, had eight children, of whom the three eldest little boys died at one time of diphtheria, when that terrible disease first broke out in 1857. Their mother was paying a visit away from home, when one night a special dream came to her, a dream of a pool of water on the floor, which she had frequently dreamed before, and which had always been followed by the news of a relation's death. Frightened and nervous, Mrs. Balfour told her hosts next morning that she must cut short her visit and go home without delay. As she went a terrible anxiety about her children weighed on her, and when she reached her own door, the first word she put to the servant was, ' How are the little boys ? ' The servant said they had slight sore throats. In a very few days all were dead. The only other son was drowned many years afterwards, in 1883, when on a boating expedition on the Thames. Four daughters survive.