gh I have seen
but little of him since our return to town, that little is too much
to lose of one we love. He is an excellent fellow in every way, and
in the way of abilities he is particularly to my mind. We all miss
him very much; however, his absence will be broken now by visits to
London, in order to keep his term [about this time my brother was
entered at the Inner Temple, I think], so that we shall
occasionally enjoy his company for a day or two. I should like to
tell you something about my play, but unluckily have nothing to
tell; everything about it is as undecided as when last I wrote to
you. It is in the hands of the copyist of Covent Garden, but what
its ultimate fate is to be I know not. If it is decided that it is
to be brought out on the stage before publication, that will not
take place at present, because this is a very unfavorable time of
year. If I can send it to Ireland, tell me how I can get it
conveyed to you, and I will endeavor to do so. I should like you to
read it, but oh, _how_ I should like to go and see it acted with
you! I am now full of thoughts of writing a comedy, and have drawn
out the plan of one--plot, acts, and scenes in due order--already;
and I mean to make it Italian and mediaeval, for the sake of having
one of those bewitching creatures, a jester, in it; I have an
historical one in my play, Triboulet, whom I have tried to make an
interesting as well as an amusing personage.

My mother, by the aid of a blister and _my play_, is, I think,
recovering, though slowly, from her illness; she is still, though,
in a state of great suffering, which is by no means alleviated by
being unable to write, read, work, or occupy herself in any manner.

We have been to the play pretty regularly twice a week for the last
three weeks, and shall continue to do so during the whole winter;
which is a plan I much approve of. I am very fond of going to the
play, and Kean, Young, and my father make one of Shakespeare's
plays something well worth seeing. I saw the "Merchant of Venice"
the other evening, for the first time, and returned home a violent
_Keanite_. That man is an extraordinary creature! Some of the
things he did, appeared, on reflection, questionable to my judgment
and open to criticism; but while under the influence of his