ch. iv.] REMINISCENCES. 89 



it, ' beautiful,' or in smoothing, the poor dear darling, my 

 collar or cuffs in short, in fondling me. 



" Besides her joyousness thus tempered, she was in her 

 manners remarkably cordial, frank, open, straightforward, 

 natural, and without any shade of reserve. Her whole mind 

 was pure and transparent. One felt one knew her thor- 

 oughly and could trust her. I always thought, that come 

 what might, we should have had, in our old age, at least 

 one loving soul, which nothing could have changed. All 

 her movements were vigorous, active, and usually graceful. 

 When going round the Sand-walk with me, although I 

 walked fast, yet she often used to go before, pirouetting in 

 the most elegant way, her dear face bright all the time with 

 the sweetest smiles. Occasionally she had a pretty, coquet- 

 tish manner towards me, the memory of which is charming. 

 She often used exaggerated language, and when I quizzed 

 her by exaggerating what she had said, how clearly can I 

 now see the little toss of the head, and exclamation of ' Oh, 

 papa, what a shame of you ! ' In the last short illness, her 

 conduct in simple truth was angelic. She never once com- 

 plained ; never became fretful ; was ever considerate of 

 others, and was thankful in the most gentle, pathetic man- 

 ner for everything done for her. When so exhausted that 

 she could hardly speak, she praised everything that was 

 given her, and said some tea ' was beautifully good.' When 

 I gave her some water, she said, ' I quite thank you ; ' and 

 these, I believe, were the last precious words ever addressed 

 by her dear lips to me. 



" We have lost the joy of the household, and the solace 

 of our old age. She must have known how we loved her. 

 Oh, that she could now know how deeply, how tenderly, we 

 do still and shall ever love her dear joyous face ! Blessings 

 on her ! * 



"April 30, 1851." 



We, his children, all took especial pleasure in the games 

 he played at with us, and in his stories, which, partly on 

 account of their rarity, were considered specially delight- 

 ful. 



The way he brought us up is shown by a little story 

 about my brother Leonard, which my father was fond of 

 telling. He came into the drawing-room and found Leon- 



* The words, ; ' A good and dear child," form the descriptive part of the 

 inscription on her gravestone. See the Athenceu?n, Nov. 26, 1887. 



