CHAP. HI.] REMINISCENCES OF SEDBURY 17 



the naturalist element in Eleanor was free to lay up know- 

 ledge for future use, and her country life gave leisure and 

 opportunity for observation of bird, plant, and insect life, to 

 say nothing of reptiles. Any snake killed on the estate was 

 brought to Eleanor, and if it was remarkable for size or beauty 

 she took a cast of it to be afterwards electrotyped, or had it 

 buried in an ant-hill in order to set up its skeleton when the 

 ants had cleaned the bones. The casts, which resembled 

 bronze, were sometimes attached to slabs of green Devon- 

 shire marble, and made handsome paper weights. Wasps 

 were at one time a subject of special study and interest to 

 her brother Dr. Edward Ormerod, and she and Georgiana 

 once conveyed a wasp's nest to him at Brighton. I believe 

 he did not allow the wasps to exceed a certain number, out 

 of consideration for the neighbouring fruiterers. 



The premature deaths of Edward and William, physician 

 and surgeon, were heartfelt sorrows to the two sisters nearest 

 in age. If Eleanor's lot had been cast in later days she might 

 have become a lady doctor of renown ; she had many 

 qualifications for the medical profession and a liking for 

 domestic surgery ; she had strong nerves and inspired con- 

 fidence and used to say that she never went a journey 

 without some fellow-passenger going into a detailed account 

 of all her ailments. Besides strong nerves she had strong 

 eye-sight and a delicate but firm touch. Her brothers did 

 not encourage anatomical studies, but she could prepare 

 sections of teeth and other objects for the microscope as 

 beautifully as any professional microscopist. Some of my 

 cousins were strong sighted and very short-sighted, and 

 much inclined to be sceptical as to my long-sighted vision. 



My last visit to Sedbury was in the autumn of 1853 in 

 company with my step-sister Margaret Roberts, then just 

 beginning to try her powers as an authoress. Eleanor must 

 then have been twenty-five or twenty-six, but was considered 

 to be quite young by her family, and in some respects was 

 really so. She no longer played such pranks as embarking 

 in a tub to navigate the horse pond, but her fine dark eyes 

 would shine with mischief, and she was the licensed jester 

 to the family circle. 



The routine of life at Sedbury usually began, on the part 

 of the younger members of the family, with a walk after 

 breakfast prefaced by a visit to the poultry yard and 

 greenhouses. Georgiana was chief hen-wife, and kept an 

 account of the eggs and chickens. The park, lying on high 

 ground between the Severn and the Wye, had beautiful 



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