ay to
me, could you bring with you a strip of sea-shore, a corner of blue
sky, or half a dozen waves, you would not hesitate. Allow my to say
that whereas by the sea-side or under a bright sky your society
enhances the pleasure derived from them, I now desire it (not
having these) as delightful in itself, increasing my enjoyment in
the beauties of nature, and compensating for their absence. But I
have done; only if Mrs. K---- has held out a false hope to me, she
is ferocious and atrocious, and that is all, and so pray tell her.

I had left myself so little room to tell you about this
disagreeable business of the _Age_ newspaper, in my last, that I
thought what I said of it would be almost unintelligible to you. I
do not really deserve the sympathy you express for my feelings in
the matter, for partly from being totally ignorant of the nature
and extent of my injuries--having never, of course, read a line of
that scurrilous newspaper--and partly from my indifference to
everything that is said about me, I really have felt no annoyance
or distress on the subject, beyond, as I told you, one moment's
feminine indignation at a coarse expression which was repeated to
me, but which in strict truth did not and could not apply to me;
and considerable regret that my father should have touched Mr.
Westmacott even with a stick, or a "pair of tongs." That individual
intends bringing a suit for damages, which makes me very anxious to
have my play and rhymes published, if I can get anything for them,
as I think the profits derived from my "scribbles" (as good Queen.
Anne called her letters) would be better bestowed in paying for
that little ebullition of my father's temper than in decorating my
tiny sanctum. What does my poor, dear father expect, but that I
shall be bespattered if I am to live on the highway?

Mr. Murray has been kind enough to say he will publish my very
original compositions, and I am preparing them for him. I am sorry
to say I have heard nothing from my brother; _of_ him I have heard,
for his whereabout is known and talked of--so much so, indeed, that
my father says further concealment is at once useless and
ridiculous. I may therefore now tell you that he is at this moment
in Spain, trying to levy troops for the cause of the
constitution