Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 2d Oct. 1864.
It makes me very, very happy to see George so much better, and to return with that chief satisfaction to the quiet comforts of home. We register Harrogate among the places to be revisited.
I have had a fit of Spanish history lately, and have been learning Spanish grammar—the easiest of all the Romance grammars—since we have been away. Mr. Lewes has been rubbing up his Spanish by reading Don Quixote in these weeks of idlesse; and I have read aloud and translated to him, like a good child. I find it so much easier to learn anything than to feel that I have anything worth teaching.
All is perfectly well with us, now the "little Pater" is stronger, and we are especially thankful for Charlie's prospect of marriage. We could not have desired anything more suited to his character and more likely to make his life a good one. But this blessing which has befallen us only makes me feel the more acutely the cutting off of a like satisfaction from the friends I chiefly love.
Journal, 1864.
Oct. 5.—Finished the first draught of the First Act of my drama, and read it to George.
Oct. 15.—Went to the Maestro (Burton) for a sitting.
Nov. 4.—Read my Second Act to George. It is written in verse—my first serious attempt at blank verse. G. praises and encourages me.
Nov. 10.—I have been at a very low ebb, body and mind, for the last few days, sticking in the mud continually in the construction of my 3d, 4th, and 5th Acts. Yesterday Browning came to tell us of a bust of Savonarola in terra-cotta, just discovered at Florence.
Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 23d Nov. 1864.