CXLVII. TO BASIL MONTAGU Winterslow, near Sarum, Dear Montague,-I have turned and twisted the MSS. in my head, and can make nothing of them. I knew when I took them that I could not, but I do not like to do an act of ungracious necessity at once; so I am ever committing myself by half engagements, and total failures. I cannot make any body understand why I can't do such things; it is a defect in my occiput. I cannot put other people's thoughts together; I forget every paragraph as fast as I read it; and my head has received such a shock by an allnight journey on the top of the coach, that I shall have enough to do to nurse it into its natural pace before I go home. I must devote myself to imbecility; I must be gloriously useless while I stay here. here. How is Mrs. M.? will she pardon my inefficiency? The city of Salisbury is full of weeping and wailing. The bank has stopped payment; and every body in the town kept money at it, or has got some of its notes. Some have lost all they had in the world. It is the next thing to seeing a city with the plague within its walls. The Wilton people are all undone; all the manufacturers there kept cash at the Salisbury bank; and I do suppose it to be the unhappiest county in England this, where I am making holiday. We propose setting out for Oxford Tuesday fortnight, and coming thereby home. But no more night travelling. My head is sore (understand it of the inside) with that deduction from my natural rest which I suffered coming down. Neither Mary nor I can spare a morsel of our rest: it is incumbent on us to be misers of it. Travelling is not good for us, we travel so seldom. If the sun be hell, it is not for the fire, but for the sempiternal motion of that miserable body of light. How much more dignified leisure hath a mussel glued to his unpassable rocky limit, two inch square! He hears the tide roll over him, backwards and forwards twice a-day, (as the Salisbury long coach goes and returns in eight-and-forty hours,) but knows better than to take an outside night-place a top on't. He is the owl of the sea-Minerva's fish—the fish of wisdom. Our kindest remembrances to Mrs M. Yours truly, C. LAMB. CXLVIII. TO WILLIAM HAZLITT [August 9th, 1810.] Dear H.,-Epistemon is not well. Our pleasant excursion has ended sadly for one of us. You will guess I mean my sister. She got home very well, (I was very ill on the journey,) and continued so till Monday night, when her complaint came on, and she is now absent from home. I am glad to hear you are all well. I think I shall be mad if I take any more journeys, with two experiences against it. I found all well here. Kind remembrances to Sarah,-have just got her letter. H. Robinson has been to Blenheim. He says you will be sorry to hear that we should not have asked for the Titian Gallery there. One of his friends knew of it, and asked to see it. but to those who inquire for it. It is never shown The pictures are all Titians, Jupiter and Ledas, Mars and Venuses, &c., all naked pictures, which may be a reason they don't show them to females. But he says they are very fine; and perhaps they are shown separately to put another fee into the shower's pocket. Well, I shall never see it. I have lost all wish for sights. God bless you. I shall be glad to see you in London. Yours truly, Mr Hazlitt, Winterslow, near Salisbury. C. Lamb. CXLIX. TO MR AND MRS CLARKSON Dear Mr and Mrs Clarkson,-You will wish to know how we performed our journey. My sister was tolerably quiet until we got to Chelmsford, when she began to be very bad indeed, as your friends William Knight and his family can tell you when you see them. What I should have done without their kindness, I don't know, but among other acts of great attention, they provided me with a waistcoat to confine her arms, by the help of which we went through the rest of our journey. But sadly tired and considerably depressed she was before we arrived at Hoxton. We got there about half past eight, and now 'tis all over. I have great satisfaction that she is among people who have been used to her. In all probability a few months or even weeks will restore her (her last illness confined her ten weeks) but if she does recover I shall be very careful how I take her so far from home again. I am so fatigued, for she talked in the most wretched, desponding way conceivable, particularly the last three stages, she talked all the way-so that you wont expect me to say much, or even to express myself as I should do in thanks for your kindnesses. My sister will acknowledge them when she can. I shall not have heard how she is to-day until too late for the Post, but if any great change takes place for better or worse, I shall certainly let you know. She tells me something about having given away one of my coats to your servant. It is a new one, and perhaps may be of small use to him. If you can get it me again, I shall be very willing to give him a compensation. I shall also be much obliged by your sending in a parcel all the manuscripts books &c. she left behind. I want in particular the Dramatic Extracts, as my purpose is to make use of the remainder of my holydays in completing them at the British Museum, which will be employment and money in the end. I am exceedingly harassed with the journey, but that will go off in a day or two, and I will get to work. I know you will grieve for us, but I hope my sister's illness is not worse than many she has got through before. Only I am afraid the fatigue of the journey may affect her general health. You shall have notice how she goes on. In the meantime, accept kindest thanks. (Signature cut off.) CL. TO MRS CLARKSON Monday, 18 Sep. 1810. Dear Mrs Clarkson,—I did not write till I could have the satisfaction of sending you word that my Sister was better. She is in fact quite restored, and will be with me in little more than a week.-I received Mr C.'s Letter and transmitted it to Hazlitt-My kind Love to him, and to Miss. W. Tell her I hope that while she stays in London, she will make our chambers her Lodging. If she can put up with half a Bed, I am sure she will be a most welcome visitor to Mary and me.-The Montagu's set out for the North this day. What fine things they are going to see, for the first time! which I have seen, but in all human probability shall never see again!-the mountains often come back to me in my dreams, or rather I miss them at those times, for I have been repeatedly haunted with the same dream, which is that I am in Cumberland, that I have been there some weeks, and am at the end of my Holidays, but in all that time I have not seen Skiddaw &c.-the Hills are all vanished, and I shall go home without seeing them. The trouble of this dream denotes the weight they must have had on my mind, and while I was there, which was almost oppressive, and perhaps is caused by the great difficulty |