Mudie, if I mistake not, is some small
Bookseller in the Russell-Square region; pray answer him, if you
think him worthy of answer. A dim suspicion haunts me that
perhaps he was the Republisher (or Pirate) of your first set of
_Essays:_ but probably he regards this as a mere office of
untutored friendship on his part. Or possibly I do the poor man
wrong by misremembrance? Chapman could tell.
I am sunk deep here, in effete Manuscripts, in abstruse
meditations, in confusions old and new; sinking, as I may
describe myself, through stratum after stratum of the Inane,--
down to one knows not what depth! I unfortunately belong to
the Opposition Party in many points, and am in a minority of
one. To keep silence, therefore, is among the principal duties
at present.
We had a call from Bancroft, the other evening. A tough Yankee
man; of many worthy qualities more tough than musical; among
which it gratified me to find a certain small under-current of
genial _humor,_ or as it were _hidden laughter,_ not noticed
heretofore.
My Wife and all the rest of us are well; and do all salute you
with our true wishes, and the hope to have you here again before
long.
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