ntence: 'O Isidore! 't
is not the present, I believe, that ever makes our misery; 't
is its contrast with the past; 't is the loss of some hope, or
the crushing of some joy; the disappointment of expectation, or
the regrets of memory. The present is nothing, nothing,
nothing, but in its relation to the future or the past.' James
is inferior to Scott in wit and humor, but more than his equal
in many other respects; but then Scott wrote excellent poetry,
in which James, when he attempted it, failed.

"Let me hear how affairs are going on in America. I believe we
have truer accounts from England than your papers are disposed
to publish. Louis Napoleon is increasing his naval force to a
degree it never reached before. We must have war with him
before a twelvemonth is over. He will also make disturbances in
Louisiana, claiming it on the dolorous cry of France for her
lost children. They will _invite_ him, as the poor Savoyards
were _invited_ by him to do. So long as this perfidious
scoundrel exists there will be no peace of quiet in any quarter
of the globe. The Pope is heartily sick of intervention; but
nothing can goad his fat sides into a move.

"Are you not tired? My wrist is. So adieu.

"Ever affectionately,

"W. S. L."

With this letter came a slip of paper, on which were these lines:--

"TO GIALLO,

"Faithfullest of a faithful race,
Plainly I read it in thy face,
Thou wishest me to mount the stairs,
And leave behind me all my cares.
No: I shall never see again,
Her who now sails across the main,
Nor wilt thou ever as before
Rear two white feet against her door."

"Written opposite Palazzo Pitti,
September, 1861."

"February 15, 1862.

".... The affairs of your country interest me painfully. The
Northern States had acknowledged the right of the Southern to
hold slaves, and had even been so iniquitous as to surrender a
fugitive from his thraldom. I would propose an accommodation:--

"1. That every slave should be free after ten years' labor.

"2. That none should be imported, or sold, or separated from
wife and children.

"3. That an adequate portion of land should be granted in
perpetuity to the liberated.