8 PARENTAGE. 



an affectionate mother. She made a happy home, and 

 her distinguished son in after-years often acknowledged 

 that he could not have accomplished the work that he 

 did but for the advantages of this quiet and cheer- 

 ful abode. 



Mrs Prestwich was cast in a different mould from 

 her mother, whose maiden name was Prytherch. Mr 

 Blakeway of Broseley had been some time a widower 

 when he confided to his friend the Rev. Stephen 

 Prytherch, the vicar of Leigh ton (who had a bevy 

 of very handsome daughters), that his home was 

 lonely and that he wished to marry again : would he 

 give him one of his daughters? The vicar was de- 

 lighted, but the question was, Which ? His advice, 

 " Better take the eldest," was followed. It was a 

 wooing not long a - doing, and Catherine Prytherch 

 soon became Mrs Blakeway of Broseley Hall. Al- 

 though there was great disparity in age, the squire 

 being thirty years the lady's senior, she made an 

 excellent wife, and they became an attached couple. 

 But she was a strange mother : she made a point 

 of sending all her children out to nurse soon after 

 their birth, so as to have no further trouble with 

 them. They were placed with a much - respected 

 Quaker family, and their father, who was fond of 

 his children, rode daily over to see them. Mrs 

 Prestwich used to say that the amusement which 

 she and her little brothers liked best was sitting on 

 the banks of the river and listening to the sound of 

 the water. Their mother took no more concern about 

 them until they were sent home old enough to be 

 packed off to school. Thus mother and daughter 

 were very unlike : Mrs Blakeway with her marked 

 individuality and strong will, - - her daughter, Mrs 



