I am therefore directed to request that you will have the goodness to forward to me the prospectus of the institution in question, containing the particulars of its objects, locality, and mode of management, and also an account of its financial position, including a balancesheet of its income and expenditure. I shall have then an opportunity of bringing the question fully under the consideration of Her Majesty.-I have the honour to be, Madam, your obed. humble servt., C. B. PHIPPS.

This letter was the most valuable contribution yet received, and the suggestion of a balancesheet the most practical thing done on behalf of the scheme.

There was immediate and anxious effort to comply with the suggestions made, and on the Ist of February the details, dignified by the title of "a Report" with such balance-sheet as could be produced, was forwarded to Her Majesty. The reply of Colonel Phipps was again prompt, and as Bessie justly considered it, "very gracious."

TO MISS GILBERT.

WINDSOR CASTLE, 4th February 1856. Colonel Phipps presents his compliments to Miss Gilbert. He has laid the papers relative to her scheme for the employment of the blind before Her Majesty the Queen, and has received Her Majesty's commands to forward to her the accompanying cheque for £50 towards the funds of this establishment, which promises to be so useful to persons labouring under privation which particularly entitles them to compassion.

Should the plan prove successful, as Her Majesty hopes it may, and have the appearance of becoming permanent, Colonel Phipps is commanded to request

that a further report may be made through him to Her Majesty.

The kindly hand thus held out by the Queen to her blind subjects gave a great and valuable impetus to the work. The Duchess of Gloucester sent a donation through Colonel Liddell. Subscribers and donors came forward in sufficient numbers to show that if blind men wanted work, both work and wages would be provided.

CHAPTER IX

REMOVING STUMBLING-BLOCKS

"Give unto me, made lowly wise,

The spirit of self-sacrifice."-Wordsworth.

THROUGHOUT 1856 Bessie was mainly occupied in writing letters to all and sundry. She wanted money, and more even than money, she wanted custom. From the very first she saw that customers were of greater importance to her than subscribers, for it was customers who could ensure the stability and permanence of her scheme. If the blind were to be employed, there must be a sale for the articles produced; and the greater the sale the larger would be the number of workmen required. Hence the sale of goods, the appointment of agents in country towns, and the sending out of price lists, were important matters.

She received help and encouragement from many friends. Letters, which came from those who had known and loved her as a child, gave her great pleasure, and were carefully preserved.

The following is from a former fellow of Brasenose, the Rev. J. Watson:

OXFORD, 2d June 1856.

MY DEAR BESSIE-I fear I shall not quite respond to your wishes exactly in the way you desire. But I will do something; I am not fond of annuals, I forget them; and arrears are discreditable. Nor indeed am I sure but that the enclosed (£10) may be more effectual than an annual £1. Vita brevis.

All nations have some prudential maxims about present possession. La Fontaine has a fable to the point, but I cannot call it up. There is our own famous English proverb, the very Magna Charta of prudential security. A bird actually in grip is worth the more abundant but doubtful contingencies of the distant bush. I am glad, however, of the opportunity of being able to do so much in the way of donation, following in a modest way the example of our most gracious Queen and governor.

Thankful too I hope that, being reduced myself to almost a state of helplessness by the same calamity, I am not obliged to appeal to the charity of others; and have even something to give to relieve the necessities of fellow-sufferers.

So much for request second. As to request first, I will do what I can. But I am a bad beggar, and people are not very easily persuaded (far from it); 6d. in the pound property tax, poor rates, champagne, lighting, anything will do to stop the mouth of a petitioner. I doubt not in the range of your philanthropical experience you have met with many a cold shoulder. I believe you

might disperse a mob more effectually by the exhibition of a subscription list than by reading the Riot Act. It is very useful in clearing your room of officious visitors. Produce a list for the conversion of somebody to some thing which he was not before (to wit, the Pope to a coadjutor of Dr. Cumming or Lord John Russell to an honest statesman), and, presto! the whole scene changes. "Well, Watson," says one, "I must be off, I have several calls

to make." "Bless me," says another," taking out his watch, "it's getting on to half-past five (the clock has just struck three) and it's my week to read in Chapel." Helter-skelter away they go, like Leonora pursued by the ghosts.

Der Mond scheint hell,

Hurrah! die Todten reiten schnell.

Merry

Well, Bessie, you have called up old times. days they were, and have left no sting. I sometimes see Mary. I go occasionally to Didcot, where there are nice children; but Milton Hill is just a mile and a half too far off. I can't walk as I could in those days when we used to saunter through the scented glades of the happy valley, or penetrate the mysterious horrors of Bagley. The last fragment of those excursions was with Fanny and Henrietta to Headington and round by Marston (as intended), but time was getting on, and your good uncle would be waiting for his dinner. So in an evil hour we made a short cut across the fields and verified the proverb,-Hedges without a gap; ditches without a plank; gates guarded with chevaux de frise of prickly thorns. was then that Henrietta, madly pushing at an impracticable passage, uttered that famous parody:

I'll brave the scratching of the thorn,

But not a hungry uncle.

It

But I am spinning out a double-thrummed homily, and you have better things to attend to. My love to you all. Believe me, my dear Bessie, vuestros hasta la muerte,

J. WATSON.

Bessie had sent as a Christmas present to Dr. Kynaston a silk watch-chain of her own make, a favourite gift of hers to dear friends. In his reply the doctor proposes to make an appeal to the public on behalf of the blind. He writes: