I have mentioned with satisfaction seeing some persons who illustrated
the past dynasty in the progress of thought here: Wordsworth, Dr.
Chalmers, De Quincey, Andrew Combe. With a still higher pleasure,
because to one of my own sex, whom I have honored almost above any,
I went to pay my court to Joanna Baillie. I found on her brow, not,
indeed, a coronal of gold; but a serenity and strength undimmed and
unbroken by the weight of more than fourscore years, or by the scanty
appreciation which her thoughts have received. We found her in her
little calm retreat, at Hampstead, surrounded by marks of love and
reverence from distinguished and excellent friends. Near her was the
sister, older than herself, yet still sprightly and full of active
kindness, whose character and their mutual relations she has, in one
of her last poems, indicated with such a happy mixture of sagacity,
humor, and tender pathos, and with so absolute a truth of outline.
* * * * *
Mary and William Howitt are the main support of the People's Journal.
I saw them several times at their cheerful and elegant home. In Mary
Howitt, I found the same engaging traits of character we are led
to expect from her books for children. At their house, I became
acquainted with Dr. Southwood Smith, the well-known philanthropist.
He is at present engaged in the construction of good tenements,
calculated to improve the condition of the working people.