PURE GENIUS. 189 



As I went along I traced the mazes of the river, in 

 some places brawling among the rocks, and at others 

 gliding silently through the mossy stones. I was thus 

 endeavouring to find out such points of view as had 

 most interest, and to investigate the peculiar character 

 in which the charm of the scene consisted. 



" Having at length settled all this to my satisfaction, 

 and marked in the outline of a scene with a piece of 

 white crayon, preparatory to colouring it in oil, a very 

 respectable-looking lady came sailing up to me, and 

 begged to look at my canvas. The day being some- 

 what advanced, she asked me how many sketches I had 

 made that morning; and upon my telling her that the 

 one she was looking at was the first, she replied with 

 very perfect exultation that her daughters had not 

 been half an hour in the glen before they made nearly 

 a bookful of drawings ; but then, indeed, there were 

 very few people so gifted as her daughters. I acqui- 

 esced in good faith ; for I really knew no human beings 

 that could do the same thing in the same time, and 

 perhaps I might add in the same manner ; so I con- 

 cluded that the talent of these young ladies, like 

 Madame Laffarge's genius for pastry, was ' colossal.' 



" ' Then they never learned,' continued the lady ; ' it 

 was all pure genius. Indeed Maria showed a singular 

 facility for taking likenesses at three years old. Sir 

 Thomas Lawrence had admired them very much.' 



" I bowed, and did not doubt it. In a short time the 

 young ladies themselves, and very pretty and sprightly 

 ones they were, came tripping up. 



" ' Oh, mamma, we have been here only an hour, and 

 have brought away all the scenery of the glen ! ' 



