d shoulders
is very pretty. I wonder what Sappho was like! An ugly woman, it is
said; I do not know upon what authority, unless her own; but I
wonder what kind of ugliness she enjoyed! Among other heads, we saw
one of Brougham's mother, a venerable and striking countenance,
very becoming the mother of the Chancellor of England. There was a
bust, too, of poor Mr. Huskisson, taken after death. I heard a
curious thing of him to-day: it seems that on the night before the
opening of the railroad, as he was sitting with some friends, he
said, "I cannot tell what ails me; I have a strange weight on my
spirits; I am sure something dreadful will happen to-morrow; I wish
it were over;" and that, when they recapitulated all the
precautions, and all the means that had been taken for security,
comfort, and pleasure, all he replied was, "I wish to God it were
over!" There is something awful in these stories of presentiments
that always impresses me deeply--this warning shadow, projected by
no perceptible object, falling darkly and chilly over one; this
indistinct whisper of destiny, of which one hears the sound,
without distinguishing the sense; this muffled tread of Fate
approaching us!

Did you read Horace Twiss's speech on the Reform Bill? Every one
seems to think it was excellent, whether they agree with his
opinions and sentiments or not. I saw by the paper, to-day, that an
earthquake had been felt along the coast near Dover. A---- says the
world is coming to an end. We certainly live in strange times, but
for that matter so has everybody that ever lived.

[In the admirable letter of Lord Macaulay to Mr. Ellis, describing the
division of the house on the second reading of the Reform Bill, given in
Mr. Trevelyan's life of his uncle, the great historian says Horace
Twiss's countenance at the liberal victory looked like that of a "damned
soul." If, instead of a lost soul, he had said poor Horace looked like a
_lost seat_, he would have been more accurate, if not as picturesque.
Mr. Twiss sat for one of Lord Clarendon's boroughs, and the passage of
the Reform Bill was sure to dismiss him from Parliament; a serious thing
in his future career, fortunes, and position.]

I must now tell you what I do next week, that you may know where to
find me. Monday, the king goes to hear "Cinderella," and I have a