"I lecture not, my love; but do declare,— "Oh! you believe,' said she, 'that other things "Are read as well as histories of kings, "And loves of plants, with all that simple stuff "About their sex, of which I know enough. 66 6 'Well, if I must, I will my studies name, "Blame if you please-I know you love to blame. "When all our childish books were set apart, "The first I read was Wanderings of the Heart;' "It was a story, where was done a deed "So dreadful, that alone I fear'd to read. "The next was The Confessions of a Nun,—' "'Twas quite a shame such evil should be done; "Nun of-no matter for the creature's name, "For there are girls no nunnery can tame: "Then was the story of the Haunted Hall, "Where the huge picture nodded from the wall "When the old lord look'd up with trembling dread, "And I grew pale, and shudder'd as I read: "Then came the tales of Winters, Summers, Springs, "At Bath and Brighton,—they were pretty things! "No ghosts nor spectres there were heard or seen, "But all was love and flight to Gretna-green. "Perhaps your greater learning may despise "What others like, and there your wisdom lies,"Well! do not frown,-I read the tender tales "Of lonely cots, retreats in silent vales "For maids forsaken, and suspected wives; 66 6 Against whose peace some foe his plot contrives; "With all the hidden schemes that none can clear "Till the last book, and then the ghosts appear. "I read all plays that on the boards succeed, "I would not boast,-but I could act a scene "In any play, before I was fifteen. "Nor is this all; for many are the times They were our lessons, and, at ten years old, "I could repeat-but now enough is told. c 2 3 |