a shelf, equidistant from the
top and bottom, a few books, some bundles tied up in handkerchiefs,
writing paper, with sundry other articles of daily use--such as a white
plate, loaded with several pairs of scissors and two or three pairs of
spectacles, and another white plate with pins, sealing-wax, and wafers;
also, a common white inkstand, and the old parchment cover of some
merchant's daybook, with blotting paper inside, on which, spread on her
lap, as she sat up in bed, she generally wrote her letters.

She had neither watch, clock, nor timepiece; and when her physician
asked her why she had never purchased one, as a thing so essential to
good order in a household, she replied, "Because I cannot bear anything
that is unnatural; the sun is for the day, and the moon and stars for
the night, and by them I like to measure time."

A wooden stool by her bedside served for a table, and upon it stood a
variety of things to satisfy any sudden want or fancy; such as a little
strawberry preserve in a saucer, lemonade, chamomile tea, ipecacuanha
lozenges, a bottle of cold water. Of these she would take one or other
in succession, almost constantly. In a day or two fresh remedies or
concoctions would take their place. There would be a bottle of wine or
of violet syrup; anise seeds to masticate instead of cloves; quince
preserve; orgeat; a cup of cold tea; a pill-box.

Her bed was without curtains or mosquito net. An earthenware _ybrick_,
or jug, with a spout, stood in one of the windows, with a small copper
basin, and this constituted her washing appliances. There was no toilet
table; and when she washed herself, the copper basin was held before
her as she sat up in bed. Near the foot of the bed stood an upright,
ill-made walnut wood box, with a piece of green calico depending before
it. The windows were curtainless, and the felt with which one of them
was covered was held in its place by a faggot-stick, stuck tightly in,
from corner to corner diagonally. "Such was the chamber of Lord
Chatham's grand-daughter! Diogenes himself could not have found fault
with its appointments!" But the thoughtful observer will regret the
indulged self-will and the exaggerated egotism which placed in such a
position a woman whose powerful intellect might have been applied to the
benefit of the community. It is impossible not to see and feel that hers
was a wasted life.

It was this self-will, this colossal egotism that led her to spend so
much