She obeyed her elder sister like a mother; never questioned her wisdom; and foolishly allowed her to interpose between herself and her husband.

Hogg had been told before her first appearance in the friendly circle that Eliza was "beautiful, exquisitely beautiful; an elegant figure, full of grace; her face was lovely,--dark, bright eyes; jet-black hair, glossy; a crop upon which she bestowed the care it merited,--almost all her time; and she was so sensible, so amiable, so good!" Now let us listen to the account he has himself transmitted of this woman, whom certainly he did not love, and to whom poor Shelley had afterwards but little reason to feel gratitude.

"She was older than I had expected, and she looked much older than she was.

The lovely face was seamed with the smallpox, and of a dead white, as faces so much marked and scarred commonly are; as white indeed as a mass of boiled rice, but of a dingy hue, like rice boiled in dirty water.

The eyes were dark, but dull, and without meaning; the hair was black and glossy, but coarse; and there was the admired crop--a long crop, much like the tail of a horse--a switch tail.