclusion from what readers of
romances are disposed to acquiesce in, for the wise end of impressing
men with the most solemn conviction of the reality of another world,
which is the appointed place of rest and reward for goodness, saw fit to
remove from this noble woman the husband whom she had loved so ardently,
and for whom she had wrought a work of such singular piety, and to take
him from the world by a melancholy and frightful death. A conspiracy
against the constitution of Sweden was formed by Count Tessin; and
Blackwell, it is believed innocently, was suspected of being concerned
in the plot. He was seized and put to the torture. He was beheaded in
July 1747.
LAETITIA BARBAULD.
[BORN 1743. DIED 1825.]
JOHNSTONE.
The only daughter of Dr John Aikin, a Dissenting minister. Her youth was
spent in entire seclusion, and her education was entirely domestic. At
two years of age, it is stated on the authority of her mother, she could
read with tolerable ease, and, at two years and a half, as well "as most
women." It is at least certain that, from the instructions of her
father, Miss Aikin acquired a competent knowledge of Latin; and that she
was not indebted, for even a single lesson, either to professional
female tuition, or to the teachers of the fashionable accomplishments,
considered so important in forming the minds and manners of young
ladies. Dr Aikin became a teacher at the Dissenting academy in
Warrington, in Lancashire, when his daughter was about fifteen. This
seminary enjoyed high celebrity. The teachers were all men of
distinguished talents. Dr Priestley and Dr Enfield were of their number.
In such a society the genius of Miss Aikin was fostered and animated;
and her poems, published in 1773, rose into immediate popularity. Verse
had the quality of comparative rarity in those days, and a female poet
had a clear and unoccupied field.
In 1744, Miss Aikin married Rochemont Barbauld, a young gentleman who,
having been sent to Warrington for instruction previous to entering the
church, imbibed, with a passion for her, the tenets of the sect to which
her family belonged. Mr Barbauld obtained the charge of a congregation
in Suffolk, and at Palgrave opened a seminary for the instruction of
youth. The acquirements and habits of Mrs Barbauld eminently qualified
her to be the coadjutor of her husband in this undertaking, and she
afterwards received pupils of a very tender age as her peculiar charge.
Of this number were Mr Denman the barrister, and Sir William Gell.
Having no child of her own, she adopted the infant of her brother, Dr
Aikin; and for his use, and that of her infant class, were composed
those early lessons and hymns in prose which confirmed her literary
reputation.
After a long interval, Mrs Barbauld resumed her pen, and published a
selection of papers from the classic essayists, with a Life of
Richardson, and a selection from his correspondence. In 1808 she lost
her husband, who had for a long time suffered under that mental
affliction which makes death a welcome release. After this event, she
published a selection of the British novelists, and then her poem,
"Eighteen Hundred and Eleven,"--a production far more ambitious, though
much less successful, than her early and quieter performances. Its tone
is that of gloomy prediction, its spirit desponding and altogether
infelicitous. That was no palliation for the virulence of party feeling
by which this useful and elegant author, now venerable even for years,
was assailed by certain periodical writers. She never again appeared
before the public. She died at the age of eighty-two, entitled to the
veneration and gratitude of every one who has a child to train for this
life, and for a higher state of existence.
HANNAH MORE.
[BORN 1745. DIED 1833.]
PROFESSOR CRAIK.
The greatest name in the list of female writers on moral and religious
subjects in the last century was born in Gloucestershire in 1744. In
1762 she is said to have written her pastoral drama in rhymed verse,
entitled "The Search after Happiness," which was immediately performed
by the young ladies of the school of which she, with her sister, was the
mistress. If it was not much improved before its publication eleven
years afterwards, this was certainly a remarkable production for a girl
of seventeen. Shortly after the production of this poem, the sisters had
prospered sufficiently to enable them to build a house, the first
erected in Park Street, Bristol. The order and management of the
establishment, together with the superior quality of the education
afforded, rendered this school the most celebrated of the kind in the
kingdom. It comprised upwards of sixty pupils, and twice the number
might have been easily entered had the accommodation admitted.
