w him
as soon as the weather will admit of her crossing the Alps with her
babies. All his property is in the French funds, that seems an insecure
security nowadays....

In England we shall have an extended right of suffrage, a smaller army,
a cheaper government, reduced taxation, and some modification of the
land tenure,--change, but no revolution, and no fits, I think. This
people deserve freedom, for they alone, and you, descended from them,
have shown that they know what it means. Considerable changes we shall
have, but the wisdom and wealth of our middle classes is a feature in
our social existence without European parallel; it is the salvation of
the country. I know you hate crossed writing, so good-bye. I am afraid
these fantastic French fools will bring Republicanism into contempt.
France seems to be threatened with national bankruptcy, _et
puis--alors--vous verrez_.

Always affectionately yours,
F. A. B.

COLCHESTER.

I came from Yarmouth to-day, having lodged there in a strange old inn
that belonged, in our Republican days, to Judge Bradshaw; in one room of
which, they say, Cromwell signed Charles I.'s death-warrant; but this, I
think, is a mistake. He is said, however to have lived much in the
house, which, at that time, belonged to the Bradshaw family. The house
is of a much earlier date, though, than that, and was once, undoubtedly,
a royal residence; for in a fine old oak room, the carved panelling of
which was as black as ebony, the ceiling was all wrought with the roses
and the _fleur-de-lys_. The kitchen and bar-room were both made out of
an old banqueting-hall, immensely lofty, and with a very fine carved
ceiling, and stone-mullioned windows, of capital style and preservation.
The staircase was one of those precious, broad, easy-graded ascents, up
which you could almost take a carriage, with a fine heavy oak baluster;
and on the upper floor three good-sized rooms made out of one, with
another elaborately carved ceiling. It was really a most curious and
picturesque place, and is now the "Star Inn" at Yarmouth, and will
doubtless become gradually changed and modernized and pulled to pieces,
till both its remaining fine old characteristics and its traditions are
lost--as, in good measure, they already are, for, as I said before, the
house bears trace