He liked Mr.
H. . . . He gives away 7000 pounds a year in charity! Mrs. H. is good,
too, for she goes herself and sees into the condition of a whole
district in Liverpool, though a dainty lady of fashion. She showed Mr.
Hawthorne a miniature of the famous Sir Kenelm Digby, who was her
ancestor; and so through his family she is connected with the Percys
and the Stanleys, Earls of Derby. Everything was in sumptuous fashion,
served by gorgeous footmen. Mr. Hawthorne was chief guest. . . . Mrs.
H. has sense, and is rather sentimental, too. She has no children, and
had the assurance to tell Mr. Hawthorne she preferred chickens to
children.
The next day Mr. Bright invited Mr. Hawthorne to drive. Mr. Bright
wanted to call on his cousin, Sir Thomas Birch. And as he was the
nearest neighbor of the Earl of Derby, he took them to Knowsley, Lord
Derby's seat. At Sir Thomas's, Mr. Hawthorne saw a rookery for the
first time; and a picture of Lady Birch, his mother, painted by Sir
Thomas Lawrence, but not quite finished. It is said to be one of his
best pictures. Mr. Hawthorne was disappointed in the house at
Knowsley. It was lower than he had imagined, and of various eras, but
so large as to be able to entertain an hundred guests.
April 14, Good Friday.
MY DEAR FATHER,--This is a day of great and solemn fast in England;
when all business is suspended, and no work is done in house or
street; when there is really a mighty pause in worldly affairs, and
all people remind themselves that Christ was crucified, and died for
us.
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