Page:Essays and criticisms by Wainewright (1880).djvu/35

Rh I trace the young people to a place [Hampton Court?] thirteen or fourteen miles from Hyde Park Corner, in the early days of their married life. Perhaps they moved about, occasionally staying at Linden House with Uncle Griffiths. There is a certain indication that one or two of the earlier articles in the London Magazine were written in the neighbourhood of Box Hill. Mrs. Abercromby could not afford to see much of them. Her resources were, I apprehend, slenderer than ever, and her two girls had only the special annuity from the office of £10 a year each until they became of age. But Wainewright's "modest competence," assisted by the settlement, kept them above want, and his prospects from his uncle were excellent. There was no anxiety for the future; and Mr. Griffiths was already far advanced in years.

Meanwhile, Wainewright occupied his time very creditably and congenially with his pen and pencil. He still sent papers at intervals to the London in the course of 1822, and even down to January, 1823, when he printed his valedictory address, where he enlarges much on his own history, and pronounces an eulogium on his colleagues. He took sketches and likenesses of his friends. He drew a charming little portrait of Helen Abercromby, who was now a fair and graceful girl of twelve or fourteen; it is a head only, in coloured chalk, executed with great care as regards the features and contour of the face, with the hair in curls. The portion of the neck shown might