“Now for a word about the ‘bowing,’” he says in another letter. “It is of _no_ importance in itself, and therefore I never tell my children or servants either to bow or not to bow; but particular circumstances may render it important, and if good and kind Miss B. thinks that at Christ Church, you may honour God rather by doing as she and others who are with her do, than by being singular on this point, I not only wish you to obey her, but to do it with a willing and ready mind, cheerfully, as a plain matter of duty. Which it is. It is for her to judge, and for you to do, _gladly_, what she tells you.” Miss B. had the greatest admiration for her pupil’s gifts, and in particular she considered her a budding poetess. These are some of the effusions of the period: “Oh Mother! thou that broughtest me forth My sins gainst thee none, none can tell For these alone I ought in sooth To be e’en now in lowest hell. But oh! my God still spares me on To be a comfort to thy years God grant I may e’er the sun goes down Seal thee this promise with my tears. Ne’er ne’er again what [e’er] betide, (In Jesu’s strength alone I trust) I’ll vex my mother, who did guide My years of infancy now past.” Another time after expatiating on her Mother’s virtues and unmerited affection, she goes on to inform her that there is One— “Whose love surpasseth thine as far As Sol excels the falling star. My Mother ONE request I make That thou wouldst pray for Jesu’s sake That he would break this heart of stone And mould it like my Saviour’s own.” Was it all mere humbug and “patter”? The question can best be answered by quoting the following letter to her Father. It is written impulsively in pencil on scraps of paper,—the questions and answers being on different slips. The wording of the questions has sometimes been altered and corrected, so presumably she drafted them herself. The little sheaf has been thrust “anyhow” into an envelope (addressed to _Mrs_. T. Jex- Blake) which bears postmark “Ramsgate, Ap. 21. 1851,” and Mrs. Jex-Blake has quaintly endorsed it “very nice.” “MY DEAREST FATHER, I fear you are very uneasy about me for I have indeed manifested no visible proof of a new and clean heart, but I think much of my soul too much for me to speak even to you of it. But I cannot _talk_ so whenever anyone tries to talk to me of it I always turn it into jest but I must write (I cannot speak) to you about it so I have written some questions down and endeavoured to answer them as _before God_. So do believe _each word_. S. B.