3–9 February 1834

I have read Corinne with as much emotion as a book can excite in me."" A true representation of the tragedy of woman, which yet (thanks to the mysterious compensation which nature has provided) they rarely feel. The tragedy of genius also. The story labours with the fault of an ex- travagant, I may say ridiculous, filial passion in Oswald, which no man of such intelligence can carry so far, and then with the second impossi- bility of his rapid marriage. No matter; though the circumstances are untrue, the position and the feelings of Corinne are possible, and, as Plato would say, more true than history.

I have been to Plymouth and stood on the Rock, and felt that it was grown more important by the growth of this nation in the minutes that I stood there. But Barnabas Hedge ought not — no man ought — to own the rock of Plymouth.