22d.—­Went out to Barnet to call on Miss Bird.  On reaching the station, we found Miss B. awaiting us with phaeton and pony.  We were driven over a pretty three miles route to “Hurst Cottage,” where we were introduced to Mrs. Bird and a younger daughter, and I had a nice little lunch, together with pleasant chat about America in general and E. L. S. in particular.  Miss Bird said she showed her likeness to a gentleman, who is a great physiognomist, and asked his opinion of her.  He replied, “She is a genius, a poetess, a Christian, and a true wife and mother.”  We then went up-stairs, and looked at Miss B.’s little study, after which she took us to see the church in Hadley, a very old building dating back to 1494.  It has been repaired and restored and is a beautiful little church.  On leaving it Miss Bird came with us a part of the way to the station and we got home in good season for dinner.  The weather, true to its rule, could not last fine, and so this evening it is raining again. [9]

24th.—­No rain all day!  Can it be true?  George went in the morning to hear Mr. Binney, and A. and I to Dr. Hamilton’s, who preached a very good sermon on a favorite text of mine, “I beseech Thee show me Thy glory.”  In the evening Dr. Patton, of New York, induced us to go with himself and wife to a meeting at a theatre three miles off.  The Rev. Mr. Graham preached.  It was an interesting, but touching and saddening sight to look upon the congregation; to wonder why they came, and whether they would come again, and whether under those stolid and hardened faces there yet lay humanity.  Many came with babies in their arms, who made themselves very much at home; some were in dirty week-day clothes; “some in rags and some in jags.”  Coming home we passed the spot where John Rogers was burned, and that where in time of the plague dead bodies were thrown in frightful heaps into one grave.

25th.—­We took tea at Dr. Hamilton’s, where we had a very pleasant evening, meeting Dr. and Mrs. Adams, as well as all Dr. H.’s session.  Dr. H. strikes one most agreeably, and seems as genial and as full of life as a boy.

26th.—­Visited Windsor Castle with Dr. Adams and his party, ten of us in all.  We drove afterward to see the country church-yard, where Grey wrote his elegy and where he now lies buried.  This was a most charming little trip and we all enjoyed it exceedingly.  The young folks gathered leaves and flowers for their books.

29th.—­Last evening we had a nice time and a cup of tea with the Adamses.  To-day—­another nasty day—­they lunched with us, which broke up its gloom and we went with them to see Sloan’s museum, a most interesting collection.  We all enjoyed its novelty as well as its beauty.

She also records the pleasure with which she visited the National Gallery, Madame Tussaud’s Collection, the British Museum, Richmond, the Kew Gardens, and Bunhill Fields Burying-Ground, and, in particular, the grave of “Mr. John Bunyan.”