1859- PLEASURES OF LONDON. 341 



' what next ? ' and it was not one next, but a long line, the 

 most of which I have either disposed of finally, or at least 

 chloroformed, and left behind in a state of anaesthesia, 

 guaranteed to last for a fortnight. The more pressing and 

 clamorous I have brought with me, and am polishing off, 

 beginning with your letter. ... 



" You ask for my health. I was decidedly the better of 

 my visit to London. The stoppage of brain work; the 

 spectacle of the great bee-hive, with all its drones and 

 workers, honey-makers and honey- eaters, its constitutional 

 queen, and assaulting wasps, always immensely exhilarating 

 to me ; the contact with the great little men who rule the 

 world ; the handling of that most wonderful invention red 

 tape, which, according as you will, is so strong, that a 

 Samson could not break a thread of it, and so weak, that 

 if you breathe on it, it disappears like heated gun-cotton ; 

 the gazing face to face, and as one always feels, perhaps 

 for the last time, at the good Faraday, and other great, 

 lovable, or at least admirable men ; the long profitable 

 chats with the landlord of the Tavistock ; l the genial con- 

 troversies with Lady May, leader of Her Majesty's Oppo- 

 sition ; the sweet face of dear A. There ! I have got to 

 the top of the hill, and I must stop a bit to recover my 

 wind. All these London experiences did me good, espe- 

 cially as my Sabbath at Cambridge was, though a sad, 

 yet a pleasant modulation in another key of the London 

 strain. 



" The change of weather has a little undone that good, 

 yet I don't think seriously. Your affectionate friend, 



" GEORGE WILSON." 



Ungenial weather lessened out-door pleasures while in 

 1 Dr. Gladstone, his host, was then resident in Tavistock Square. 



