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Rh directions for the training of thought and habit. He frankly declares that the duty of instructing his children in the highest things is the best discipline for himself — he dreads to think what he might have been, as a solitary man, without this responsibility which he affectionately discharges. The little daguerreotypes as they arrive 'look love' at him. His daughter is to play the harp, she is to collect her mother's music, especially the pieces from Handel which for him are fraught with the ' fondest associations.' He enquires about the telescope and the shell-cabinet, with a little lecture on conchology and 'stargazing.' With the softer culture he mingles some spirit-stirring utterances respecting his high functions — his 'measures being successful' — 'prosperity advancing' — 'the mind of the people awakening' — his own 'efforts' — and even his 'triumphs.' There is infinite variety in the letters; in one respect only is there sameness, namely, the all-pervading affection.

It has been mentioned in chapter V that at Azamgarh he kept a manuscript book, in which were written by his own hand extracts from authors on religious subjects. In 1845 he begins a similar book for his second daughter Elizabeth, generally called Bessie, and completes it as a present for her sixteenth birthday in 1850. This book contains 180 closely written pages. It is, like the former one, chiefly filled with passages from the earlier English divines, but includes extracts from St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, St. Bernard; and translations from Pascal, Massillon, Fénelon.