READING LIFE OF NELSON

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in the house of God, your propensity for the ridicu lous would be amply gratified. There is no physician of any eminence residing in this place, but one in a neighboring town about four miles from this, who is highly respectable in his profession, and is, besides, a man of considerable literature and science. He is a friend of Mr. Howe's, and, of course, an occasional visitor here. And I believe I have now mentioned all the resources of our immediate vicinity, and you will judge that they are not such as to consume much of our time. . . . Have you ever heard of my shoes? And have you seen the "Bride of Abydos"? Other inquiries I leave to a future letter, and tell you, for the fiftieth time, that I am &c.

Mrs. Howe to Miss Cabot, 1814.

We have been reading Southey's "Life of Nelson," which I think quite an interesting biography; although he was a great man, and a man of an amiable temper, I cannot help thinking him considcrably deficient in moral principle, and had rather he would have died imploring pardon for his defects, than thanking God he had done his duty (it is humbling to us, poor mortals, that even the heroes of our race are tarnished with great faults). The British nation, indeed the civilized world, owe much to his exertions in having checked the power of the tyrant; and it would be ingratitude for any individual to deny him the fame he so ardently desired and so well deserved. His memory will live while Great Britain is a nation; but the crown of glory, "which fadeth not," may be reserved for humbler individ

uals. I have read Mrs. Grant's "Sketches on Intellectual Education," which, I think, has many good, though not many new, things in it; and is calculated to be of use to those who have not much time or opportunity to refer to books of that kind, or much ability to make reflections or draw conclusions for themselves, and she does not aim at anything more elevated. We are now engaged in Lee's "Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department," but have not read enough to form an opinion, and have not room now to give it if I had. . . .

I have procured "Patronage," but have not yet had leisure to read it; when I have I will let you know my opinion of it. We have had Madame D'Arb'ay's new work, "The Wanderer;" and I must acknowledge I should hardly have expected anything so tedious and indifferent from the author of "Cecilia." Indeed, I do not believe any one would have taxed her with it if she had not published it as hers. I hear Lord Byron has produced another poem, but have not seen it; and the nursery and the kitchen have excluded the thought of poetry of late, if they have not destroyed the relish for it. ...

The present situation of the country has deprived Mr. Howe of law-business almost entirely, so that he is compelled to turn his attention to other things; and his sheep are no longer an amusement but a serious occupation, as he has taken them under his more immediate care. It may be a very romantic thing to live upon these mountains with a shepherdswain, but as all our fleeces are not golden, your

ECONOMY AND POETRY

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if we

"hints on economy" might be of use to us, did not understand the subject at least as well as you can be supposed to. I can assure you that my children are now warmly clad in the fleeces our sheep wore last winter; and, though a homespun frock on the baby scandalized his Aunt Cathcrine, he wears one every day and finds no fault with it. ...

My employments of late have been needle-work and a little reading. Mr. Howe has read some history to us this winter, and we have had several new poems. We were most pleased with "Roderic the Goth"; I very much prefer it to any former poem of Southey's and think it more calculated to be generally interesting. Indeed, I doubt if the present age has produced any poem as likely to procure lasting fame to its author; though I am rather adventurous in this conclusion, as I have not heard if it is well or ill-received by those who are connoisseurs in poetry. I only know that I have seldom read a poem of that length which preserved the interest so well. The "Queen's Wake" is an interesting thing to me, because I love the Scotch poetry from habit as well as from its own merit, it having been a favorite amusement of my youth; and though I do not think the Scotch shepherd has the whole mantle of Burns, I think he has caught a fragment of it to clothe his "Witch of Fife" in, and the whole production may be considered as having a good portion of variety, ingenuity, and taste, especially when we consider it as the production of an unlettered man.

WORTHINGTON, Nov. 29, 1816.

I never have an opportunity to write in the day time, without the interruption of the children; and I do not like to break up our little circle in the evening with getting out the desk, as that is the time my husband appropriates to me.

We have been engaged lately in reading travels in various countries. We have read Simonde's "Travels in England," and Eustace's "Tour in Italy;" and are now engaged in Ali Bey's "Travels in Africa, including a Pilgrimage to Mecca." It is more novel in point of fact though in other respects inferior to the others. I dare say you have read both Simonde and Eustace, as they have been published some months. The former I think remarkaably interesting; the latter is a very literary and somewhat pedantic work, but has claims to the attention of reading people as an entertaining and instructive book.

I believe I informed you in my last that we had been travelling in various countries, and we pursued our course through Africa, Persia, and Abyssinia; since which, Mr. Howe has been engaged in Erskine's "Speeches." He is very much interested in them, and so are we in all those that are on subjects any way connected with our knowledge or experience.

I am reading "Virgil" aloud to the girls for afternoon recreation. Perhaps it would be well to inform you that Emma Forbes is one of my girls now, as I think she had not arrived when I last wrote; she has a great fund of cheerfulness and vivacity, and adds much to the pleasure of our domestic circle.

LOOKING FORWARD TO "ROB ROY" 117

I feel a sort of dread of reviewing the past year, lest the memory of what I have lost should make me ungrateful for what I possess; and yet avoiding to mention the death of my child does not exclude the thought it mingles itself with almost every other. I hope I have made a right improvement of it; at least it has chastened human hopes and brought another and a better world nearer to me than any former event of my life. . . .

Of her young sister Catherine, she writes: "Though a creature of no pretence at all, and not in the least calculated for display, she has all the rudiments of a solid, useful character,- perfect integrity, a discerning mind, and a feeling heart. . . . Catherine has been with me for ten weeks, but has gone now. I feel her loss a good deal; she read to me while she was here,—some in books I had read before, and some new ones. Miss Hamilton's Popu lar Essays'- a book I enjoyed much, although there is some repetition in it has sterling merit, and, like the spelling-books, is adapted to the meanest capacitics,' although it treats of the human heart and mind. We have lately been reading Paley's 'Moral Philosophy,' and I am much satisfied with it as a clear and enlightened view of human duty drawn from the principles of religion and reason. I am daily expecting to get 'Rob Roy,' with some interest, as the former productions of this author have excited more of the pleasure I used to have in fictitious works than any other I have read these ten years,- not even Miss Edgeworth's ex