pressed me to go and see her, which I have done two or
three times, and am going to do again at her amiable request on
Thursday. I think that her fault is that she flatters a little too
much. And flattery to one whose ears have so long been excoriated by
abuse does not sound safe. However, all is right when she speaks of
you. And the point she most eulogised in you is that which I have
heard many a servile coward who could never go and do likewise" [no
indication is to be found either in this letter or elsewhere to
whom she alludes], "select for the same purpose, namely, your
straightforward, unflinching, courageous integrity.... Balzac is
furious at having his new play suppressed by Thiers, in which Arnauld
acted Louis Philippe, wig and all, to the life; but, as I said to M.
Dupin, '_Cest tout naturel que M. Thiers ne permetterait a personne de
jouer Louis Philippe que lui-meme._' ... There is a wonderful pointer
here that has been advertised for sale for twelve hundred francs. A
friend of mine went to see him, and after mounting up to a little
garret about the size of a chessboard, _au vingt-septieme_, he
interrogated the owner as to the dog's education and acquirements, to
which the man replied, '_Pour ca, monsieur, c'est un chien parfait. Je
lui ai tout appris moi-meme dans ma chambre_'[1] After this my friend
did not sing 'Together let us range the fields!' ... Last week I met
Colonel Potter M'Queen, who was warm in his praises of you, and the
great good your _Michael Armstrong_" (the factory story) "had done....
Last Thursday despatches arrived and Lord Granville had to start for
London at a moment's notice. I was in hopes this beastly ministry
were out! But no such luck! For they are a compound of glue,
sticking-plaister, wax, and vice--the most adhesive of all known
mixtures."

[Footnote 1: "As for that, sir, the dog is perfect. I have myself
taught him everything _in my own room_!"]

Before concluding my recollections of Rosina, Lady Lytton Bulwer,
I think it right to say that I consider myself to have perfectly
sufficient grounds for feeling certain that the whispers which were
circulated in a cowardly and malignant fashion against the correctness
of her conduct as a woman were wholly unfounded. Her failings and
tendency to failings lay in a quite different direction. I knew
perfectly well the person whose name was mentioned scandalously in
connection with hers, and knew the whole history of the relationshi