I acted Juliet last night, and I am very weary to-day, but thankful to
have my most arduous part well over.

Give my love to dear Dorothy. I am very sorry to hear of her being so
unwell, for I know how anxious you must be about her. Thank her for her
kind words to me....

God bless you, my dear,

I am ever as ever yours,
FANNY.

MANCHESTER, Friday, 26th.
DEAR HAL,

My throat has given me no more trouble since my first night's acting. I
have a pertinacious cough, and a tremendous cold in my head, which are
nuisances; but I am free from irritation in the throat, and have found
hitherto, in my performances, my voice stronger, instead of weaker, than
it was.... I am better than I was last week, and have no doubt I shall
acquire strength as I go on, as my first start in this dismal work did
not quite break me down.

The people here have shown me the most extreme kindness and hospitality,
and I have had invitations to dine out every day this week that I have
not acted.

My brother Henry has come over from Dublin, to spend a couple of days
with me, and his visit has been an immense pleasure and comfort to me.

My time, thank God, is so incessantly occupied with all kinds of
business--writing letters to managers, acquaintances, and friends;
rehearsing, acting, looking after my dresses, correcting proof-sheets,
and receiving visits--that I have no leisure but what I spend in sleep.

Henry has promised to mount me on a horse of his, when I get to Dublin;
and I am sure that my favorite exercise will be of the greatest benefit
to me.

The actors here are not more inattentive than they generally are,
everywhere, to their business; their carelessness and want of conscience
about it is nothing new to me, and all my bygone professional experience
had fully prepared me for it. The company here is a better one than I
shall probably find anywhere, even in London; and I have the advantage
of having to do with a very civil, considerate, and obliging
stage-manager.

I have made, at present, no further engagement for acting here. I shall
spend Passion-week at Sutton Park with the Arkwrights, who have written
to beg me to do so, and whose vicinity to this place makes that
arrangement every way best for me, as in Easter-week I am to act in
Manchester again, for the benefit of the abov