had from my last
place; and I am sure I have reason to value these distorted fingers,
more than ever any one did the handsomest hands that ever nature made.
But,' added she, smiling, 'few of my fellow-servants are better
qualified; the cook cannot walk without crutches, the kitchen maid has
but one eye, the dairy maid is almost stone deaf, and the housemaid has
but one hand; and yet, perhaps, there is no family where the business is
better done; for gratitude, and a conviction that this is the only house
into which we can be received, makes us exert ourselves to the utmost;
and most people fail not from a deficiency of power, but of inclination.
Even their musicians, if you observed it, sir, are much in the same
condition. The steward, indeed, must be excepted; he is one whom the
good Mr d'Avora chose for the sake of his integrity some years before he
died, as his successor in the care of the ladies' affairs, and employed
him for some time under his own inspection, that he might be sure he was
fit for the purpose, though he persuaded the ladies to receive their own
rents and direct all the chief concerns of their estates, which they
have done ever since, so that theirs is rather a household than a land
steward. But, except this gentleman and the shepherd, there is not one
of their musicians that is not under some natural disadvantage; the
defects of two of them are so visible I need not point them out, but of
the other two, one is subject to violent fits of the stone, and the
other to the asthma. Thus disabled from hard labour, though they find
some employment in the manufacture, yet the additional profit which
accrues from their playing here adds much to their comfort, as their
infirmities render greater expenses necessary to them than to others in
their station.'

There was something so whimsically good in the conduct of the ladies in
these particulars, as at first made me smile; but when I considered it
more thoroughly, I perceived herein a refinement of charity which,
though extremely uncommon, was entirely rational. I found that not
contented with merely bestowing on the indigent as large a part of their
fortunes as they can possibly spare, they carry the notion of their duty
to the poor so far as to give continual attention to it, and endeavour
so to apply all they spend as to make almost every shilling contribute
towards the support of some person in real necessity; by this means
every expense bears the merit of