MRS. CRESPIGNY.

AMONG various topics of conversation, none are more common with certain classes of society, than the vices and follies of the great. Their luxury, licentiousness, and affectation, are matters of wonder, and objects of abhorrence. Their whole lives are called in review. It is said that their mornings are devoted to sloth; their noons to idleness; while their evenings and nights are sacrificed to the demons who preside over vice and mischief."How worthless an existence!" exclaims the moralizing speaker; "what an unpardonable abuse of riches and power! surely such beings are of a different nature from the sober industrious citizen, who works for his bread, and eats it in innocency."

If the riches and power of the great form the basis of their ill-conduct, on that very ground an ingenious apologist may discover an excuse for a large portion of their supposed turpitude. Most men require a stimulus to action. The great are bereft of that which is common to all beneath them. Born to affluence; knowing no want; leaving no wish unsatisfied, the mind is stopped at the moment it would start for the goal. Nothing is in prospect; all in possession. Pleasures press forward and overwhelm it with enjoyment. It sinks in drowsy fruition amid. a thousand sweets; and hardly conscious of sensation, lies on its bed of flowers, imbibing poison with their fragrance.

Is this disordered state of the soul, a soil for vir

tue?

tue? Surely not. Every part is occupied; there is no room for new desires, new delights.

Birth has given honours; fortune has lavished wealth; and the venality of mankind bestows homage. The virtues (which thrive best under a varied atmosphere) are nipped in the bud. There is no impetus for vigorous exertion. What can activity promise, which accident has not already conferred? the couch of luxury, the "loud acclaim," the smile of beauty; all are at the nod of the rich and the titled.

The mass of human creatures, indeed, prefer a life of rest to one of toil; but there are beings whom nature animates with her choicest essence, and on whom the casualties of fortune have no effect. While the man of rank, in attempting to alter the insipidity of his enjoyments by excess, exhibits propensities to indulgence and pleasure, in common with the lowest mechanic; and the artisan, with the same love of ease, remains virtuous, because he neither has temptation nor time to become otherwise; characters will arise distinct from the multitude, and display a noble independence of circumstance; a power of election and decision, as pure and as potent in a prince as in a peasant. Such a mind weighs its own value; perceives the grandeur of its origin, the vastness of its capacity, the infinitude of its attainments. What are all the treasures of Potosi, all the raptures of Mahomet's paradise, to such a being! He looks on the one as splendid baubles; and on the other, as the pastime of fools. Uninterrupted prosperity is a snare to the weak; but a throne of triumph for the strong.

While" feeble-soul'd" men and women abandon themselves to the seduction of indolence and pleasure, the vigorous mind expands its understanding, to comprehend all the beauties of creation, all the sublimities of the intellectual world. Of such a stamp is the subject of these memoirs.

Born to affluence, adorned with beauty, and gifted with a vivacity, which like the will-o'-wisp, often sparkles to betray, Mrs. Crespigny, at a very early age, rose above her situation and the vanity natural to her sex. In early youth she became a candidate for the greenest wreath of female fame.

She was the only child of Joseph Clark, Esq. This gentleman being the youngest son of a highly respected, but very numerous family in Derbyshire, was brought up in the mercantile line. He married the only daughter of Robert Wilkes, Esq. a man of great property, near Rippon in Yorkshire; and brother to the celebrated Francis Wilkes; who was one of the governors of the South Sea House and agent for New England. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu mentions in her letters, that she met with this gentleman in France, and saw him receive more deference and homage from the various ambassadors assembled at the court of Versailles, than was bestowed by them upon the first nobility of the kingdom. The mother of these gentlemen, was a lady eminent for her beauty and mental accomplishments; she was a Miss Grosvenor, of the noble family who at present bear that name and title. Mr. Clark, the father of Mrs. Crespigny, having lost two elder brothers in the service of their country,

his fortune became very large; and all his hopes and hap piness centered in the wish to render his only child as accomplished as was in the power of assiduity and wealth to effect. She was instructed in a variety of languages, particularly Latin, which she was taught to lisp in common with her native tongue. The best masters in every branch were procured. Her memory was excellent; and her love for the poets so animated, that when a mere girl she recited the most elevated passages in Milton with judgment and pathos. Her own talent for composition shewed itself very carly, and with great applause; but we have not found it practicable to obtain any specimens of the efforts of her infant muse.

After the death of Mr. Clark, no male heirs remain. ing in the direct line, the family estate devolved on a distant branch of the family; but it did not affect the progress of his daughter's education. She was still a very rich heiress; and her mother sent her to the most fashionable school in London at that day, (Mrs. Holte's, in Tilney Street, May Fair ;) where the strictest care was taken of her manners and deportment. To the profound studies of history and philo sophy were added the graces of music, painting, and dancing; and the famous Earl of Chesterfield celebrated her proficiency in the latter accomplishment by a very charming poetical effusion.

Mrs. Crespigny's mother having married again, Mr. Heaton her second husband, who was a man of considerable fortune and consequence in the parish of Camberwell, usually had his daughter-in-law at his

house

house during the vacations. Her beauty and amiable qualities introduced her to the friendship of a neighbouring family; every member of which seemed to vie in cultivating her esteem, until the mutual regard grew into something still more intimate; and at the age of sixteen she became the wife of Mr. Claude Champion Crespigny, the eldest son.

From that hour Mrs. Crespigny's life has been one uninterrupted scene of happiness. Mr. Crespigny, who at the time she married him had taken his degrees at Cambridge, and was fellow of Trinity Hall, being a very amiable and sensible man, promoted his young and lovely partner's attachment to literature; directed the prosecution of her studies; and admitted to her society men of the greatest talents and celebrity. With several of these gentlemen Mrs. Crespigny cultivated a lasting and useful friendship. Mr. Glover, the author of the heroic poem of Leonidas, married one of Mr. Crespigny's sisters; and assisted warmly in giving the last polish to the mind of his fair sister-in-law. Being much pleased with her poetical powers, and the disposition for graver meditations, which mingled with the uncommon liveliness of her usual deportment, he devoted many of his leisure hours to her conversation. Other illustrious characters disputed Mr. Glover's right to the sole possession of Mrs. Crespigny's library. The excellent Lord Littleton; the renowned Lord Keppel; the accomplished Lord Palmerston, for the recent death of whom "the tear is yet wet upon the cheek;" all