James's you saw the palace where so many of England's
kings have held their courts, and beheld the representations of their
persons on the walls? You should not be too much afraid of appearing
_country-bred_; the magnificence of London has drawn exclamations of
astonishment from travelled men, experienced in the world, its wonders
and beauties. Have you yet seen anything of the great personages whom
the sitting of Parliament now detains in London--the Duke of
Wellington, Sir Robert Peel, Earl Grey, Mr. Stanley, Mr. O'Connell? If
I were you, I would not be too anxious to spend my time in reading
whilst in town. Make use of your own eyes for the purposes of
observation now, and, for a time at least, lay aside the spectacles
with which authors would furnish us."
In a postscript she adds:--
"Will you be kind enough to inform me of the number of performers in
the King's military band?"
And in something of the same strain she writes on
"June 19th.
"My own Dear E.,
"I may rightfully and truly call you so now. You _have_ returned or
_are_ returning from London--from the great city which is to me as
apocryphal as Babylon, or Nineveh, or ancient Rome. You are
withdrawing from the world (as it is called), and bringing with you--if
your letters enable me to form a correct judgment--a heart as
unsophisticated, as natural, as true, as that you carried there.
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