ld not wish to do, for true
enthusiasm is a fine feeling whose flash I admire wherever I see it.

'The little note inclosed in yours is from a French lady, who asks my
consent to the translation of _Jane Eyre_ into the French language.
I thought it better to consult you before I replied. I suppose she
is competent to produce a decent translation, though one or two
errors of orthography in her note rather afflict the eye; but I know
that it is not unusual for what are considered well-educated French
women to fail in the point of writing their mother tongue correctly.
But whether competent or not, I presume she has a right to translate
the book with or without my consent. She gives her address: Mdlle
B--- {373} W. Cumming, Esq., 23 North Bank, Regent's Park.

'Shall I reply to her note in the affirmative?

'Waiting your opinion and answer,--I remain, dear sir, yours
faithfully,

'C. BELL.'

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

'_February_ 28_th_, 1848.

'DEAR SIR,--I have done as you advised me respecting Mdlle B---,
thanked her for her courtesy, and explained that I do not wish my
consent to be regarded in the light of a formal sanction of the
translation.

'From the papers of Saturday I had learnt the abdication of Louis
Philippe, the flight of the royal family, and the proclamation of a
republic in France. Rapid movements these, and some of them
difficult of comprehension to a remote spectator. What sort of spell
has withered Louis Philippe's strength? Why, after having so long
infatuatedly clung to Guizot, did he at once ignobly relinquish him?
Was it panic that made him so suddenly quit his throne and abandon
his adherents without a struggle to retain one or aid the other?

'Perhaps it might have been partly fear, but I daresay it was still
more long-gathering weariness of the dangers and toils of royalty.
Few will pity the old monarch in his flight, yet I own he seems to me
an object of pity. His sister's death shook him; years are heavy on
him; the sword of Damocles has long been hanging over his head. One
cannot forget that monarchs and ministers are only human, and have
only human energies to sustain them; and often they are sore beset.
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