. . . I cannot get rid of this intolerable
cold! My landlord invented for me a drink of brandy, rum, and snow,
called it a 'Rocky Mountain Sneezer,' and said it was to put down all
less effectual sneezing; but it has not yet had the effect. Did I tell
you that the favourite drink before you get up is an Eye-Opener? There
has been another fall of snow, succeeded by a heavy thaw."

The day after (the 4th) he went back to Boston, and next day wrote to
me: "I am to read here on Monday and Tuesday, return to New York on
Wednesday, and finish there (except the farewells in April) on Thursday
and Friday. The New York reading of _Doctor Marigold_ made really a
tremendous hit. The people doubted at first, having evidently not the
least idea what could be done with it, and broke out at last into a
perfect chorus of delight. At the end they made a great shout, and gave
a rush towards the platform as if they were going to carry me off. It
puts a strong additional arrow into my quiver. Another extraordinary
success has been _Nickleby_ and _Boots at the Holly Tree_ (appreciated
here in Boston, by the bye, even more than _Copperfield_); and think of
our last New York night bringing L500 English into the house, after
making more than the necessary deduction for the present price of gold!
The manager is always going about with an immense bundle that looks like
a sofa-cushion, but is in reality paper-money, and it had risen to the
proportions of a sofa on the morning he left for Philadelphia. Well, the
work is hard, the climate is hard, the life is hard: but so far the gain
is enormous. My cold steadily refuses to stir an inch. It distresses me
greatly at times, though it is always good enough to leave me for the
needful two hours. I have tried allopathy, homoeopathy, cold things,
warm things, sweet things, bitter things, stimulants, narcotics, all
with the same result. Nothing will touch it."

In the same letter, light was thrown on the ecclesiastical mystery. "At
Brooklyn I am going to read in Mr. Ward Beecher's chapel: the only
building there available for the purpose. You must understand that
Brooklyn is a kind of sleeping-place for New York, and is supposed to be
a great place in the money way. We let the seats pew by pew! the pulpit
is taken down for my screen and gas! and I appear out of the vestry in
canonical form! These ecclesiastical entertainments come off on the
evenings of the 16th, 17th, 20th, and 21st, of the present mont