ing for Birds' Nests; all things in
their season. I am sure the Man is fit to be King of a Kingdom as well
as of a Lugger. To-day he gives the customary Dinner to his Crew before
starting, and my own two men go to it; and I am asked too: but will not
spoil the Fun.

I declare, you and I have seen A Man! Have we not? Made in the mould of
what Humanity should be, Body and Soul, a poor Fisherman. The proud
Fellow had better have kept me for a Partner in some of his
responsibilities. {116b} But no; he must rule alone, as is right he
should too.

I date from the Inn where my Letters are addressed; but I write in the
little Ship which I live in. My Nieces are now here; in the town, I
mean; and my friend Cowell and his Wife; so I have more company than all
the rest of the year. I try to shut my Eyes and Ears against all tidings
of this damnable War, seeing that I can do no good to others by
distressing myself.

_To W. F. Pollock_.

BRIDGEWOOD, _Nov._ 1, [1870].

MY DEAR POLLOCK,

I must say that my savageness against France goes no further than wishing
that the new and gay part of Paris were battered down; not the poor
working part, no, nor any of the People destroyed. But I wish ornamental
Paris down, because then I think the French would be kept quiet till they
had rebuilt it. For what would France be without a splendid Palace? I
should not wish any such Catastrophe, however, if Paris were now as I
remember it: with a lot of old historic houses in it, old Gardens, etc.,
which I am told are now made away with. Only Notre Dame, the Tuileries,
and perhaps the beautiful gilt Dome of the Invalides do I care for. They
are historical and beautiful too.

But I believe it would be a good thing if the rest of Europe would take
possession of France itself, and rule it for better or worse, leaving the
French themselves to amuse and enlighten the world by their Books, Plays,
Songs, Bon Mots, and all the Arts and Sciences which they are so
ingenious in. They can do all things but manage themselves and live at
peace with others: and they should themselves be glad to have their
volatile Spirits kept in order by the Good Sense and Honesty which other
Nations certainly abound in more than themselves. {118a}

I see what I think very good remarks about them in old Palmerston's
Papers quoted in my Athenaeum. {118b} He was just the Man they wanted, I
think.

WOODBRIDGE, _Nov._ 15, [1870].

MY DEAR POLLOCK,

. . . Ah