Juno.. We have read Gibbon lately, who is certainly a very elegant and learned writer, and a very artful one. No other new books have we

yet seen, they come slow to Norfolk,-but the Diaboliad, the author of which has a pretty sharp pen-knife, and cuts up very handsomely. Many are the literary matters I want to talk over with when we meet, which I now look forward to as not a far-distant pleasure.

you

We will come and endeavour to steal away Charles's heart before we run away with his perAdieu! Heaven bless you and yours.

son.

Palgrave, 1777.

I AM happy that I can now tell you we are all safe at Palgrave, where we arrived last night about ten o'clock. Charles has indeed been an excellent traveller, and though like his great ancestor "some natural tears he shed,"-like him too "he wiped them soon." He had a long sound sleep last night, and has been very busy to-day hunting the puss and the chickens. And now, my dear brother and sister, let me again thank you for this precious gift, the value of which we are both more and more sensible of, as we become better acquainted with his sweet disposition and winning manners. As well as a gift it is a solemn trust,

and it shall be our study to fulfill that trust. The thought of what parents we have taken him from will be a constant motive for our care, tenderness and affection.

Remember us most affectionately to Dr. and Mrs. E., and Betsy and give a kiss for me to Arthur and George; and so you may to Betsy, now I think of it.

Every body here asks, "Pray is Dr. Dodd really to be executed?"-as if we knew the more for having been at Warrington.

Palgrave, Jan. 19, 1778.

It is a real concern to me that I could not write to you from London......Let me now then begin with telling you, that we two, Miss B, and one of our boys, got safe to Palgrave this afternoon. And now for the first time Mr. Barbauld and I experienced the pleasure of having something to come home for, and of finding our dear Charles in perfect health and glad to see us again; though wondering a little, and rather grave the first half-hour. Well, and what have you seen, you will say, in London? Why, in the first place, Miss More's new play, which fills the house very well, and is pretty generally liked. Miss More is, I assure you, now very much the ton, and moreover has got six or seven hundred pounds

by her play: I wish I could produce one every two winters; we would not keep school. I cannot say, however, that I cried altogether so much at Percy as I laughed at the School for Scandal, which is one of the wittiest plays I remember to have seen; and I am sorry to add, one of the most immoral and licentious ;-in principle I mean, for in language it is very decent. Mrs. Montague, not content with being the queen of literature and elegant society, sets up for the queen of fashion and splendour. She is building a very fine house, has a very fine service of plate, dresses and visits more than ever; and I am afraid will be full as much the woman of the world as the philosopher. Pray, have you read a book to prove Falstaff no coward? I want to know what you think of it: the present age deals in paradoxes. A new play of Cumberland's, and another of Home's, are soon to come out. Charles's little book is very well, but my idea is not executed in it: I must therefore beg you will print one as soon as you can, on fine paper, on one side only, and more space and a clearer line for the chapters. Prefix if you please, to that you are going to print, the following

ADVERTISEMENT.

"This little publication was made for a particular child, but the public is welcome to the use of it. It was found that amidst the multitude of books

professedly written for children, there is not one adapted to the comprehension of a child from two to three years old. A grave remark, or a connected story, however simple, is above his capacity, and nonsense is always below it; for folly is worse than ignorance. Another great defect is, the want of good paper, a clear and large type, and large spaces. Those only who have actually taught young children can be sensible how necessary these assistances are. The eye of a child and of a learner cannot catch, as ours can, a small obscure ill-formed word, amidst a number of others all equally unknown to him. To supply these deficiencies is the object of this book. The task is humble, but not mean; for to lay the first stone of a noble building, and to plant the first idea in a human mind, can be no dishonour to any hand."

Palgrave, 1778.

'Tis well I got a letter from Warrington when I did; very well indeed; for I began to be in such a fury, and should have penned you such a chiding! Do you know, pray, how long it is since I heard from any of you? But as I do sometimes offend myself, I think I will forgive you, especially as I wonder how you find time even to read, with labours so multifarious (as Johnson says) going forward. The fate of Miss B.'s letter is

very

remarkable. It was written as full,-I am sorry to mortify you, my dear sister,-as the paper would hold, folded, sealed, directed, and put somewhere; but when I had finished mine, and wanted it to put in the frank, it could be found nowhere. "Tis needless to tell you how the papercase was cleared, the cupboard routed out, pockets searched, and every body who had entered the room squinted at with an evil eye of suspicion. The letter has never made its appearance to this day; and what vexes Miss B. is, that Patty can but be in her debt, and that she was before. Now half this letter she says was about Charles, which may serve to excuse me, who finished in a violent hurry. I left him to the last, but was obliged to conclude abruptly. I am afraid to tell you much about him, lest you should fall in love with him again, and send somebody to kidnap him; though I think Charles would have a good many defenders in this house if you did. You will see by the inclosed I have been employing my pen again for him, and again I must employ you to get it printed.

Palgrave, Jan. 20th, 1779.

You are a pretty fellow to grumble, as my mother says you do, at my not writing! Do not you remember when you sent a sheet of Charles's book, you said you did not mean the line you sent with