According to the sagacious and candid inferences of these subtle and profound Female Machiavels, in this country of England there was no wisdom, no foresight, no justice, and no public virtue; whilst on the opposite side, the murders of the King, Queen, Princess Elizabeth, and the Duke d’Enghein, were acts either of fair retribution, or of unavoidable necessity; either the just consequences of the imbecility of the sufferers, or provoked by their profligacy and crimes. Reader, is not all this truly lamentable? Far other emotions are awakened by the recollection of what this female, immediately under review, once was, when she appeared as a candidate for honourable fame in the general walks of literature. Her talents claimed respect—her diligence deserved praise. The variety of her information, and the extent of her knowledge, particularly of languages, qualified her to be useful, and entitled her to esteem. Whether she subsequently repented of and restrained the extreme extravagance of her prejudices; whether Bonaparte, his glory, his wisdom, his magnanimity, his _religion_, and his clemency, (and, for all these qualities he had this lady’s praise) continued to any protracted period the objects of her fond idolatry, could not possibly be known to him, from whose collection the materials, which appear, in these pages, have been extracted. It is hoped that she may have seen the error of her ways; have discovered a less dangerous and obstructed path, and auspiciously pursued it. With pleasures too refined to please, With too much spirit to be e’er at ease, With too much quickness ever to be taught, With too much thinking to have common thought. CHAPTER LIV. Different as light from darkness, is the next female, whose character is introduced in the Recollections. Lively, ingenuous, of various and elegant accomplishments, of splendid connections, with the most undisguised and contemptuous scorn of those who could not boast similar distinction; at no pains to suppress her almost adoration of our own monarchical government, or her indignation, amounting almost to rage, against the French Revolution, and all its supporters; of exquisite taste, sensibility, and refinement; proud, but affable; tenacious of her rank, but gentle as gentleness itself. Such was the female who will be described under the name by which she was always distinguished among her friends. Yes! such was ELLA.