PART II.
CHAPTER I. "THE STORY OF ISIS" THE LADY OF THE ROTUNDA
In the town of Bolton in Lancashire, England, early in the present century, lived a family named Sharples. It was a tradition in this family that a Richard Sharples, or Sharpie, came into England in the train of William of Normandy, and was given considerable land in the neighborhood of Bolton, in consideration of the services which he rendered to William at the time of the Conquest. However, we will leave the verification of this to those who care more about such things than does the writer. Our Richard Sharples was a manufacturer of quilts, bed-quilts, a peculiar kind of heavy white quilt with little white tufts or knots on them which were in the early days in almost universal use, and will be recollected by many of the mothers of to-day. They were called then "counterpanes", and lasted a lifetime or longer. Richard Sharples and his wife Ann were very much respected by their neighbors and lived in very comfortable, even affluent circumstances. They brought up and educated a family of four girls and two or three boys. Of the girls—Sarah, Anne, Eliza, and Maria—Sarah, the eldest, died from a decline in her young womanhood; Anne was married to a Mr. Tunnah, and Eliza became the "Isis" of our story. Maria was younger than Eliza by some seven years. Of the boys we have but little account except that one was drowned in his youth while swimming, and that another one, William, is mentioned by Carlile and Isis in some of their letters. Mrs. Ann Sharples was herself a very beautiful woman, and was described as a beauty by one who saw her at eighty years of age. Her hair then was snow-white, her eyes blue, her cheeks rosy and her complexion like a baby's. Our informant adds that she looked like "a Dresden china doll". It is possible that Eliza, who was the beauty of the family, was indebted to her mother for her good looks, but took her height and her disposition from her father. She was indeed, her father's favorite child, to whom also she was an anxiety on account of her beauty. He kept this daughter at a boarding school till she was more than twenty years of age, thinking that it was the safest place for her, and when he could keep her there no-longer she spent most of her time in the seclusion of her own room, sewing and reading. Her first sorrow was the loss of her father, to whom she was deeply attached, and it is probable that had he lived a few years longer there would not have been this story to tell. During one of the school vacations she was invited to visit a younger school-mate, who was the daughter of a banker of Liverpool. Whilst there this gentleman, whom we shall designate as Mr. A., told the young ladies that they would have to dine in their own room that day as he had a friend coming to dine with him and to discuss various matters, and wished to be alone with him for that purpose. In some way or other the name of Carlile leaked out, and this name Miss Eliza knew to belong to a very notorious man of whom she had heard dreadful things. The plans of the girls were soon laid, for their curiosity was greatly excited. So when the gentlemen had dined and the servants absented themselves, the young ladies sought positions where they could hear and see everything that was said and done. The dining room was in communication with both front and side parlors by a door in each, and kneeling down on the rug at each door, with first their eyes then their ears at the keyholes, they heard every word and gazed their fill at the awful guest, who proved to be a very mild and amiable person, apparently quite harmless, and certainly handsome. I have nothing to say as to the dignity of the proceeding on the part of the young ladies, being content with certifying it to be the truth as told by Miss Eliza in after days. About a year after this, while calling on a cousin, she was surprised to find her reading a volume of Carlile's Republican. She remembered him as the gentleman she had seen in Liverpool. She then conceived an immediate desire to read some of his writings. The library which contained them was pointed out to her, and she began reading them with avidity, unknown to the family. She had seen the author under peculiar circumstances. His person and his manners were before her mind as she read his writings. She read with instructive astonishment. In those writings the ignorance and the errors of her past life were told to her as by a magician. We find her after a while making regular weekly visits to the bookseller who dealt in his works, and entering into conversation with that gentleman, a Mr. Hardie. At that time it was a rare thing for a young and beautiful girl to be interested in philosophical reading, particularly where that reading tended to freethinking, and Mr. Hardie in one of his business communications to Carlile made mention of the case. By this time both Carlile and Rev. Robert Taylor were in prison, and it looked as though freedom of speech had seen its best days. On the 5th of December, 1831, Mr. Hardie wrote again to Carlile saying:—
"You are requested to address a letter to Miss Sharples, care of A. Hardie. N.B.—She is a most amiable young woman, expects to be in London shortly, and will call and explain her views to you. I can say so far, that they are in the missionary line, and her début will create a sensation, as she is really a very beautiful girl. Do not, I beseech you, neglect this part of the business."
This aroused Carlile's curiosity, and he wrote her the following letter:—
"To Miss Sharples,