or literature in France, keep it
till I see you again; for I'm in no hurry. Chatty-Briant [Chateaubriand]
is well, I hope.

I think I have no more news; only give both our loves ("all three," says
Dash) to Mrs. Patmore, and bid her get quite well, as I am at present,
bating qualms, and the grief incident to losing a valuable relation.

C. L.

LONDRES, July 19, 1827.

* * * * *

Of all the essays of Elia, the paper on "Roast Pig" is perhaps the most
read, the most quoted, the most admired. 'T is even better, says an
epicurean friend of mine, than the "crisp, tawny, well-watched, not
over-roasted crackling" it descants upon so eloquently. Certainly Lamb
never writes so richly and so delightfully as when he discourses of the
dainties and delicacies of the table.

Though all our readers are doubtlessly familiar with Elia's beautiful
little article entitled "Thoughts on Presents of Game," very few of them
have read the letter he wrote in acknowledgment of a present of a pig
from a farmer and his wife. 'T is a rare bit, a choice morsel of Lamb's
best and most delicious humor, and will be perused with great pleasure
and satisfaction by all admirers of its witty and eccentric author. Here
it is.

TO A FARMER AND HIS WIFE.

_Twelfth Day, 1823._

The pig was above my feeble praise. It was a dear pigmy. There was some
contention as to who should have the ears; but, in spite of his
obstinacy, (deaf as these little creatures are to advice,) I contrived
to get at one of them.

It came in boots, too, which I took as a favor. Generally these pretty
toes--pretty toes!--are missing; but I suppose he wore them to look
taller.

He must have been the least of his race. His little foots would have
gone into the silver slipper. I take him to have been a Chinese and a
female.

If Evelyn could have seen him, he would never have farrowed two such
prodigious volumes; seeing how much good can be contained in--how small
a compass!

He crackled delicately.

I left a blank at the top of my letter, not being determined which to
address it to: so farmer and farmer's wife will please to divide our
thanks. May your granaries be full, and your rats empty, and your
chickens plump, and your envious neighbors lean, and your laborers busy,
and you as idle and as happy as the day is long!

VIVE L'AGRICULTURE!

How do you make your pig