CHARACTERS.
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down, and fit with her among the rell of the family, sfluring her, that there was no other perfon prefent j to this the at length confented, and went down to the parlour door; but the moment the door was open- ed, ihe turned back, and retired to her own chamber much difpleafedj ^Hedging, that there were Itrangers
- n the room, and that an attempt
had been made to deceive her. It happened, indeed, that there were Grangers in the room, but they had come in while the lady was above rtairs : fo that ihe did not know they were there. When (he had fatisfied her coufin of this particu- lar, fhe was pacified ; and being afterwards alked how fhe knew there were ftrangers in the room, ihe anfwered, by the fmell.
But though (he could by this fenfe diftingifh in general between perfon s with whom ihe was well acquainted, and Grangers, yet fhe could not fo eafily diftinguifh one of her acquaintance from another without other afiiftance. She ge- nerally diftinguifhed her friends by feeling their hands, and when they came in they ufed to prefent their hands to her, as a means of making themfelves known ; the make and warmth of the hand produced in general the differences that fhe dif- linguilhed, but fometimes fhe ufed to fpan the wrifl and meafure the fingers. A lady with whom fhe was very well acquainted, coming in one very hot day, after having walked a mile, prefented her hand, as ufual; fhe felt it longer than ordinary, and feemed to coubt whofe it was; but after fpanning the wrifl, and meafuring the iinj^ers, fhe faid, " It is Mrs. M. but ibe is " warmer to-day than ever i felt " her before."
To amufe herfelf in the mourn- ful and perpetual folitude and dark- nefs to which her diforder had re- duced her, fhe ufed to work much at her needle ; and it is remarkable, that her needle-work was uncom- monly neatand exaft; among many other pieces of her work that are preferved in the family, is a pin-, culbion, which can fcarce be equal- led. She ufed alfo fometimes to write, and her writing was yet more extraordinary than her needle- work ; it was executed with the fame legularity and exadlnefs; the character vvas very pretty, the lines were all even, and the letters plac- ed at equal diilances from each other; but the moft aflonifbing particular of all, with rerpe<ft tci her writing, is, that fhs could by fome means diicover u'hen a letter had by fome miftake been omitted, and would place it over that part of the word where it fliould have been inferted, with a caret under it. It was her cuftom to fit up m bed at any hour of the night, ei- ther to write or to work, when her pain or any other caufe kept her awake.
Theie circum fiances were fo very extraordinary, that it was long doubted whether fhe had not fome faint remains both of hearing and fight, and many experiments were made to afcertain the matter; fome of thefe experiments fhe acciden- tally difcovered, and the difco- vcry always threw her into violent convulfions. The thought of being fufpetted of infincerity, cr fuppof- ed capable of adling fo wicked a part as to feign infirmities that were not infl!£led,was an addition to her mifery which fhe could not bear, and which never failed to produce an agony of mind not lefs
vifible
