“‘Luttrell’ No. 5, that is for next month, has been in part lost, and I am in a fearful hobble about it,--that is, I must re-write, without any recollection of where, what, or how. “My poor wife has been seriously, very seriously, attacked. Last night Julia was obliged to stay up with her, and to-day, though easier, she is not materially better. I write in great haste, as I have only got up, and it is nigh one o’clock, and the post closes early.” _To Mr John Blackwood._ “Casa Capponi, Florence, _March_ 18, 1864. “B. L.’s criticism on T. B. amused me greatly. Did you never hear of the elder who waited on Chief-Justice Holt to say, ‘The Lord hath sent me to thee to say that thou must stop that prosecution that is now going on against me,’ and Holt replied, ‘Thou art wrong, my friend; the Lord never sent thee on such an errand, for He well knoweth it is not I, but the Attorney-General, that can enter a _nolle prosequi._’ But B[ulwer] L[ytton]’s fine pedantry beats the Chief-Justice hollow, with this advantage that he is wrong besides. Nothing is more common than for Ministers to ‘swap’ patronage. It was done in my own case, and to my sorrow, for I refused a good thing from one and took a d------d bad one from another. _Au reste_, he is all right both as to O’D. and Maitland. O’D. ought to be broader and wider. I have an idea that with a few illustrations it would make a very readable sort of gossiping book. I am not quite clear how far reminiscences and bygones come in well in such a _mélange_. After all, it is only a hash at best, and one must reckon on it that the meat has been cooked already. What do _you_ say? I have some Irish recollections of noticeable men like Bushe, Lord Guillamore, Plunkett, &c., too good to be lost, but perhaps only available as apropos to something passing. “I have thought of some of these as subjects: Good Talkers--_Le Sport_ Abroad--Diplomacy--Demi-monde Influences--Whist--Irish Justice--Home as the Bon Marché of Europe--Travelled Americans--Plan of a new Cookery Book (with a quiz on Charters, your book), showing what to eat every month of the year. These I scratch down at random, for I can’t write just yet: I have got gout _vice_ ague retired, and my knuckle is as big as a walnut.