Mrs. M. has visited Dunrobin and seen the Sutherland
estates, and spoke much of the Duke's character as a landlord, and his
efforts for the improvement of his tenantry.
Lady Carlisle was very affectionate, and invited me to visit Castle
Howard on my return to England.
Thursday I went with Lord Shaftesbury to see the charity children.
What a sight! The whole central part of the cathedral was converted
into an amphitheatre, and the children with white caps, white
handkerchiefs, and white aprons, looked like a wide flower bed. The
rustling, when they all rose up to prayer, was like the rise of a
flock of doves, and when they chanted the church service, it was the
warble of a thousand little brooks. As Spenser says, -
"The angelical, soft, trembling voices made
Unto the instruments respondence meet."
During the course of the services, when any little one was overcome
with sleep or fatigue, he was carefully handed down, and conveyed in a
man's arms to a refreshment room.
There was a sermon by the Bishop of Chester, very evangelical and
practical. On the whole, a more peculiar or more lovely scene I never
saw. The elegant arches of St. Paul's could have no more beautiful
adornment than those immortal flowers.
