nformed
and not very pleasing; but you shall have a full and true account,
my dear girl, in a few days....

I am your affectionate sister and sincere friend,

MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT.

It was at least fortunate that she escaped, with Lady Kingsborough, the
indignities which she had feared she, as governess, would receive.
Instead of being placed on a level with the servants, as was often the
fate of gentlewomen in her position, she was treated as one of the
family, but she had little else to be thankful for. There was absolutely
no congeniality between herself and her employers. She had no tastes or
views in common with them. Lady Kingsborough was a thorough woman of the
world. She was clever but cold, and her natural coldness had been
increased by the restraints and exactions of her social rank. If she
rouged to preserve her good looks, and talked to exhibit her cleverness,
she was fulfilling all the requirements of her station in life. Her
character and conduct were in every way opposed to Mary's ideals. The
latter, who was instinctively honest, and who never stooped to curry
favor with any one, must have found it difficult to treat Lady
Kingsborough with a deference she did not feel, but which her subordinate
position obliged her to show. The struggle between impulse and duty thus
caused was doubtless one of the chief factors in making her experiences
in Ireland so painful. How great this struggle was can be best estimated
when it is known what she thought of the mother of her pupils. She was
never thrown into such intimate relations with any other woman of
fashion, and therefore it is not illogical to believe that many passages
in the "Rights of Women," relating to women of this class, are
descriptions of Lady Kingsborough. The allusion to pet dogs in the
following seems to establish the identity beyond dispute:--

"... She who takes her dogs to bed, and nurses them with a parade
of sensibility when sick, will suffer her babes to grow up crooked
in a nursery. This illustration of my argument is drawn from a
matter of fact. The woman whom I allude to was handsome, reckoned
very handsome by those who do not miss the mind when the face is
plump and fair; but her understanding had not been led from female
duties by literature, nor her innocence debauched by knowledge. No,
she was quite feminine according to the masculine acceptation of
the word; and so f