on her constitution, that she
died in the wretched garret, where her virtuous mistress had forced her
to take refuge in the very pangs of labour, though my father, after a
slight reproof, was allowed to remain in his place--allowed by the mother
of six children, who, scarcely permitting a footstep to be heard, during
her month's indulgence, felt no sympathy for the poor wretch, denied
every comfort required by her situation.

"The day my mother died, the ninth after my birth, I was consigned to the
care of the cheapest nurse my father could find; who suckled her own
child at the same time, and lodged as many more as she could get, in two
cellar-like apartments.

"Poverty, and the habit of seeing children die off her hands, had so
hardened her heart, that the office of a mother did not awaken the
tenderness of a woman; nor were the feminine caresses which seem a part
of the rearing of a child, ever bestowed on me. The chicken has a wing to
shelter under; but I had no bosom to nestle in, no kindred warmth to
foster me. Left in dirt, to cry with cold and hunger till I was weary,
and sleep without ever being prepared by exercise, or lulled by kindness
to rest; could I be expected to become any thing but a weak and rickety
babe? Still, in spite of neglect, I continued to exist, to learn to curse
existence," her countenance grew ferocious as she spoke, "and the
treatment that rendered me miserable, seemed to sharpen my wits. Confined
then in a damp hovel, to rock the cradle of the succeeding tribe, I
looked like a little old woman, or a hag shrivelling into nothing. The
furrows of reflection and care contracted the youthful cheek, and gave a
sort of supernatural wildness to the ever watchful eye. During this
period, my father had married another fellow-servant, who loved him less,
and knew better how to manage his passion, than my mother. She likewise
proving with child, they agreed to keep a shop: my step-mother, if, being
an illegitimate offspring, I may venture thus to characterize her, having
obtained a sum of a rich relation, for that purpose.

"Soon after her lying-in, she prevailed on my father to take me home, to
save the expence of maintaining me, and of hiring a girl to assist her in
the care of the child. I was young, it was true, but appeared a knowing
little thing, and might be made handy. Accordingly I was brought to her
house; but not to a home--for a home I never knew. Of this child, a
daughter, she was extr