ht
to taste one of Leigh Hunt's. I dislike everything that ---- ever wrote,
and think he ought to have been a Frenchman. Can one say worse of a man
who is not?...

You ask me if writing plays is not pleasanter and more profitable than
reading Gibbon. Certainly, if one only has the mind to do the one
instead of the other, which at present I have not.

I have sometimes fancied it was my duty to work out such talent of that
kind as was in me; but I have hitherto not felt at all sure that I had
any such gift which, you know, would be necessary before I could
determine what was my duty with regard to it. I never write anything
but upon impulse--all my compositions are impromptus; and the species of
atmosphere I live in is not favorable to that order of inspiration. The
outward sameness of my life; its uniformity of color, level surface, and
monotonous tone; its unvaried tenor, alike devoid of pleasurable and
painful excitement; its wholesome abundance of daily recurring trivial
occupations, and absence of any great or varied interests; its entire
isolation from all literary and intellectual society, which might strike
the fire from the sleepy stone--all these influences prevail against my
writing.

I once thought the material lay within me, but it will probably moulder
away for want of use; and as long as I am neither the worse woman, wife,
nor mother for its neglect, I take it it matters very little, and there
is no harm done. My serious interest in life is the care of my children,
and my principal recreation is my garden; and though I formerly
sometimes imagined I had faculties whose exercise might demand a wider
sphere, the consciousness that I discharge very imperfectly the
obligations of that which I occupy, ought to satisfy me that its homely
duties and modest tasks are more than sufficient for my abilities; and
though I am not satisfied with myself, I should be with my existence,
since, such as it is, it furnishes me with more work than I do as it
should be done.

From the interest you express in Fanny Ellsler, you will be glad to hear
that her success here has been triumphant. I believe the great mass of
people always recognize and acknowledge excellence when they see it,
though their stupid or ignorant toleration of what is mediocre, or even
bad, would seem to indicate the contrary.... The general mind of man is
capable of perceiving the most excellent in all things, and prompt to
seize it, too, when it meets w