She had, however, for a year or so an on-and-off correspondence with Liberal journals on political, social, or religious subjects, and sometimes a little smart controversy; but it was long before she gave her name to any printed work.
Her rare appearances in society were now and again marked by incidents of interest. In 1873 she was invited to a small London party for the kind purpose of making her acquainted with Mr. John Morley, then at the height of his more purely literary fame, whose career she had watched with ardent admiration, inspired not only by his brilliant powers, but more especially by the lofty and earnest tone of thought which marked such work as his "Compromise." They had a long, and to her a most agreeable, conversation, in which she expressed so warmly her delight in the works of George Meredith, then an almost unknown writer, that Mr. Morley urged her to address to this as yet unappreciated genius the expression of her admiring homage. The suggestion was adopted, and for a month she remained in suspense regarding the success of her daring overture. Then it turned out that Mr. Meredith had for once been made to experi-
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