ty during this dreadfully hot weather.... For myself,
I am keeping myself well as hard as I can by taking ice-cold baths, and
trudging round the Battery every evening, to the edification of the
exceedingly disreputable company who (beside myself) are the only
haunters of that one lovely lung of New York.... It is not thought
expedient that I should be stared at alone on horseback; being stared at
alone on foot, apparently, is not equally pernicious; and so I lose my
most necessary exercise; but I may comfort myself with the reflection
that should I ever become a sickly, feeble, physically good-for-nothing,
broken-down woman, I shall certainly not be singular in this free and
enlightened republic, where (even more than anywhere else in the world)
singularity appears to be dreaded and condemned above any or all other
sins, crimes, and vices....

Pray be kind enough to continue writing to me. Every letter from the
other side is to me what the drop of water would have been to the rich
man in Hades, whom I dare say you remember. What do you think I am
reading? "The Triumphs of God's revenge against the crying and execrable
_sinne_ of wilful and premeditated _murther_"--that's something new, is
it not?--published in 1635.

So believe me ever very truly yours,

F. A. B.

NEW YORK, Friday, August 24th, 1838.
MY DEAREST HARRIET,

I wrote to you (I believe) a short time ago, ... but I have since then
received a letter from you, and will thank you at once for it, and
especially for the details concerning my sister.... I rejoice in the
change which must have taken place in her physical condition, which both
you and dear Emily describe; indeed, the improvement had begun before I
left England.... I believe I appreciate perfectly all the feelings which
are prompting her to the choice of the stage for her profession; but I
also think that she is unaware (which I am not) of the necessity for
excitement, which her mode of life and the influences that have
surrounded her from her childhood have created and fostered in her, and
for which she is no more answerable than for the color of her hair. I do
not even much regret her election, little as I admire the vocation of a
public performer. To struggle is allotted to all, let them walk in what
paths they will; and her peculiar gifts naturally incline her to t