,
as described by Shakespeare.
"In my thirteenth year I went to Bath, where I was first introduced
into the world as a woman, having been entitled to that privilege
by my person, which was remarkably tall for my years; and there my
fancy was quite captivated by the variety of diversions in which I
was continually engaged. Not that the parties were altogether new
to me, but because I now found myself considered as a person of
consequence, and surrounded by a crowd of admirers, who courted
my acquaintance, and fed my vanity with praise and adulation. In
short, whether or not I deserved their encomiums, I leave the world
to judge; but my person was commended, and my talent in dancing met
with universal applause. No wonder, then, that everything appeared
joyous to a young creature, who was so void of experience and
dissimulation, that she believed everybody's heart as sincere as
her own, and every object such as it appeared to be.
"Among the swains who sighed, or pretended to sigh for me, were two
that bore a pretty equal share of my favour (it was too superficial
to deserve the name of love).
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