riously from the effects
of the damp house last winter. What she says of herself makes me anxious
about her.

Give my true love to dear Miss Bayley, and say how I repent in ashes for
not having written to her. But she is large-hearted and will forgive me,
and I shall make amends and send her sheet upon sheet. Barry Cornwall's
letter to Robert, of course, delighted as well as honoured me. Does it
appear in the new edition of his 'songs' &c.?

Mind, if ever I go to England I shall have no heart to go out of a very
dark corner. I shall just see you and that's all. It's only Robert who
is a patriot now, of us two. England, what with the past and the
present, is a place of bitterness to me, bitter enough to turn all her
seas round to wormwood! Airs and hearts, all are against me in England;
yet don't let me be ungrateful. No love is forgotten or less prized,
certainly not yours. Only I'm a citizeness of the world now, you see,
and float loose.

God bless you, dearest Mr. Kenyon, prays

Your ever affectionate
BA.

Robert's best love as always. He writes by this post to Mr. Procter. How
beautifully Sarianna has corrected for the press my new poem!
Wonderfully well, really. There is only one error of consequence, which
I will ask you to correct in any copy you can--of 'rail' _in the last
line_, to 'vail;' the allusion being of course to the Jewish temple--but
as it is printed nobody can catch any meaning, I fear. They tell me that
the Puseyite organ, the 'Guardian,' has been strong in attack. So best.

* * * * *

After a few weeks in Paris the travellers crossed over to England, which
they had not seen for nearly five years. Their visit to London lasted
about two months, from the end of July to the end of September, during
which time they stayed in lodgings at 26 Devonshire Street.

* * * * *

_To Mrs. Martin_

26 Devonshire Street: Wednesday, [about August 1851].

My ever dearest Mrs. Martin,--I am not ungrateful after all, but I
wanted to write a long letter to you (having much to say), and even now
it is hard in this confusion to write a short one. We have been
overwhelmed with kindnesses, crushed with gifts, like the Roman lady;
and literally to drink through a cup of tea from beginning to end
without an interruption from the door-bell, we have scarcely attained to
since we came. For my part I refuse all dinner invitations except when
our dear