arts and literature, a man of the finest taste
and cultivation, at whose house eminences of all sorts are cordially
received. Lady Lansdowne is a specimen Englishwoman of her class,
refined, intelligent, well-bred, and most charming. I believe Lord
Lansdowne was kindly civil to your aunt Catherine when she was in
London; I wish she could have see this enchanting place of his.

Rogers, Moore, and a parcel of choice _beaux esprits_ are staying here;
but, to tell you a fact which probably accuses me of stupidity, they are
so incessantly clever, witty, and brilliant that they every now and then
give me a brain-ache.

I do not know the exact depth of your patience, but I have an idea that
it has a bottom, therefore I think it expedient not to pursue _crossing_
any further with you.

Give my kindest love to Sarah, and

Believe me ever, my dear Theodore,
Yours very truly,
FANNY BUTLER.

Please remember me very kindly to your mother. I sat by a man at dinner
yesterday, a Dr. Fowler of Salisbury, who was talking to me of having
known her friends Mrs. Jay and Mrs. Banian, when they were in England;
and their names were pleasant to me on account of their association with
her.

BOWOOD, Tuesday, December 21st, 1841.

Did you expect an immediate answer from me, dear Harriet, or did you
think your letters would be put at the bottom of the budget, to wait
their appointed time? You say your thought in parting from me was
chiefly to preserve your tranquillity; and so was mine to preserve my
own and yours.... There are many occasions on which I both feel much
more than I show, and perceive in others much more feeling than I
believe they think I am aware of. There are times when, for one's own
sake, as well as for that of others, to be--or, if that is not
possible, to seem--absorbed in outward things of the most indifferent
description is highly desirable; and I am even conscious sometimes of a
sort of hardness, which seems to come involuntarily to my aid, in
seasons when I know myself or fear that others are about to be carried
away by their feelings, or to break down under them....

I was glad enough to get your second letter, and to know you were safe
in Dublin. It was calm the night you crossed, but it has blown once or
twice fearfully since.

Our visit to the Francis Egertons, at W