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BLUE-STOCKING HALL.

J. D. NICHOLS, 25, PARLIAMENT STREET.




                           BLUE-STOCKING HALL.

        “From woman’s eyes this doctrine I derive:
        They sparkle still the right Promethean fire;
        They are the books, the arts, the academes,
        That show, contain, and nourish all the world.”

                                              LOVE’S LABOUR LOST.

                            IN THREE VOLUMES.

                                VOL. III.

                                 LONDON:
                  HENRY COLBURN, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
                                  1827.




BLUE-STOCKING HALL.




LETTER XXVII.

FREDERICK TO EMILY DOUGLAS.


This, my dearest Emily, is the last letter which you will receive from
Frederick in London; and though time speeds on rapid wing in this focus
of attraction, I reckon the days with impatience till the heath-clad
tops of our dear mountains break upon my view. To travel, and see new
men and manners, would be too delightful, if mother and sisters were
with me, but, unfashionable as the confession may be, I own to the
_weakness_ of loving mine enough to make me wish to be always near
them. In a few days we are to set out, and Arthur starts for France,
when we turn our faces towards Glenalta. I fear that my uncle is not
gaining ground; there is a consultation every day, but it seems to me
as if many of these great doctors make up in _mannerism_ of one sort
or other what they want in penetration. One assumes a rough tone, and
thinks it for his advantage to act the brute, in order to assure his
patients that he is an honest man. Another looks as smooth as satin,
and prescribes such numerous and expensive remedies, that none but
a nabob could afford to be cured. A third experiments upon all the
vegetables and minerals in the modern Pharmacopœia, and “thrice slays
the slain,” before he stumbles by accident on the disease. If I am to
be killed by Esculapian skill, I would rather receive my _quietus_ from
a sober practitioner in the country, who had never heard of _arsenic_,
_digitalis_, or the _prussic acid_, than be torn piece-meal by a triad
of London physicians, who, ten to one, know as little of the case as of
the constitution submitted to them, and ceremoniously agree to put one
out of the world with the profoundest adherence to etiquette. I cannot
help thinking the business altogether a solemn farce, which I long to
see brought to a conclusion, and as I am growing every day more and
more attached to this near and dear relation, I look anxiously for his
removal, from what appears to me, a pick-pocket confederacy. The dread
with which my uncle’s manner at first inspired me, is gradually wearing
away. With Phil. and me he is charming, full of information, classical
taste, and literary criticism. He has a fund of humour also, which gives
variety to his powers of pleasing; and when bodily pain does not weigh
upon his spirits, he is a delightful companion, whose society will add
considerably to the pleasures of our winter fire-side. But his frown is
as awful as his smile is beaming, and would have petrified me long ago,
if I had ever encountered his brow in the act of concentrating its forces
upon me, as it does when aunt Howard and Louisa appear in his presence.
The whole horizon of his forehead is then hung thickly in clouds, a
morose expression marks his countenance, and a sullen silence indicates
displeasure, as far as the rules of common civility will permit. With
Arthur he is less unconstrained than with me; but I hope that ere we quit
London, there will be no difference in his feelings towards us. The kind
partiality with which he treats your Frederick is easily accounted for,
and arises _not_ from any comparison between the individuals in question,
or _I_ could not be his favourite. I should write with more satisfaction
than I feel at present, if I were not so soon to see you; but the
slowness of my pen makes me impatient, when I reflect on the _glibness_
of tongue with which I hope in less than a fortnight to pour out all my
news _vivâ voce_, for your amusement. Besides, when once the novelty
of the thing is over, there is a tiresome monotony in the routine of a
London life.

