MARGARET GODOLPHIN, delightful villa of the accomplished virtuoso, John Evelyn, being on very intimate terms with his wife. Margaret Blagge frequently accompanied her, and so captivated Mrs. Evelyn by her gaiety, geniality, and " discretion," that that lady was anxious for her husband to become acquainted with her. No one being better aware of the habits and manners of the ladies of fashion than the courtly philosopher, he refused for a long time to credit that she was " the miracle " she was represented to be ; her beauty and wit he did not dispute, but he did not feel at all inclined to cultivate any degree of friendship with " a thing so airy and so gay." At length, however, Evelyn began to discover his erroneous estimate of Miss Blagge's character, and to respect her as much as he had formerly dis- trusted her : in his Diary he mentions that " June 30, 1669. -My wife went a journey of pleasuredown the river as far as the sea, with Mrs. Howard and her daughter, the maid of honour, and others, among whom that excellent creature, Mrs. Blagge." Margaret was no heroine of thrilling romance ; her life passed as serenely as a cool brook rippling through meadows and gardens : she had no great and dramatic misfortunes to rouse her to a sense of the awfulness of an inscrutable destiny, nor was she a martyr pilgrim, struggling through sufferings and obstacles. She was simply a beautiful maid of honour, surrounded by luxury ; and it was therefore a doubly strong and innate sense of piety and duty 16
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