Some Original Letters.

felloiv that I must not pursue that subjoct . But you Avill at least take my cordial and affectionate thanks We have a touch of most beautiful Aveather here now ancl this country is most beautiful too . I wish I could carry you off to a

favourite spot of mine between this and Maidstone , where I often smoke your cigars and think of you . We often take our lunch on a hill-side there in the summer , and then I lie down on the grass—a lendid example of laziness—and say

sp , 1 Now for my Morgan !' "My daughter and her aunt declare that they knoAV the true scent of the true article ( AA'hich I don't in the least believe ) , and sometimes they exclaim , ' That ' s not a Morgan , ' and the worst of it is they Avere ¦

once right by accident . . . I hope you ivill have seen the Christmas number of' All the Year Bound . ' Here and there , in the description of the sea-going hero , I have given a touch or two of remembrance of Somebody you know ; very heartily

desiring that thousands of people may have some faint reflection of the pleasure I have for many years derived from the contemplation of a most amiable nature and most remarkable man . With kindest

regards , believe me , dear Morgan , " Ever affectionately yours , " CHARLES DICKENS . " "I really cannot tell you IIOAV highly and heartily I esteem your friendship . What if I were to come to America and

b y to tell you myself ? More unlikely things have happened since the world hegan . I have been making an extraordinary sensation in divers places by reading my Christmas books to immense audiences , and sometimes I have thought , dreaming with

my eyes open , ' Lord I I should not Wonder if they AVOUM be very glad to hear mo in America , after all . ' I saw Leslie not long ago , looking very Avell , but , on the whole , exceedingly like Don Quixote , AA'ith * grizzled beard . All your other artist lends

" ¦ are flourishing . I dined Avith a dozen of them last Tuesday , and they all smelt horribly of oil and varnish . . . . ' We have as much public humbug here ? usual , and I should very much like ( in 'nutation of your Washington , legislature ) , ° fodge it Avith a stoneware spittoon , and cla sh its brains out . "

The folloAving letter of Turner will be welcome to all Turnerites : —' " 47 , Queen Anne St . " Dear Captain Morgan : The storm of Saturday last having stove in the deadlights in my gallery it is at present a

complete wreck . Have the goodness to ask Mrs . Morgan to alloiv all the time available before you sail for America for the said broken lights to be repaired by the glaziers . Tho room is IIOAV in a state of darkness to keep the rain out .

" Many thanks for the brushes ancl kind offer of a trip to Portsmouth . Believe me truly your obliged , " J . M . W . TURNER . "

And UOAV Ave come to Avhat Ave venture to deem the " gems " of the collection—the very quaint ancl witty letters of Miss Leslie . The Avriter says there are others . We hope to see them in print , for they are worth a great deal in this age of dulness and dissipation , and full-mouthed pretension and brazen hypocrisy , combined .

" Dear Captain : Shah Ave ever forget that sunset AA'ith your sublime ship before it , both fading from our eyes at once , as you set sail in a manner Avorthy of so great a man ? Our ceaseless wish is that you may come again like the sim to brighten

our horizon ; Ai'e should , as W . said , 'know you by your cross-jack yards the moment we saAV the top of your mainmast . ' But I must tell you IIOAV Ave spent the rest of that evening after Ai r e parted from you . At the dock we all got into one fly ( Gravesend

flys are small ) , nine of us and the driver ( Ave did it by the rule of three ancl one over ) , and drove to tho hotel . B y the time Ave had accomplished a grand Avhitebait tea , Ave found it ivas half-past nine ; Ave could not be in time for that trainwe

, must stay till half-past ten , of course ; so AVC aU took a promenade on tho terrace fronting the river , which by this time had assumed a most poetical appearance , Avith distant ships , light reflected on the calm , & c . I Avish it Avere possible for my Aveak

mind , and weaker pen , to give you a faint idea of the fun that Ave had , the poetry that Avas composed , blank verse recited , & c , but it can't be done ; I must leave the Avhole scene to your powerful imagination ,