education than he could give her, she soon began to show a
considerable literary talent. Her first compositions were dramas, one of
which, "Percy," Garrick accepted for the stage, where for a season it
had fair success. But she soon quitted that line for works of morality,
intended to promote the religious improvement of society in her day. The
most celebrated of them was "Coelebs in Search of a Wife." But some of
the tales which she published in "The Cheap Repository," a series of
stories for the common people, had a greater sale. One, "The Shepherd of
Salisbury Plain," was so popular that it is said that a million copies
of it were sold. Her talents led to her acquaintance being cultivated by
such men as Johnson, Reynolds, Burke, and Bishop Porteus; and her
exercise of them was so profitable, that though she gave large sums in
charity, she left a fortune of L30,000.]

STRAWBERRY HILL, _Oct._ 14, 1787.

My dear Madam,--I am shocked for human nature at the repeated
malevolence of this woman! [Mrs. Yearsley.] The rank soil of riches we
are accustomed to see overrun with seeds and thistles; but who could
expect that the kindest seeds sown on poverty and dire misfortunes
should meet with nothing but a rock at bottom? Catherine de' Medici,
suckled by hopes and transplanted to a throne, seems more excusable.
Thank heaven, Madam, for giving you so excellent a heart; ay, and so
good a head. You are not only benevolence itself, but, with fifty times
the genius of a Yearsley, you are void of vanity. How strange, that
vanity should expel gratitude! Does not the wretched woman owe her fame
to you, as well as her affluence? I can testify your labours for both.
Dame Yearsley reminds me of the Troubadours, those vagrants whom I used
to admire till I knew their history; and who used to pour out trumpery
verses, and flatter or abuse accordingly as they were housed and
clothed, or dismissed to the next parish. Yet you did not set this
person in the stocks, after procuring an annuity for her! I beg your
pardon for renewing so disgusting a subject, and will never mention it
again. You have better amusement; you love good works, a temper superior
to revenge.

I have again seen our poor friend in Clarges Street [Mrs. Vesey]: her
faculties decay rapidly, and of course she suffers less. She has not an
acquaintance in town; and yet told me the town was very full, and that
she had had a good deal of company. Her health is re-established, and