I salute you with reverence--I embrace you with affection--I thank you
with devout gratitude, for the many delightful moments I have enjoyed in
your society. I regularly read your "London Charivari:" it is
magnificent--superb! What wit--what _agacerie_--what exquisite badinage is
contained in every line of it! You are the veritable monarch of English
humour. Hail, then, great _fun-ambule_, PUNCH THE FIRST! Long may you
live, to flourish your invincible baton, and to increase the number of
your laughing subjects. Your "Physiology of the Medical Student" has been
translated, and the avidity with which it is read here has suggested to me
the idea that sketches of French character might be equally popular
amongst English readers. With this hope I send yon the commencement of a
Physiological and Pictorial Portrait of "THE LOVER." I have chosen him for
my leading character, because his madness will be understood by the whole
world. Love, _mon cher ami_, is not a local passion, it grows everywhere
like--but I am anticipating my subject, which I now commit to your hands.
With sentiments of the profoundest respect and esteem,