lf, however his abilities may justify his
self-approval!

The sight of Mr. T---- recalled his amiable and excellent mother to my
memory. I never esteemed any woman more highly, or enjoyed the society
of any other person more than hers. How many pleasant hours have I
passed with her! I so well remember John Kemble fancying that if I went
through a course of reading Shakspeare with his sister Mrs. T----, I
should make, as he said, a fine actress; and we were to get up private
theatricals at Mountjoy Forest.

In compliance with the request of Lord Blessington, I studied
Shakspeare with this amiable and gifted woman for many months, which
cemented a friendship between us that ended but with her life. Her
method of reading was admirable; for to the grandeur of her sister Mrs.
Siddons, she united a tenderness and softness, in which that great
actress was said to be deficient. I never open any of the plays of
Shakspeare which I studied with her without thinking I hear her voice,
and I like them better for the association.

To great personal attractions, which even to the last she retained
enough of to give a notion of what her beauty must have been in her
youth, Mrs. T---- added a charm of manners, a cultivation of mind, and
a goodness of heart seldom surpassed; and, in all the relations of
life, her conduct was most praiseworthy. Even now, though six years
have elapsed since her death, the recollection of it brings tears to my
eyes. Good and gentle woman, may your virtues on earth find their
reward in Heaven!

I passed last evening at Madame Craufurd's, where I met Lady Charlotte
Lindsay and the Misses Berry. How perfectly they answered to the
description given of them by Sir William Gell; who, though exceedingly
attached to all three, has not, as far as one interview permitted me to
judge, overrated their agreeability! Sir William Gell has read me many
letters from these ladies, replete with talent, of which their
conversation reminded me.

Francis Hare and his wife dined here to-day. They are _en route_ from
Germany--where they have been sojourning since their marriage--for
England, where her _accouchement_ is to take place. Francis Hare has
lived with us so much in Italy, that we almost consider him a member of
the domestic circle; and, on the faith of this, he expressed his desire
that we should receive _madame son epouse_ as if she were an old
acquaintance.

Mrs. Hare is well-looking, and agreeable, appears amiab