Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/351

Rh She was in the utmoſt degree an enemy to ill-natured ſatire and detraction; ſhe was as much unacquainted with envy, as if it had been impoſſible for ſo baſe a paſſion to enter into the human mind.

She had few equals in converſation; her wit was lively, and ſhe expreſſed her thoughts in the moſt beautiful and flowing eloquence.

When ſhe entered into the married ſtate, the higheſt eſteem and moſt tender affection appeared in her conduct to Mr. Rowe, and by the moſt gentle and obliging manner, and the exerciſe of every ſocial and good natured virtue, ſhe confirmed the empire ſhe had gained over his heart. In ſhort, if the moſt cultivated underſtanding, if an imagination lively and extenſive, a character perfectly moral, and a ſoul formed for the moſt exalted exerciſes of devotion, can render a perſon amiable, Mrs. Rowe has a juſt claim to that epithet, as well as to the admiration of the lovers of poetry and elegant compoſition.

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