ing, draggled May, instead of Milton's glorious
vision.

After church, sundry callers: Mr. C---- bringing prints of the
dresses for "Hernani," and the W----s, who seem in a dreadful
fright about the present state of the country. I do not suppose
they would like to see Heaton demolished.

In the evening we went to the Cartwrights'. It is only in the
morning that one goes there to be tortured; in the evening it is to
eat delicious dinners and hear delightful music.

Hummel, Moscheles, Neukomm, Horsley, and Sir George Smart, and how
they did play! _a l'envi l'un de l'autre_. They sang, too, that
lovely glee, "By Celia's Arbor." The thrilling shudder which sweet
music sends through one's whole frame is a species of acute
pleasure, very nearly akin to pain. I wonder if by any chance there
is a point at which the two are one and the same thing!

_Tuesday, May 3d._--I wrote the fourth scene of the fifth act of my
play ["The Star of Seville"], and acted Lady Teazle for the first
time; the house was very good, and my performance, as I expected,
very bad; I was as flat as a lady amateur. I stayed after the play
to hear Braham sing "Tom Tug," which was a refreshment to my spirit
after my own acting; after I came home, finished the fifth act of
"The Star of Seville." "Joy, joy for ever, my task is done!" I have
not the least idea, though, that "heaven is won."

_Wednesday, May 4th._--A delightful dinner at the B----s', but in
the evening a regular crush; however, if one is to be squeezed to
death (though 'tis an abolished form of torture), it may as well be
in good company, among the fine world, and lots of pleasant people
besides: Milman, Sotheby, Lockhart, Sir Augustus Calcott, Harness,
Lady Dacre, Joanna Baillie, Lady Calcott, etc.

_Friday, May 6th._--Real March weather: cold, piercing, damp,
wretched, in spite of which I carried Shakespeare to walk with me
in the square, and read all over again for the fiftieth time all
the conjectures of everybody about him and his life. How little we
know _about him_, how intimately we seem to know _him_! I had the
square all to myself, and it was delicious: lilac, syringa,
hawthorn, lime blossoms, and new-mown grass in the midst of
London--and Shakespeare to think about. How grateful I felt for so
much