'DEAR PAPA,--I have now heard one of Mr. Thackeray's lectures and
seen the great Exhibition. On Thursday afternoon I went to hear the
lecture. It was delivered in a large and splendid kind of
saloon--that in which the great balls of Almacks are given. The
walls were all painted and gilded, the benches were sofas stuffed and
cushioned and covered with blue damask. The audience was composed of
the _elite_ of London society. Duchesses were there by the score,
and amongst them the great and beautiful Duchess of Sutherland, the
Queen's Mistress of the Robes. Amidst all this Thackeray just got up
and spoke with as much simplicity and ease as if he had been speaking
to a few friends by his own fireside. The lecture was truly good: he
has taken pains with the composition. It was finished without being
in the least studied; a quiet humour and graphic force enlivened it
throughout. He saw me as I entered the room, and came straight up
and spoke very kindly. He then took me to his mother, a fine,
handsome old lady, and introduced me to her. After the lecture
somebody came behind me, leaned over the bench, and said, "Will you
permit me, as a Yorkshireman, to introduce myself to you?" I turned
round, was puzzled at first by the strange face I met, but in a
minute I recognised the features.
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