rew worth the
catching for Miss. My father and mother will then return to Scotland;
but whether the Doctor will continue to keep his parish, or give it up to
Mr. Snodgrass, will depend greatly on the circumstances in which he finds
his parishioners. This is all the domestic intelligence I have got to
give, but its importance will make up for other deficiencies.

As to the continuance of our discoveries in London, I know not well what
to say. Every day brings something new, but we lose the sense of
novelty. Were a fire in the same street where we live, it would no
longer alarm me. A few nights ago, as we were sitting in the parlour
after supper, the noise of an engine passing startled us all; we ran to
the windows--there was haste and torches, and the sound of other engines,
and all the horrors of a conflagration reddening the skies. My father
sent out the footboy to inquire where it was; and when the boy came back,
he made us laugh, by snapping his fingers, and saying the fire was not
worth so much--although, upon further inquiry, we learnt that the house
in which it originated was burnt to the ground. You see, therefore, how
the bustle of this great world hardens the sensibilities, but I trust its
influence will never extend to my heart.

The principal topic of conversation at present is about the queen. The
Argents, who are our main instructors in the proprieties of London life,
say that it would be very vulgar in me to go to look at her, which I am
sorry for, as I wish above all things to see a personage so illustrious
by birth, and renowned by misfortune. The Doctor and my mother, who are
less scrupulous, and who, in consequence, somehow, by themselves,
contrive to see, and get into places that are inaccessible to all
gentility, have had a full view of her majesty. My father has since
become her declared partisan, and my mother too has acquired a leaning
likewise towards her side of the question; but neither of them will
permit the subject to be spoken of before me, as they consider it
detrimental to good morals. I, however, read the newspapers.

What my brother thinks of her majesty's case is not easy to divine; but
Sabre is convinced of the queen's guilt, upon some private and authentic
information which a friend of his, who has returned from Italy, heard
when travelling in that country. This information he has not, however,
repeated to me, so that it must be very bad. We shall know all when the
tri