small matters rehearsed had been all, I could more contentedly have
put up with the allowance of four-and-twenty hours.] "And yet I don't
know. Like enough we should all do less if we had time to do more in.

"Layard was with us for a couple of days a little while ago, and
brought the last report of you, and of your daughter, who seems to
have made a great impression on him. I wish he had had the keepership
of the National Gallery, for I don't think his Government will hold
together through many weeks.

"I wonder whether you thought as highly of Gibson's art as the lady
did who wrote the verses. I must say that I did _not_, and that I
thought it of a mechanical sort, with no great amount of imagination
in it. It seemed to me as if he 'didn't find me' in that, as the
servants say, but only provided me with carved marble, and expected me
to furnish myself with as much idea as I could afford.

"Very faithfully yours,

"CHARLES DICKENS."

* * * * *

I do not remember the verses, though I feel confident that the lady
who sent them through me must have been a very charming person. As to
Gibson, no criticism could be sounder. I had a considerable liking for
Gibson as a man, and admiration for his character, but as regards his
ideal productions I think Dickens hits the right nail on the head.

In another letter of the same year, 25th July, after a page of remarks