this so deformed, so heavily afflicted body is united to a soul which adores the beautiful in the inward. being, as well as in the outward form.

"Alone with myself and my shadow, surrounded by night and silence, I yet feel the smile float upon my lips. I listen with quiet joy to the harmonious voices which rise up from the depths of my soul in humble offerings of praise to heaven; and I can only compare the delightful, clear peace which encompasses my soul with the gentle moonlight that at this moment spreads itself over the moss-roses in my window."

202

MARGARET, DUCHESS OF

"THAT

NEWCASTLE.

THAT princely woman, the thrice-noble Margaret Newcastle," as Charles Lamb called her, in whom

66

All ennobling thoughts dwelt,

Pure thoughts, kind thoughts, high thoughts, her sex's

wonder;"

has left us, in the excellent example of her life, something far more valuable than the "purest," "kindest," or "highest" of her thoughts. That is the chief value of any life, its worth as an example; it is either to be shunned, loved, or imitated. Specially useful is it if it has been a valorous life, enjoying at one period wealth and the enjoyments of wealth, and then stricken down to the depths and temptations of poverty, without diminution of spirit, of energy, of effort; that is a life worth knowing and remembering, which serves under difficulties with hope and self-reliance, which nerves with resoluteness and determination when trials and buffetings threaten to overwhelm.

Margaret, the "princely Margaret," has left us in her "Nature's Pictures, drawn by Fancy's Pencil to the Life," published in 1656, a peep at her private and public life. Margaret was born at the close of

the reign of James I., at St. John's, near Colchester. She was the youngest daughter of Sir Charles, afterwards Lord Lucas, who died during her infancy, leaving three sons and five daughters. Margaret tells us how her mother cared for them :-"As for my breeding," she says, "it was according to my birth, and the nature of my sex, for my birth was not lost in my breeding; for, as my sisters were or had been bred, so was I, in plenty, or rather superfluity; likewise we were bred virtuously, modestly, civilly, honourably, and on honest principles; as for plenty, we had not only for necessity, conveniency, and decency, but for delight and pleasure, to a superfluity. As for our garments, my mother did not only delight to see us neat and cleanly, fine and gay, but rich and costly; maintaining us to the height of her estate, but not beyond it; for we were so far from being in debt before these wars, as we were rather beforehand with the world, buying all with ready money, not on the score. 'Tis true my mother might have increased her daughters' portions by a thrifty sparing; yet she chose to bestow it on our breeding, honest pleasures, and harmless delights, out of an opinion that, if she bred us with needy necessity, it might chance to create in us shurking qualities, mean thoughts, and base actions, which she knew my father, as well as herself, did abhor. Likewise we were bred tenderly; for my mother, naturally, did strive to please and delight her chil

dren, not to cross and torment them, terrifying them with threats, or lashing them with slavish whips; but, instead of threats, reason was used to persuade us, and instead of lashes, the deformities of vice were discovered, and the graces and virtues were presented to us. As for tutors, although we had all sorts of virtues, as singing, dancing, playing on music, reading, writing, working, and the like, yet we were not kept strictly thereto; they were rather for formality than benefit, for my mother cared not so much for our dancing, and fiddling, singing, and prating of several languages, as that we should be bred virtuously, modestly, civilly, honourably, and on honest principles."

This is quaintly put, and gives an admirable insight into the home-life of an aristocratic house in the time of James I. Margaret's mother was evidently a woman of excellent sense, who cared more for the attainment of sound principles than outside embellishments. She wished her daughters to be good rather than showy and accomplished; she did not despise accomplishments; on the contrary, she provided her daughters with the means for their attainment, but with the constant intimation that they were to be subordinate to the higher and more valuable attainments of virtue and character. This teaching and example were more valuable during the reigns of James I. and his successor, Charles I., than they are now. They were needed then, when

the fripperies of Court life were the cause of so much scandal, and which doubtless excited much of the indignation of Cromwell and the Roundheads, tending largely to ferment the disputes which culminated in the Civil War; and they are needed now, not that they form a lesson which is not taught, but because in the tendency to gaiety towards which our age somewhat tends, such lesson is apt to be forgotten, and therefore requires its being constantly urged and practised.

Margaret tells us how she and her brothers and sisters lived before the Civil War "felled down their houses like a whirlwind," and in which three of her brothers were killed, of course while fighting on the royal side. Her three married sisters spent the summer at their mother's home, the employments of which were reading, working, walking, and conversation with each other. The rest of the year was spent in London; and, although each lived then at the home of her husband, "yet," as Margaret reports, "for the most part they met every day, feasting each other like Job's children." In the winter their diversions were to ride in the streets to see the crowds of people, and in the spring to visit the parks; sometimes they would divert themselves on the Thames river, the barge being provided with music and refreshments. "These harmless recreations," she writes, "they would pass their time away with ; for I observed they did seldom make visits, nor