could be too much for her; and when distress or tenderness possessed her, she subsided into the most affecting melody and softness.  In the art of exciting pity, she had a power beyond all the actresses I have yet seen, or what your imagination can conceive.  In scenes of anger, defiance, or resentment, while she was impetuous and terrible, she poured out the sentiment with an enchanting harmony; and it was this particular excellence for which Dryden made her the above-recited compliment, upon her acting Cassandra in his Cleomenes.  She was the first person whose merit was distinguished by the indulgence of having an annual benefit play, which was granted to her alone in King James’s time, and which did not become common to others till the division of this company, after the death of King William and Queen Mary.”]

About this time Talbot returned from Ireland:  he soon felt the absence of Miss Hamilton, who was then in the country with a relation, whom we shall mention hereafter.  A remnant of his former tenderness still subsisted in his heart, notwithstanding his absence, and the promises he had given the Chevalier de Grammont at parting:  he now therefore endeavoured to banish her entirely from his thoughts, by fixing his desires upon some other object; but he saw no one in the queen’s new court whom he thought worthy of his attention:  Miss Boynton, however, thought him worthy of hers.  Her, person was slender and delicate, to which a good complexion and large motionless eyes gave at a distance an appearance of beauty, that vanished upon nearer inspection:  she affected to lisp, to languish, and to have two or three fainting-fits a day.  The first time that Talbot cast his eyes upon her she was seized with one of these fits:  he was told that she swooned away upon his account:  he believed it, was eager to afford her assistance; and ever after that accident showed her some kindness, more with the intention of saving her life, than to express any affection he felt for her.  This seeming tenderness was well received, and at first she was visibly affected by it.  Talbot was one of the tallest men in England, and in all appearance one of the most robust; yet she showed sufficiently that she was willing to expose the delicacy of her constitution, to whatever might happen, in order to become his wife; which event perhaps might then have taken place, as it did afterwards, had not the charms of the fair Jennings at that time, proved an obstacle to her wishes.

I know not how it came to pass that he had not yet seen her; though he had heard her much praised, and her prudence, wit, and vivacity equally commended; he believed all this upon the faith of common report.  He thought it very singular that discretion and sprightliness should be so intimately united in a person so young, more particularly in the midst of a court where love and gallantry were so much in fashion; but he found her personal accomplishments greatly to exceed whatever fame had reported of them.