The person to whom Hannah was indebted for her advancement in critical
knowledge and the principles of correct taste was, we are informed, a
Bristol linen-draper named Peach. "He had," says Mr Roberts, "been the
friend of Hume, who had shown his confidence in his judgment by
entrusting to him the correction of his "History," in which, he used to
say, he had discovered more than two hundred Scotticisms." "At the age
of twenty," says Mr Roberts, "having access to the best libraries in her
neighbourhood, she cultivated with assiduity the Italian, Latin, and
Spanish languages, exercising her genius and polishing her style in
translations and imitations, especially of the Odes of Horace, and of
some of the dramatic compositions of Metastasio."
One of the most important events in Hannah More's history was her first
visit to London. "The theatre," it is said in her Life, "on her arrival
in town, was the great point of attraction, and Garrick the great object
of curiosity." Garrick "was delighted with his new acquaintance, and
took pride and pleasure in introducing her in the splendid circle of
genius in which he moved. To the royal family, who inquired of him
concerning her, he spoke in terms of the most ardent commendation. Mrs
Montagu, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Dr Johnson, rapidly succeeded in her
acquaintance; and in the course of six weeks (for such was the limit of
this visit) she had become intimate with the greatest names in intellect
and taste."
In 1774 she published her tragedy of the "Inflexible Captive," altered
from Metastasio. The following year it was acted, first in Exeter and
then in Bath, with the greatest applause; Garrick on the latter occasion
being behind the scenes, and a host of distinguished persons filling the
house. Her first publication, "The Search after Happiness," had by this
time reached a sixth edition, besides having been reprinted in America.
In November 1777 her tragedy of "Percy" was produced at Covent Garden
theatre; Garrick, who had also contributed both the prologue and
epilogue, sustaining the principal character. The success of the play
was complete, perhaps at that time unsurpassed. It was translated by the
prime minister of France into French, and in a German dress "Percy"
appeared on the stage of Vienna. Miss More received on the occasion the
most flattering honours and distinctions; the whole blood of the Percys
did honour to their minstrel. The Duke of Northumberland, Earl Percy,
and the editor of the "Reliques," all came forward, complimented, and
thanked her. An edition of nearly four thousand copies of the play was
sold in a fortnight, and the authoress realised on the whole nearly
L600. The tragedy of "Percy," nevertheless, has now ceased to be acted,
and has, it may be apprehended, been read by very few living men.
But Hannah More's exertions in the cause of religion, morality, and
civilisation, were not confined to the writing of books, of which she
produced a great number, realising to her ultimately L30,000. One of her
most meritorious services to the best interests of her country was her
establishment of schools for the young throughout the district around
her place of residence, the mining region of the Mendip hills, where,
till she came among them, the people, taught scarcely anything either by
schoolmaster or clergyman, were almost universally in a state of
barbarism. Schools upon the same system were established in neighbouring
parishes, and in a short time five hundred children were in training in
ten schools. Her habitual cheerfulness never forsook her, and in some
other respects she was, at near the age of ninety, what many have ceased
to be at seventy.
ANNA SEWARD.
[BORN 1747. DIED 1809.]
SIR WALTER SCOTT.
This poetical lady was born in 1747. Her father, the Rev. Thomas Seward,
rector of Hyam, in Derbyshire, prebendary of Salisbury, and canon
residentiary of Litchfield, was himself a poet; and a manuscript
collection of his fugitive pieces is now lying before me, the bequest of
my honoured friend, when she entrusted me with the task which I am now
endeavouring to discharge. Several of these effusions were printed in
Dodsley's collection. Thus accomplished himself, the talents of his
eldest daughter did not long escape his complacent observation.
[In 1754, Mr Seward removed with his family to Litchfield.] The
classical pretensions of this city were exalted by its being the
residence of Dr Darwin, who soon distinguished and appreciated the
talents of our young poetess. At this time, however, literature was
deemed an undesirable pursuit for a young lady in Miss Seward's
situation--the heiress of an independent fortune, and destined to occupy
a considerable rank in society. Her mother, although an excellent woman,
possessed no taste for her daughter's favourite amusements; and even Mr
Seward withdrew his countenance from them, probably under the
apprehension that his continued encouragement might produce in his
daughter that dreaded phenomenon--a learned lady.
