94 INVALIDISM AND ITALY. 



is good improve in proportion to the supply ; ' as if in- 

 crease of appetite did grow by what it fed on,' as was 



once observed of the late Dr Y\ r , he being then 



employed on his fifth plate of turtle-soup." 



" Saturday Night. 



" Dear Cousin, — I have just been informed, when it is 

 nearly two hours too late, that I might have gone to Mait- 

 land Street to-day to dinner, where I should have enjoyed 

 good mutton, a glass of ale, glorious tea, and the society 

 of your sister Nancy (I have missed out the Miss by 

 mistake). I would have given anything to have gone out, 

 having been in a very strange unsettled humour all day, 

 and unable to do anything but laugh at the robin for try- 

 ing to swallow the tail of a live mouse, which the dear 

 innocent takes for a worm. Hee ! hee ! hee ! Why don't 

 you laugh ? 



" Howze yir toothache ? I was very sorry to learn by 

 your last despatch that you were suffering from a renewal 

 of that painful malady. They say it is a worm in the 

 tooth. If you would let cock-robin sleep in your mouth 

 for a single night, he would effect a permanent and 

 radical cure ; but then, his charges are high. 



"I feel considerable trepidation in alluding to your 

 request to see some scraps of miscellaneous poetry. Your 

 demand, it would seem, is either to be 'granted gener- 



