"April 14. 1823.
"I am truly sorry that I cannot accompany you in your ride this
morning, owing to a violent pain in my face, arising from a wart to
which I by medical advice applied a caustic. Whether I put too much,
I do not know, but the consequence is, that not only I have been put
to some pain, but the peccant part and its immediate environ are as
black as if the printer's devil had marked me for an author. As I do
not wish to frighten your horses, or their riders, I shall postpone
waiting upon you until six o'clock, when I hope to have subsided into
a more christian-like resemblance to my fellow-creatures. My
infliction has partially extended even to my fingers; for on trying
to get the black from off my upper lip at least, I have only
transfused a portion thereof to my right hand, and neither
lemon-juice nor eau de Cologne, nor any other eau, have been able as
yet to redeem it also from a more inky appearance than is either
proper or pleasant. But 'out, damn'd spot'--you may have perceived
something of the kind yesterday, for on my return, I saw that during
my visit it had increased, was increasing, and ought to be
diminished; and I could not help laughing at the figure I must have
cut before you. At any rate, I shall be with you at six, with the
advantage of twilight.
Ever most truly, &c.
"Eleven o'clock.
"P.S. I wrote the above at three this morning. I regret to say that
the whole of the skin of about an _inch_ square above my upper lip
has come off, so that I cannot even shave or masticate, and I am
equally unfit to appear at your table, and to partake of its
hospitality. Will you therefore pardon me, and not mistake this
rueful excuse for a '_make-believe_,' as you will soon recognise
whenever I have the pleasure of meeting you again, and I will call
the moment I am, in the nursery phrase, 'fit to be seen.' Tell Lady
B. with my compliments, that I am rummaging my papers for a MS.
worthy of her acceptation. I have just seen the younger Count Gamba,
and as I cannot prevail on his infinite modesty to take the field
without me, I must take this piece of diffidence on myself also, and
beg your indulgence for both."