of her dress, and her lofty dignity and calm cheerfulness, in contrast to the prettinesses around; and well I remember, as a child, sitting and looking upon her countenance, and comparing it with the rouge and powder and curls of others; and my eye loved to rest upon her transparent and beautiful complexion, the varying colour of which seemed but as a thin covering to the soul, adorning and yet softening the majesty of her well-chiselled features, and the rich clusters of her dark brown hair. I was then a little child, standing at her knee: I now write this, my own hair snowy white .

PART III.

1788-1789.

"But he had felt the power

Of nature, and already was prepared,
By his intense conceptions, to receive
Deeply the lesson deep of love, which he
Whom nature, by whatever means, has taught
To feel intensely, cannot but receive.

"You never saw, your eyes did never look

On the bright form of her whom once I loved;
Her silver voice was heard upon the earth,
A thing unknown to you."

WORDSWORTH.

My

We

EARLY in October, we returned to Barr. cousin Christiana Gurney accompanied us. were three or four days on the road. Mr. Leathes, who was with us, had his pistols cocked ready at hand, so great at that time was the fear of highway

men.

How delightful to me was the first sight of the pinnacles of the well-known tower of Worcester Cathedral. How great the pleasure with which I left it behind, and passed the little inn at Northfield, embosomed in the barren Lickeys, and with which I again picked up some specimens of quartz from the rock which my father had long before pointed out to me, and the delight with which I entered the

first gate that, leaving the high road, began the approach to the grounds of Barr.

Then came the venerable oak wood and steep precipice shagged with trees, and the water below, where the water-fowl were disporting amidst the flags and reeds, then the winding road, opening at last by a sudden turn, and disclosing the turrets and Gothic windows of my dearly loved home. I was almost too glad to believe it all real; I seemed, as in one instant, to be at once in every room; and the thought that I should be with my dear mother there, as I once was, seemed almost overwhelming.

Soon after our return home, my mother resumed her Sunday instructions. I, every week, not only learned some preceptive texts by heart, but was questioned by her as to how I understood them. She diligently taught me, likewise, the historic catechism of the Old and New Testament, showing me the map of all the places named. As she spoke, the places, the events, and almost portraits of the actors, seemed vividly to unfold before me; and though I had none of what might be called dogmatic instruction, I fully believe that my mother's mode of teaching that which she did teach, was, by the blessing of God, the means of deeply fixing on my heart the thorough reality of Scriptural truth, the thorough reality of the Being of God, and the glad and soulfilling, though awful happiness of living in a sense

of His Holy and Loving Presence; one, with which not all the things of this earth can be compared ; and though I knew but very little, that little seemed then to sink into my heart, and become an integral part of myself. Nor can I ever forget, that one of the first things in which my dearest mother occupied herself, was to form for me a manuscript arrangement of the Prophecies and Gospels, with the historic circumstances of their fulfilment. Thus, after a long night of living without God in the world, I felt again called to His paternal and sustaining care. I also remember the deep delight with which the prophetic language of Scripture now began to inspire me by its sublime and elevating beauty. My first ideas of the truly sublime were taken from the 8th and the 104th Psalms, the descriptions of the spectral spirit, and the war-horse, in the Book of Job, and the prophecies of Isaiah and Zephaniah against Babylon and Nineveh. Thus was the Bible made not only the standard of principle, but that of taste and imagination; and now, how can I sufficiently express my deep gratitude to my mother for all her care? If the Psalmist has said, in relation to God, the great Parent," Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits," there is a subordinate sense in which the same may be applied to an earthly parent. How many of the blessings, both from the

one and the other, have we shamefully neglected, misused, and undervalued! how often have we, for a season, perhaps, trampled under foot the seed of life, which, nevertheless, through the unmerited mercy of God, has sprung up again and again, though scorched by summer heat or nipped by winter frost, and at last, through the same Divine blessing, has produced its tardy fruit unto life eternal!

How many, like me, reckless in childhood, have in after years, with deep compunction of heart, recognised the unspeakable mercies of that God who has found the means by which iniquity may be forgiven and sin covered. And now I was again established in my home. Many months of absence, which at my age seemed interminable, had intensified the feeling connected with every part. Not a tree nor meadow flower, but now, in addition to its beauty, was richer in the power of associated memories. Besides this, the few months that had passed, and the variety of objects crowded into them, had formed an era in the development of my mind and in its powers of comparison; and my very heart now felt the pre-eminent value of my own home, its beauty, its peacefulness, and its simple unity of principle.

Little by little, amidst the halo of joy, I seemed to discern again, with fresh pleasure, many things I had before enjoyed, but which I was now better