Page:Emma Roberts Memoir of L. E. L.pdf/2



there are who could hear the sad tidings of the death of that highly gifted creature, whose exhaustless verse seemed to fill the atmosphere with song, without feelings of deep and painful emotion; but to her private and personal friends, who were many and true-hearted, the blow was appalling. To descant upon the genius of L. E. L.—to paint the rare and brilliant qualities of a mind so richly stored with all that could dazzle and delight—would require a much more able pen: and there are many amongst the circle of her friends and admirers who will doubtless fulfil an office to which I am scarcely adequate. Though unwilling to decline a duty, which might have been less faithfully exercised by those who were not equally well acquainted with all the circumstances of L. E. L.'s life, the task now devolving upon me is one of the most painful nature, 5