THE DUCHESS OF TYRCONNEL TO MRS. CARTWRIGHT.
"Oh, give me joy! for yesterday my beloved husband, to our unexpected happiness, returned to my arms! Oh, how it delights me he has returned; and has received permission from the higher powers to remain at Brussels. My Adelaide is wild with joy, and so am I.
"Yes, the duke has returned, and I behold every object with redoubled interest--with renewed delight; all seems to me to be newly created. The climate is more charming, the air is more sweetly perfumed with aromatic gales, the melody of the birds is more harmonious; every sky which I see is a Breughel sky. And _now_ I behold daily illustrations of the old masters, which I did not observe before, in the scenery which surrounds me, the various buildings, manners, customs, and costume, and all so faithfully portrayed to the life, in the performances of Berghem, Breughel, Rubens, and Teniers.
"Sweeter too, to me, at eve, is the song of the nightingale: our house fronts the park, which is the favourite retreat of this sweetest of warblers; and night after night, long after Saint Gudule hath tolled the midnight hour, have I sat stationed at my latticed casement, the breeze of heaven blowing on my brow, and the cold moon-beam gleaming on my cheek, while I listened with mute delight to the melancholy songster of the night. And often while the bitter tear fast trickled down my cheek, methought--I acknowledge my weakness--methought that I had listened to some poor widowed bird who mourned her absent mate, singing, as the old proverb runs, with a thorn wounding her breast! But oh, _now_ I think quite differently; for _now_ it is quite clear to me that the warbling of the nightingale is more musical than melancholy; for surely, after all, it sweetly trills the notes of love, and not the strains of sorrow!
"You are pleased, my dear Mrs. Cartwright, to express so much satisfaction, in verity, more than its deserts, of my poor account of Lille; and at the same time expressing your desire that I should write to you from this truly delightful city, and give you a true and distinct account of Brussels, that I am flattered, and even tempted to take you at your word, and I shall do my best, to the fullest to gratify your wishes.