After this important business was over, Mr. Hall
led us about his rounds, which are very nicely planned and ordered; and
all this he has bought, and built, and laid out, from the profits of his
own and his wife's literary exertions.
We dined early, and had a very pleasant dinner, and, after the cloth was
removed, Mr. Hall was graciously pleased to drink my health, following it
with a long tribute to my genius. I answered briefly; and one half of my
short speech was in all probability very foolish. . . . .
After the ladies (there were three, one being a girl of seventeen, with
rich auburn hair, the adopted daughter of the Halls) had retired, Dr.
------ having been toasted himself, proposed Mrs. Hall's health.
I did not have a great deal of conversation with Mrs. Hall; but enough to
make me think her a genuine and good woman, unspoilt by a literary
career, and retaining more sentiment than even most girls keep beyond
seventeen. She told me that it had been the dream of her life to see
Longfellow and myself! . . . . Her dream is half accomplished now, and,
as they say Longfellow is coming over this summer, the remainder may soon
be rounded out. On taking leave, our kind hosts presented me with some
beautiful flowers, and with three volumes of a work, by themselves, on
Ireland; and Dr. ------ was favored also with some flowers, and a plant
in a pot, and Bennoch too had his hands full, . . . . and we went on our
way rejoicing.
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