Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Woman | Page 6

those who knew him, for the
simplicity of his manners, and the ardour of his benevolence. The
regard conceived by these two persons for each other, was mutual, and
partook of a spirit of the purest attachment. Mary had been bred in the
principles of the church of England, but her esteem for this venerable
preacher led her occasionally to attend upon his public instructions. Her
religion was, in reality, little allied to any system of forms; and, as she
has often told me, was founded rather in taste, than in the niceties of
polemical discussion. Her mind constitutionally attached itself to the
sublime and the amiable. She found an inexpressible delight in the
beauties of nature, and in the splendid reveries of the imagination. But
nature itself, she thought, would be no better than a vast blank, if the
mind of the observer did not supply it with an animating soul. When
she walked amidst the wonders of nature, she was accustomed to
converse with her God. To her mind he was pictured as not less
amiable, generous and kind, than great, wise and exalted. In fact, she

had received few lessons of religion in her youth, and her religion was
almost entirely of her own creation. But she was not on that account the
less attached to it, or the less scrupulous in discharging what she
considered as its duties. She could not recollect the time when she had
believed the doctrine of future punishments. The tenets of her system
were the growth of her own moral taste, and her religion therefore had
always been a gratification, never a terror, to her. She expected a future
state; but she would not allow her ideas of that future state to be
modified by the notions of judgment and retribution. From this sketch,
it is sufficiently evident, that the pleasure she took in an occasional
attendance upon the sermons of Dr. Price, was not accompanied with a
superstitious adherence to his doctrines. The fact is, that, as far down as
the year 1787, she regularly frequented public worship, for the most
part according to the forms of the church of England. After that period
her attendance became less constant, and in no long time was wholly
discontinued. I believe it may be admitted as a maxim, that no person
of a well furnished mind, that has shaken off the implicit subsection of
youth, and is not the zealous partizan of a sect, can bring himself to
conform to the public and regular routine of sermons and prayers.
Another of the friends she acquired at this period, was Mrs. Burgh,
widow of the author of the Political Disquisitions, a woman universally
well spoken of for the warmth and purity of her benevolence. Mary,
whenever she had occasion to allude to her, to the last period of her life,
paid the tribute due to her virtues. The only remaining friend necessary
to be enumerated in this place, is the rev. John Hewlet, now master of a
boarding-school at Shacklewel near Hackney, whom I shall have
occasion to mention hereafter.
I have already said that Fanny's health had been materially injured by
her incessant labours for the maintenance of her family. She had also
suffered a disappointment, which preyed upon her mind. To these
different sources of ill health she became gradually a victim; and at
length discovered all the symptoms of a pulmonary consumption. By
the medical men that attended her, she was advised to try the effects of
a southern climate; and, about the beginning of the year 1785, sailed for
Lisbon.
The first feeling with which Mary had contemplated her friend, was a
sentiment of inferiority and reverence; but that, from the operation of a

ten years' acquaintance, was considerably changed. Fanny had
originally been far before her in literary attainments; this disparity no
longer existed. In whatever degree Mary might endeavour to free
herself from the delusions of self-esteem, this period of observation
upon her own mind and that of her friend, could not pass, without her
perceiving that there were some essential characteristics of genius,
which she possessed, and in which her friend was deficient. The
principal of these was a firmness of mind, an unconquerable greatness
of soul, by which, after a short internal struggle, she was accustomed to
rise above difficulties and suffering. Whatever Mary undertook, she
perhaps in all instances accomplished; and, to her lofty spirit, scarcely
anything she desired, appeared hard to perform. Fanny, on the contrary,
was a woman of a timid and irresolute nature, accustomed to yield to
difficulties, and probably priding herself in this morbid softness of her
temper. One instance that I have heard Mary relate of this sort, was,
that, at a certain time, Fanny, dissatisfied with her domestic situation,
expressed