Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands, vol 2 | Page 6

perfect longing to get
but of London into some green fields--to get somewhere where there
was nobody. So kind Mrs. B. had the carriage, and off we drove
together. By and by we found ourselves out in the country, and then I
wanted to get out and walk.
After a while a lady came along, riding a little donkey. These donkeys
have amused me so much since I have been here! At several places on
the outskirts of the city they have them standing, all girt up with
saddles covered with white cloth, for ladies to ride on. One gets out of
London by means of an omnibus to one of these places, and then, for a
few pence, can have a ride upon one of them into the country. Mrs. B.

walked by the side of the lady, and said to her something which I did
not hear, and she immediately alighted and asked me with great
kindness if I wanted to try the saddle; so I got upon the little beast,
which was about as large as a good-sized calf, and rode a few paces to
try him. It is a slow, but not unpleasant gait, and if the creature were
not so insignificantly small, as to make you feel much as if you were
riding upon a cat, it would be quite a pleasant affair. After dismounting
I crept through a hole in a hedge, and looked for some flowers; and, in
short, made the most that I could of my interview with nature, till it
came time to go home to dinner, for our dinner hour at Mr. B.'s is
between one and two; quite like home. In the evening we were to dine
at Lord Shaftesbury's.
After napping all the afternoon we went to Grosvenor Square. There
was only a small, select party, of about sixteen. Among the guests were
Dr. McAll, Hebrew professor in King's College, Lord Wriothesley
Russell, brother of Lord John, and one of the private chaplains of the
queen, and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Dr. McAll is a millenarian.
He sat next to C. at table, and they had some conversation on that
subject. He said those ideas had made a good deal of progress in the
English mind.
While I was walking down to dinner with Lord Shaftesbury, he pointed
out to me in the hall the portrait of his distinguished ancestor, Antony
Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury, whose name he bears. This
ancestor, notwithstanding his sceptical philosophy, did some good
things, as he was the author of the habeas corpus act.
After dinner we went back to the drawing rooms again; and while tea
and coffee were being served, names were constantly being announced,
till the rooms were quite full.
Among the earliest who arrived was Mr.----, a mulatto gentleman,
formerly British consul at Liberia. I found him a man of considerable
cultivation and intelligence, evincing much good sense in his
observations.
I overheard some one saying in the crowd, "Shaftesbury has been about
the chimney sweepers again in Parliament." I said to Lord Shaftesbury,
"I thought that matter of the chimney sweepers had been attended to
long ago, and laws made about it."
"So we have made laws," said he, "but people won't keep them unless

we follow them up."
He has a very prompt, cheerful way of speaking, and throws himself
into every thing he talks about with great interest and zeal. He
introduced me to one gentleman, I forget his name now, as the patron
of the shoeblacks. On my inquiring what that meant, he said that he had
started the idea of providing employment for poor street boys, by
furnishing them with brushes and blacking, and forming them into
regular companies of shoeblacks. Each boy has his' particular stand,
where he blacks the shoes of every passer by who chooses to take the
trouble of putting up his foot and paying his twopence. Lord
Shaftesbury also presented me to a lady who had been a very successful
teacher in the ragged schools; also to a gentleman who, he said, had
been very active in the London city missions. Some very ingenious
work done in the ragged schools was set on the table for the company
to examine, and excited much interest.
I talked a little while with Lord Wriothesley Russell. From him we
derived the idea that the queen was particularly careful in the training
and religious instruction of her children. He said that she claimed that
the young prince should be left entirely to his parents, in regard to his
religious instruction, till he was seven years of age; but that, on
examining him at that time, they were equally surprised and delighted
with his knowledge of the Scriptures. I must remark here, that such an