Ever yours,
F. A. B.

[The enthusiastic abolitionist, Mrs. Lydia Child, had written to me,
requesting me to give her for publication some portions of the
journal I had kept during my residence in Georgia; and I had
corresponded with my friend Mrs. Charles Sedgwick upon the subject,
deciding to refuse her request. My Georgia journal never saw the
light till the War of Secession was raging in America, and almost
all the members of the society in which I was then living in England
were strongly sympathizing with the Southern cause, when I thought
it right to state what, according to my own observation and
experience, that cause involved.]

HARLEY STREET, May 6th, 1842.
MY DEAREST HARRIET,

The carriage is waiting to take ---- to the _Levee_, and I am waiting
till it comes back to go upon my thousand and one daily errands.
Adelaide, it being her last day at home, appears anxious to enjoy as
much as she can of my society, and has therefore gone fast asleep in the
arm-chair by the table at which I am writing, and has expressed her
intention of coming out and paying visits with me this morning. She
starts at eight o'clock this evening, and will reach Birmingham, I
believe, about one. This arrangement, which I should think detestable,
pleases her very much....

Mr. Everett, our friend, presents ----, and I thought Anne would have
fallen down in a fit when she heard that the ceremony consisted in going
down on one knee and kissing the Queen's hand. She did not mind my doing
it the least in the world, but her indignation has been unbounded at the
idea of a free-born American citizen submitting to such degradation.
Poor thing! "Lucifer, son of the morning," was meek and humble to her.

We dined to-day with the Francis Egertons, to meet the young Guardsmen
who are to form our _corps dramatique_ for "The Hunchback," which, you
know, we are going to act in private. To-morrow evening we go to Sydney
Smith's, and on Monday down to Oatlands for a few days. I am always
delighted in that place and the lovely wild country round it. Lady
Francis will mount me, and I expect my old enjoyment in riding about
those beautiful and well-remembered haunts with her....

There has been a grand row at the Italian Opera-House, among the
managers, singers, and singeresses.