When shall we two meet again? This is a question which occurs to me much oftener than even you think, and it always comes into my mind when I am in any society I peculiarly like, or when I am reading any book particularly suited to my taste and feelings; and now it comes _á propos_ to the Bishop of Meath and Mrs. O'Beirne and _The Lady of the Lake._ By great good fortune, and by the good-nature of Lady Charlotte Rawdon, we had _The Lady of the Lake_ to read just when the O'Beirnes were with us. A most delightful reading we had; my father, the Bishop, and Mr. Jephson reading it aloud alternately. It is a charming poem: a most interesting story, generous, finely-drawn characters, and in many parts the finest poetry. But for an old prepossession--an unconquerable prepossession--in favour of the old minstrel, I think I should prefer this to either the _Lay_ or _Marmion._ Our pleasure in reading it was increased by the sympathy and enthusiasm of the guests. Have you read, or tried to read, Mademoiselle de l'Espinasse's three volumes of Letters? and have you read Madame du Deffand? [Footnote: The blind friend and correspondent of Horace Walpole.] Some of the letters in her collection are very entertaining; those of the Duchesse de Choiseul, the Comte de Broglie, Sir James Macdonald, and a few of Madame du Deffand's: the others are full of _fade_ compliments and tiresome trifling, but altogether curious as a picture of that profligate, heartless, brilliant, and _ennuyed_ society. There is in these letters, I think, a stronger picture of _ennui_ than in Alfieri's _Life._ Was his passion for the Countess of Albany, or for horses, or for pure Tuscan, the strongest? or did not he love NOTORIETY better than all three? _Sept._ 1810. Sir Thomas and Lady Ackland spent a day here: he is nephew to my friend Mrs. Charles Hoare. He says he is twenty-three, but he looks like eighteen. To MISS RUXTON. _Oct. 1810._ We have had a visit from Captain Pakenham, the Admiral's son, this week: I like him. I was particularly pleased with his respectful manner to my father. He has some of his father's quickness of repartee, but with his _own_ manner--no affectation of his father's style. We were talking of a Mrs. ----. "What," said I, "is she alive still? The last time I saw her she seemed as if she had lived that one day longer by particular desire."--"I am sure, then," said Captain Pakenham, in a slow, gentle voice,--"I am sure, then, I cannot tell at _whose desire._" I have been hard at work at Mrs. Leadbeater: I fear my notes are rubbish. * * * * * Mrs. Edgeworth writes: