Fazio"
has made a great hit. Milman is coming to see me in it to-night; I
wish I could induce him to write me such another part.

We are over head and ears in the mire of chancery again. The
question of the validity of our--the great theater--patents is now
before Lord Brougham; I am afraid they are not worth a farthing. I
am to hear from Mr. Murray some day this week; considering the
features of my handwriting, it is no wonder it has taken him some
time to become acquainted with the MSS.

GREAT RUSSELL STREET, January 29, 1831.
MY DEAR H----,

All our occupations have been of a desultory and exciting kind, and
all our doings and sayings have been made matter of surprise and
admiring comment; of course, therefore, we are disinclined for
anything like serious or solid study, and naturally conclude that
sayings and doings so much admired and wondered at _are_ admirable
and astonishing. A---- is possessed of strong powers of ridicule,
and the union of this sarcastic vein with a vivid imagination seems
to me unusual; their prey is so different that they seldom hunt in
company, I think. When I heard that she was reading "Mathilde"
(Madame Cottin), I was almost afraid of its effect upon her. I
remember at school, when I was her age, crying three whole days and
half nights over it; but I sadly overrated her sensibility. Her
letter to me contained a summary, abusive criticism of "Mathilde"
as a book, and ended by presenting to me one of those ludicrous
images which I abhor, because, while they destroy every serious or
elevated impression, they are so absurd that one cannot defend
one's self from the "idiot laughter" they excite, and leave one no
associations but grinning ones with one's romantic ideals. Her
letters are very clever and make me laugh exceedingly, but I am
sorry she has such a detestation of Mrs. Marcet and natural
philosophy. As for her letters being shown about, I am not sorry
that my indiscretion has relieved A---- from a restraint which, if
it had only been disagreeable to her, would not have mattered so
much, but which is calculated to destroy all possibility of free
and natural correspondence, and inevitably renders letters mere
compositions and their young authors vain and pretentious. I have
al