al, are J---- C----'s verses; I think they have merit,
though being myself the subject of them may militate against my being
altogether a fair judge. He stood by me when last I sailed from America,
until warned, with the rest of my friends, to forsake me and return to
the shore....

All poets have a feminine element (good or bad) in them, but a feminine
man is a species of being less fit, I think, than even an average woman
to do battle with adverse circumstance and unfavorable situation....

You ask me about my interviews with Mrs. Jameson. She has called twice
here, but did not on either occasion speak of her difference with my
sister. To-day, however, I went to Ealing to see her, and she then spoke
about it; not, however, with any feeling or much detail: indeed, she did
not refer at all to the cause of rupture between them, but merely
stated, with general expressions of regret, that they were no longer
upon cordial terms with each other....

Mrs. Jameson told me a story to-day which has put the climax to a horrid
state of nervous depression brought on by a conversation with my father
this morning, during which every limb of my body twitched as if I had
St. Vitus's dance. The scene of the story was Tetschen, the Castle of
the Counts Thun, of which strange and romantic residence George Sand has
given a detailed description in her novel of "Consuelo." ...

As for the Moloch-worships of this world, of course those who practise
them have their reward; they pass their children through the fire, and I
suppose that thousands have agonized in so sacrificing their children.
Is it not wonderful that Christ came eighteen hundred years ago into the
world, and that these pitiless, mad devil-worships are not yet swept out
of it?...

I cannot tell you anything about myself, and, indeed, I can hardly think
of myself....

My father has determined not to accompany me to Italy, so I shall go
alone....

God bless you.

Ever yours,
FANNY.

Friday, 12th, 1845.

Your ink-bottle, my dear, has undergone an improvement, if indeed
anything so excellent could admit of bettering. The little round
glutinous stopper--india-rubber, I believe--from the peculiar
inconvenience of which I presume the odious little thing derives its
title as patent, has come unfastened from the top, and now, ever