re boarded, with a few other ladies, in early
womanhood, in the family of Mr. George Thomson, the well-known
correspondent of Burns; and passed under his roof some of her happiest
years. Mr. Thomson--himself an enthusiast in art--strove to inoculate
the youthful inmates of his house with the same fervour, and to develop
whatever seeds of taste or genius might be found in them; and,
characterized till the close of a life extended far beyond the ordinary
term, by the fine chivalrous manners of the thorough gentleman of the
old school, his influence over his young friends was very great, and his
endeavours, in at least some of the instances, very successful. And in
none, perhaps, was he more so than in the case of the young lady of my
narrative. From Edinburgh she went to reside with the friends in England
to whose kindness she had been so largely indebted; and with them she
might have permanently remained, to enjoy the advantages of superior
position. She was at an age, however, which rarely occupies itself in
adjusting the balance of temporal advantage; and her only brother having
been admitted, through the interest of her friends, as a pupil into
Christ's Hospital, she preferred returning to her widowed mother, left
solitary in consequence, though with the prospect of being obliged to
add to her resources by taking a few of the children of the town as
day-pupils.

Her claim to take her place in the intellectual circle of the burgh was
soon recognised. I found that, misled by the extreme youthfulness of her
appearance, and a marked juvenility of manner, I had greatly mistaken
the young lady. That she should be accomplished in the ordinary sense of
the term--that she should draw, play, and sing well--would be what I
should have expected; but I was not prepared to find that, mere girl as
she seemed, she should have a decided turn, not for the lighter, but for
the severer walks of literature, and should have already acquired the
ability of giving expression to her thoughts in a style formed on the
best English models, and not in the least like that of a young lady. The
original shyness wore away, and we became great friends. I was nearly
ten years her senior, and had read a great many more books than she;
and, finding me a sort of dictionary of fact, ready of access, and with
explanatory notes attached, that became long or short just as she
pleased to draw them out by her queries, she had, in the course of her
amateur studi