ions. I, like all authors,
am glad to have a little praise now and then (it is my hydromel),
but it must be dispensed by others. I do not think it decent to
manufacture the sweet liquor myself, and I hate a coxcomb, whether
in dress or print.

"We have little or no literary news here. Our poets are all going
to the poorhouse (except Tennyson), and our prose writers are
piling up their works for the next 5th of November, when there will
be a great bonfire. It is deuced lucky that my immortal (ah! I am De
Quinceying)--I mean my humble--performances were printed in America,
so that they will escape. By the by, are they on foolscap? for I
forgot to caution you on that head.

"I have been spending a week at Liverpool, where I rejoiced to hear
that Hawthorne's appointment was settled, and that it was a valuable
post; but I hear that it lasts for three years only. This is
melancholy. I hope, however, that he will 'realize' (as you
trans-atlantics say) as much as he can during his consulate, and
that your next President will have the good taste and the good sense
to renew his lease for three years more.

"I have not seen Mrs. Stowe. I shall probably meet her somewhere or
other when she comes to London.

"I dare not ask after Mr. Longfellow. He was kind enough to write me
a very agreeable letter some time ago, which I ought to have
answered. I dare say he has forgotten it, but my conscience is a
serpent that gives me a bite or a sting every now and then when I
think of him. The first time I am in fit condition (I mean in point
of brightness) to reply to so famous a correspondent, I shall try
what an English pen and ink will enable me to say. In the mean time,
God be thanked for all things!

"My wife heard from Thackeray about ten days ago. He speaks
gratefully of the kindness that he has met with in America. Among
other things, it appears that he has seen something of your slaves,
whom he represents as leading a very easy life, and as being fat,
cheerful, and happy. Nevertheless, _I_ (for one) would rather be a
free man,--such is the singularity of my opinions. If my prosings
should ever in the course of the next twenty years require to be
reprinted, pray take note of the above opinion.

"And now I have no more paper; I have scarcely room left to say that
I hope you are we