My father was a clergyman in the West of England. He served two curacies and one living; all which together did not bring him in 100l. per annum; but entirely engrossed his time, as he endeavoured to do his duty in each parish, to the utmost of his power, and obliged him to be at the expence of keeping a horse. This, with the continual repairs necessary to his parsonage house, which was much decayed, and the ill state of health wherewith my mother was afflicted for many years, made his income but barely sufficient for himself and his family, tho’ it was not large; for of many children my mother bore him, one elder sister and myself only lived to grow up.

When I was near fourteen years old, my mother died, which occasioned my sister's return home. She had spent three years with an aunt, who was a milaner in a large town in that county; but, by the loss of my mother, became necessary to take care of my father's family, whose health declined so fast, that nursing him was her chief employ.

In a little more than a year, we lost my father; a great misfortune to us both, but particularly to me, who was thus left to my own guidance and support, when I was but fifteen. My appearance indeed was womanly; I had been bred up in religious principles, but at that age they could not be deeply grounded, nor so fixed as to stand against the temptations of the world, into which I was now thrown.