Miss Nanny was the eldest of three sisters, the daughters of a
shipmaster, who was lost at sea when they were very young; and his all
having perished with him, they were indeed, as their mother said, the
children of Poverty and Sorrow. By the help of a little credit, the
widow contrived, in a small shop, to eke out her days till Nanny was able
to assist her. It was the intention of the poor woman to take up a
girl's school for reading and knitting, and Nanny was destined to
instruct the pupils in that higher branch of accomplishment--the
different stitches of the sampler. But about the time that Nanny was
advancing to the requisite degree of perfection in chain-steek and
pie-holes--indeed had made some progress in the Lord's prayer between two
yew trees--tambouring was introduced at Irvine, and Nanny was sent to
acquire a competent knowledge of that classic art, honoured by the fair
hands of the beautiful Helen and the chaste and domestic Andromache. In
this she instructed her sisters; and such was the fruit of their
application and constant industry, that her mother abandoned the design
of keeping school, and continued to ply her little huxtry in more easy
circumstances. The fluctuations of trade in time taught them that it
would not be wise to trust to the loom, and accordingly Nanny was at some
pains to learn mantua-making; and it was fortunate that she did so--for
the tambouring gradually went out of fashion, and the flowering which
followed suited less the infirm constitution of poor Nanny. The making
of gowns for ordinary occasions led to the making of mournings, and the
making of mournings naturally often caused Nanny to be called in at
deaths, which, in process of time, promoted her to have the management of
burials; and in this line of business she has now a large proportion of
the genteelest in Irvine and its vicinity; and in all her various
engagements her behaviour has been as blameless and obliging as her
assiduity has been uniform; insomuch, that the numerous ladies to whom
she is known take a particular pleasure in supplying her with the newest
patterns, and earliest information, respecting the varieties and changes
of fashions; and to the influence of the same good feelings in the breast
of Mrs. Pringle, Nanny was indebted for the following letter. How far
the information which it contains may be deemed exactly suitable to the
circumstances in which Miss Nanny's lot is cast, our readers may judge
for themselves; but we are happy to state, that it has proved of no small
advantage to her: for since it has been known that she had received a
full, true, and particular account, of all manner of London fashions,
from so managing and notable a woman as the minister's wife of Garnock,
her consideration has been so augmented in the opinion of the
neighbouring gentlewomen, that she is not only consulted as to funerals,
but is often called in to assist in the decoration and arrangement of
wedding-dinners, and other occasions of sumptuous banqueting; by which
she is enabled, during the suspension of the flowering trade, to earn a
lowly but a respected livelihood.