In answer to this Lord Carlisle writes:—[451] know not, but I hope there is. I do not believe that there is flattery in it, or concealment, for who is there that I should seek to flatter by overpraise of him, and what was there in his life or character that anybody should desire to conceal? About your own relations with him, I suppose I can hardly have been mistaken. I know how his heart turned to you from the very first. I know how, in his little study in Bedford Street, he showed you his private memoranda about his religious inquiries and convictions, for he told me of it at the time, and it was a proof of his intimate confidence which I think he never gave to anybody but to his wife, to you, and to me; and to me very rarely, although I saw him so constantly and we exchanged our thoughts so freely. But you will judge of this, as you will of all else; and if you are willing to give me your opinion of the book, or of any part of it, I shall be grateful for it. In any event, my dear Lord Carlisle, believe me, Yours very faithfully,
Dublin Castle, March 17, 1864.my dear Mr. Ticknor,—I fear you must have thought that my acknowledgments of your most kind letter and thrice welcome volume come to you very tardily; but I was determined not to leave a line unread before I wrote, and notwithstanding all the pleasure of the occupation, the many distractions which beset me here have not allowed it to be as rapid as would have been both natural and agreeable. My verdict is one of unalloyed approval. I think your memorial of our dear and honored friend is simple, complete, unaffected, and thus entirely suited to the character and qualities of its subject. How much it recalls to me that ‘sunny’ countenance, pure heart, placid and blameless life. I think I can rely on myself; that I am not bribed into my admiration by the considerate manner in which I have been treated through your work, as I can assure you I consider that you have put no mean feather in my cap by exhibiting me to the world as one who had won the regard of Prescott. . . . . Pray give my very kindest regards to Mrs. Ticknor ... Believe me, my dear Mr. Ticknor, Your most obliged and faithful
