But with rough English to combine We must have that, and-little More. He then adds, " I send you, too, a melancholy Epigram of mine, of which I have seen many, alas, witness the truth: "A minister's answer is always so kind! I starve, and he tells me he'll keep me in mind. Half his promise, God knows, would my spirits restore : The only portion of the mass of trifles contained in this volume, that first found its way to the public eye through any more responsible channel than a newspaper, was the Letters of the Fudge Family in England, -a work which was sure, from its very nature, to encounter the double risk of being thought dull as a mere sequel, and light and unsafe as touching on follies connected with the name of Religion. Into the question of the comparative dulness of any of my productions, it is not for me, of course, to enter; but to the charge of treating religious subjects irreverently, I shall content myself with replying in the words of Pascal, "Il y a bien de la différence entre rire de la religion et rire de ceux qui la profanent par leurs opinions extravagantes." |