LETTERS SIGNED F B TO LADY BLESSINGTON.

"February 24th, 1829.

"DEAR LADY BLESSINGTON,-I send you a line, though I have nothing to say, nor time to say any thing in, even if I had wherewithal, as Burns says in his letter to a friend, though it may serve for neither, and but just a kind memento.'

"

"Now pray remember me kindly, yea, most kindly, to Madame Crawford, to your amiable ladies, milord, and to all the family of D'Orsay, l'aimable baronne, and pray make use of me on my return if I can do any thing, bring any thing I can. Should D'Orsay want a horse, Lord Blessington a house, or any one any thing, pray spare me not.

“I can not omit expressing my wonder and gratification at the astonishing change of the great duke and Mr. Peel, converted into the Pacificator of Ireland! Let no man hereafter talk of the conversion of St. Paul as a miracle, nor woman either, not even Madame Krudner. "Ever yours sincerely,

F. B."

"April 1st, 1832.

"You are very kind, and I should be very happy could I profit by it, but you have no idea of my state; not quite so bad as Theseus, who was fixed forever and immovably to his seat, but able to move only, crab-like, with the aid of crutches. What is very provoking, too, I am as well in health as any body, and, could I creep to your presence in a becoming posture, no one would be more capable or disposed to enjoy it. F. B."

[No date.]

"You make me renew past griefs; I really had forgot the most important use of knees. As you say, there seems to be a marvelous sympathy between the hinges of the knee and valves of the heart; the one, indeed, seems the safety-valve of the other rather than a hinge at all. Certain it is, they move in wonderful accordance. You ask whether your observation is a satire on our sex. Philosophers say every thing receives its nature from that of the recipient; if so, he who so takes it may, but those who, like me, witness it, don't feel it. I can not answer the question. F. B."

"May 5th, 1832.

"Solomon says, that though you pound a fool in a mortar, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.'

“I am making a sad confession; but my spirits getting the better of my prudence the other day-only the other day, mind-I, having one or two people to dine with me, brought back my gout, which I had flattered myself I had got rid of; so that, with a short interval of promise, I am now nearly as when last I wrote to you, with the addition of recent experience, which makes, they

say, fools wise; but I am past that age when men are said to be either fools or physicians; and as I am feelingly convinced that I am not the last, I fear my share of the alternative condemns me to Solomon's mortar, and certainly deprives me a second time of the pleasure you again so obligingly offer.

"F. B."

"July 19th, 1832. "I trust nothing will, and nothing but death shall, prevent me from having the pleasure of coming to you on Friday. F. B."

66 August 14th, 1832.

"I am again confined to my own room, and this day, marked with chalk, must be marked with carbon. This is very sad, but such are the fickle terms on which we hold this tenement of clay. My repeated attacks seem to amount almost to a notice to quit. I don't mean to take it, however, but it certainly lowers its value. Well, the bill is carried. I should like so much to have talked it over with you, but it seems good otherwise to the gods. F. B."

"October 16th, 1832.

"I am delighted you entertain so favorable an opinion of that most deceptious of all the human anatomy-the heart, and I will confess that upon that subject I would rely on a woman's opinion in preference to a physician.

"I am grieved at the state of Paris, poor Madame Crawford, and, indeed, the whole state of France. I hear all parties-ministers and anti-ministerialists are in the greatest spirits, and equally confident of success. Lord A writes he is sanguine, and that is not natural to him. Lord Eand a large party yesterday were full of exultation, so that we inhabit a sort of fools' paradise.

"I know the people will have the Reform, or more, and am only anxious for health to enjoy the difficulties that may arrive. I feel so well that it is quite ridiculous; and if I could but have got seated at your table on Saturday, I should not have been the guest least enjoying it.

"The prince is not only gossiping, but impertinent, affected, false, and not acquainted with the manners of good or bad society in England. It has all the appearance of a fictitious performance. A young lady just says that she should like to look at the two last, so I will send for them in the morning. I am glad to hear of the recovery of Sir Walter Scott; and as soon as I can move, except backward, I shall move up to Seamore Place. F. B."

"June 25th, 1833.

"A certain place, says Daniel-not the true prophet, but the false-is paved with good intentions. I fear in that regulated floor specimens of me will be found, and not rare. I will, however, encouraged by your unvarying indul

* I presume Prince Puckler-Muskau.-R. R. M.

gence, mend as fast as I can, assuring you the fault you so obligingly complain of is neither voluntary nor unregretted, and, moreover, carries with it its own punishment. The first opportunity I can lay hold of shall terminate both the one and the other. F. B."

"Wednesday evening, August 8th, 1834. "The brave General Rebinski is to dine with me on Friday, and, I believe, Prince Czartorinski. Perhaps D'Orsay would meet them. I will call in the evening to know. I don't know where you saw any report of what I said last night, but The Times' makes me talk sad nonsense, and say the reverse, in some instances, of what I did say.

"To make any thing like the thing itself, it would be necessary to write a new speech, as far as The Times' is concerned, and this is a tiresome task; but I would do what I never did before, if it had a chance of serving the gallant, unhappy Poles. F. B."

"June 22d, 1839.

"Many thanks for your obliging administration.

"What next! The king's death seems the deuce's own turn up. Lord Durham, it seems, is the violet in the lap of the new court. Eh bien nous verrons. Conjecture is useless and impossible, indeed.

