A daughter of this vigorous gentleman we should scarcely expect to find lacking in firmness.
Miss Coutts has given large sums of money to public charities which she knew to be useful and carefully conducted. In this way she has done much good; but she has not contented herself with beneficence made easy. She has herself originated and founded charities; she has by her own efforts abolished abuses: and she has matured educational schemes which her government has seen fit to approve and adopt.
A member of the Church of England, liberal in her views, always tolerant of those who differ, while ardently upholding her own faith, she has long been known for her munificence toward religious objects. She has contributed toward the building of numerous churches, and has erected two solely at her own expense—one at Carlisle, the other St. Stephen's at Westminster, a beautiful edifice, with a parsonage and three schools belonging to it. The three colonial bishoprics of Adelaide, Cape Town, and British Columbia, were founded and endowed by her at an expense amounting in all to nearly fifty thousand pounds. She also founded in South Australia an establishment for the improvement of the natives. She procured Greek manuscripts from the East, for the purpose of verifying the New Testament. She supplied the funds for Sir Henry James's Topographical Survey of Jerusalem, and offered to restore the ancient aqueducts of Solomon to provide the city with water; but the government, although it accepted her proposal and promised the work should be accomplished (at her expense), neglected to keep its word.
With regard to matters of education, Miss Coutts has been equally active in her sympathies. Observing that in the national schools girls were taught many things which the majority of them would not require upon leaving the
