Five hours to her needle, drawings, music, &c.

In these she included the assistance and inspection she gave to her own servants, and to her sister’s servants, in the needle-works required for the family:  for her sister, as I have above hinted, is a modern.  In these she also included Dr. Lewen’s conversation-visits; with whom likewise she held a correspondence by letters.  That reverend gentleman delighted himself and her twice or thrice a week, if his health permitted, with these visits:  and she always preferred his company to any other engagement.

      Two hours she allotted to her two first meals.

But if conversation, or the desire of friends, or the falling in of company or guests, required it to be otherwise, she never scrupled to oblige; and would on such occasions borrow, as she called it, from other distributions.  And as she found it very hard not to exceed in this appropriation, she put down

      One hour more to dinner-time conversation,

to be added or subtracted, as occasions offered, or the desire of her friends required:  and yet found it difficult, as she often said, to keep this account even; especially if Dr. Lewen obliged them with his company at their table; which, however he seldom did; for, being a valetudinarian, and in a regimen, he generally made his visits in the afternoon.

      One hour to visits to the neighbouring poor;

to a select number of whom, and to their children, she used to give brief instructions, and good books; and as this happened not every day, and seldom above twice a-week, she had two or three hours at a time to bestow in this benevolent employment.

      The remaining four hours

were occasionally allotted to supper, to conversation, or to reading after supper to the family.  This allotment she called her fund, upon which she used to draw, to satisfy her other debits; and in this she included visits received and returned, shows, spectacles, &c. which, in a country life, not occurring every day, she used to think a great allowance, no less than two days in six, for amusements only; and she was wont to say, that it was hard if she could not steal time out of this fund, for an excursion of even two or three days in a month.

If it be said, that her relations, or the young neighbouring ladies, had but little of her time, it will be considered, that besides these four hours in the twenty-four, great part of the time she was employed in her needle-works she used to converse as she worked; and it was a custom she had introduced among her acquaintance, that the young ladies in their visits used frequently, in a neighbourly way, (in the winter evenings especially,) to bring their work with them; and one of half a dozen of her select acquaintance used by turns to read to the rest as they were at work.

This was her usual method, when at her own command, for six days in the week.