journey. It was a still, gray
day, an atmosphere and light I like; there is a clearness about it
that is pleasanter sometimes than the dazzle of sunshine. Some of
the country we drove through was charming, particularly the vale of
Honiton.... I have an immense bedroom here; a whole army of ghosts
might lodge in it. I hope, if there are any, they will be civil,
well-behaved, and, above all, invisible.

_Wednesday, August 10th._ ... At ten o'clock we started for
Weymouth, where we arrived in the course of an hour, and found it
basking on the edge of a lovely summer sea, with a dozen varying
zones of color streaking its rippling surface; from the deep, dark
purple heaving against the horizon to the delicate pearl-edged,
glassy golden-green that spreads its transparent sheets over the
sparkling sand of the beach. The bold chalky cliffs of the shore
send back the burning sunlight with blinding brightness, and
stretch away as far as eye can follow in hazy outlines, that
glimmer faintly through the shimmering mist. It is all very
beautiful.... I got ready my things for the theater, ... and when I
got there I was amused and amazed at its absurdly small
proportions; it is a perfect doll's playhouse, and until I saw that
my father really could stand upon the stage, I thought that I
should fill it entirely by myself. How well I remember all the
droll stories my mother used to tell about old King George III. and
Queen Charlotte, who had a passion for Weymouth, and used to come
to the funny little theater here constantly; and how the princesses
used to dress her out in their own finery for some of her parts. [I
long possessed a very perfect coral necklace of magnificent single
beads given to my mother on one of these occasions by the Princess
Amelia.] The play was "Romeo and Juliet," and our masquerade scene
was in the height of the modern fashion, for there was literally
not room to stir; and what between my nurse and my father I
suffered very nearly total eclipse, besides much danger of being
knocked down each time either of them moved. In the balcony,
besides me, there was a cloud, which occasionally interfered with
my hair, and I think must have made my face appear to the audience
like a chin and mouth speaking out of the sky. To be sure, this
inconven