nders;" it is a sort of apology, contained in the introduction to the
second volume, for their not having been continued before; the writers
had been for a long time too busy, and latterly too much absorbed in
politics.

"Parliament was opened, and the great Catholic question was brought
forward, and the Duke's measures were disclosed, and all was slander,
violence, party-spirit, and confusion. Oh, those six months, from the
time of the King's speech to the end! Nobody could write, think, or
speak on any subject but the Catholic question, and the Duke of
Wellington, and Mr. Peel. I remember the day when the Intelligence
Extraordinary came with Mr. Peel's speech in it, containing the terms on
which the Catholics were to be let in! With what eagerness Papa tore off
the cover, and how we all gathered round him, and with what breathless
anxiety we listened, as one by one they were disclosed, and explained,
and argued upon so ably, and so well! and then when it was all out, how
aunt said that she thought it was excellent, and that the Catholics could
do no harm with such good security! I remember also the doubts as to
whether it would pass the House of Lords, and the prophecies that it
would not; and when the paper came which was to decide the question, the
anxiety was almost dreadful with which we listened to the whole affair:
the opening of the doors; the hush; the royal dukes in their robes, and
the great duke in green sash and waistcoat; the rising of all the
peeresses when he rose; the reading of his speech--Papa saying that his
words were like precious gold; and lastly, the majority of one to four
(sic) in favour of the Bill. But this is a digression," &c., &c.

This must have been written when she was between thirteen and fourteen.

It will be interesting to some of my readers to know what was the
character of her purely imaginative writing at this period. While her
description of any real occurrence is, as we have seen, homely, graphic,
and forcible, when she gives way to her powers of creation, her fancy and
her language alike run riot, sometimes to the very borders of apparent
delirium. Of this wild weird writing, a single example will suffice. It
is a letter to the editor of one of the "Little Magazines."

"Sir,--It is well known that the Genii have declared that unless they
perform certain arduous duties every year, of a mysterious nature, all
the worlds in the firmament will be burnt up, and