;" [2] will it be received in atonement for the
foolish "Vision"--I mean by the lady? _A propos_, I never saw Mrs.
Crawford in my life; nevertheless, it's all true of somebody.
Address me, in future, Colebrooke Cottage, Islington, I am really
nervous (but that will wear off), so take this brief announcement.
Yours truly,
C.L.
[1] "The birds that wanton in the air
Know no such liberty."
LOVELACE.
[2] The Elia essay. Fanny Kelly was the original of "Barbara S."
LXXXVIII.
TO BERNARD BARTON.
_July_ 2, 1825.
I am hardly able to appreciate your volume now; [1] but I liked the
dedication much, and the apology for your bald burying grounds. To
Shelley--but _that_ is not new, To the young Vesper-singer, Great
Bealings, Playford, and what not.
If there be a cavil, it is that the topics of religious consolation,
however beautiful, are repeated till a sort of triteness attends them.
It seems as if you were forever losing Friends' children by death, and
reminding their parents of the Resurrection. Do children die so often
and so good in your parts? The topic taken from the consideration that
they are snatched away from _possible vanities_ seems hardly sound; for
to an Omniscient eye their conditional failings must be one with their
actual. But I am too unwell for theology.
Such as I am,
I am yours and A.
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