The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1859-05-23

The Romance OF Fanny BraddoG h.
The following is the roIsantic history of
Fanny Braddock, sister OF the General Brad
dock who was defeated near Fort Dnquesne:
" The father OF General Braddock was man
OF competent fortune On his death he left
no less than six thousand pounds as q pro-
vision for bis two daughters, and probably
a much larger sum tn his only son, Edward
Braddock.
One of the daughters died early, and her
sister, Fanny Braddock, became possessed of
her share of the father legacy. Goldsmith,
in his life of Beau Nash, has told the roman
tic story Of Fanny, undsr the name OF Miss
Sylvia s. with his usual sweetness of mar
rative and gentle kindness Of sympathy.
She WAS descended lac says from one ofthe
best families in the Kingdom, AMI was lefl
large fortune upon her sisters decease
: Whatever the finest poet could conceive of
! Wit, or the most celebrated painter imagine
/ OF beauty, were excelled in the perfections
OF this young lady. She was naturally gay,
generous TO a fault, good natured TO the
/ highest degree, affable i'm conversation; and
| some OF her letters and other writings, as
I well in verse as in prose, would have shone
among those of the most celebrated wits of
this or any other age, had they been pub
\ lished.
But these qualifications were marked by
another, which lessened the value OF them
l all; She was imprudent---" by which, says
! the kind philosopher, "l only mean she had
no knowledge of the use OF money She
was arrived at the age Of nineteen, when
! the crowd Of her lovers and the continued
1 repetition ofnew ftattery had taught her To
/ think that she could never he iorsaken and
I never poor Z" Young ladies are apt 10 ex-
! pect, wisely moraliZes Goldsmith, in q
strain that reminds us OF a passage in the
"Vicar of Wakefield, "a certainty OF sue
! cess from number of lovers; and yet |
have seldom seen girl courted by a hun
/ dred lovers that found q husband in any
! Before her choice is fixed she has either lost
her reputation or her good sense. and the
I loss of either is sufficient 10 consign her to
perpetual yirginity.'
Among the number OF this young iadys
lovers was a handsome, good naturei easy
kind of fellow, Of name We can learn nothing
beyond lis aitisl "S" He was ''constitu-
tionally virtuous," bat practically il appears
quite the contrary, for he followed the die
Iates of every newest passion" He loved
Fanny Brsadocl, and Fanny Braddock
loved him The vices of the man Gold
smith gently terms them /" inprudences, y
soon ruined him and he was thrown into
prison for debt. Fanny Braddock, with the
disinterestedness OF pure and loving wom-
an, was resoiutely bent on procuring his re.
lease and sacrificed her whole fortune in
relieving her lover from his obligations to
his creditors, and thus restored him to liber-
ship or affection, only studied TO avoid q
creditor whom he could never repay for,
'while small fayors produce good will, great
ones destroy friendship, says Goldsmith,
who conld utter maIinrs worthy of Solo
mon, while he lived as riotously as the Pro-
digal Son.
Poor Fanny, however, was ruined, 10
reputation as well as fortune, by this pro-
fuse generosity to her ungrsteful lover
Beau Nash, then meeting with her among
some of his friends in London, prevailed
upon her TO go with him to Bath, where the
Beau, being paramount in power, might in
iroduce her TO the best company, and leave
il to her merit 10 do the rest. People Of
distinction oOurted her acquaintance, and
strove to divert her with the social enjoy
meats and fashionable friyolties of the
place; but il was apparent that settled
melancholy bad taken possession Of her
mind, and she moved among but was not of
the gay throng With loss of love, loss of
fortune, loss OF friends aud loss of health,
she was finally Induced, as u mere refuge
from her own wretchedness, TO yield TO the
invitation of a dame Lindsey, who desired
to secure SO much beauty, as an ad-
ditional temptation to those who resorted TO
her gambling rooms Although she yielded
to dame Lindsey's invitation, Fanny Brad
dock is believed to have been tainted with
no other vice than that of presiding at
the hazard table for the advantage of
others.
She could not long, however, endure this
disgrace, and preferred the humble condi-
ton of a housekeeper in a gentleman fam
ily, to which her poverty now reduced her
Here she remained, always sad, but faithful
to her duty. The gentleman with whom
she lived nov went up To London with his
wife, leaving the children and the house to
her care on the day when be was ex-
pected TO return, Fanny, after the discharge
of her daily household duty, went into the
dining room aud wrote these lines upon one
OF the window panes:
.Oh Death thou pleasing end Of human woe
Thou tor life, thou greatest good below
Still may 'st thou ~ tho coward and the slave,
Aud thy soft siarnbers only bless the brave"
Some visitors coming in she entertained
them cheerfully, and, on coming ont, she
went to the library, where she had ordered
sumner Here Hshs spent the remaining