erest shed over it. It was a mere Toss-up in 1860 whether I was to
stay at Woodbridge, or come to reside here, when my residing would have
been of some use to her then, and her Children now.

"Now then I am expecting my 'Merry Men' from Woodbridge, to get out my
Billyboy, and get into what Sailors call _the Doldrums_, . . . "

"3 SION HILL, RAMSGATE, _August_ 25/65.
['Letters,' p. 301.]

"I got here all right and very quick from our Harbour on Monday Morng.
And here I shall be till Monday: then shall probably go with my Brother
[Peter] to Dover and Calais: and so hope to be home by the middle or
later part of next week. . . . To-day is going on a Regatta before the
windows where I write: shall I never have done with these tiresome
Regattas? And to-night the Harbour is to be _captured_ after an
obstinate defence by 36-pounders in a sham fight, so we shall go deaf to
Bed. We had really a famous sail from Felixtow Ferry; getting out of it
at 7 A.M., and being off Broadstairs (3 miles from here) as the clock on
the shore struck twelve. After that we were an hour getting into this
very Port, because of a strong Tide against us. . . ."

"11 MARINE TERRACE, LOWESTOFT, _March_ 28, 1866.
['Letters,' p. 303.]

". . . The change has been of some use, I think, in brightening me. My
long solitary habit of Life now begins to tell upon me, and I am got past
the very cure which only could counteract it: Company or Society: of
which I have lost the Taste too long to endure again. So, as I have made
my Bed, I must lie in it--and die in it. . . ."

"LOWESTOFT, _April_ 2, '66. [Ib.]

". . . I am going to be here another week: as I think it really has
freshened me up a bit. Especially going out in a Boat with my good
Fletcher, though I get perished with the N.E. wind. I believe I never
shall do unless in a Lodging, as I have lived these 40 years. It is too
late, I doubt, to reform in a House of one's own. . . . Dove, {101}
unlike Noah's Dove, brings no report of a green leaf when I ask him about
the Grass seed. . . ."

"LOWESTOFT, _April_ 3, '66. [Ib.]

". . . Looking over the Tombstones of the old Churchyard this morning, I
observed how very many announced the Lease of Life expired at about the
same date which I entered upon last Saturday [fifty-seven]. I know it is
time to set one's House in order--when Mr Dove has done his part."

"COWES, ISLE OF WIGHT, _Friday_, _June_ 30, 1866.
['Letters,' p. 305.]

"We got