Private friendship pauses awhile, to pay a well deserved tribute to Dr. A⸺e.
He was educated either in Cumberland or Westmorland, from whence he removed to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he so eminently distinguished himself, that he was the senior wrangler of his year.
Talents and judgment like his could not fail of succeeding in the metropolis; and accordingly, it appears that when our Sexagenarian left it, he was progressively ascending to the very height of his profession, and it could not be easy to determine whether he was more entitled to esteem for his professional, or to affection for his amiable and social qualities. There is no situation which Dr. A. would not have improved and adorned, his knowledge being so various, his information and his judgment so profound. But he was peculiarly qualified for that in which he became deservedly eminent. He discriminated the peculiarity of a case with extraordinary promptitude, and he acted with corresponding decision. Human sagacity is liable to error, the most perfect of human wisdom is oftentimes deceived and misled. This was seldom the case with him of whom we are speaking, nor is there a single memorable instance on record, marked by the failure of his comprehension, in the injury sustained by his misapprehension of the case which required his deliberation. Be this as it may, his assiduous attention, his kindness, his sympathy, when private friendship called for his interposition, demands a more extended panegyric than it is compatible with the object of this work to bestow.
Sur ce vaste sujet si j’allois tout tracer
Tu verrois sous ma main des tomes s’amasser.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
It will somewhat and perhaps not disagreeably diversify the narrative, if we here insert a section from the manuscript, composed evidently with some pains, but wholly detached from every thing else. This is a brief account of females, distinguished by their love of, or proficiency in, literature, to whom, in a protracted series of years, our Sexagenarian was introduced.
(Loquitur amicus noster.)
To such ladies the appellation of “Blue Stocking” has been frequently and contemptuously, though impertinently applied. Among these personages, many were or are ornaments to society, patterns to the rising generation as christians, parents, and friends, endowed with the most amiable virtues and excellent accomplishments. The first, indeed, of whom mention will be made, may not, perhaps, deserve a place in the above distinguished and meritorious class, but she was a most extraordinary character, and excited, from the eccentricities of her conduct and manners, much curiosity and attention from her contemporaries. This person was—