the polish of civilization. I was not shut out from all
intercourse of humanity. Still I was galled by the yoke of service, and
my mistress often flying into violent fits of passion, made me dread a
sudden dismission, which I understood was always the case. I was
therefore prevailed on, though I felt a horror of men, to accept the
offer of a gentleman, rather in the decline of years, to keep his house,
pleasantly situated in a little village near Hampstead.

"He was a man of great talents, and of brilliant wit; but, a worn-out
votary of voluptuousness, his desires became fastidious in proportion as
they grew weak, and the native tenderness of his heart was undermined by
a vitiated imagination. A thoughtless career of libertinism and social
enjoyment, had injured his health to such a degree, that, whatever
pleasure his conversation afforded me (and my esteem was ensured by
proofs of the generous humanity of his disposition), the being his
mistress was purchasing it at a very dear rate. With such a keen
perception of the delicacies of sentiment, with an imagination
invigorated by the exercise of genius, how could he sink into the
grossness of sensuality!

"But, to pass over a subject which I recollect with pain, I must remark
to you, as an answer to your often-repeated question, 'Why my sentiments
and language were superior to my station?' that I now began to read, to
beguile the tediousness of solitude, and to gratify an inquisitive,
active mind. I had often, in my childhood, followed a ballad-singer, to
hear the sequel of a dismal story, though sure of being severely punished
for delaying to return with whatever I was sent to purchase. I could just
spell and put a sentence together, and I listened to the various
arguments, though often mingled with obscenity, which occurred at the
table where I was allowed to preside: for a literary friend or two
frequently came home with my master, to dine and pass the night. Having
lost the privileged respect of my sex, my presence, instead of
restraining, perhaps gave the reins to their tongues; still I had the
advantage of hearing discussions, from which, in the common course of
life, women are excluded.

"You may easily imagine, that it was only by degrees that I could
comprehend some of the subjects they investigated, or acquire from their
reasoning what might be termed a moral sense. But my fondness of reading
increasing, and my master occasionally shutting himself up in this