thou art to a Tomb?
While every soft and every tender strain
Is ruffl'd, and ill-natur'd grown with Pain.

[Footnote 45: Christopher Monck, second Duke of Albermarle, was
appointed Governor-General of Jamaica, 26 November, 1687. He died
there early in the following autumn.]

[Footnote 46: '_Sappho_ famous for her Gout and Guilt,' writes Gould
in _The Poetess, a Satyr_.]

This she sent to his daughter-in-law with the following letter[47]:--

Madam,

At such losses as you have sustain'd in that of yo{r} Glorious
ffather in Law M{r}. Waller, the whole world must wait on your sighs
& mournings, tho' we must allow yours to be the more sensible by how
much more (above your Sex) you are Mistriss of that Generous Tallent
that made him so great & so admird (besids what we will allow as a
Relation) tis therfore at your ffeet Madam we ought to lay all those
Tributary Garlands, we humbler pretenders to the Muses believe it
our Duty to offer at his Tombe-- in excuse for mine Madam I can only
say I am very ill & have been dying this twelve month, that they
want those Graces & that spiritt w{ch} possible I might have drest em
in had my health & dulling vapors permitted me, howeuer Madam they
are left to your finer judgment to determin whether they are worthy
the Honour of the Press among those that cellibrat M{r}. Wallers
great fame, or of being doomed to the fire & whateuer you decree
will extreamly sattisfy

Madam
yo{r} most Devoted &
most Obeadient
Seruant
A. BEHN.

I humbly beg pardon for my yll writing Madam for tis with a Lame
hand scarce able to hold a pen.

[Footnote 47: Now published for the first time by the courtesy of
G. Thorn Drury, Esq., K.C., who generously obliged me with a
transcript of the original.]

Her weakness, lassitude, and despondency are more than apparent; yet
bravely buckling to her work, and encouraged by her success with
Fontenelle, she Englished with rare skill his _Theory of the System of
Several New Inhabited Worlds_, prefixing thereto a first-rate 'Essay on
Translated Prose.' She shows herself an admirable critic, broad-minded,
with a keen eye for niceties of style. _The Fair Jilt_ (licensed
17 April, 1688),[48] _Oroonoko_, and _Agnes de Castro_, followed in
swift succession. She also published _Lycidus, a Voyage from the Island
of Love_, returning to the Abbe Tallemant's dainty preciosities. On
10 Ju