my spirits were so exceedingly low that I am sure I should have
disgraced myself and cried like a coward. As soon as we came home I
set to work, and have never stopped copying till I began this
letter, when, having done my day's work, I thought I might tell you
how much I miss you and dear A----.

My father is gone to the theater upon business to-night; my mother
is very unwell, and Dall and Henry, as well as myself, are stupid
and dreary.

My dear H----, tell me how you bore the journey and the cold, and
how dear A---- fared on the road; how you found all your people,
and how the dell and the sea are looking. Write to me very _soon_
and _very_ long. You have let several stitches fall in one of the
muffetees you knit for me, and it is all running to ruin; I must
see and pick them up at the theater on Thursday night. You have
left all manner of things behind you; among others, Channing's two
essays; I will keep all your property honestly for you, and shall
soon have time to read those essays, which I very much wish to do.

A large supply of Christmas fare arrived from Stafford to-day from
my godmother, and among other things, a huge nosegay for me. I was
very grateful for the flowers; they are always a pleasure, and
to-day I thought they tried to be a consolation to me.

Now I must break off. Do you remember Madame de Sevigne's "Adieu;
ce n'est pas jusqu'a demain--jusqu'a samedi--jusqu' aujourd'hui en
huit; c'est adieu pour un an"? and yet I certainly have no right to
grumble, for our meeting as we have done latterly is a pleasure as
little to have been anticipated as the events which have enabled us
to do so, and for which I have so many reasons to be thankful. God
bless you, dear H----; kiss dear little A---- for me, and remember
me affectionately to all your people.

I am yours ever truly,
FANNY.

Dall sends her best love to both, and all; and Henry bids me tell
A---- that the name of the Drury Lane pantomime is "Harlequin and
Davy Jones, or Mother Carey's Chickens." Ours is yet a secret; he
will write her all about it.

Mr. Cartwright, the eminent dentist, was a great friend of my father's;
he was a cultivated gentleman of refined taste, and an enlightened judge