F. B."

LETTER SIGNED H

"August 8th. "Your very kind and flattering note gave me great pleasure. Believe me that I long have wished to put an end to any estrangement that existed; and the happy and merry hours I passed at the Villa Gallo are too agreeably engraven on my memory for me to feel any thing but gratitude and affection for its inmates. I have often heard and known how kindly you and Alfred have spoken of me, and have often wished for an opportunity of breaking through the semblance of an enmity which I believe never really existed much on either side.

"Many, many thanks for your kind permission to come to Gore House, which I hope some morning or evening soon to avail myself of

"The inclosed letter I am very much obliged to you indeed for letting me see. I know no one whose happiness and prosperity I am more seriously glad to hear of, or who deserves better to be happy and prosperous; kindhearted, generous, sincere, and disinterested, full of the best qualities of her delightful country, without any of the faults that grow in that soil.

"Pray, when you next write, remember to convey to her my sincere congratulations upon her marriage and new position. I hope, the next time I go to Paris, to have an occasion of expressing them viva voce.

"Ever very faithfully yours,

H."

LETTERS SIGNED

-'s

"August 23d, 1631. "I am this moment, dear Lady Blessington, returned from J- Smarriage; his wife is a piquante brunette, and decidedly pretty. He asked me to go as one of his witnesses; he had no Englishman to upport him. I really thought I should have died while two little boys kept a white cloth over the head of J, and he stood there the symbol of innocence. C."

"Rome, March 4th, 1843.

Many, very many thanks for your kind letter. You can not conceive what real pleasure I received when your letter arrived, it was so very kind of you to write to me. We are now just returned from the Carnival, which has been very gay, and for which we have had decent weather, it only having poured two of the days, which we thought very fortunate, in this rainy climate. We had an excellent balcony opposite the Via Condotti, and from which we and our friends pelted away some thousand pounds of bonbons, &c.

"I think it most amusing to observe the effect it has on different people; some are so remarkably angry, some so dignified, and others enjoying it. I wish you could have seen Lord Winchelsea dressing at the Corso to call on some one, covered with white dust, and looking as if he were preparing a violent anti-Catholic speech for the House of Lords.

"A party of us, E—, P, L, and F, went one day in a car; we were dressed as the priestesses of Norma, and we were attended by our servants as ancient Roman warriors; and I can assure you we made a great sensation. I went in the evening to Madame L's in a woman's domino, with rather short petticoats-the latter garment being trimmed with lace, and being adorned with rose-colored ribbons. Of course, I took occasion to show it. I was beautifully chaussée with satin shoes, and completely mystified

every one.

"I am so charmed to hear that Alfred bears up against his confinement with his usual fortitude. As to any success he may have in painting and sculpture, it does not in the least surprise me, as, with his talents, success crowns all his undertakings.

C."

A vast number of letters exist-certainly several hundreds of letters-addressed to Lady Blessington, while she was residing in St. James's Square, in the Villa Belvidere in Naples, the Palazzo Negroni in Rome, the Hotel Ney in Paris, Seamore Place and Gore House, London; answers to invitations, inquiries of a private nature, and applications of Lady Blessington in behalf of friends and protegés, which, however important as showing the extent and nature of her correspondence, or the influence

exercised by Lady Blessington over the most eminent persons of her time in statesmanship or in literature, have been withheld from publication, from a desire to insert no letters in these volumes except on account of some intrinsic value and interest in such correspondence. These omitted letters include communications from Mr. Canning, Lords Hutchinson, Grey, Rosslyn, Beresford, Lyndhurst, Brougham, Durham, Jersey, Ashburnham, Aberdeen, Morpeth, Glenelg, Westmoreland, Abinger, Normanby, Auckland, Chesterfield, Douro, Castlereagh, Strangford, Holland, Clanricarde, the Marquess Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, Sir T. Lawrence, Sir Alured Clerk, Sir F. Burdett, Sir Edwin Landseer, Sir E. B. Lytton, Sir H. Bulwer, Sir W. Sommerville.

Moore, Campbell, Rogers, Byron, Barry Cornwall, Lady Tankerville, Miss Landor, Mrs. Romer, Mrs. Sigourney, Mrs. Mathews, Miss Louisa Sheridan, Madame Guiccioli, Mademoiselle Rachel.

Vicomte D'Arlincourt, the Duc D'Ossuna, le Prince Schwartzenburg, le Prince Soutza, le Prince Belvidere, W. S. Landor, the Right Hon. B. D'Israeli, Dickens, Fonblanque, Forster, Sergeant Talfourd, the Hon. Spencer Cooper, Wilkie, Maclise, Wyatt, Unwin, Eugene Sue, Alfred de Vigny, Casimir Delavigne, Colonel D'Aguilar, Hay, Dr. Parr, Dr. Lardner, Dr. Quin, Dr. Beattie, James and Horace Smith, Macready, C. Greville, C. J. Mathews, Jekyll, Jack Fuller, Leitch Ritchie, Baillie Cochrane, Bernal Osborne, B. Simmonds, F. Mansell Reynolds, Theodore Hook, J. H. Jesse, Henry Chester, J. G. Wilkinson, Washington Irving, Kenyon, Luttrell, Hon. R. Spencer, Thackeray, Albert Smith, Jerdan, Haynes Bailey, &c., &c., &c.

CHAPTER XIII.

DOCTOR SAMUEL PARR, LL.D.

THIS celebrated Greek scholar and eminent critic was born at Harrow-on-the-Hill in 1746. He was educated at Harrow, and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. In 1769 he entered into orders.