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& most bitterly tried by his most unreasoning and unhappy
jealousy of disposition. She very rarely attended any
party, or social gathering, or received the polite attention
of any gentle - without undergoing afterwards a stormy
ordeal. She was possessed of one of the most lovely,
sunny dispositions that ever existed - Was charming in
person & conversation, and was always a centre of attraction,
wherever she went, and the attention that she drew inevitably,
always excited my poor, dear father's jealous temperament
to frenzy -- My earliest recollections are associated with
scenes of this kind, to which I was often a bewildered &
frightened listener. He sometimes, especially in the later
years of his life, spoke of his infirmity, and spoke of it
as a disease. He attributed it to the fact that he was
born during the Reign of Terror; at the time of his birth,
his parents were in hiding, under the assumed name of
Arnould (Which is my middle name). To the fearful agitation
of his mother during the months preceding his birth,
he attributed the morbid & unhappy peculiarities of his
nervous system. He was also a snuff taker -- always carried
in his pocket a box filled with rich, strong, highly flavored
snuff; which he took in quantities in his nose, and large
red bandanna handkerchiefs in his pockets, on which he blew
his nose with sonorous blasts. This habit tended to wreck
his nervous system also, and ultimately brought on the
hypochondriac disease that terminated his existence.