ances. So much for _egotism_! My _laurels_
have turned my brain, but the _cooling acids_ of forthcoming
criticisms will probably restore me to _modesty_.

"Southwell is a damned place--I have done with it--at least in all
probability: excepting yourself, I esteem no one within its precincts.
You were my only _rational_ companion; and in plain truth, I had more
respect for you than the whole _bevy_, with whose foibles I amused
myself in compliance with their prevailing propensities. You gave
yourself more trouble with me and my manuscripts than a thousand
_dolls_ would have done. Believe me, I have not forgotten your good
nature in _this circle of sin_, and one day I trust I shall be able to
evince my gratitude. Adieu,

yours, &c.

"P.S. Remember me to Dr. P."

LETTER 17.

TO MISS ----.

"London, August 11, 1807.

"On Sunday next I set off for the Highlands.[76] A friend of mine
accompanies me in my carriage to Edinburgh. There we shall leave it,
and proceed in a _tandem_ (a species of open carriage) through the
western passes to Inverary, where we shall purchase _shelties_, to
enable us to view places inaccessible to _vehicular conveyances_. On
the coast we shall hire a vessel, and visit the most remarkable of the
Hebrides; and, if we have time and favourable weather, mean to sail
as far as Iceland, only 300 miles from the northern extremity of
Caledonia, to peep at _Hecla_. This last intention you will keep a
secret, as my nice _mamma_ would imagine I was on a Voyage of
Discovery, and raise the accustomed _maternal warwhoop_.

"Last week I swam in the Thames from Lambeth through the two bridges,
Westminster and Blackfriars, a distance, including the different turns
and tacks made on the way, of three miles! You see I am in excellent
training in case of a _squall_ at sea. I mean to collect all the Erse
traditions, poems, &c. &c., and translate, or expand the subject to
fill a volume, which may appear next spring under the denomination of
_'The Highland Harp_,' or some title equally _picturesque_. Of
Bosworth Field, one book is finished, another just began. It will be a
work of three or four years, and most probably never conclude. What
would you say to some stanzas on Mount Hecla? they would be written at
least with _fire_. How is the immortal Bran? and the Phoenix of canine
quadrupeds, Boatswain? I have lately purchased a thorough-bred
bull-dog, worthy to be the coadjutor of the aforesaid celestials--his