“I have been prevented from writing before, first, by being too busy with proof-sheets and letters; and secondly, by being too idle,—company and the season having idled me. . . . .
| Ætat. 58. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 235 |
“The day before yesterday I commanded a cart party to Honister Crag, and walked the whole way myself, twenty-one-and-a-half miles by Edward Hill’s pedometer, without difficulty or fatigue. So you see, that notwithstanding a touch of the hay-asthma, I am in good condition, and have a pair of serviceable legs.
“Henry Taylor’s Tragedies are of the very best kind. I am exceedingly glad that you have taken to one another so well. He is the only one, now living, of a generation younger than yours and mine, whom I have taken into my heart of hearts.
“I certainly hope that you may be set free from all official business, with such a pension as your long services and your station entitle you to. For I have no fears of your feeling any difficulty in the disposal of your time, or any other regret for the cessation of your long-accustomed business, than what always belongs to the past; and what in this case may arise from the dissolution of an old establishment, which for the very sake of its antiquity ought to have been preserved. You will get more into the country than you otherwise could have done; and you will come here and take a lease of health and good spirits from the mountains. I shall pass through London with Cuthbert, on our way to the west, in the autumn. Our stay will hardly exceed a week. . . . .
“Just now I am very busy, finishing a third volume of
Naval History. This is
my sheet anchor. In the way of sale The Doctor has clearly failed; yet it may be worth while to send
out another volume,
| 236 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 58. |
“My cousin, Georgiana Hill, is here for the first time, and as happy as you may suppose a girl of eighteen is likely to be on such an occasion. Did I tell you that I have a pony, the best of ponies (given me by Sir T. Acland)? and I have bought a light chair, in which Cuthbert or Bertha drive out their mother. If I could give you a good account of her, all would be well. But her spirits are so wretchedly nervous, and I begin to fear so hopelessly so, that I have need of all mine.
“God bless you, my dear G.! My love to Miss Page.
