I found it in my great-coat
pocket, and thought of you. I have seen the article in the _Edinburgh_
about the Bible--exceedingly brilliant and clever, but rather too
epigrammatic, quotations scanty and not correct. Ford is certainly a
most astonishing fellow; he quite flabbergasts me--handbooks, review's,
and I hear that he has just been writing a 'Life of Velasquez' for the
'Penny Cyclopaedia'!"
OULTON HALL, LOWESTOFT, _March_ 13, 1843.
"So the second edition is disposed of. Well and good. Now, my dear
friend, have the kindness to send me an account of the profits of it and
let us come to a settlement. Up to the present time do assure you I have
not made a penny by writing, what with journeys to London and tarrying
there. Basta! I hate to talk of money matters.
"Let them call me a nonentity if they will; I believe that some of those
who say I am a phantom would alter their tone provided they were to ask
me to a good dinner; bottles emptied and fowls devoured are not exactly
the feats of a phantom: no! I partake more of the nature of a Brownie or
Robin Goodfellow--goblins, 'tis true, but full of merriment and fun, and
fond of good eating and drinking.
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