Page:The works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld volume 1.djvu/66

 though her memory of recent circumstances became somewhat impaired. Her disposition,—of which sensibility was not in earlier life the leading feature,—now mellowed into softness, pleasingly exhibited

Her manners, never tainted by pride, which, with the baser but congenial affection of envy, was a total stranger to her bosom,—were now remarkable for their extreme humility: she spoke of every one not merely with the candour and forbearance which she had long practised; but with interest, with kindness, with an indulgence which sometimes appeared but too comprehensive; she seemed reluctant to allow, or believe, that any of her fellow-creatures had a failing, while she gave them credit gratuitously for many virtues. This state of mind, which, with her native acuteness of discernment, it must apparently have