Your charming letter, of no date, found me last Saturday
very much indisposed with a severe headache, attended with feverishness, to
which I am subject. My head is something better, but I am not well in other
respects, and in the midst of hurry and preparation for town, where we go the
day after to-morrow, to remain for the winter. I leave this quiet spot, liberty
and fresh air with regret. In town I am plagued with the bustle of the city
without being able to join in its amusements. The theatre I have long ceased to
attend: when there is any performance worth seeing I dare not encounter the
crowd, and what is mis-named private society, is become almost as formidable on
a similar account; and my own immediate little circle that I used to draw about
me, time and the chances in life have committed such depredations upon, that,
like
| 248 | LADY MORGAN'S MEMOIR. |
I make no doubt that your work will succeed: going yourself to London is certainly the best security for justice being done you. The Bishop of Dromore’s advice is the best you can possibly be guided by, and his high literary reputation will give every weight to his recommendations and approbation of you.
Above twenty years absence from London (to which place I was never permitted to return), has broken or relaxed every tie I had there. To some my place has been supplied, others have pretended to suppose themselves neglected by me, to excuse their own neglect of me. And there are a few who, with more apparent reason, have thought themselves forgotten by me because I was not at liberty to explain why I did not pay them all the attention I wished.
When we meet we will converse fully on the subject of
your book, in the meantime rest assured that all I can do I will, for I have a
real wish to serve you;
| PERIOD OF 1805-5 | 249 |
