Joanna Bailhe. 263 



pleased, too, with what you have said of the health and 

 other gratifications you enjoy in Italy. I should gladly 

 have thanked you at the time, had I known how to 

 address my letter; and after receiving your proper 

 direction from our friend Miss Montgomery, I have 

 heen prevented from using it by various things .... 

 But though so long silent I have not been ungrateful, 

 and thank you with all my heart. The account you 

 give of Venice is very interesting. There is something 

 affecting in still seeing the descendants of the former 

 Doges holding a diminished state in their remaining 

 palaces with so much courtesy. I am sure } T OU have found 

 yourself a guest in their saloons, hung with paintings 

 of their ancestors, with very mixed feelings. However, 

 Venice to the eye, as you describe it, is Venice still ; 

 and with its lights at night gleaming upon the waters 

 makes a very vivid picture to my fancy. You no doubt 

 have fixed it on canvas, and can carry it about with you 

 for the delight of your friends who may never see the 

 original. 



In return to your kind inquiries after us, I have, all 

 things considered, a very good account to give. Ladies 

 of four score and upwards cannot expect to be robust, 

 and need not be gay. We sit by the fire-side with 

 our books (except when those plaguy notes are to be 

 written) and receive the visits of our friendly neighbours 

 very contentedly, and, I ought to say, and trust I 



may say, very thankfully This morning brought 



one in whom I feel sure that you and your daughters 

 take some interest, Maria Edgeworth. She has been 

 dangerously ill, but is now nearly recovered, and is 

 come from Ireland to pass the winter months with 

 her sisters in London : weak in body, but the miiid 



