ELIZABETH FRY, murmur. -I went to the Oratorio; I enjoyed it, but spoke sadly at random ; what a badhabit !" "I have given way to my passions," she says repentantly in her diary, " and let them have com- mand over me. I have known my faults, and not corrected them; and now I amdetermined I will once more try with redoubled ardour to overcome my wicked inclinations. I must not flirt; I must not even be out of temper with the children; I must not contradict without a cause; I must not mump when my sisters are liked and I am not; I must not allow myself to be angry; I must not exaggerate, which I am inclined to do; I must not be idle in mind." Again: " I must beware of not becoming a flirt; it is an abominable character. I hope I shall never be one, and yet I fear I am now a little." Elizabeth certainly loved admiration; and when, in the spring of 1797, the Duke of Gloucester hap- pened to be quartered at Norwich, she was restlessly anxious that he should visit the Hall. " Why do I wish the Prince would come ? Pride, alas, is the cause." The Prince did come ; and she briefly re- cords : -" I have seen the Prince ! -it shows me the folly of the world." But this did not cure her of her love for fine company ; for, August 21, she writes : -" A gentleman dined with us, to whom I did not attend, till I discovered he was Lord --. Oh ! pride, how it does creep in upon me." Yet : "I have the greatest fear of religion, because I never saw aperson religious who wasnot enthusiastic." 14
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