l, simple, and refined, and looking absolutely
young. I suspect that much of his power springs from his genial
character. I heard last week from Mrs. Browning; she and her husband
are at the Baths of Lucca. Mr. Kenyon's graceful book is out, and I
must not forget to tell you that "Our Village" has been printed by
Mr. Bohn in two volumes, which include the whole five. It is
beautifully got up and very cheap, that is to say, for 3 _s._ 6 _d._
a volume. Did Mr. Whittier send his works, or do I owe them wholly
to your kindness? If he sent them, I will write by the first
opportunity. Say everything for me to your young friend, and believe
me ever, dear Mr. F---- most faithfully and gratefully yours, M.R.M.

1850.

(No date.)

I have to thank you very earnestly, dear Mr. Fields, for two very
interesting books. The "Leaves from Margaret Smith's Journal" are, I
suppose, a sort of Lady Willoughby's Diary, so well executed that
they read like one of the imitations of Defoe,--his "Memoirs of a
Cavalier," for instance, which always seemed to me quite as true as
if they had been actually written seventy years before. Thank you
over and over again for these admirable books and for your great
kindness and attention. What a perfectly American name Peabody is!
And how strange it is that there should be in the United States so
many persons of English descent whose names have entirely
disappeared from the land of their fathers. Did you get my last
unworthy letter? I hope you did. It would at all events show that
there was on my part no intentional neglect, that I certainly had
written in reply to the last letter that I received, although
doubtless a letter had been lost on one side or the other. I live so
entirely in the quiet country that I have little to tell you that
can be interesting. Two things indeed, not generally known, I may
mention: that Stanfield Hall, the scene of the horrible murder of
which you have doubtless read, was the actual birthplace of Amy
Robsart,--of whose tragic end, by the way, there is at last an
authentic account, both in the new edition of Pepys and the first
volume of the "Romance of the Peerage"; and that a friend of mine
saw the other day in the window of a London bookseller a copy of
Hume, ticketed "An Excellent Introduction to Macaulay." The great
man was much