When she spoke of worldly riches, of honour,
or of pleasure, she called them, "dust in the balance," carnal delights,
and Satan's bird-lime, which kept the soul from flying to heaven; yet no
miser ever clung to his gold with more tenacity than she to every
earthly good, that could in any wise contribute to her own advantage.
From a vain dissipated coquette, proud of making conquests, and wedded
to a life of frivolity, she was changed to a rapturous enthusiast,
certain of divine favour upon grounds equally inconsistent with reason
and Scripture. With a still carnalized fancy, she adorned the heaven
which she felt sure of eternally inhabiting, with the splendor and
luxury she had enjoyed on earth, and thus tricked out a Mahommedan
paradise rather than the pure and spiritual enjoyments of glorified
beings. With all the zeal and animosity of a new convert, she tried to
make her son and husband adopt these notions; and failing of success,
she thought herself at liberty to renounce them both; and could she have
secured a perpetual residence in this world, or transported her beloved
wealth and greatness to the other, the death of Lord Sedley would have
given her no more concern than that of the Earl of Bellingham; but
looking upon the former as the medium through which her name must be
conveyed to posterity, she felt an interest in his preservation, totally
distinct from maternal affection; and to this his fine qualities served
rather as an alloy, than an incentive.
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