eet
and drink my health on the 14th of July, and on my birthday, every
year till I returned; and a solemn agreement was made by all
parties that whenever I did return and summoned my worthies, we
should again adjourn together to the glen in the Pentlands. When we
reached home, Mr. Allen, who cannot endure a formal parting, shook
hands with me and bade me good-by as I dismounted, as if we were to
ride again to-morrow. [And I never saw him again. Peace be with
him! He was a most amiable and charming companion, and during these
days of friendly intimacy, his conversation interested and
instructed me, and his poetical feeling of Nature, and placid,
unruffled serenity, added much to the pleasure of those delightful
rides.] ... At the theater the play was "The Provoked Husband," for
my benefit; the house was very fine, and I played pretty well.
After it was over, the audience shouted and clamored for my father,
who came and said a few words of our sorrow to leave their
beautiful city.... Mrs. Harry, Lizzie, and I were in my
dressing-room, crying in sad silence, and vainly endeavoring to
control our emotion. Presently my father came hurriedly in, and
folding them both in his arms, just uttered in a broken voice,
"Good-by! God bless you!" and I, embracing my dear friends for the
last time, followed him out of the room. It is not the time only
that must elapse before I can see her again, it is the terrible
distance, the slowness and uncertainty of communication; it is that
dreadful America.

_Thursday, 19th, Liverpool._-- ... At eleven went to the theater
for rehearsal; it was very slovenly. I wonder what the performance
will be? In the evening to the theater; the play was "Francis I.,"
and the house was very good, which was almost to be wondered at in
this plague-stricken city. [The cholera was raging in Liverpool.] I
was frightened, as I always am at a new part, even in my own play,
though glad enough to resign that odious dignity, the queen-mother.
[The part of Louisa of Savoy had been given to me when first the
piece was brought out at Covent Garden; I was now playing the
younger heroine, Francoise de Foix.] I played pretty well, though
there is nothing to be done with the part. She is perfectly
uninteresting and ineffective; but it is better for t