mance illustrative of the august House of Cobourg would just now be very interesting,' and might very properly be dedicated to Prince Leopold. This was much as if Sir William Ross had been set to paint a great battle-piece; and it is amusing to see with what grave civility she declined a proposal which must have struck her as ludicrous, in the following letter :-
'MY DEAR SIR,-I am honoured by the Prince's
thanks and very much obliged to yourself for the
kind manner in which you mention the work. I
have also to acknowledge a former letter forwarded
to me from Hans Place. I assure you I felt very
grateful for the friendly tenor of it, and hope my
silence will have been considered, as it was truly
mcant, to proceed only from an unwillingness to tax
your time with idle thanks. Under every interesting
circumstance which your own talents and literary
labours have placed you in, or the favour of the
Regent bestowed, you have my best wishes. Your
recent appointments I hope are a step to something
still better. In my opinion, the service of a court
can hardly be too well paid, for immense must be the
sacrifice of time and feeling required by it.
'You are very kind in your hints as to the sort of
composition which might recommend me at present,
and I am fully sensible that an historical romance,
founded on the House of Saxe Cobourg, might be
much more to the purpose of profit or popularity
than such pictures of domestic life in country villages
