lled him to make the same
sacrifice. And Frederick--what will he think of my coming out? It is a
dark sky all around. There is only one bright side to the picture. It
is very unlikely that my absence can be of long duration. If such
ideas were to prevail in England as those which are embodied in an
article on China, which is to appear in the forthcoming _Blackwood_, I
might be detained long enough in that quarter; but these are not the
views of the public or the statesmen of England. What is desired is a
speedy settlement, on reasonable terms--as good terms as possible; but
let the settlement be speedy. This, I think, is the fixed idea of all.
Gros tells me that when he took leave the Emperor grasped both his
hands, thanked him with effusion, and said that not one man in fifty
would make such a sacrifice as he (Gros) was doing.

_Monday, 30th._--I do not know whether I shall do much more to this
letter before I reach Malta, for we are both rolling and pitching,
which is not favourable to writing, the climate has now changed. It is
very near perfection in point of temperature. If we could only keep it
so all the way! We expect to reach Malta this evening, and remain
about four hours. Where are you now?... Have you returned to your
desolate home? I think I see B. looking up to you with his thoughtful
eyes, and dear little L. putting pointed questions, and, in her arch
way, saying such kind and tender words!... You must continue to write,
as you did last time, all you are doing and thinking, that I may
reproduce, as faithfully as I can, the life which you are living. I do
the same by you, though it is with a more leaden pen than formerly....
Poor Gros has retired to his cabin in order to take a horizontal
position. Many of my companions are in the same way.

[Sidenote: Old letters.]

_May 3rd._--Are you still shivering in the cold, while I am gliding
through the calm sea under an awning, and going against a breeze
sufficiently light to do no more than fan us pleasantly? If it would
never go beyond this, there is certainly something very delightful in
such a climate; the clear atmosphere, bright stars, light nights, and
soft air; and to be wafted along through all this, as we now are, at
the rate of some twelve miles an hour, with so little motion that we
hardly know that we are making pro