I think I shall turn out to be right, and that there will be no war immediately. What the scramble for the fragments of the Mahometan empire may produce ultimately in the Mediterranean, I know not; but I would lay a wager we are not at war before Christmas. I offer you a bet of five shillings to that effect; if you think this venture indiscreetly large, Georgiana will, 1 dare say, take half.
We are at Sidmouth. It is extremely beautiful, but quite deserted. I have nothing to do but to look out of window, and am ennuied. The events which have turned up are, a dog and a monkey for a show, and a morning concert; and I rather think we shall have an invitation to tea. I say to every one who sits near me on the marine benches, that it is a fine day, and that the prospect is beautiful; but we get no further. I can get no water out of a dry rock.
There arrived, the other day, at New York, a Syd-
540 | MEMOIR OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. |