heartily had she been Dorothy Dobbs, with a wide mouth, snub nose, and
a squint; but it is pleasant to find coupled with a fine and generous
nature, a lovely face, and a name at once euphonious and cherishable.
Grace Darling! Poet or novelist need not desire one better fitted to
bestow on a paragon of womanhood; we would see it embalmed in a sonnet
by Wordsworth, or a lyric by Campbell; but it will live in our land's
language, even if not immortalised in song."

The "Sunderland Herald," of November 22nd, contained the following
interesting article on the Darlings:--

"Grace Darling, the heroine of the day, was born on the 24th of
November, 1815; consequently she will be twenty-three on Saturday, the
24th inst. She is rather short in stature, being only five feet two
and a half inches in height, but well proportioned. Her features are
admirably adapted for the skill of the painter, and equally so for the
chisel of the sculptor. She is modest and remarkably pleasant in her
manners, and perfectly free from the shy awkward gait of country girls
in general. And you will be surprised when I inform you, that there is
excellent accommodation to be met with at the Longstone lighthouse,
although it stands alone, upon a barren rock, five miles from the
mainland. The tower is very ingeniously constructed, and contains a
well-furnished sitting room, in which is a capital collection of
popular works, and three or four comfortable bedrooms. These, with an
abundance of good, wholesome, homely fare, together with the very
cheerful service of Grace and her parents, render a visit to the Farne
Islands a treat of no ordinary description. Grace was taught to read
and write by her father, together with seven of her brothers and
sisters; and their school-room was the lantern of the lighthouse.

"William Darling, the father of Grace, is only in the fifty-fourth year
of his age, though he looks much older His face reminds me of the late
Thomas Stothard, R.A., the painter of the Canterbury Pilgrimage, and
his person, of the venerable Earl Grey. He reads much, and is most
passionately fond of natural history.

"Mrs. Darling is a hale, comely old lady, bordering on threescore, and
may be found engaged three parts of the day at her spinning wheel. It
is true she assisted to make ready the boat at day-break, on the
morning of the melancholy wreck of the 'Forfarshire,' but her heart
failed when her husband and child pushed off; and, as t