In the sight of the All-seeing it may be the same whether his children play with cannon-balls or with nuts; but to men the difference is considerable:--in their opinion, he who causes them to be shot by thousands is far greater than he who only labours to promote their enjoyment. A long index will illustrate my plan. Go hard to work to execute what I lay before you, and gladden my return with the realization of all my garden-dreams which have your approbation. My intention is now to return to London for a few days, for the purpose of seeing my horses embarked, and then to set out on my long tour in the country. The Journal will therefore have a long time to swell before I can send it you. Do not think, however, that I grow negligent; for, as the illustrious and brilliant prince says, "There are few things I enjoy more than writing to you." Your L----. LETTER XVIII. _London, Sept. 7th, 1827._ DEAR FRIEND, I am, as you know, not strong in remembering anniversaries and the like; but I know full well that to-morrow is the day on which I left my poor Julia alone in B----. A year has rolled over us, and we insects are still creeping on in the old track. But we love each other as much as ever, and that is the main thing. We shall work our way in time through those great heaps under which we are now forced to toil so wearily; and perhaps reach the fresh grass and the beautiful flowers on which the morning has scattered her diamonds, and the gay sunbeams dance glittering in the wet crystal. 'Soyez tranquille, nous doublerons encore un jour le Cap de bonne espérance.' For some days I have written nothing about my sayings and doings, because they amounted only to this,--that I worked and wrote daily with B----, dined with L---- at the Travellers' Club, and went to bed. Yesterday we had the company of another German at dinner, Count ----, who is come to buy horses. He seems to have a good deal of money, and is young enough to enjoy it; 'au reste,' the perfect picture of a good-natured country gentleman (_Landjunker_,)--of a truth, a most happy sort of man:--I only wish I were one. As to your opinion about parks, I must remark that the extent of them, especially when properly rounded, can never be great enough. Windsor park is the only one which has fully satisfied me as a whole, and the reason for that is its enormous size. It realizes all I would have;--a pleasant tract of country, within the bounds of which you can live and do what you like, without privation or constraint; hunt, fish, ride, drive, without ever feeling cramped; in which you never see a point, except just at the entrance-gates, at which you remark, Here is a boundary; and to which all the beauties of the surrounding country to the remotest distance have been rendered tributary by a cultivated taste.