ill
you return the memorial under cover to Mr. Tom Taylor, at the Local
Government Act Office, Whitehall? He is generously exerting himself in
furtherance of it, and so delay will be avoided.

My dear Lord Carlisle, faithfully yours always.

[Sidenote: Miss Mary Boyle.]

GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT,
_Sunday, Nov. 17th, 1861._

MY DEAR MARY,

I am perfectly enraptured with the quilt. It is one of the most
tasteful, lively, elegant things I have ever seen; and I need not tell
you that while it is valuable to me for its own ornamental sake, it is
precious to me as a rainbow-hint of your friendship and affectionate
remembrance.

Please God you shall see it next summer occupying its allotted place of
state in my brand-new bedroom here. You shall behold it then, with all
cheerful surroundings, the envy of mankind.

My readings have been doing absolute wonders. Your Duchess and Princess
came to hear first "Nickleby" and the "Pickwick Trial," then
"Copperfield," at Brighton. I think they were pleased with me, and I am
sure I was with them; for they are the very best audience one could
possibly desire. I shall always have a pleasant remembrance of them.

On Wednesday I am away again for the longest part of my trip.

Yes, Mary dear, I must say that I like my Carton, and I have a faint
idea sometimes that if I had acted him, I could have done something with
his life and death.

Believe me, ever your affectionate and faithful
JOE.

[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.]

QUEEN'S HEAD, NEWCASTLE, _Friday, Nov. 22nd, 1861._

I received your letter this morning, and grieve to report that the
unlucky Headland has broken down most awfully!

First, as perhaps you remember, this is the place where the bills were
"lost" for a week or two. The consequence has been that the agent could
not announce all through the "Jenny Lind" time (the most important for
announcing), and could but stand still and stare when people came to ask
what I was going to read. Last night I read "Copperfield" to the most
enthusiastic and appreciative audience imaginable, but in numbers about
half what they might have been. To-night we shall have a famous house;
but we might have had it last night too. To-morrow (knowing by this time
what can, of a certain