TEMPLE PLACE 29 
insist upon your getting up a slight rave with me for 
sympathy’s sake, when I return. Tonight we hear 
Il Giuramento once more, and on Friday I go again 
with the Ruggleses, when they will repeat this opera, 
or — “bear with me, Mrs Porter,” it is only a possi- 
bility — or — Ernani. 
New York, Wednesday night, 11.30 [1844] 
I must add a line, dearest, on my return from the 
opera to mention that I am just now in that miser- 
able state of excitement when all seems stale, flat and 
unprofitable but the scene we left behind. This is the 
last time we shall hear Giwramento, which adds to my 
melancholy, and there is a fearful report about tonight 
that on Friday evening we have Lucia instead of 
Ernani, on which I had set my heart. 
Mother sends much love to Father, whose letter 
she was delighted to receive this afternoon. I don’t 
send love to anybody, because after writing every 
spare moment, I only get blackguarded for my pot- 
hooks, which, thank Heaven, are appreciated in New 
York, if not elsewhere. Tell Father and Tom that 
Aunt Nancy avers, among all the letters she has re- 
ceived from me she has never had the least difficulty 
in deciphering one. Don’t let them see this one if they 
want to ever so much. 
We shall come home on Monday without an escort, 
if none offers, as we are not in the least timid about 
taking care of each other. Good-night. 
Your 
Lizzir 
