She is one of those geniuses who find some
diabolical enjoyment in being dreaded and detested by their
fellow-creatures.
I once told my uncle, I was surprised that a man of his
disposition could bear such a domestic plague, when it could be
so easily removed. The remark made him sore, because it seemed to
tax him with want of resolution -- Wrinkling up his nose, and
drawing down his eye-brows, 'A young fellow (said he) when he
first thrusts his snout into the world, is apt to be surprised at
many things which a man of experience knows to be ordinary and
unavoidable -- This precious aunt of yours is become insensibly a
part of my constitution -- Damn her! She's a noli me tangere in my
flesh, which I cannot bear to be touched or tampered with.' I made no
reply; but shifted the conversation. He really has an affection
for this original; which maintains its ground in defiance of
common sense, and in despite of that contempt which he must
certainly feel for her character and understanding. Nay, I am
convinced, that she has likewise a most virulent attachment to
his person; though her love never shews itself but in the shape
of discontent; and she persists in tormenting him out of pure
tenderness -- The only object within doors upon which she bestows
any marks of affection, in the usual stile, is her dog Chowder; a
filthy cur from Newfoundland, which she had in a present from the
wife of a skipper in Swansey.
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