Here, among the very élite of our writers, Miss Windle took a prominent stand, and proved herself capable of competing with the best of them. So marked was the public approbation—so great the desire to possess the interesting stories which monthly flowed from her graceful pen, that she was prevailed upon to reprint in book form a selection of her longer sketches.
The volume appeared during the year 1850, and an edition of several thousand copies was so soon disposed of, that another and larger edition is now in press.
Miss Windle’s merits as a writer are great and varied. Purity of taste, much command of language, and fascinating descriptive powers, characterize her productions.
Feminine grace and modesty are likewise leading features; and no one can lay down even the slightest of her sketches without the full conviction that it could only proceed from the pen of a refined and accomplished lady.
Though naturally of feeble constitution, and almost a martyr to ill health, Miss Windle, in attending to literary pursuits, by no means neglects her duties to that society of which she is at once a member and an ornament.
Possessed, in addition to her other accomplishments, of fine conversational ability, she renders her associations not only agreeable, but most useful; and it is to be strongly desired, that she may be spared to her friends long enough to fulfil the promise of a career so brilliantly commenced.
ALICE HEATH’S INTERVIEW WITH CROMWELL.
At a late hour of the night, two persons were winding their way to the palace of Whitehall. One was an individual of the male sex, in whom might have been seen, even through the gloom, a polished and dignified bearing, which, together with his dress—though of the Puritanic order—declared him a gentleman of more than ordinary rank. His companion was a delicate woman, evidently like himself of the most genteel class, but attired in the simplest and plainest walking costume of the times. She leaned on his arm with much appearance of womanly trust, although there was an air of self-confidence in her step, suggesting the idea of one capable of acting alone on occasion of emergency, and a striking yet perfectly feminine dignity presiding over her whole aspect.
“I have counselled your visiting him at this late hour,” said the gentleman, “because, as the only hope lies in striking terror
