the "celestial colloquy sublime" of his majesty's equerries.

And what was the consideration for which she was to sell herself
to this slavery? A peerage in her own right? A pension of two
thousand a-year for life? A seventy-four for her brother in the
navy? A deanery for her brother in the church? Not so. The
price at which she was valued was her board, her lodging, the
attendance of a man-servant, and two hundred pounds a-year.

The man who, even when hard pressed by hunger, sells his
birthright for a mess of pottage, is unwise. But what shall we
say of him who parts with his birthright and does not get even
the pottage in return ? It is not necessary to inquire whether
opulence be an adequate compensation for the sacrifice of bodily
and mental freedom ; for Frances Burney paid for leave to be a
prisoner and a menial. It was evidently understood as one of the
terms of her engagement, that, while she was a member of the
royal household, she was not to appear before the public as an
author; and, even had there been no such understanding, her
avocations were such as left her no leisure for any considerable
intellectual effort. That her place was incompatible with her
literary pursuits was indeed frankly acknowledged by the king
when she resigned. "She had given up," he said, "five years of
her pen." That during those five years she might, without
painful exertion, without any exertion that would not have been a
pleasure, have earned enough to buy an annuity for life much
larger than the precarious salary which she received at Court, is
quite certain. The same income, too, which in St. Martin'sstreet
would have afforded her every comfort, must have been found
scanty at St. James's. We cannot venture to speak confidently of