re of having spoken unjustly or disparagingly of the
dramatic profession. You say I am ungrateful to it: is it because I owe
many of my friends (yourself among the number) to it that you say so? or
do you think that I forget that circumstance? But to value it as an art,
simply for the personal advantages or pleasures that it was the means of
affording me, would be surely quite as absurd as to forget that it did
procure such for me. Then, upon reflection, few things have ever puzzled
me more than the fact of people liking _me_ because I pretended to be a
pack of Juliets and Belvideras, and creatures who were _not_ me. Perhaps
_I was jealous of my parts_; certainly, the good will my assumption of
them obtained for me, always seemed to me quite as curious as
flattering, or indeed rather more so. I did not think it an unbecoming
comment on my father's acting again at the Queen's request, when I said
that the excitement to which he had been habituated for so many years
had still charms for him; it would be very strange indeed if it had not.
It is chiefly from this point of view, and one or two others bearing on
the moral health, that I deprecate for those I love the exercise of that
profession; the claims of which to be considered as an art I cannot at
all determine satisfactorily in my own mind. That we have Shakespeare's
plays, written expressly for the interpretation of acting, is a strong
argument for the existence of a positive art of acting:
nevertheless----. But, if you please, we will settle that point when I
have the pleasure of seeing you. I suppose I shall steam for England in
October, when I shall endeavor to see you before I go abroad. Give my
kindest regards to Lord Dacre, and believe me always

Very affectionately yours,
F. A. B.

_Lenox_, September 4th, 1840.
_My dearest Harriet_,

... First of all, let me congratulate you, and dear Dorothy, upon her
improved health. Good as she is, I am sure she must value life; for
those who use it best, best know its infinite worth; and for you, my
dearest Harriet, this extension of the precious loan of her existence to
you, I am persuaded, must be full of the greatest blessings. Give my
affectionate love to her when you write to her or see her again; for,
indeed, I suppose you are now at Bannisters, where I should like well to
be wit