After the death of Miss Sarah Seward, her sister's society became
indispensable to her parents, and she was never separated from them.
Offers of matrimonial establishments occurred, and were rejected in one
instance entirely, and in others chiefly from a sense of filial duty. As
she was now of an age to select her own society and studies, Miss
Seward's love for literature was indulged; and the sphere in which she
moved was such as to increase her tastes for its pursuits. Dr Darwin, Mr
Day (whose opinions formed singular specimens of English philosophy), Mr
Edgeworth, Sir Brooke Boothby, and other names well known in the
literary world, then formed part of the Litchfield society. The
celebrated Dr Johnson was an occasional visitor of their circles; but he
seems, in some respects, to have shared the fate of a prophet in his own
country--neither Dr Darwin nor Miss Seward were partial to the great
moralist. There was perhaps some aristocratic prejudice in their
dislike; for the despotic manners of Dr Johnson were least likely to be
tolerated where the lowness of his origin was in fresh recollection. At
the same time, Miss Seward was always willing to do justice to his
native benevolence, and to the powerful grasp of his intellectual
powers, and she possessed many anecdotes of his conversation which had
escaped his most vigilant recorders. These she used to tell with great
humour, and with a very striking imitation of the sage's peculiar voice,
gesture, and manner of delivery.
Miss Seward, when young, must have been exquisitely beautiful; for, in
advanced age, the regularity of her features, the fire and expression of
her countenance, gave her the appearance of beauty, and almost of youth.
Her eyes were auburn, of the precise shade and hue of her hair, and
possessed great expression. In reciting, or speaking with animation,
they appeared to become darker, and, as it were, to flash fire. I should
have hesitated to state the impression which the peculiarity made upon
me at the time, had not my observation been confirmed by that of the
first actress of this or any other age, with whom I lately happened to
converse on our deceased friend's expressive powers of countenance. Miss
Seward's tone of voice was melodious, guided by excellent taste, and
well suited to reading and recitation, in which she willingly exercised.
She did not sing, nor was she a great proficient in music, though very
fond of it, having studied it later in life than is now usual. Her
stature was tall, and her form was originally elegant; but having broken
the patella of her knee by a fall in the year 1768, she walked with pain
and difficulty, which increased with the pressure of years.
[In 1784, Miss Seward produced a poetical novel, entitled "Louisa,"
which became popular, and passed through several editions. Her memoirs
of the life of Dr Darwin was her last composition. In this she lays
claim to the lines at the commencement of "The Botanic Garden," though
unacknowledged by the author. Her other poems are "Langollen Vale," a
volume of sonnets, and some paraphrases of Horace. She died in March
1809, leaving Sir Walter Scott her literary executor. Mr Polwhele, in
his "Unsexed Females," speaks thus: "Miss Seward's poems are thoughts
that breathe, and words that burn."]
CATHERINE COCKBURN.
[BORN 1679. DIED 1749.]
PROFESSOR CRAIK
Mrs Cockburn, whose maiden name was Trotter, the daughter of a commander
in the navy, was in youth said to have been distinguished by personal
attractions. Her father died when she was very young; and her mother,
who was nearly related to more than one Scotch noble family, was left in
very narrow circumstances. Catherine began to show remarkable talent or
vivacity of mind at a very early age. It is told that, while she was
still a mere child, she one day surprised a company of her friends by
some extemporaneous verses on an incident which had just happened in the
street. Her first literary attempts were in verse. One poem, which she
is stated to have written when she was only fourteen, is printed among
her works. It is certain that in 1695, when she was only in her
seventeenth year, she appeared as a dramatic writer,--a tragedy written
by her, entitled "Agnes de Castro," having been brought out with success
at the Theatre Royal in that year, and printed the following. This was
followed by a second tragedy, entitled "Fatal Friendship," which was
performed in the new theatre, Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1698, and printed
the same year; and then came another tragedy and a comedy.