Mr. Jerdan said that on account of some circumstance
he was called Lord de Tableau for a pseudonym, and in the sense I have
heard people exclaim to a good child, "Oh, you picture!"
[1] Mr. Hawthorne's severe taste is annoyed by that expression, but I
must let it go for the sake of what follows.
In the "North British Review" this week is a review of Mr. Hawthorne's
three last romances. It gives very high praise.
December 18.
I went to Liverpool yesterday for a Christmas present for you, and got
a silver pen in a pearl handle, which you will use for Una's sake.
While I was gone, Mr. Martineau and Mrs. Gaskell called! I was very
sorry to lose the visit. They left a note from the Misses Yates
inviting us to dine to-day and stay all night, and go to Mrs.
Martineau's evening party to-morrow! It would be a charming
visitation, if it were possible. Mr. Bright cannot find language to
express the Misses Yates' delightsomeness, and was wishing that we
knew them.
By this steamer Mr. Ticknor has sent us a Christmas present of a
barrel of apples. I wish you could see Rosebud with her bright cheeks
and laughing eyes. A lady thought her four years old, the other day!
Julian has to-day gone with his father to the Consulate. Una is in the
drawing-room reading Miss Edgeworth. Rose is on the back of my chair.
On Christmas night the bells chimed in the dawn, beginning at twelve
and continuing till daybreak. I wish you could hear this chiming of
bells.
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