Íi LUCY HUTCHINSON, When Lady Apsley had had three sons, she was very anxious to have a daughter ; and when at length one was born, she received her with the utmost joy, and a fondness the more intense because every one declared the infant to be too weak to live. Lady Apsley dedicated herself, with a tender ardour, to the education of Lucy ; scarcely was the child weaned, when a French nurse was engaged, that her early lispings might be in the French lan- guage as well as in her native tongue, and when seven years old, no less than eight tutors were em- ployed in teaching her languages, music, dancing, writing, and needle-work. The little Lucy, grave and reflective, was passion- ately devoted to serious studies ; but she didnot value light accomplishments. So eagerly did she persist in her application to her books, that her mother, dread- ing the effect on her darling's health, interdicted the sedentary occupation, and locked up the for- bidden works, though Sir Allen viewed with delight her rapid progress in " clerkly lore," under the tuition of his chaplain. She speedily distanced her brothers, who were at school ; for she liked Latin ; but the lute and harpsichord had few charms for her, and for the elaborate stitchings and embroideries which she was enjoined to execute with her needle, she had neither inclination nor patience. Apt and observant, she preferred to listen to the "very profit- able serious discourses " which were frequent at her father's table, and in her mother's drawing-room ; 26
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