"Heaven sees fit to visit me with the unshakable conviction that
all this series of articles is good for nothing. I don't think that
the public will bear with much more of this sort of thing."
His letters are often full of this moody discouragement, though lighted
up always by some gleams of his humor. For instance, he writes to
Fields:--
"Do make some inquiries about Portugal,--in what part of the world
it lies, and whether it is a Kingdom, an Empire, or a Republic.
Also the expenses of living there, and whether the Minister would
be much pestered with his own countrymen."