over. I know that reason and religion teach us unqualified submission to the decrees of a Being which cannot err; but such is our frail nature that, while the mind is struggling for submission, the body gives way. I have had much of this in the protracted illness of one of my parents, and the gradual decay of the other, and my energy never failed till it was no longer wanted; but when all was over, I found I had been wound up to too high a pitch, and I sunk proportionably low. I always considered, however, that I owed a duty to myself, as well as my parents, and I spared myself whatever I could. I never once watched through the night, convinced that I was not able to support it, and I am glad that you do not attempt it. The hours from twelve o'clock at night to eight in the morning were my own.

"It is ordered by infinite wisdom that we should be so tenacious of life that we cannot part from it without great suffering, or a sudden shock, from the contemplation of which our nature recoils. If it were not so, our existence might be terminated by one of the common. accidents to which we are subject. This process of dissolution I have at length entered upon, after seventytwo years of enjoyment and suffering, in which the former has greatly predominated. Strictly speaking, I may date the commencement of this decay twenty-six years back, when you saw me your mother's guest at Leicester, but within the last six months the downward step has been rapid and decisive. The complaint which carries me on is my old difficulty of breathing. I cannot bear any accelerated motion of the lungs without a paroxysm that

makes me ill; I am drawn in a wheeled chair to my brother's and even to my chaise, and I dread the mounting of a flight of stairs. The absolute inactivity to which I am reduced has occasioned me to grow very fat, and this aggravates and increases the evil.

"Your very affectionate friend,

"CATHERINE HUTTON."

Letter from Miss E. Gifford to Miss M. A. Coltman, describing the Well Dressing at Tissington.

"My dear Friend,—

“Duffield Bank,

'June 8, 1829.

After spending a few days at Mrs. Worsley's, in the neighbourhood of Ashover, we went to Winster for a week, and from thence visited the pretty village of Tissington, about seven miles off, on the day of the annual festival called 'The Well Dressing.' It is one of the prettiest sights I ever witnessed. You would have been pleased with it. There are five wells in different parts of the village which tradition says once abounded with water when all the other springs in the neighbourhood were dry, and as a grateful memorial they are annually decorated with flowers. The crowds of all ranks that were assembled in honour of the day were very great. The weather was beautiful, and the clear water running from the springs reminded me of the delight dear Mrs. Coltman used to express at the sight of 'living streams.' Inscriptions formed of flowers were interspersed among the foliage, all of a moral or religious tendency, such as "Whoso drinketh of these waters shall thirst again.'

"I have seldom spent so pleasant a day. The effect was much heightened by the scenery-a fine old Elizabethan mansion on one side the village green, on the other an abrupt rising ground with the church on the summit, and lofty trees hanging their fantastic branches far enough to form a shade for great numbers. We took refreshments with us, and spread a table-cloth in a corner of Sir Henry Fitzherbert's park. I am glad to hear Mrs. Heyrick is enjoying her retreat at Rothley, and deriving so much benefit from it. Henrietta [Mrs. Acton Tindall] is much better since her journey. She and her sister enjoyed the change of scene very much, particularly the picking up minerals, which abound near Mr. Worsley's residence, which, I am sorry to add, he is soon to leave. It is an interesting old house that formerly belonged to Sir Joseph Banks, of whom there is a full-length portrait in the dining room, dressed in the mantle of a Otaheitan chief, and surrounded by South Sea relics. I have so often admired it, that it was melancholy to think that most likely I should never see it again. But I do hope to visit the mines and the rocks once more at some time or other. All here are well,

and unite in kind regards to you all. If you see Mrs. Kershaw pray remember me to her, and to Miss Noble.*

"I am, my dear friend,

"Your very affectionate,
"E. GIFFORD."

On October 18th, 1831, died Mrs. Heyrick. The following interesting account of her life and work is taken from the MS. already alluded to :

Probably related to Dr. Noble, the last occupier of Danett's Hall.

MRS. ELIZABETH HEYRICK.

Mrs. Elizabeth Heyrick, one of Miss Hutton's most distinguished friends, was the elder daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Coltman; she was born at Leicester, on the 4th of Dec., 1769. Little is remembered now, at this long distance of time, concerning her early youth, excepting that she was conspicuous for her self-denying temper, and her benevolent disposition. When a very little girl, she had twopence given her to buy gingerbread, and on her way she met a beggar, who asked her alms. Touched with pity, she gave him half her treasure, but quickly relenting, she exclaimed aloud: "Stomach! thou shan't be gratified," and turning back, she instantly placed all she possessed in his hand. A family of kittens was once about to be consigned to the usual fate of their race, when a demur arose between the brothers and sister as to which of them should be spared; the former were for preserving the handsomest, but Elizabeth declared for the plainest, asserting that on the very ground of want of attractions, it had most claim to notice, and was most deserving of pity; this principle of sympathy for the outcast, and the one who had no helper, was conspicuous throughout life.

As Elizabeth grew in years, she evinced considerable quickness and ability, and manifested so decided a talent for landscape painting that her father seriously meditated placing her in London with an eminent master, and devoting her to the art; this idea was not realised, but throughout life she enjoyed an occasional use of the brush, and has left many interesting proofs of it.

Nor was she less remarkable for her ability in needle

work, a proof of which was long in Miss Hutton's possession. "I have," says Miss H., "an oval medallion of white satin, about an inch and a half in length and one inch in breadth; on this she embroidered the figure of Sterne's Maria, sitting on a bank under a spreading tree, and holding her dog, which is lying at her feet, by a string. The rest of the tiny picture is composed of the ground, the distance, and the sky. The whole is formed of my hair, which was very fine, except where a lighter shade was wanted, when the hair of a friend was used. She was fifteen years of age when she made this picture, and the

stitches of it are smaller than the atoms of the mosaics of Rome."

Nature had been generous to Elizabeth, and had given her a lovely countenance and a fine figure; her voice, too, was musical, and her manners were engaging; she was beloved by her parents, and admired by all. Her attractions first became known to herself from overhearing the enquiry: "Who is that lovely girl"-a circumstance to which she alluded in after-life as having occasioned the first conscious emotions of vanity, and as suggesting the propriety of suppressing similar queries in the presence of the young and beautiful.

It was just in the dawn of her loveliness that Elizabeth went to pay a visit at the Rectory of Duffield, the native place of her mother, from whom, during her stay there, she received the following letter:

Letter from Mrs. Coltman to her daughter Elizabeth.

"Yes! I do love thee,-and-when I love thee not -chaos is come again. But I have had no time to tell