Which charm'd our days in each Ægean clime,
And oft at home with revelry and rhyme."
]

* * * * *

LETTER 54. TO MR. DALLAS.

_"Volage Frigate, at sea, June 28. 1811_.

"After two years' absence, (to a day, on the 2d of July, before
which we shall not arrive at Portsmouth,) I am retracing my way to
England.

"I am coming back with little prospect of pleasure at home, and
with a body a little shaken by one or two smart fevers, but a
spirit I hope yet unbroken. My affairs, it seems, are considerably
involved, and much business must be done with lawyers, colliers,
farmers, and creditors. Now this, to a man who hates bustle as he
hates a bishop, is a serious concern. But enough of my home
department.

"My Satire, it seems, is in a fourth edition, a success rather
above the middling run, but not much for a production which, from
its topics, must be temporary, and of course be successful at
first, or not at all. At this period, when I can think and act more
coolly, I regret that I have written it, though I shall probably
find it forgotten by all except those whom it has offended.

"Yours and Pratt's _protégé_, Blackett, the cobbler, is dead, in