ease and rapidity: and having written them he very rarely had occasion
to re-write them, though he often added insertions and
interlineations, even in the most important official letters. Without
this it would have been impossible for him to have turned out the
enormous quantity of correspondence that he did. He never dictated
letters, and only availed himself of clerical assistance in matters of
the most ordinary routine. In his excursions, as in his work, he was
always energetic, and could not endure inaction. Whatever there was of
interest in the places that he visited he examined thoroughly and
without delay, and then passed on. And he thus accomplished a great
deal in a short vacation. His letters written to his wife, while he
was on his excursions, are very numerous and characteristic, and
afford ample proofs of his incessant energy and activity both of body
and mind. They are not brilliantly written, for it was not in his
nature to write for effect, and he would never give himself the
trouble to study the composition of his letters, but they are
straight-forward, clear, and concise, and he was never at a loss for
suitable language to express his ideas. He had a wonderful capacity
for enjoyment: the subjects that chiefly interested him were scenery,
architecture, and antiquities, but everything novel or curious had an
interest for him. He made several journeys to the Continent, but by
far the greater number of his excursions were made in England and
Scotland, and there were few parts of the country which he had not
visited. He was very fond of the Lake District of Cumberland, and
visited it very frequently, and each time that he went there the same
set of views had an eternal freshness for him, and he wrote long
descriptions of the scenery and effects with the same raptures as if
he had seen it for the first time. Many of his letters were written
from Playford, a village in a beautiful part of Suffolk, a few miles
from Ipswich. Here he had a small property, and generally stayed there