ve a
house." It has been recorded that Talleyrand visited her in her lodgings
on George Street, and that while the two discussed social and political
problems, they drank their tea and then their wine from tea-cups,
wine-glasses being an elegance beyond Mary's means. Her dress was as
plain as her furniture. Her gowns were mean in material and often shabby,
and her hair hung loosely on her shoulders, instead of being twisted and
looped as was then fashionable. Knowles, in his "Life of Fuseli," finds
fault with her on this account. She was not, however, a _philosophical
sloven_, with _romantic_ ideas of benevolence, as he intimates. Either he
or Fuseli strangely misjudged her. The reason she paid so little heed to
the luxuries and frivolities which custom then exacted, was because other
more pressing demands were made upon her limited income. Then, as usual,
she was troubled by the wretched complications and misfortunes of her
family. The entire care and responsibility fell upon her shoulders. None
of the other members seemed to consider that she was as destitute as they
were,--that what she _did_ was literally her one source of revenue.
Assistance would have been as welcome to her as it was to them. But they
accepted what she had to give, and were never deterred by reflecting upon
the difficulty with which she responded to their needs. This is always
the way. The strong are made to bear the burdens of the weak.

The amount of practical help she gave them is almost incredible. Eliza
and Everina had, when the school at Newington Green failed, become
governesses, but their education had been so sadly neglected that they
were not competent for their work. Mary, knowing this, sent Everina to
France, that she might study to be a good French teacher. The tide of
emigration caused by the Revolution had only just begun, and French
governesses and tutors were not the drug on the market they became later.
Everina remained two years in France at her eldest sister's expense. Mary
found a place for Eliza, first as parlor boarder, and then as assistant,
in an excellent school near London. For most of the time, however, both
sisters were birds of passage. Everina was for a while at Putney, and
then in Ireland, where she probably learned for herself the discomforts
which Mary had once endured. Eliza was now at Market Harborough and
Henley, and again at Putney, and finally she obtained a situation in
Pembrokeshire, Wales, which she retaine