ery well, in as good and regular a progress of education
as it is possible; both Mie Mie and I as tractable as it is
possible; et troubler ce menage seroit une cruaute sans example.

I have also to grieve at other times for a great deprivation of part
of my happiness; that, I mean, to which you contributed, Lady
C(arlisle) and your children. There is a hiatus valde deflendus;
indeed, a lacune which I do not know how to fill up, and I sigh over
the prospect of it perpetually, and without seeing my way out of it.

I have, at another part of my day, a scene, which time or use cannot
reconcile to me. I see my mother's strength grow less every day,
without any consolation, but that her mind does not decay with it.
In short, my dear Lord, as I have often told you, j'ai l'esprit et
le coeur trop fracasses for me to be happy at present, and all I can
say is that I might, by untoward accidents, be more miserable, and
these are removed from my view pour le moment; but I wait for a
period of time when I shall be relieved from uncertainty of what may
happen, and when I may live and breathe without restraint and
apprehension. That period will, as I imagine, arrive in about two
months, and till then les assurances les plus fortes sont trop
faibles pour mon repos.

It is some time since I have had a long letter from you. I hope to
have one of some sort or other to-morrow. I hope all goes quietly,
at least Gregg says that you write cheerfully. On s'accoutume a
tout, they say, but I know and feel very sensibly that there are
exceptions to that adage.

The author of a new Grub Street poem, I see, allows me a great share
of feeling, at the same time that he relates facts of me, which, if
they were true, would, besides making me ridiculous, call very much
into question what he asserts with any reasonable man. I do not know
if you have received this performance. If I thought you had not,
paltry as it is, I should send it to you. The work I mean is called
"The Diaboliad."(138) This hero is Lord Ernham. Lord Hertford and
Lord Beauchamp are the chief persons whom he loads with his
invectives. Lord Lyttleton (and) his cousin Mr. Ascough are also
treated with not much lenity; Lord Pembroke with great familiarity,
as well as C. Fox; and Fitzpatrick, although painted in colours bad
enough at present, is represented as one whom in time the
Devil will lose for his disciple. I am only attacked upon that trite
and very foolish opinion concerning