8S REMINISCENCES. [ch. iv. 



serve accurately the expression of a crying child, his sym- 

 pathy with the grief spoiled his observation. His note-book, 

 in which are recorded sayings of his young children, shows 

 his pleasure in them. He seemed to retain a sort of regret- 

 ful memory of the childhoods which had faded away, and 

 thus he wrote in his Recollections : " When you were very 

 young it was my delight to play with you all, and I think 

 with a sigh that such days can never return." 



I quote, as showing the tenderness of his nature, some 

 sentences from an account of his little daughter Annie, 

 written a few days after her death : 



" Our poor child, Annie, was born in Gower Street, on 

 March 2, 1841, and expired at Malvern at mid-day on the 

 23rd of April, 1851. 



" I write these few pages, as I think in after years, if we 

 live, the impressions now put down will recall more vividly 

 her chief characteristics. From whatever point I look back 

 at her, the main feature in her disposition which at once 

 rises before me, is her buoyant joyousness, tempered by two 

 other characteristics, namely, her sensitiveness, which might 

 easily have been overlooked by a stranger, and her strong 

 affection. Her joyousness and animal spirits radiated from 

 her whole countenance, and rendered every movement elas- 

 tic and full of life and vigour. It was delightful and cheer- 

 ful to behold her. Her dear face now rises before me, as 

 she used sometimes to come running downstairs with a 

 stolen pinch of snuff for me, her whole form radiant with 

 the pleasure of giving pleasure. Even when playing with 

 her cousins, when her joyousness almost passed into bois- 

 terousness, a single glance of my eye, not of displeasure (for 

 I thank God I hardly ever cast one on her), but of want of 

 sympathy, would for some minutes alter her whole counte- 

 nance. 



" The other point in her character, which made her joy- 

 ousness and spirits so delightful, was her strong affection, 

 which was of a most clinging, fondling nature. When quite 

 a baby, this showed itself in never being easy without touch- 

 ing her mother, when in bed with her ; and quite lately she 

 would, when poorly, fondle for any length of time one of 

 her mother's arms. When very unwell, her mother lying 

 down beside her, seemed to soothe her in a manner quite 

 different from what it would have done to any of our other 

 children. So, again, she would at almost any time spend 

 half-an-hour in arranging my hair, ' making it,' as she called 



