“My practice goes on favourably, my daily receipts ranging from two to three pounds usually....
“The D. U. M. people write so pressingly to me that I am once more in harness.... I have only my late evenings unoccupied. I find it sufficiently wearisome and fatiguing, but I am resolved to leave no shaft unworked that promises ore....
“Our gay season has not yet begun. Still, we have Saturday soirees at the Embassy, to which we always go, and occasional _petits diners_ with the chiefs of the _corps diplomatique_,--very pleasant and lively.”
“.... I am quite sure of Mr Butt’s being a safe and punctual person, and God forgive me if I wrong Mr Crowther, but I have not the same good opinion of him. _Coûte que coûte._
“It will not ruin me, and it’s only, as Dr Bailey said, going up so many more flights of stairs to feel pulses, though here in Brussels that is rather a laborious task.
“I have been thinking very much latterly of future provision for my family, and am divided between the idea of insurance and funding, and although the former has undoubted advantages to one like myself, _ne possède pas un grand talent de l’économie_, yet depending mainly, as I must do, on the fluctuating resources of a profession, I hesitate about commencing what I feel myself eventually unable to continue; and I think, under such circumstances, that laying by the accruing rents of the houses--and, if I can afford it now and then, an occasional £20 or £30 to make up a sum to lodge--affords, perhaps, the best means in my power to accomplish my object. In this way I might be able to put by close upon £100 per annum--at least, such is my present calculation....
“The writing for the Mag. is, as you hint, a very laborious finale to a day’s work; but although I find myself somewhat fagged, I feel I must do my best when the time offers, for although money comes in fast upon me, it equally rapidly takes wings to itself afterwards.
“Brussels is now beginning its gaiety, and is nearly as full as it can be. No kind of house in a good quarter, and tolerably well _garni_, can be had under £250 to £300 per annum, and many are as high as £500. Otherwise--clothes excepted--everything is cheap. We have a large Irish colony who are, I regret to say, not the _élite_ of the land....