and Italian, and sketched well from nature. But there was a skeleton in her closet, for Sir William Fownes, her guardian, persecuted her with his unwelcome attentions, and she was afraid to tell his wife, her aunt, about them. This, however, was kept a profound secret, and was not publicly known till twenty years afterwards by the publication of the diary of a Mrs. Goddard. The two friends consulted together, and resolved on flight. Their first attempt ended in failure, for Miss Ponsonby broke her leg in trying to get over a park wall at an early hour in the morning. She had an appointment to meet Lady Eleanor (then Miss Butler) at a ruined abbey near Thomastown. Here, it is said, they spent the night, and were brought back in disgrace next morning. They made a second attempt to escape in March, 1778, and this time they got as far as the quay at Waterford, when they were again captured. Miss Ponsonby was brought back to Woodstock by Lady Betty Fownes, and Lady Eleanor was sent to her sister, Mrs. Kavanagh, of Borris. In a letter from Mrs. Tighe, Lady Betty Fownes' only daughter, which is given in E. Owens Blackburne's "Illustrious Irishwomen," she says:
"The runaways are caught, and we shall soon see our amiable friend (Miss Ponsonby) again, whose conduct, though it has an appearance
