Letters of Lydia Maria Child, with a biographical introduction by John G. Whittier and an appendix by Wendell Phillips.

- 4 LETTERS.
TO THE SAMIE.
NORRIDGEV Woc, C oVember 21, 1 81 9.
I have long indulgedl the hope of reading'Virgil
in his own tongue. I have not yet relinquished it.
I look forward to a certain time Nwhen I expect that
hope, with many others, will be realized.... I usually spend an hour, after I retire for the night, in
reading Gibbon's iRoman Empire." The pomp of
his style at first displeased me; but I think him an
admirable historian. There is a degree of dignified
elegance about this work which I think well suited to
the subject.
TO THE SA3IE.
NORRDGEXYOCE, December 26, 1819.
I am aware that I ehave been too indolent in examining the systems of great writers; that I have
not enough cultivated habits of thought and reflection
upon any subject. The consequence is, my imagination has ripened before my judgment; I have quickness of perception, without profoundness of thougght;
I can at one glance take in a subject as displayed by
another, but I am incapable of investigation. What
time I have found since I wrote you last has been
pretty much employed in reading Gibbon. I have
likewise been reading Shakespeare. I had before
taken detached views of the lv~orks of this grelat
master of human nature; but had never before read
him. What a vigorous grasp of intellect; what a
glow of imagination he must have possessed; bnt
when his fancy droops a little, how apt he is to make
low attempts at wit, and introduce a forced play upon
words. Had he been an American, the reviewers, in
spite of his genius, would have damned him for his