Smyrna times., 1859-12-08
MIS- ELAN NEOUS.
FANNY BRADDOCK.
A Romance.

less :han six thousand pounds as provision 70
his two daughters, and probably much large
sum to his only son, Edward Braddock.
One of the daughters died early, and her sis
ter, Fanny Braddock, became possessed of he
share of the fathers legacy. Goldsmith, in hi
life OF Beau Nash, has told the romantic story
of Fanny, under the name of" Miss Sylvia s,
with his sweetness ofnarratve and gentle kind
ness of sympathy. She was descended, he says
from one of the best families in the kingdom
and was left a large fortune upon her sisters
decease. Whatever the finest poet could con-
ceive of wit, or the most celebrated painter i'm.
agine ofbeauty, were excelled in the perfection
of this young lady. She was naturally gay,
generous to a fault, good natured to the highest
degree, affable in conversation; and some OF
her letters and other writings, as we'll in verse
as in prose, would have shone among those OF
the most celebrated wits of this or any other
age, had they been published.
But these qualifications were marked by an
other, which lessened the value of them all
she was lmprudent-" by which," says the PHI
losopher, " | mean she had no knowledge of the
use of money" She was arrived at the age OF
l9, when the crowd of her lovers and the con-
tlnued repetition of new hattery had taught her
to think that she could never be torsaken and
never poor. "Young ladies are very apt to ex-
pect," wisely moralzes Goldsmith, in a strain
that reminds US Of passage in the {" Vicar of
Wakeheld,"" certainty ofsuccess from a num-
Der OF lovers and yet have never seen girl
courted by hundred lovers that found hus-
band in any. Before her choice is fixed, she
has either lost her reputation or her good sense,
and the loss of either is sufficient TO consign
her to perpetual virglnlty."
Among the number of this young lady's lov-
ers was a handsome, good natured, easy kind of
fellow, of whose name we can learn nothing
beyond its initial 81 lie was " constitution
ally virtuous," but practically, it appears, quite
the reverse, for he followed the dictates of
every newest passion. He loved Fanny Brad
dock and Fanny Braddock loved him. The
vices of man, Goldsmith gently terms them
{" imprudencles " soon ruined him, and he was
thrown into prison for debt. Fanny Braddock,
with the disinterestedness of pure and lovely
woman, was resolutely bent on freeing him, and
sacrificing her whole fortune in relieving her
lover from his obligations to his creditors, and
thus restored him tU liberty. s., instead OF
improving III friendship or affection, only stud
led to avoid creditor he never could repay
for though small iavors produce good will,
great ones destroy friendship" says Goldsmith,
who could only utter maXims worthy OF Solo
mon, while he lived as riotouSly as tue ProdIgal
Son.
Poor Fanny, however, was ruined in reputa-
ton as we'll as in fortune, by this profuse gener-
osity TO her ungrateful lover. Betu Nash, then
meeting with her among some of his friends in
London, prevailed on her TO 60 with hun to
Bath, where the Beau, being paramount in pow
er, might introduce her 10 the best company,
and leave it TO her merit to do the rest.a People
of distinction courted her acquaintance, and
strove to divert her with the social enloyments
and fashionable frlvoitles of the place. But 1t
was apparent that q settled melancholy had ta-
ken possession of her mind, and she moved
along with, bat was not oil the gay thrOng.-
With loss of love- loss OF fortune, loss of friends
and loss of fhealth, she was finally induced, as a
mere refuge from her own wretchedness, to
yield to the invitations of dame Lindsey, who
desired to secure SO much beauty as an addl-
tional temptation TO those who resorted TO her
gambling rooms. Although she yielded to dame
Lindsey's invitation, Fanny Braddock is not be-
lieved to have been tainted with any other vice
than that of presiding at the hazard table fol
the advantage of others.
She could not long, however, endure this dis
grace, and preferred the humble condition of q
housekeeper in gentleman's family, to which
her poverty now reduced her. Iiere she re-
uldluBu3 ulWdJ5 odus OuL tdltHiul " HGA uuAJs-
The gentleman with whom she lived now went
up to London with his wife, leaving the chill
dren and the house to her care. When he was
expected to return, Fanny, after the discharge
of her daily duty, went into the dining-ro OIL
and wrote these lines upon one of the window
panes:
"Oh, death! thou pleasing end OF human woe,
Thou cure for life, thou greatest good below!
SLI may st thou fly the coward and the slave,
And thy soft slumbers only bless the brave"
Some visitors coming in, she entertained then
cheerfully, and, on their going out, she wen
to the library, where she had ordered SUPPER
Here she spent the remaining hours, prece
ding bedtime, in dandling two of Mr.. Wood
(the gentleman in whose family she lived) chill
dren on her knees" In retiring thence to he
chamber, she went into the nursery to TAX
leave of another child as it lay sleeping in tn
cradle. Struck by the innocence OF the littl
babes looks and the consciousness OF her medi
tated guilt, she could not avoid bursting int
tears, and hugging it to her arms. She the
bade her old servant good night" for tn
first time she had ever dose 30, and went to be
as usual.
1t is probable she soon quilted her bed. Sh
then dressed herself in clean linen and whit
garments of every kind, like a bridesmaid
' t1er gown sne pinned over Her DreasLI just as
g nurse pins the swaddling clothes of an infan
y She then took pink silk glrdle, and lengthel
, ed it with another made of gold thread. sh
made a moose at one end. and tied three kno
: at a small distance from each other.
d She now sat down to read that passage
e Aristotes Orlando Furioso," where Olyr
:. pia is abandoned by her bosom friend, aud rui
! ed. Having laid aside her book, she aros
took the girdle she had prepared, and throwi,
! : the end of the girdle over the closet door,
!, tempted to hang herself The girdle, howe
y err, broke with her weight, and she fell wi
such noise. that the workman, who was passi
l., the night in the house, was awakened. I
It, nevertheless, thinking no more Of it, turn
lie over and went to sleep again. She now ma
he another attempt with stronger girdle, ma
IN of silver thread, and succeeded. Her old ma
next morning, waited, as usual, the ringing