George's death, and an intimate acquaintance
with Dr. Gisborne--not happy....

1797. After an alteration in my teeth, and the death of Dr.
Warren--yet far from unhappy.

1798. Happy, but for suspicion amounting almost to certainty of a
rapid appearance of age in my face....

1802. After feeling wholly indifferent about Dr. Gisborne--very
happy but for ill health, ill looks, &c.

1803. After quitting Leicester Square probably for ever--after
caring scarce at all or thinking of Dr. Gisborne ... very
happy....

1806.... After the death of Dr. Gisborne, too, often very
unhappy, yet mostly cheerful, and on my return to London nearly
happy.

The record, with all its quaintness, produces a curious impression of
stoicism--of a certain grim acceptance of the facts of life. It would
have been a pleasure, certainly, but an alarming pleasure, to have known
Mrs. Inchbald.

In the early years of the century, she gradually withdrew from London,
establishing herself in suburban boarding-houses, often among sisters of
charity, and devoting her days to the practice of her religion. In her
early and middle life she had been an indifferent Catholic: "Sunday.
Rose late, dressed, and read in the Bible about David, &c."--this is one
of the very few references in her diary to anything approaching a
religious observance during many years. But, in her old age, her views
changed; her devotions increased with her retirement; and her retirement
was at last complete. She died, in an obscure Kensington boarding-house,
on August 1, 1821. She was buried in Kensington churchyard. But, if her
ghost lingers anywhere, it is not in Kensington: it is in the heart of
the London that she had always loved. Yet, even there, how much now
would she find to recognize? Mrs. Inchbald's world has passed away from
us for ever; and, as we walk there to-day amid the press of the living,
it is hard to believe that she too was familiar with Leicester Square.

G. L. STRACHEY.

[1] The following account is based upon the _Memoirs of Mrs. Inchbald,
including her familiar correspondence with the most distinguished
persons of her time_, edited by James Boaden, Esq.--a discursive, vague,
and not unamusing book.

A

SIMPLE STORY,

IN FOUR VOLUMES,

BY

MRS. INCHBALD.

VOL. I.

_THE FOURTH EDITION._

LONDON:

Printed for G. G. and J. ROBINSON,
PATERNOSTER ROW.

1799.

PREF