9th, 1861._

I think it is my turn to write to you, and I therefore send a brief
despatch, like a telegram, to let you know that in a gale of wind and a
fierce rain, last night, we turned away a thousand people. There was no
getting into the hall, no getting near the hall, no stirring among the
people, no getting out, no possibility of getting rid of them. And yet,
in spite of all that, and of their being steaming wet, they never
flagged for an instant, never made a complaint, and took up the trial
upon their very shoulders, to the last word, in a triumphant roar.

The talk about "Copperfield" rings through the whole place. It is done
again to-morrow night. To-morrow morning I read "Dombey." To-morrow
morning is Grisi's "farewell" morning concert, and last night was her
"farewell" evening concert. Neither she, nor Jenny Lind, nor anything,
nor anybody seems to make the least effect on the draw of the readings.

I lunch with Blackwood to-day. He was at the reading last night; a
capital audience. Young Blackwood has also called here. A very good
young fellow, I think.

[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.]

CARRICK'S ROYAL HOTEL, GLASGOW, _Tuesday, Dec. 3rd, 1861._

I send you by this post another _Scotsman_. From a paragraph in it, a
letter, and an advertisement, you may be able to form some dim guess of
the scene at Edinburgh last night. Such a pouring of hundreds into a
place already full to the throat, such indescribable confusion, such a
rending and tearing of dresses, and yet such a scene of good humour on
the whole. I never saw the faintest approach to it. While I addressed
the crowd in the room, Gordon addressed the crowd in the street. Fifty
frantic men got up in all parts of the hall and addressed me all at
once. Other frantic men made speeches to the walls. The whole Blackwood
family were borne in on the top of a wave, and landed with their faces
against the front of the platform. I read with the platform crammed with
people. I got them to lie down upon it, and it was like some impossible
tableau or gigantic picnic; one pretty girl in full dress lying on her
side all night, holding on to one of the legs of my table. It was the
most extraordinary sight. And yet from the moment I began to the moment
of my leaving off, they never missed a point, and they ended with a
burst of cheers.

The confusion was decidedly owing to the local agents. But I think it
may have been a little heightened by Headland's way