At this period the head of the respected family resided at Bristol,
in Queen's Square, (the Grosvenor Square of that opulent city,) and
Mr. Vanderhorst inhabited one of the most superb mansions in it.
General Kosciusko arrived at his worthy host's door on the 7th of
June, 1797, and was greeted by the hearty embrace of his old friend
and the blushingly-presented cheeks of his two daughters, young and
lovely, in their teens. Their brother, a fine youth, pressed the hand
of his father's gallant and revered guest to his lips. Niemcivitz,
meanwhile, with dew-like tear-drops glittering over his joyous
smiles, greeted every one with the affectionate recognition of a
heart that seemed to know only to love. The writer, for one, shall
never forget those tears and smiles on that venerable but ever kindly
face; yet it was only in his old age that I first knew him. But sweet
sisters, whom I began to know in your bright bloom, I can never
forget those charming looks of reciprocating welcome that sprang
alone from the fulness of a good and truthful virgin heart. They are
now before me, though the eyes which then beamed so ingenuously on
the honored countenance of the Polish hero are closed in death; or
rather, shall I say, re-opened on him in a fairer and never-closing
light.
He spent a happy week in that bright circle, in which the present
commemorator has often since moved, and heard members of it over and
over again describe its happy scenes; sometimes, the younger sister,
my own especial friend; at other times the animated brother.
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