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though they did not for a inoment affect her love of truth , or her trust in Divine Providence . She had , partly from her slight acquaintance with Mr . Flower , and partly from her attachment to the principles of liherty , of which he has been so steady ana persevering an advocate * subscribed from the fir t to the
weekly publication which he conducted , under the name of the Cambridge Intelligencer . In the suspicious times of the riateful war against-republican France , such a circumstance could not long remain unknown in a country town ; she
was marked and -stigmatized by those senseless epithets which , at that period , were applied to all tjie enlightened friends of their country and mankind ; and insult and persecution met her in various forms . Neither her sex nor her
character secured her from the personal hostility , not merely of the vulgar , but of those whose rank and fortune might have been expected to bespeak courtesy . The alternative was placed before her ,
of giving up the publication in question , or of forfeiting the support on which heir school had mainly rested ; she did not hesitate which to adopt : she scorned to seem to surrender a great principle ; she knew that one concession on the score
of principle would only prepare the way for the demand of other concessions ; and she considered that by yielding to the present clamours , she should lose in real respectability even i ^ i the eyes of such as had raised them . Her
determination occasioned the breaking up of her establishment , and her retiring from South Molton . Per conduct in the whole of this trying affair , was truly dignified ; and a correspondence which she carried on with a nobleman , who
was not restrained by his birth and education from entering the lists of opposition to an unprotected female , endeavouring tyy the honourable employment of her talents to maintain a respectable
station in society , extorted compliments to her from him , and wiJJ , jif it should ever see the light , justify the highest eulogiums which her most partial friends have passed , or are passing , uyon the qualities of her head and heart .
The re : > utt ot the opposition she had so firmly encountered was , ' that she was more than ever endeared to her friends , amongst whom she now passed jher time . On * ome occasional visits to t ^ e neighbourhood of . London , she had
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204 Obituary * —Mrs , Flower ,
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an opportunity , which in conversation she frequently adverted to with pleasur e , of hearing some of the Lectures of Dr \ Priestley to the young persons of the Gravel-Pit congregation , Hackney ;
thesej to a mind like her ' s , were in the highest degree improving , and tended to strengthen her faith in the gospel ; though her general opinions in theoiogy , if it be of consequence to determine them , were , perhaps , more in unison with those of Dr . Price than those of
Pr . Priestley . In the year 1799 , theHou $ e of L ord * adjudged Mr . Flower to a fine and aix months imprisonment in Newgate , for an alleged breach 01 privilege , in some reflections upon the political character of the Bishop of JLandaff . While in prison , he was visited by Miss Gould , who , along with a great proportion of the intelligent public , sympathised with him In his sufferings in the service of his country . She had much to communicate of her own interesting , history ,
and , at the urgent request of . Mr . Flower , her visits were frequently repeated . ^ Between persons th inking alike on the most important subjects which can occupy the human mind , there needed only opportunity to improve acquaintance into friendship ; and this at length ripened into a warmer sentiment . On Mr . Flower ' s liberation * he and
Miss Gould entered into the matrimo nial connection , which proved a source of as pure pleasure to both , as is compatible with the lot of mortality . Never did husband experience in a wife a help more meet for him . Soon after her settlement at Cam *
bridge , Mrs . Flower was the happy instrument of establishing , though not without difficulty , a " Benevolent Society for the Relief of the Sick and Aged Poor , " the conduct of which at the outset principally depended upon her . As secretary and as visitor , she was in *
defatigable 5 she showed how much an individual may accomplish by method and perseverance , and how accessible are the hearts of the poor to discreet and affectionate liberality . In her walks of benevolence , she always mingled the
consolations of religion with the alms which : > ke had impowe j ed herself to dispense ; and many are the poor ana Needy who bless her memory , in the recollection of the timely charities and virtuous and pious counsels which con-
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1810, page 204, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2403/page/44/
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