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She tells us that Mrs. Barbauld’s brother, Mr. Aikin, had a very fine countenance, and describes Mr. Barbauld as ‘a very characteristic figure, but well bred and sensible.’ Crabb Robinson is more clear in his delineation of him, and says he had ‘a slim figure, a weazen face, and a shrill voice. He talked a good deal, and was fond of dwelling on controversial points of religion. He was by no means destitute of ability.’ Amongst Mrs. Barbauld’s guests at Church Row in 1798 was Miss Mary Galton, afterwards Mrs. Schemelpennick, one of the shining lights in that brilliant company that met in Mrs. Montague’s drawing-rooms on the occasions of her literary assemblies, which brought together all the wit and talent of the town.

Amongst these celebrities Mrs. Barbauld was a welcome guest, and many of these gifted men and women visited her in Church Row.

She appears to have been as charming in person as she was rich in intellect. A small portrait of her in the European Magazine of March, 1786, suggests, from the sweetness of expression and refinement of the features, the composed beauty of countenance which Crabb Robinson describes her as possessing at sixty-two years of age.