2–8 June 1862

Romance. If we could tell accurately the evanescing effects of an imaginative book on us as we read! Thus Milman's translation of Nala and Damayanti is nearer to my business and bosom than is the news in to-day's Boston Journal. And I am admonished and comforted, as I read. It all very nearly concerns me. We are elevated by beauty. I walk in marble gal- leries and talk with kings the while.