"There are few things I ni<Sre deprecate for girls than
poetical education, the evils of which I saw sadly eiempti'
fled in a young friend of Mrs. Swnley's. She had beao^
and talents. Iler parents, enchanteil with both, left h«t'
entirely to her own guidance. She yieldoii hersolf up
the uncontrolled rovinga of a vagrant limey. When t|i

i IrMliso entitlod Lnlium R«dir1vum, (

oT lliu Likliji loaguago, Had the pRiv>loQce of tli



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■he wrote venea, which were shown id her preaence to every
piesl. Their flattory compleUtd her iDtoxication. She
afUTward (rarmliiliii ICali.iu sonuuts and ompoecd elegies
of whii'U lavo wi(H tlie only tliuino. These sbu was cuuour-
a^><l by hvi motlier to rocibo berscif, in all companies, with
a [>atho« and Kosibilily which delighted her paienta, but
alarmed her more prudent fiiends.
" She grew np with the confirmed opinion that the two
greal and Hole concoroa of human life were lore and poetry.
She cuD-'iilured ihcm an inseparably conneeted, and she re>
solved iu her own instance never to violate bo indispensable
a union. Tlie object of her sffection was unhappily cho-
sen, and the effects of Ler attachment were such as might
have txK'n expected from a conoezion funned on so alight a
foundation. In the perftKitions with which she invcatud ber
lover, slio gave the reins to Ler imagination, when she
tbouglit she was <mly oonsulting her heart. She picked out
and put together the fine qualities of all the heroes of all
tlio poela she had over read, and into this finished creature,
her ijuicy traniiformod her admirer.
