insatiable desire to learn; she was taught to play upon all instruments,
from the horn (will it be believed!) to the Jew's-harp.

Madame Adelaide was graced for a short time with a charming figure; but
never did beauty so quickly vanish. Madame Victoire was handsome and very
graceful; her address, mien, and smile were in perfect accordance with the
goodness of her heart. Madame Sophie was remarkably ugly; never did I
behold a person with so unprepossessing an appearance; she walked with the
greatest rapidity; and, in order to recognise the people who placed
themselves along her path without looking at them, she acquired the habit
of leering on one side, like a hare. This Princess was so exceedingly
diffident that a person might be with her daily for years together without
hearing her utter a single word. It was asserted, however, that she
displayed talent, and even amiability, in the society of some favourite
ladies. She taught herself a great deal, but she studied alone; the
presence of a reader would have disconcerted her very much. There were,
however, occasions on which the Princess, generally so intractable, became
all at once affable and condescending, and manifested the most
communicative good-nature; this would happen during a storm; so great was
her alarm on such an occasion that she then approached the most humble,
and would ask them a thousand obliging questions; a flash of lightning
made her squeeze their hands; a peal of thunder would drive her to embrace
them, but with the return of the calm, the Princess resumed her stiffness,
her reserve, and her repellent air, and passed all by without taking the
slightest notice of any one, until a fresh storm restored to her at once
her dread and her affability. [Which reminds one of the elder (and
puritanic) Cato who said that he "embraced" his wife only when it
thundered, but added that he did enjoy a good thunderstorm. D.W.]

Mesdames found in a beloved brother, whose rare attainments are known to