orrow, which stand, says the poet, on the right and
left hand of Jupiter's throne, and from which he dispenses good and evil
at his pleasure among men. What word to use for these vessels has long
posed the translators of Homer. Pope, who loves to be fine, calls
them _urns_. Cowper, who loves to be coarse, calls them _casks_;--a
translation more improper than Pope's; for a cask is, in our general
understanding, a wooden vessel; and the Greek word means an earthen
vessel. There is a curious letter of Cowper's to one of his female
correspondents about this unfortunate word. She begged that Jupiter
might be allowed a more elegant piece of furniture for his throne than
a cask. But Cowper was peremptory. I mentioned this incidentally when
we were talking about translations. This set Sotheby off. "I," said
he, "have translated it _vase_. I hope that meets your ideas. Don't you
think vase will do? Does it satisfy you?" I told him, sincerely enough,
that it satisfied me; for I must be most unreasonable to be dissatisfied
at anything that he chooses to put in a book which I never shall read.
Mackintosh was very agreeable; and, as usually happens when I meet him,
I learned something from him. [Macaulay wrote to one of his nieces in
September 1859: "I am glad that Mackintosh's Life interests you. I knew
him well; and a kind friend he was to me when I was a young fellow,
fighting my way uphill."]

The great topic now in London is not, as you perhaps fancy, Reform,
but Cholera. There is a great panic; as great a panic as I remember,
particularly in the City. Rice shakes his head, and says that this is
the most serious thing that has happened in his time; and assuredly, if
the disease were to rage in London as it has lately raged in Riga, it
would be difficult to imagine anything more horrible. I, however, feel
no uneasiness. In the first place I have a strong leaning towards the
doctrines of the anti-contagionists. In the next place I repose a great
confidence in the excellent food and the cleanliness of the English.

I have this instant received your letter of yesterday with the enclosed
proof-sheets. Your criticism is to a certain extent just; but you have
not considered the whole sentence together. Depressed is in itself
better than weighed down; but "the oppressive privileges which had
depressed industry" would be a horrible cacophony. I hope that word
convinces you. I have often observed that a fine Greek compound is an
excelle