To  this  bright  but  melancholy  example  of  genius,  we
add  one  from  our  own  age  and  country,  far  more  lovely
and  attractive.  One  "  early  loved  and  early  lost" ;
whose  memory  has  been  embalmed  in  a  sweet  memorial,
written  by  a  young  lady,  her  intimate  friend.  The  close


32

of  her  life  furnishes  a  striking  contrast  to  that  of  the
gifted  Maria  Agnesi.
"Hers  was.  a  mind  entirely  unlike  that  of  common
characters,  peculiarly  individual  in  its  nature.  It  was  a
clear,  vigorous,  and  well-balanced  mind.  There  was
great  maturity,  and  independence,  and  discrimination,  in
her  habits  of  thought ;  and  an  enlargement  of  views,
that  led  her  to  examine  a  subject  in  all  its  bearings.
"  She  had  true  poetic  genius,  and  early  manifested  it.
The  world  in  which  her  imagination  lived  was  altogether
a  different  place  from  that  inhabited  by  common  minds,
for  it  was  peopled  with  the  bright  and  beautiful  creations
of  her  own  genius.
"  But,  notwithstanding  her  poetic  temperament,  she
applied  herself  closely  to  study,  and  made  high  and  va-
rious attainments.  And  she  preferred  those  studies  that
taxed  her  powers  to  the  utmost,  and  required  the  deepest
reflection.
"  Some  have  supposed  that  she  studied  so  hard  as  to
injure  her  health  ;  her  friends  consider  this  a  mistake.
She  almost  invariably  exercised  great  judgment  and  dis-
cretion in  regard  to  the^amount  of  time  she  devoted  to
study.  She  did  not  spend  as  great  a  proportion  of  each
day  in  study  as  many  scholars  do ;  but  she  had  an  un-
common power  of  abstraction,  and  when  she  studied
she  applied  herself  to  it  closely  and  in  earnest.
