On my arrival I found our parlor looking cheerful with a
brisk fire; . . . . but the first day or two in new lodgings is at best
an uncomfortable time. Fanny has just come in with more unhappy news
about ------. Pray Heaven it may not be true! . . . . Troubles are a
sociable brotherhood; they love to come hand in hand, or sometimes, even,
to come side by side, with long looked-for and hoped-for good
fortune. . . . .
November 11th.--This morning we all went to the British Museum, always a
most wearisome and depressing task to me. I strolled through the lower
rooms with a good degree of interest, looking at the antique sculptures,
some of which were doubtless grand and beautiful in their day. . . . .
The Egyptian remains are, on the whole, the more satisfactory; for,
though inconceivably ugly, they are at least miracles of size and
ponderosity,--for example, a hand and arm of polished granite, as much as
ten feet in length. The upper rooms, containing millions of specimens of
Natural History, in all departments, really made my heart ache with a
pain and woe that I have never felt anywhere but in the British Museum,
and I hurried through them as rapidly as I could persuade J----- to
follow me. We had left the rest of the party still intent on the Grecian
sculptures; and though J----- was much interested in the vast collection
of shells, he chose to quit the Museum with me in the prospect of a
stroll about London. He seems to have my own passion for thronged
streets, and the utmost bustle of human life.
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