said that he considered what had happened a most unfortunate thing
for him; and so my bright, new joy fell to the ground, and was
broken all to pieces. Upon further explanation, however, it seems
that it is an advantage to the other proprietors, though not to
him; no part of the recovered money returning to him, because he
had borrowed his share of it from Mr. Willett; and the only
difference is that he will not have to pay the interest on it any
more, and so far it is a small advantage to him. But it is a great
one to them, poor men! and therefore we ought to be glad, and not
look only at our own share of the business, though naturally that
is the most interesting to us. I sometimes doubt, after all, if we
have really by any means a clear and comprehensive view of the
whole state of that concern, receiving our impressions from my
father, who naturally looks at it only from the side of his own
personal stake in it.... After dinner John read me a letter he had
just received from Richard Trench--a most beautiful letter. What a
fine fellow he is, and what a noble set of young men these friends
of my brother's are! After tea read Arthur Hallam's essay on the
philosophical writings of Cicero. It is very excellent; I should
like to have marked some of the passages, they are so admirably
clear and true; but he has only lent it to me. His Latin and Greek
quotations were rather a trial, but I have no doubt his English is
as good as anything he quotes. Surely England twenty years hence
should be in a higher state of moral and intellectual development
than it is now: these young heads seem to me admirably good and
strong, and some score years hence these fine spirits will be
influencing the national mind and soul of England; and it pleases
me much to think so. [Alas! as far as dear Arthur Hallam was
concerned, my prophetic confidence was vain.] After finishing
Hallam's essay, I took up "King Lear," and read the end of that,
"and my poor fool is hanged!" O Lord, what an agony! In reading
"Lear," one of Mr. Harness's criticisms on my "Star of Seville"
recurred to me. In the scene where Estrella deplores her brother's
death, I have used frequent repetition of the same words and
exclamations. I wrote upon impulse, without deliberation, and
simply as my concepti