Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/156

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HIS lady, who is known in the world by the poetialpoetical [sic] name of Corinna, ſeems to have been born for misfortunes; her very bittereſt enemies could never brand her with any real crime, and yet her whole life has been one continued ſcene of miſery. The family from which ſhe ſprung was of a rank in life beneath envy, and above contempt. She was the child of an ancient, and infirm parent, who gave her life when he was dying himſelf, and to whoſe unhappy conſtitution ſhe was ſole heireſs. From her very birth, which happened 1675, ſhe was afflicted with fevers and defluxions, and being over-nurſed, her conſtitution was ſo delicate and tender, that had ſhe not been of a gay diſpoſition, and poſſeſſed a vigorous mind, ſhe muſt have been more unhappy than ſhe actually was. Her father dying when ſhe was ſcarce two years old, and her mother not knowing his real circumſtances, as he was ſuppoſed from the ſplendour of his manner of life to be very rich, ſome inconveniencies were incurred, in beſtowing upon him a pompous funeral, which in thoſe times was