I am ever as ever yours,
FANNY.

[Carolside was situated just beyond the Border in Scotland, in that
region of romantic and poetical traditions, full of the charm of
early legendary and ballad lore, of the associations of Burns's
songs and Scott's Border minstrelsy, pervaded with the old
superstitions, half-beliefs, dating from as far back as the days of
Thomas the Rhymer, and the later powerful influence of the Wizard of
the North, the mighty master-magician of our own day.

Melrose, Dryburgh, and Abbotsford, Smailholme, and Beamerside, were
all within easy distance of it; "the bonnie broom of Cowdenknowes"
bloomed in its neighborhood; the Gala, the Leader, the Tweed, the
Yarrow, ran singing through the lovely region, the exquisite
melodies that have been inspired by their wild scenery. It was a
region of natural beauty, heightened by every association that could
add to its charm. The Eildon Hills were our landmarks in all our
walks and rides and drives: and Ercildown, modernized into
Earlston, the picturesque post-village at our gates.]

CAROLSIDE, EARLSTON, September 5th.
MY DEAR LADY DACRE,

... Of the advantageous engagement which you heard I had concluded I
cannot speak with any certainty, for it never was settled definitively,
and I begin to think will not be concluded. I think it may have been
nothing more than a feint on the part of the manager of the Princess's
Theatre, who has been urged by Mr. Macready's friends to engage me to
act with him, and who, as he will not give me my terms, has, I think,
perhaps merely tendered me an arrangement that he knew I would not
accept, in order to be able to say that he had _endeavored_ to make an
arrangement with me. I am very sorry for this, for employment during the
winter months in London is what I much desired. However, "there is a
soul of good even in things evil," and the later experiences of my life
have left me little sensibility to spend upon crosses of this
description.

Not to be able to work for my own maintenance would indeed be a serious
calamity to me; but if I fail of a theatrical engagement I shall fall
back upon my original plan, to me so far preferable, of giving readings.
I do not think that now, after a whole year of apparent relinquishment
of that pursuit, my fathe