REMINISCENCES BY A FRIEND.

17

was sustained to the close of life. More than a hundred and fifty letters were exchanged, and to some of these, this volume will owe a large portion of whatever interest or value it may possess.

At the biographer's request that lady has kindly recorded her recollections of her friend. The portion which relates to Eliza's school-days at Leeds shall be here supplied :-" My acquaintance with my beloved friend commenced when she was about fifteen. I remember distinctly the morning she was introduced into the school-room. Little did I then think what an influence the new comer would acquire over my own mind and heart. She was shy and reserved at first, but susceptible of any advance towards friendliness, and eager to reciprocate the least kindness. It was not long before her position amongst us became clearly defined. Being one of the tallest girls, a degree of freedom was at once awarded her, but her mind soon asserted a superior claim. She was a most earnest and successful student; and it became a privilege to be admitted into her little coterie of inquirers after knowledge. At her suggestion, three or four of us rose at five o'clock every morning, and met in the library to read. The books chosen were generally such as aided in our after-studies. Sometimes they yielded more pleasure than profit, but the recollection of those morning meetings is very pleasant. During our walks, too, we read together, or when books were forbidden, Eliza was never at a loss for some topic of discussion. A flower, or an insect, often supplied us with a theme. Anything in nature called forth her deepest sympathies, and made her eloquent. She has told me what a wild delight she used to feel, when a mere child, amidst the scenes of nature, rambling at her own sweet will for hours together with no companions but the bee and butterfly. This love of the beautiful became more intense as she grew older, and you will not wonder that she had also a decided tinge of the romantic at this

time. Her young muse sung of deeds of daring, and the achievements of fame. She bowed at the shrine of genius, and made it almost her god. But afterwards, when she had consecrated her tastes and talents to her Saviour, they took a higher mould. Wherever beauty was, she saw the loving impress of her Heavenly Father. Genius seemed to her but an emanation from the Eternal mind; and, instead of exhausting her sympathies on imaginary woes, she began right earnestly to search out, and try to alleviate, the actual sufferings around her.

"But to return to her school-days. Her studies were a great pleasure to her. She had a right ambition to excelnot outshine and all agreed that the commendation given her, was her due. As her mind developed, and the field of knowledge opened before her, she has often told me of undefined longings to grasp all—a feeling of impatience with the slow process of acquisition—a feeling that the inlets to the mind were inadequate to satisfy her mental thirst. Her compositions were both easy and graceful; unlike the usually crabbed style of a school-girl. When our monthly budget was opened, and our anonymous maiden efforts read, you might see a smile of recognition pass around the school-room, as Eliza's pieces betrayed their authorship at once.

"None were more gay and frolicsome. She entered with zest into our merriest fun-indeed, was often the promoter of it. She had an under current of genial humour, and a quickness of repartee that never failed her.

"As to her religious thoughts and feelings at this time, I know little. I was not then admitted into her confidence. Her seniority caused a distance between us as school-girls which was entirely forgotten in our after friendship. But from her own confession she was then a formalist, attending to the ritual of worship, but lacking the Shekinah in the inner temple. Her religious training had familiarized

AN IMPORTANT LESSON LEARNT.

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the Scriptures to her, and she unwittingly acquired a habit, which she often afterwards deplored, of quoting Scripture in common parlance, almost, if not quite, irreverently-a pernicious habit, alas! too common."

It does not surprise us that Eliza should have been thus regarded by her school-mates, nor that she should have rapidly improved, when we learn with what views she entered upon her duties-privileges, they ought rather to be designated. In an early letter to the friend whose reminiscences have just been furnished, she says, "I will tell you, dear Sarah, what were my reflections the first day I was at school. In the evening I sat down, and asked myself, 'What have I learnt to-day?' The answer my heart gave, somewhat startled me. It was this: 'I have to-day learnt the most important lesson I ever did learn, that is, that I know nothing at all.' It was not the impulse of the moment, it was the result of calm, deliberate thought. I really felt as though I had been living for nothing. There appeared such a wide field of knowledge before me, that as it opened on my view, I started, and exclaimed: Why did I never know this before? I have long enough thought I possessed as much knowledge as most people of my age and station, but now I find that everything I have learnt is like nothing compared with what I yet have to learn.'"

Whilst Miss Hessel was basking under sunny influences at Leeds, a dark cloud was gathering on the domestic horizon. Consumption had seized her sister Mrs. Brumwell, and she came to Catterton for the benefit of native air. Fatal symptoms, alas, were rapidly developed, and, of course, the pupil was summoned to the dying bed. In the composure and joy experienced by her sister, she saw the wondrous power and blessedness of religion. "Victory, victory, through the blood of the Lamb," were the words with which that much-loved relative winged her way to a

happier clime, May the 24th. She had appealed powerfully to Eliza to follow her to heaven, and obtained a promise to that effect. A stronger element of seriousness henceforth imbued her character.

Such were the mental and moral features Eliza Hessel exhibited in youth, and such were the general influences that moulded those features into the form it is the object of this volume to pourtray.

This brief half-year completed her scholastic privileges. She was now sixteen, and it was deemed needful she should enter upon the practical duties of life. She had no notion, however, of her education terminating with her attendance at the school. In the letter just quoted from, she says:— "I am endeavouring, in this rural retreat, to gain something every day. Though it be a little only it is better than nothing, or, what is still worse, retrograding. 'Onward,' is my watchword, and 'Nothing is denied to welldirected diligence,' is my motto."-Noble girl! with such views and purposes, could she do otherwise than succeed?

ENTERS A NEW SPHERE.

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CHAPTER II.

At Burton-on-Trent-Lichfield Cathedral-Illness-Visits Scarbro' -"A prayer "—Removal of the family to Boston Spa-"Trees in Autumn "-Death of her father-Winters in the Isle of WightScenery at Ventnor-Carisbrook Castle and its intellectual donkey "The church of St. Lawrence "-"The grave of the Dairyman's daughter""-A word to scrawling correspondents-London -Works of fiction-A consolatory thought for those bereaved of pious friends-Further Reminiscences by a friend.

HER brother-in-law was left in charge of an interesting legacy. Two motherless boys, one only seven months old, and the other but two years, required no small care. Young as Miss Hessel was, however, it was deemed desirable to commit them to her trust. He now resided at Burtonupon-Trent, and thither, therefore, early in 1846, she repaired. With commendable assiduity, and an efficiency surpassing expectation, she entered on her new engagements. Though she had made no secret of her repugnance to domestic duties, the dawnings of "a horror of undomesticated literary women were already felt. A desire to excel in this, as in other departments, was soon manifested, and, as in most previously untried things, she had an almost intuitive perception of the right course to be pursued.

Shortly after entering her new sphere, she wisely yielded to the promptings of her nature, and gave a "form and substance" to her thoughts by commencing a journal, which she continued for some time. Fully concurring, however, in the opinion of the late venerated Dawson of Barnbow, that "diaries in general are of little worth except for personal use in private, and will only admit of brief extracts for