Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/330

316 the compass of two or three weeks, she being then in the 17th year of her age. From a great disparity of years, and other causes, she was very unhappy during the time this connection lasted. However, she endeavoured to make the best of her situation. The retirement to which she was confined was wisely employed in the farther cultivation of a naturally vigorous understanding; and the good use she made of her leisure hours was eminently evinced in the charms of her conversation, and in her letters. That quick feeling of the elegant and beautiful which constitutes taste, she possessed in an eminent degree, and was therefore peculiarly fitted for succeeding in the fine arts. At the period we are speaking of, she made a great proficiency in music. As to painting, which afterwards she most loved, and in which she principally excelled, it had not as yet engaged her practical attention. In 1724, Mrs. Pendarves became a widow, upon which occasion she quitted Cornwall, and fixed her principal residence in London. For several years between 1730 and 1736, she maintained a correspondence with Dr. Swift. In 1743, Mrs. Pendarves was married to Dr. Delany, with whom it appears she had long been acquainted, and many years entertained a very high esteem. She had been a widow nineteen years, when this connection, which was a happy one, took place. Her husband regarded her almost to adoration. Upon his decease in May, 1768, she intended to fix herself at Bath, and was in quest of a house for that purpose. But the duchess dowager of Portland, hearing of her design, went down to the place; and, having in her early years formed an intimacy with Mrs. Delany, wished to have near her a lady from whom she had necessarily, for several years, been much separated, and whose heart and