DEAR M.,--I thought it would be a good idea to go to Weimar, the place
_par excellence_ to study German, the Germans, and their literature;
and, moreover, my boy might go to school there. Mrs. Kingsland had given
me a letter to the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and recommended the place,
not because she knew the town, but because she knew the Grand Duke.
Besides, had I not a dear cousin who had written a most attractive book
about Weimar, combined with Liszt and his enchantments?