wn will, and for a purpose!
Seriously, I had for twelve years had such a sound-proof
inaccessible apartment schemed out in my head; and last year,
under a poor, helpless builder, had finally given it up: but
Chelsea, as London generally, swelling out as if it were mad,
grows every year noisier; a _good_ builder turned up, and with a
last paroxysm of enthusiasm I set him to. My notion is, he will
succeed; in which case, it will be a great possession to me for
the rest of my life. Alas, this is not the kind of _silence_ I
could have coveted, and could once get,--with green fields and
clear skies to accompany it! But one must take such as can be
had,--and thank the gods. Even so, my friend. In the course of
about a year of that garret sanctuary, I hope to have swept away
much litter from my existence: in fact I am already, by dint of
mere obstinate quiescence in such circumstances as there are,
intrinsically growing fairly sounder in nerves. What a business
a poor human being has with those nerves of his, with that crazy
clay tabernacle of his! Enough, enough; there will be all
Eternity to rest in, as Arnauld said: "Why in such a fuss,
little sir?"

You "apologize" for sending people to me: O you of little faith!
Never dream of such a thing nay, whom _did_ you send? The
Cincinnati Lecturer* I had provided for with Owen; they would
have been glad to hear him, on the Cedar forests, on the pigs
making rattlesnakes into bacon, and the general adipocere
question, under any form, at the Albemarle Street rooms;--and he
never came to hand. As for Miss Bacon, we find her, with her
modest shy dignity, with her solid character and strange
enterprise, a real acquisition; and hope we shall now see more
of her, now that she has come nearer to us to lodge. I have not
in my life seen anything so tragically _quixotic_ as her
Shakespeare enterprise: alas, alas, there can be nothing but
sorrow, toil, and utter disappointment in it for her! I do
cheerfully what I can;--which is far more than she _asks_ of me
(for I have not seen a prouder silent soul);--but there is not
the least possibility of truth in the notion she has taken up:
and the hope of ever proving it, or finding the least document
that countenances it, is equal to that of vanquishing the
windmills by stroke of lance. I am often truly sorry about the
poor lady: but she troubles nobody with her difficulties, with
her theories; she must try the matter to