Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/336

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HIS lady was born at Ilcheſter in Somerſetſhire September 11, 1674, being the eldeſt of three daughters of Mr. Walter Singer, a gentleman of good family, and Mrs. Elizabeth Portnel, both perſons of great worth and piety. Her father was not a native of Ilcheſter, nor an inhabitant, before his impriſonment there for non-conformity in the reign of King Charles II. Mrs. Portnel, from a principle of tenderneſs, viſited thoſe who ſuffered on that account, and by this accident an acquaintance commenced, which terminated in the nuptial union. They who were acquainted with the lady, who is the ſubject of this article, in her early years, perhaps obſerved an uncommon diſplay of genius as prophetic of that bright day which afterwards enſued.

There is ſo great a ſimilitude between painting and poetry, that it is no ways ſurprifing, a perſon, who poſſeſſed the latter of theſe graces in ſo high a degree, ſhould very eaſily diſcover an inclination to the former, which has often the ſame admirers. Accordingly we find Mrs. Rowe diſcover a taſte for painting; ſhe attempted to carry her taſte into execution, when ſhe had hardly ſteadineſs of hand ſufficient to guide the pencil. Her father perceiving her fondneſs for this art, was at the expence of a maſter to inſtruct her in it; and ſhe never failed to make it an amuſement ’till her death. Every one acquainted with her writings, and capable of reliſhing the melifluent flow of her numbers, will naturally ſuppoſe, that ſhe had a genius for