remove to Canterbury, which I
should not like so well as Southampton.

* * * * *

_Alphonsine_[162] did not do. We were disgusted
in twenty pages, as, independent of a bad
translation, it has indelicacies which disgrace a
pen hitherto so pure; and we changed it for _The
Female Quixote_ which now makes our evening
amusement: to me a very high one, as I find the
work quite equal to what I remembered it.

* * * * *

Our acquaintance increase too fast. He [Frank] was
recognised lately by Admiral Bertie, and a few
days since arrived the Admiral and his daughter
Catherine to wait upon us. There was nothing to
like or dislike in either. To the Berties are to
be added the Lances, with whose cards we have been
endowed, and whose visit Frank and I returned
yesterday. They live about a mile and
three-quarters from S[outhampton] to the right of
the new road to Portsmouth, and I believe their
house is one of those which are to be seen almost
anywhere among the woods on the other side of the
Itchen. It is a handsome building, stands high,
and in a very beautiful situation.

We found only Mrs. Lance at home, and whether she
boasts any offspring besides a grand pianoforte
did not appear. She was civil and chatty enough,
and offered to introduce us to some acquaintance
in Southampton, which we gratefully declined.

I suppose they must be acting by the orders of Mr.
Lance of Netherton in this civility, as there
seems no other reason for their coming near us.

Southampton: [February 8, 1807].

Our garden is putting in order by a man who bears
a remarkably good character, has a very fine
complexion, and asks something less than the
first. The shrubs which border the gravel walk, he
says, are only sweetbriar and roses, and the
latter of an indifferent sort; we mean to get a
few of the better kind, therefore, and at my own
particular desire he procures us some syringas. I
could not do without a syringa, for the sake of
Cowper's line.[163] We