nurse
»I had been ‘nursing’ her, as we say in the political world, for years.» (The Prude’s Progress 67. 20.)
A young author.
Political slang: used of a candidate for Parliament who seeks to ingratiate himself with the electors by paying them attentions and giving them things they like with a view to securing their votes when the election takes place. Here used of trying to prepare a young lady’s mind to accept a proposal of marriage when the moment comes to make it.