moment, and who can trace, or limit,
the operation of the Holy Spirit, on the reading of God's own Word
even in her circumstances?

When I received a letter from your mother I always wrote it out in
French, and presented it in that language to the Empress; and when
she had read it, it was very encouraging to see with what alacrity
she ordered one of her secretaries to translate it into Russian,
and then deliver it to me to be conveyed to the asylum, and entered
into the journal there, for immediate adoption. I remember on one
occasion, taking a list of rules, at least fourteen in number, and
the same day were confirmed by the Empress. These rules introduced
the following important arrangements; viz., the treating the
inmates, as far as possible as sane persons, both in conversation
and manners toward them; to allow them as much liberty as possible;
to engage them daily to take exercise in the open air; to allow
them to wear their own clothes and no uniform prison-dress; also to
break up the inhuman system of permitting the promiscuous idle
curiosity of the public, so that no one was allowed to see them
without permission; a room, on entering the asylum, was prepared
for one at a time, on certain days, to see their relations. The old
cruel system drew forth many angry expressions from the poor
lunatics: "Are we, then, wild beasts, to be gazed at?"

The Empress made a present to the institution of a piano-forte; it
had also a hand-organ, which pleased the poor inmates exceedingly.
On one occasion the Empress, on entering the asylum, observed that
the inmates appeared unusually dull, when she called them near, and
played on the hand-organ herself an enlivening tune.

Another important rule of your mother's was, most strictly to
fulfill whatever you promise to any of the inmates, and, above all,
to exercise patience, gentleness, kindness, and love towards them;
therefore, to be exceedingly careful as to the character of the
keepers you appoint. These are some of the pleasing results of your
mother's work. The dowager Empress, on one occasion, conversing
about your mother, said: "How much I should like to see that
excellent woman, Madame Fry, in Russia;" and often did I indulge
that wish. What a meeting it would have been, between two such
devote