WITH HIS CHILDREN. 



109 



patients. And never was any one more genial, more con- 

 siderate, more friendly, more altogether charming than he 

 universally was." .... He " never aimed, as too often hap- 

 pens with good talkers, at monopolising the conversation. It 

 was his pleasure rather to give and take, and he was as good 

 a listener as a speaker. He never preached nor prosed, but 

 his talk, whether grave or gay (and it was each by turns), was 

 full of life and salt — racy, bright, and animated." 



Some idea of his relation to his family and his friends may 

 be gathered from what has gone before ; it would be impos- 

 sible to attempt a complete account of these relationships, 

 but a slightly fuller outline may not be out of place. Of his 

 married life I cannot speak, save in the briefest manner. In 

 his relationship towards my mother, his tender and sympa- 

 thetic nature was shown in its most beautiful aspect. In her 

 presence he found his happiness, and through her, his life, — 

 which might have been overshadowed by gloom, — became 

 one of content and quiet gladness. 



The ' Expression of the Emotions* shows how closely he 

 watched his children ; it was characteristic of him that (as I 

 have heard him tell), although he was so anxious to observe 

 accurately the expression of a crying child, his sympathy 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 regretful 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 may quote, as showing the tenderness of his nature, some 

 sentences from an account of his little daughter Annie, writ- 

 ten 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, 1 85 1. 



