Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/768

754 Above all, the news of her death touched the poor and distressed with inexpressible affliction; and at her doors, and over her grave, they bewailed the loss of their benefactress, poured blessings on her memory, and recounted to each other the gentle and condescending manner with which she had heard their requests, and the numerous instances in which they had experienced her unexampled goodness and bounty.

In her cabinet were found letters to several of her friends, filled with the kindest professions of unalterable friendship, and the tenderest concern for their immortal welfare. The following sentiments I must transcribe: "It would not be worth the while to cherish the impressions of a virtuous friendship, if the generous engagement was to be dissolved with mortal life; such a thought would give the grave a deeper gloom, and add horrors to the fatal darkness.

"But I confess, I have brighter expectations, and am fully persuaded, those noble attachments that are founded on real merit are of an immortal date. That benignity, that divine charity, which just warms the soul in these cold regions, will shine with new lustre, and burn with an eternal ardour in the happy seats of peace and love.

"My present experience confirms me in this truth; the powers of nature are drooping, the vital spark grows languid and faint; while my affection for my surviving friends was never more warm, my concern for their happiness was never more ardent and sincere."

Her acquaintance with the great had taught her all the accomplishments of good breeding, and complaisance of behaviour; and without formality or affectation she practised, in a distant solitude, all the address and