and the fire? I, who bear cold no better than an antelope, and never yet
found a sun quite _done_ to my taste, was absolutely petrified, and
could not even shiver. All the rest, too, looked as if they were just
unpacked, like salmon from an ice-basket, and set down to table for that
day only. When she retired, I watched their looks as I dismissed the
screen, and every cheek thawed, and every nose reddened with the
anticipated glow.

"Saturday, I went with Harry Fox to Nourjahad; and, I believe, convinced
him, by incessant yawning, that it was not mine. I wish the precious
author would own it, and release me from his fame. The dresses are
pretty, but not in costume;--Mrs. Horn's, all but the turban, and the
want of a small dagger (if she is a sultana), _perfect_. I never saw a
Turkish woman with a turban in my life--nor did any one else. The
sultanas have a small poniard at the waist. The dialogue is drowsy--the
action heavy--the scenery fine--the actors tolerable. I can't say much
for their seraglio--Teresa, Phannio, or * * * *, were worth them all.

"Sunday, a very handsome note from Mackintosh, who is a rare instance of
the union of very transcendent talent and great good nature. To-day
(Tuesday) a very pretty billet from M. la Baronne de Staël Holstein. She
is pleased to be much pleased with my mention of her and her last work
in my notes. I spoke as I thought. Her works are my delight, and so is
she herself, for--half an hour. I don't like her politics--at least, her
_having changed_ them; had she been _qualis ab incepto_, it were
nothing. But she is a woman by herself, and has done more than all the
rest of them together, intellectually;--she ought to have been a man.
She _flatters_ me very prettily in her note;--but I _know_ it. The
reason that adulation is not displeasing is, that, though untrue, it
shows one to be of consequence enough, in one way or other, to induce