146 



Mary, as an address from all his children. Ca- 

 roline presented him with his two favourite 

 flowers, a rose and a sprig of lavender ; and I 

 followed her with a little drawing of one of the 

 few wild flowers still in blossom the great white 

 bindweed, which I had often heard him admire. 

 I felt very doubtful of venturing to offer it, but 

 he received it with an encouraging kindness pe- 

 culiar to himself. 



As the day was mild and bright, my uncle 

 hired a boat, and took us all up the river, beyond 

 the village of Elmore ; we had an excellent view 

 of Gloucester, and in the distance, we saw the 

 pretty Malvern hills. 



In returning, we went on shore at Elmore, where 

 my aunt paid a visit to a lady, with whose daugh- 

 ters she ran away for a few days ; and lower 

 down the river, we stopped for half an hour at 

 Newnham, to call on Mrs. Ando, who had been 

 an old servant of my aunt's. She is now living 

 independently on her earnings, in a neat com- 

 fortable house ; and she is always so rejoiced to 

 see any of the family, that a visit to her is quite 

 a festival. We found a pretty little child playing 

 about the room, prattling French, and looking very 

 droll, in a large Swiss hat. Mrs. Ando told us, 

 that about a fortnight since, a gentleman and 

 lady, with this child, had crossed the Severn, 

 and come to Newnham ; but the illness of the 

 poor gentleman had detained them, and as the 



