Thank you for your obliging and friendly letter. I believe every word you say as implicitly as I should if you had never stirred from Howick all your life. And this is much to say of any one who has lived as much in the high and gay world as you have done. I shall be glad to hear that you are safely landed in Portman-square, with all your young ones; but do not set off too soon, or you will be laid up at the Black Swan, Northallerton, or the Elephant and Castle, Boroughbridge, and your bill will come to a thousand pounds, besides the waiter, who will most probably apply for a place under Government.
We are all perfectly well, and panting to show you, in the
summer, ourselves and York Cathedral. I had occasion to write to ——, and gave her a lecture upon humility, and
against receiving me with pride and grandeur when I come to town; I give you no
such
| 84 | MEMOIR OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. |
Never was such a ferment as Pall Mall and Holland House are in! John Allen, wild and staring,—Antonio, and Thomas, the porter, worked off their legs,—Lord Lauderdale sleeping with his clothes on, and a pen full of ink close to his bedside, with a string tied on the wrist of his secretary in the next room! Expresses arriving at Pall Mall every ten minutes from the House of Commons, and the Whig nobility and commonalty dropping in at all hours to dinner or supper! Is not your Bell better than this? Nevertheless, get well, and quit it. There is great happiness in the country, but it requires a visit to London every year to reassure yourself of this truth.
