Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/158

148 random reckoning, I have now no child, and have taken a fancy to your daughter; give me the girl, I will breed her as my own, and provide for her as ſuch when I die.’ The widow thank’d her ladyſhip, but with a little too much warmth replied, ‘ſhe would not part with her child on any terms;’ which the counteſs reſented to ſuch a degree, that ſhe would never ſee her more, and dying in a few years, left 1500 l. per annum inheritance, at Stepney, to her chambermaid.

Thus were misfortunes early entailed upon this lady. A propoſal which would have made her opulent for life, was defeated by the unreaſonable fondneſs of her mother, who lived to ſuffer its diſmal conſequences, by taſting the bittereſt diſtreſſes. We have already obſerved, that Mrs. Thomas thought proper to retire to the country with her daughter. The houſe where ſhe boarded was an eminent Cloth-worker’s in the county of Surry, but the people of the houſe proved very diſagreeable. The lady had no converſation to divert her; the landlord was an illiterate man, and the reſt of the family brutiſh, and unmannerly. At laſt Mrs. Thomas attracted the notice of Dr. Glyſſon, who obſerving her at church very ſplendidly dreſſed, ſollicited her acquaintance. He was a valuable piece of antiquity, being then, 1684, in the hundredth year of his age. His perſon was tall, his bones very large, his hair like ſnow, a venerable aſpect, and a complexion, which might ſhame the bloom of fifteen. He enjoyed a ſound judgment, and a memory ſo tenacious, and clear, that his company was very engaging. His viſits greatly alleviated the ſolitude of this lady. The laſt viſit he made to Mrs. Thomas, he drew on, with much attention, a pair of rich Spaniſh leather gloves, emboſt on the backs, and tops with gold embroidery, and fringed round with gold plate. The lady could not help expreſſing her curioſity,