nor the dear girls, nor the sea. I
could think of that fresh, sparkling, fresh looking, glassy sea
till I cried for disappointment.

Ever yours,
F. A. K.

The Miss Inverarity mentioned in this letter was a young Scotch singer
of very remarkable talent and promise, who came out at Covent Garden
just at this time. She was one of the tallest women I ever saw, and had
a fine soprano voice as high as herself, and sang English music well.
She was a very great favorite during the short time that I remember her
on the stage.

MY DEAREST H----,

My mother has just requested me to talk with A---- about her
approaching first communion, and it troubles me because I fear I
cannot do so satisfactorily to her (I mean my mother) and myself. I
think my feeling about the sacrament, or rather the preparation
necessary for receiving it, is different from hers. It is not so
much to me an awful as a merciful institution. One goes to the
Lord's Table because one is weak and wicked and wretched, not
because one is, or even has striven to be, otherwise. A holy
reverence for the holy rite is indispensable, but not, I think,
such a feeling as would chill us with fear, or cast us down in
despondency. The excess of our poverty and humility is our best
claim to it, and therefore, though the previous "preparations," as
it is rather technically called, may be otherwise beneficial, it
does not seem to me necessary, much less indispensable. Our Lord
did not say, "Cleanse yourselves, amend yourselves, strip
yourselves of your own burdens and come to me;" but, "Come to me
and I will cleanse you, I will cure you, I will help you and give
you rest." It is remembering this that I venture to take the
sacrament, but I know other people, and I believe my mother among
them, think a much more specific preparation necessary, and I am
afraid, therefore, that I might not altogether meet my mother's
views in what I might say to A---- upon the subject. I wish you
would tell me what your opinion and feeling is about this.

Your affectionate F. A. K.

_Sunday, May 15th._--Walked home from church with Mrs. Montagu and
Emily and Mrs. Procter, discussing among various things the
necessity for "preparation" bef