notwithstanding her domestic habits, found time for literary pursuits; and, before her marriage, she reviewed new works and contributed to the periodicals of the day. Miss Hutton also had a high opinion of Mr. Coltman's character and literary attainments; she says: "With a thorough knowledge of Latin and Greek, and a taste for reading that was always an avidity, and has now become a principle of his existence, he has been confined nearly all his life to the manufacture of worsted.* At first he despised the ignoble employment; but habit has not only reconciled him to it, but even made it necessary. He spends many hours in the day in his warehouse, and always the evening in his study. Mr. Coltman's two sons only differ from the rest of the world in a superior understanding, and a strictness of morals which sets them above every kind of subterfuge or palliation. They also inherit their mother's talent of painting."

Miss Hutton admired the beauty, "elegant accomplishments," and literary talents of Mrs. Heyrick, Mr. and Mrs. Coltman's elder daughter; but her love, sympathy, and affection were certainly centred in Mary Ann Coltman, of whom she says, "if ever there was an angel without wings, it is Ann Coltman." With Mrs. Coltman first, and afterwards with her daughter, Mary Ann Coltman, Miss Hutton corresponded for the long period of seventy years. The Coltman family all possessed great filial affection, and individuality of character, and an innate piety which it is

* At that time the manufacture of worsted and hosiery was the only industry in Leicester.

quite refreshing to read of in these days of religious indifference. Friendships were with more difficulty maintained in Miss Hutton's time than they are now; then occasional letters, and visits at long intervals, had to suffice. The rate of postage was high, and the expense had to be borne by the recipient of the letter; apologies were often made in sending one, lest it might be considered not worth the postage. In travelling, the roads were bad and dangerous, and often impassable in the winter.

Miss Hutton frequently expresses herself on the subject of friendship; she says in one of her letters, "I look upon friends as the third good in life; health and a good conscience, in my estimation, only come before them." An old writer says, "Of all felicities the most charming is that of firm and gentle friendship. It sweetens all our cares, dispels our sorrows, and counsels us in all extremities. My conversation lies among my books, but yet in the letters of a friend, methinks I have his company; and when I answer them I do not only write, but speak. And, in effect, a friend is an eye, a heart, a tongue, a hand, at all distances. True friends are all the world to one another."

ELIZABETH CARTWRIGHT.

Elizabeth Cartwright, afterwards Mrs. Coltman, and the mother of John and Samuel Coltman, of Elizabeth Heyrick and Mary Ann Coltman, was born in the year

1737 at the retired and pleasant village of Duffield in Derbyshire.

Among her ancestors she remembered two greatgrandfathers who had both served in the army of Oliver Cromwell. One of these, a lieutenant under General Ireton, returned, after the expiration of the wars, one Saturday evening to his native village of Duffield. On pulling off his boots, his stockings were found to have wasted away; and his shirt, worn into fragments, was committed to the flames. Retiring to bed, a luxury he had not known for nine weeks, he was at first restless, but falling asleep was left undisturbed; when at length he awoke, he found the shops open, and every one pursuing their usual avocations - he had slept over the Sabbath day! At the Restoration, in the year 1660, he was offered a company, but he declined the service.

Elizabeth Cartwright was the only child of her parents, and showed an early taste for mental cultivation; indeed, her mind soon proved itself of no mean order. She was an ardent admirer of the works of Nature, and possessed a talent for drawing; she had remarkable skill in the cutting of flowers, landscapes, etc., with her scissors, a beautiful specimen of which was shown to Queen Charlotte. She united a great deal of vivacity with much sweetness of disposition, and, possessing great beauty of countenance and gracefulness of deportment, she was known among her friends by the familiar appellation of the "Lily of

Duffield."

The following is her only contribution to the periodicals of the day that has been preserved:

"Tell me no more of pointed darts,
Of flaming eyes and bleeding hearts,
The hyperboles of love,

Be honest to yourself and me,
Speak truly what you hear and see,
And then your suit may move.

"Why call me Angel? Why divine?
Why must my eyes the stars outshine?
Can such deceit prevail?

For shame, forbear this common rule;
'Tis low, 'tis insult; calls me fool;
With me 'twill always fail.

"Would you obtain my honest heart,
Address my nobler, better part,

Pay homage to my mind;
The passing hour brings on decay,
And beauty quickly fades away,
Nor leaves a rose behind.

"Let then your open, manly sense,
The moral ornaments dispense,
And to my worth be true;

So may your suit itself endear,
Not for the charms you say I wear,
But those I find in you.”

The following extracts are taken from two letters, the only ones that have escaped destruction out of a great number that were addressed by Miss Cartwright to her early friend, Mrs. Fieldhouse, whom she was accustomed to look upon in the light of a second mother, and to whom she considered herself indebted for some intellectual assistance, as well as an introduction to the Poet Shenstone, etc.

The first letter is dated from "Ye woodbine chamber window, this Whitsun Fair night, 1761."

Yesterday being Whitsun Monday, I think we had company most of ye day. In ye afternoon we had three divines, ye widow of a fourth, and I finish't ye twilight with writing an epistle to a fifth.

Mr. Brentnall and Mr. Patrick,* our young preacher, came in, attended by my father; there is so much cheerful affability, delicate modesty, and fear of giving offence runs through his behaviour, yt naturally bespeak him a place in our esteem, tho' he said nothing that would bear repeating, but he preached us two excellent sermons, in my opinion, the day before, on ye government of the passions. After tea they all went, and soon after Mr. Gifford came to bring me the Monthly Review.'" In this letter the

Rev. Richard Gifford is mentioned for the first time; he had evidently not been long at Duffield, but long enough to become a great admirer of Miss Cartwright. She says of him, "He is a person of great vivacity and good sense, and, if we may credit appearances, piety and virtue also,