In the life of Mrs Charlotte Smith it is pertly remarked, that the ‘penalties and discouragements attending authors in general fall upon woman with double weight. To the curiosity of the idle, and the envy of the malicious, their sex affords a peculiar excitement. Arraigned not merely as writers, but as women, their characters, their conduct, and even their personal endowments, become the object of severe inquisition. From the common allowances claimed by the species, literary women appear only to be exempted.’ Though I have been too insignificant, and treated with too much candor, fully to realize the above remarks, yet I have been in a situation deeply to feel the trials which attend literary pursuits. At length I saw old age approaching, without any provision for it, when if my life was spared, I should be incapable of exerting myself; and my mind was at times depressed by this gloomy prospect. CHAPTER V. While I was compiling my History of the Jews, I boarded in Dedham. I was here honored with the friendship, and received the kind offices of Mr Dowse, his lady, and her sister,[1] and more pecuniary favors than I have ever experienced from any other individuals. Whenever I visited this happy family, I was received with the utmost cordiality; and I desire publicly to express my grateful sense of their goodness. [1] _Mrs Shaw_, who allowed Miss Adams one hundred dollars a year, for twenty-five years, paid to her quarterly, by Josiah Quincy, Esq. While writing my History, my eyes, which, since I had first injured them, have been occasionally troublesome, failed to that degree, that I was induced again to go to Boston to consult Dr Jeffries, in the hope, that, by attending to his directions, I might finish my work. During this visit at Boston, I received the unexpected intelligence, that a number of benevolent gentlemen had settled an annuity upon me, to relieve me from the embarrassments I had hitherto suffered. The Hon. Josiah Quincy, Stephen Higginson, Esq. and William Shaw, Esq. were some of its first promoters. This providential interference excited my most lively gratitude to my generous benefactors, and I hope I sensibly felt my deep obligation to the source of all good. My generous friends could hardly appreciate the extent of the benefit they conferred upon me. I had not been able to make any provision for my declining years, and had not a place on earth which I could call my home. My spirits were depressed by my destitute circumstances, and I am persuaded that under Providence, the generosity of my friends was the means of prolonging my life.