Page:The Leadbeater Papers (1862) Vol 1.djvu/50

nance. A husband and father tender to a great degree, a kind master, a true friend, and one of the best of neighbours, his affectionate attentions extended to children. I remember the resolutions I have made not to approach his knees when he came to sit a while with my grandmother and aunt, because I was sensible that I could not keep within bounds when Jonathan began to play with me, which he surely would,—but the temptation always proved too strong for my resistance.

The Great House was at this time inhabited by Lee Masters, an English gentleman of fortune, whimsical, and who frequently changed the place of his residence. His wife seems to have partaken of his whims, for we heard of her having drank tea one evening on the bridge, a freak which might have been attended with inconvenience, if the bridge had been half so much of a thoroughfare as it is now, for it was then but half its present width.