'MY DEAR SIR,--Both your communications reached me safely--the note
of the 17th September and the letter of the 2nd October. You do
yourself less than justice when you stigmatise the latter as
"ill-written." I found it quite legible, nor did I lose a word,
though the lines and letters were so close. I should have been sorry
if such had not been the case, as it appeared to me throughout highly
interesting. It is observable that the very same information which
we have previously collected, perhaps with rather languid attention,
from printed books, when placed before us in familiar manuscript, and
comprising the actual experience of a person with whom we are
acquainted, acquires a new and vital interest: when we know the
narrator we seem to realise the tale.
'The bath scene amused me much. Your account of that operation
tallies in every point with Mr. Thackeray's description in the
_Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo_. The usage seems a little
rough, and I cannot help thinking that equal benefit might be
obtained through less violent means; but I suppose without the
previous fatigue the after-sensation would not be so enjoyable, and
no doubt it is that indolent after-sensation which the self-indulgent
Mahometans chiefly cultivate.
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