thing is to be hoped.

I suppose I shall again incur chastisement, for rising thus as you call
it to the sublime. But I will write my thoughts without fear, and I
hope will patiently listen should they deserve reproach. If I have
sinned, it is in most fervently wishing to find my brother one of the
brightest and the best of men; and I have received more pleasure from
the powers he has displayed, in reproving me, than I could have done by
any dull expression of kindness; in which, though there might have been
words, there would neither have been feeling, sentiment, nor soul.

The concluding sentence of your letter warns me not to defame you with
my friend. I must speak without disguise, brother. You feel that, had
you received such a letter, revenge would have been the first emotion
of your mind. I hope its duration would have been short. I will most
readily and warmly repeat all the good of my brother that I know: but I
will neither conceal what ought to be said, nor say what I do not know.
I take it for granted that he would not have me guilty of duplicity.

Adieu, dear brother; and believe me to be most affectionately your

L. CLIFTON




LETTER XXX

_Frank Henley to Oliver Trenchard_