The worthy, as well as eminent, Sir Robert Strange, the first engraver
of his day, with his extraordinary wife and agreeable family, were,
from the time of the second marriage, amongst the most familiar
visitors of the Burney house.
The term extraordinary is not here applied to Lady Strange to denote
any singularity of action, conduct, or person; it is simply limited
to her conversational powers; which, for mother wit in brilliancy
of native ideas, and readiness of associating analogies, placed her
foremost in the rank of understanding females, with whom Mr. Burney
delighted to reciprocate sportive, yet deeply reflective, discourse.
For though the education of Lady Strange had not been cultivated by
scholastic lore, she might have said, with the famous Sarah, Duchess of
Marlborough, “My books are men, and I read them very currently.” And in
that instinctive knowledge of human nature which penetration develops,
and observation turns to account, she was a profound adept.
Yet, with these high-seasoned powers of exhilaration for others, she
was palpably far from happy herself; and sometimes, when felicitated
upon her delightful gaiety, she would smile through a face of woe, and,
sorrowfully shaking her head, observe how superficial was judgment upon
the surface of things, and how wide from each other might be vivacity
and happiness! the one springing only from native animal spirits; the
other being always held in subjection by the occurrences that meet,
or that mar our feelings. And often, even in the midst of the lively
laugh that she had sent around her, there would issue quite aloud, from
the inmost recesses of her breast, a sigh so deep it might rather be
called a groan.
Very early in life, she had given away her heart and her hand without
the sanction of a father whom, while she disobeyed, she ardently loved.
And though she was always, and justly, satisfied with her choice, and
her deserving mate, she could never so far subdue her retrospective
sorrow, as to regain that inward serenity of mind, that has its source
in reflections that have never been broken by jarring interests and
regrets.