than ever.  What would I not give to have written that play!  He cannot agree with Drury Lane about it, and has brought it back to us, and means to act Master Walter himself.  I am so very glad.  It will be the most striking dramatic exhibition that has been seen since Kean’s debut.  I wish “Francis I.” was done, and done with, and that we were rehearsing “The Hunchback.”

GREAT RUSSELL STREET, March 1, 1832.

...  As for any disappointment of mine about anything, dear H——­, though some things are by no means light to me, I soon make up my mind to whatever must be, and I think those who do not endure well what cannot be avoided are only less foolish than those who endure what they can avoid.  “Francis I.” will not, I think, interfere with your visit to us.  Murray wishes it to be postponed till after the publication of the Quarterly, which will come out about the 11th or 12th.  Lockhart, and not Milman, has reviewed it very favorably, I hear, and Murray expects to sell one edition immediately upon the publication of the article in the Quarterly.  So that you can stay at Fulford some time yet; and should the play be given before you wish to leave it, I shall not expect you in person, but feel sure that you are with me in spirit; and the next day I will write you word of the result.

Dearest H——­, I am just now much burdened with anxiety.  I will tell you more of this when we meet.  Thank God, though not of a sanguine, I am not of a desponding nature; and though I never look forward with any great satisfaction to the future, I seldom find it difficult to accept the present with tolerable equanimity....  I spent the evening on Wednesday with Mrs. Jameson.  She is just returned to town, and came immediately, thinking you were here, to engage us for the next evening; and as you did not come I went, and spent three hours very pleasantly with her.  She knows so much, and I am so very ignorant, that her conversation is delightfully instructive as well as amusing, full of interest and information.  Poor woman! she left Tedsley and a very agreeable party to come up to town upon a false alarm of “Francis I.’s” coming out.  I think I have told you of the work upon Shakespeare she is engaged with; she has been teaching herself to etch, and has executed some charming designs, with which she means to illustrate it.  I have not an idea what our plans for this summer are to be; whether America, or the provinces, or the King’s Bench; but I suppose we shall see a little more clearly into the future by the time you come to us; and if we do not, abundantly “sufficient for the day is the evil thereof” with us just now....  I have been reading nothing but Daru’s “History of Venice” lately.  How could you tell me to read that sad story, “The Borderers”!  I half killed myself with crying over it, and did not recover from the effect it had upon me for several days.

Dearest H——­, I am writing nonsense, and with an effort, for I am
very low; and so I will leave off.