Part 4 (1/2)

They picked out all that pro,” and this free pasture randfather, a Blossom that he admired and loved, but Blossom only

Never was a Blosso hearts

”We looked upon her as a sort of prophetess;” and this vieas confirmed by incidents that occurred in 1842 The sisters alking together, and first one and then another suggested strange things that ht happen ”Why, who knows,” said Bessie, ”in less than ain a palace!” Noithin a month it is recorded that a rocket let off in the street, and badly aih the s of the nursery in which several children were asleep The governess happened to be in the rooreat presence of mind seized the rocket and threw it back into the street

Now here was at any rate the possibility of a fire Still more impressive was the fact that within the month Dr Gilbert was appointed to the See of Chichester They would really live in a palace

Much excitement and no little awe in the nursery, not so much because the father was a bishop as because Bessie was a prophetess The bishop would be comparatively innocuous in the nursery, but who could tell what a prophetess ht foresee!

And so the pleasant Oxford life came to an end; and in spite of a prospective palace, the _sisterhood_ thought the change a cala her old friends, and her regret at parting from them did not diminish but increased with time Doubtless in later years the inevitable restraint of her life lent an additional charm to the memory of her youth in Oxford The constant solicitude of parents, friends, and sisters had kept froe of lio forth to face the world and to learnof the mysterious word blind Canon Melville, who knew her in Oxford, writes to one of her sisters as follows:--

THE COLLEGE, WORCESTER, 1885

I have a very clear memory of the person and character of your sister Bessie; it is a pleasure to races of her htened by the loss of her eyesight That wonderful co pohich oftenintensity in another, her moral and spiritual sensitiveness with that inward joyfulness recording itself in outward expression of a pleased and happy countenance, were remarkably evident Out of many little traits indicative of this and her quiet intuition of what favourably or otherwise ht strike her moral sense, I remember once when the appearance of some one she personally, for so remarked upon, and I had pronounced ravely toor had recently seen the for, exclairee with you! How can you ad that had jarred with her ment on the character to the forh she had seen the analogy she felt there must be between the outward and the inward

Of the history of her self-devotion to the personal and industrial improvement of those under like affliction with herself her whole life was an illustration Of thatthe removal from Oxford the Bishop and Mrs Gilbert were in London with two daughters, of whoer ones were left under the charge of the faithful governess, Miss Lander, and in bright and copious epistles they infor on in the old home They tell how they had heard Adelaide Kemble in Oxford, whom Bessie is shortly to hear at Covent Garden; how they entle better than Catalani; and how three who had not heard Catalani said she was equal to Grisi How some of the ”Felloent home to supper with thereat event for the little girls and their governess, who all send ”love and duty to papa and mamma”

There is another letter to Bessie, still in London, though the parents have returned to Oxford, which gives a happy picture of last days there

Bessie sends as farewell presents some of the little chains which she ether for her The father receives a farewell presentation of plate, the elder girls darn rents in the gowns of their friends, the Fellows of Brasenose, and so on it runs:--

MY DEAR BESSIE--I write to you now in a great hurry to tell you to send Mr Melville's chain to-morrow by Mr ----, as I expect we shall see him some time to-morrow, and I could sew it for him I sent thehe said he must come to thank you for it to-day; but as I told him he would not be able to see Sarah and Henrietta after this week, he seemed to say that he should wait till next week to see you, which I hope you will think quite fair The plate was presented to papa yesterday The address was short, but a very nice one, and I suspect chiefly written by Mr ---- Papa's answer I have not seen, as he had only one copy, which he left with the Vice-Principal We were none of us there, which I ah it would very likely have been too hted beyond ht to drink tea at aunt's, and then went to sleep at the Barnes's We are going to dinner there to-night and sleep, for there is not a bed here The glasses and all the pictures are gone, and that has made the house more deplorable than ever Miss A is here now, and see Mr A's gown for hi for it and stayed soot it done anywhere else so nicely; that is a long darn that Mary did for him The B's have told Mr W that they will keep their acquaintance with him for our sakes, so that he will not be quite deserted; are not you glad of it? Will you ask Miss Lander to send here she left her Punch and Judy? If she doesn't remember, I daresay it will be found; but we have not seen it

There is a chance, I believe, of Mr A's taking Selha about it All send love to everybody--Believe me to be your affectionate sister, F H L G

Whilst the parents were in London this year, Bessie paid one visit which produced a great and lasting effect upon her She accompanied her mother to the blind school in the Avenue Road; and this seems to have been the first time that the blind, as a class of the coreat loss and privation, came under her notice The experience could not fail to be painful She contrasted the lot of these young people with her own in her happy home, and shrank back in pain froether, the one common bond that of the fetters of a hopeless fate

The irls' school, afterwards Mrs Levy, remembers this visit, and says the ihter was that she was ”delightful, beautiful, full of sympathy for the blind” She remembers also that the Bishop preached in Marylebone Church in aid of the blind school, taking as his text words that thened his own heart, ”Who hath made the blind and deaf, but I the Lord?”

This year, 1842, was altogether aor curacy at Acton, where his chief friend, the squire of the parish, was a Mr Wegg Another friend of whom he saw much at this time was Mr Bathurst, afterwards General Sir Jaton A third was Miss Hales, co The Gilberts and the Bathursts were Miss Hales's dearest friends; and she had a God-daughter in each fahter of Sir Jahter of Mr Wintle Mrs Gilbert always corresponded with Miss Hales, sent her copies of Bessie's verses, and inforress of the child Miss Hales died in 1842, and by will divided her fortune between her two God-daughters

Bessie was thus placed in a different position from that of any of her sisters; she alone when she attained herher father's lifetime The Bishop was relieved frohter, and the necessity of aly, and wished her also to feel, that the possession of s with it duties and responsibilities

FOOTNOTE:

[4] ”Added to this the authorities of the University, the appointed guardians of those who forreat part of the attendants onOne dissuades , the late Vice-Chancellor threatens to take his own children away froia pro Vita Sua_, p 133 John Henry Newmans, 1879

CHAPTER V

THE PALACE GARDEN

”Joy and woe are woven fine, A clothing for the soul divine”--BLAKE

By the autumn of 1842 the removal from Oxford to Chichester had been accomplished The Bishop and his family were installed in the palace, which was to be their ho for Bessie, and one which, when the inevitable pain of parting from old friends was over, she learnt to love very dearly She had a keen iht in the beauties of nature She loved to hear of clouds and sunset; of sunrise and the dawn, of green fields, of hills and valleys She loved the outer air, flowers, and the song of birds; and she had passed the first sixteen years of her life in a house in the High Street, Oxford She was very proud of the architectural beauty of Oxford, and always thought it a distinction to belong to Oxford; but her whole heart was soon in the home at Chichester