And, though she had not been instructed in the dead languages, yet, by conversing with some of the most learned men of the age, and by intense application to study, she attained a great share of learning, knowledge, and judgment. Of this we are assured by Sir Richard Steele, in an epistle dedicatory to Mrs. Bovey, prefixed to the second volume of the Ladies Library.
It were easy to enlarge on a character whose worth was so generally, and well attested; but her merit will appear in a more distinguished light, from her monumental inscriptions.
On a beautiful honorary marble monument, erected in Westminster-abbey, is the following:
"To the memory of Mrs. Catherine Bovey, whose person and understanding would have become the highest rank in female life, and whose vivacity would have recommended her to the best conversation; but by judgment as well as inclination, she chose such a retirement, as gave her great opportunities for reading and reflection, which she made use of to the wisest purposes of improvement in knowledge and religion: on other subjects, she ventured far out of the common way of thinking; but, in religious matters, she made the Holy Scriptures, in which she was well skilled, the rule and guide of her faith and actions, as esteeming it more safe to rely on the plain word of God, than to run into any freedoms of thought upon revealed truths. The great share of time allowed to her closet was not perceived in her economy; for, she had always a well-ordered, and well-instructed family, from the happy influence, as well of her temper and conduct, as of her uniform exemplary Christian life. It pleased God to bless her with a considerable estate, which with a liberal hand, guided by wis-
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