The ship
probably alludes to the desertion of the lady. If it conveyed Francis to
Scotland, it was to his punishment, for he fell on July 27, 1585, in a
border affray, the day before his father's death.
There, make what you like of this. This is how matters stand at the
Abbey; but I cannot see how this remarkable picture connects itself with
Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. I pause for elucidation.
BEPPO.
* * * * *
ON THE CONSTANCY OF WOMAN.
_(For the Mirror.)_
True love has no reserves--LANSDOWNE.
There is not an accomplishment in the mind of a female more enchanting,
nor one which adds more dignity and grace to her person, than constancy.
Whatever share of beauty she may be possessed of, whether she may have
the tinge of Hebe on her cheeks, vying in colour with the damask rose,
and breath as fragrant--and the graceful and elegant gait of an
Ariel--still, unless she is endowed with this characteristic of a
virtuous and ingenuous mind, all her personal charms will fade away,
through neglect, like decaying fruit in autumn. The whole list of female
virtues are in their kind essential to the felicity of man; but there is
such beauty and grandeur of sentiment displayed in the exercise of
constancy, that it has been justly esteemed by the dramatic poets as the
chief excellence of their heroines.
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