Page:Blanchard on L. E. L.pdf/164

164 conducted his wife to that stately and sea-washed home.

A vessel sailed from Cape Coast soon after their arrival, and this brought to England a letter for Mr. Landon, from his sister, stating, in the strongest terms, her favourable impressions of the country, her satisfaction with her new abode, her enjoyment of health, and her cheerful hopes and prospects. Subsequent letters, addressed to several of her friends, repeat these statements without variation. To these it is now necessary to refer, because they afford a description of the castle as a residence; some account of the people about her; a picture of her domestic trials, in the severe illness of her husband, and the want of certain accomplishments in housewifery, on which she had never bestowed a thought; with a little insight into her new habits of life, the state of her feelings, and the progress of her literary occupations. All these are glanced at in the following:

", "Though so many thousand miles of land and sea are between us, I do not feel at all afraid that you have forgotten me; I recall you too kindly myself. You must, will, and shall be glad to hear from me. I am very well and very happy; my only regret—the emerald ring that I fling into the dark sea of life, to propitiate fate—is the constant sorrow I feel whenever I think of those whose kindness is so deeply treasured. I was wretchedly ill during the whole of the voyage. I shall never read Cooper's novels with any pleasure again. I protest against the 'Corsair.' I own that I am 'a luxurious slave, Whose soul will sicken o'er the heaving wave.'