53 



He is quite eager to come to blows ; and it is chiefly 

 that sad affair which animates every individual. — 

 God bless you. Write as soon as you can. 



E. Davall. 



J. E. Smith to Mr. Davall. 



My very dear Friend, London, Nov. 9, 1792. 



I write upon gilt paper for joy ! If I had a har- 

 lequin sheet, such as Sterne puts in his Tristram 

 Shandy, I would send it you to express my great 

 joy at your escape. I hope you will have no further 

 alarms : I trust that the cut-throat party in France 

 will be got under, and that they will settle into that 

 manly rational liberty at which they professed to 

 aim. I should not despair of them, if they had but 

 some principle of religion and less debauchery; on 

 the contrary, their characters in these respects make 

 me fear that nothing good can come out of them : 

 but let us leave politics and politicians for our more 

 virtuous study. I am come to town for two days 

 from Windsor. I return this day. I am delighted 

 with my pupils : we all sit together at a round table. 

 I lecture from my notes, which the Queen takes 

 home from Frogmore to Windsor to make extracts 

 from ; and my audience occasionally ask questions 

 and make remarks very much to the purpose, and 

 a conversation of half an hour or more follows the 

 lecture. Nothing can be more polite and pleasing. 

 I shall be thus engaged till next month. I have good 

 news of Afzelius and Francois. Yours, in haste, 



J. E. Smith. 



