d; and the exquisite taste which spares all
details, and breaks off just when the effect is at its height, is wholly
yours. But it is Florence on whom my hopes chiefly repose; and in her I
see the promise of another Nelly! though reserved, I hope, for a happier
fate, and destined to let us see what a _grown-up_ female angel is like.
I expect great things, too, from Walter, who begins charmingly, and will
be still better I fancy than young Nickleby, to whom as yet he bears
most resemblance. I have good hopes too of Susan Nipper, who I think has
great capabilities, and whom I trust you do not mean to drop. Dombey is
rather too hateful, and strikes me as a mitigated Jonas, without his
brutal coarseness and ruffian ferocity. I am quite in the dark as to
what you mean to make of Paul, but shall watch his development with
interest. About Miss Tox, and her Major, and the Chicks, perhaps I do
not care enough. But you know I always grudge the exquisite painting you
waste on such portraits. I love the Captain, tho', and his hook, as much
as you can wish; and look forward to the future appearances of Carker
Junior, with expectations which I know will not be disappointed. . . ."

[140] "EDINBURGH, _31st January_, 1847. Oh, my dear, dear Dickens! what
a No. 5 you have now given us! I have so cried and sobbed over it last
night, and again this morning; and felt my heart purified by those
tears, and blessed and loved you for making me shed them; and I never
can bless and love you enough. Since the divine Nelly was found dead on
her humble couch, beneath the snow and the ivy, there has been nothing
like the actual dying of that sweet Paul, in the summer sunshine of that
lofty room. And the long vista that leads us so gently and sadly, and
yet so gracefully and winningly, to the plain consummation! Every trait
so true, and so touching--and yet lightened by the fearless innocence
which goes _playfully_ to the brink of the grave, and that pure
affection which bears the unstained spirit, on its soft and lambent
flash, at once to its source in eternity.". . . In the same letter he told
him of his having been reading the _Battle of Life_ again, charmed with
its sweet writing and generous sentiments.

[141] "_Isn't Bunsby good_?" I heard Lord Denman call out, with
unmistakable glee and enjoyment, over Talfourd's table--I think to Sir
Edward Ryan; one of the few survivors of that pleasant dinner party of
May 1847.

CHAPTER XVII.

SPL