Do give a poor struggler a lift.

You and I have so much in common, and I have ventured to flatter myself that we are really friends! I do not flatter you when I say, that not only would aid from you help me more than from any other quarter, but also that praise from you would gratify my vanity more than any other praise.

I almost think you will like my "Criminal Queens." The sketch of Semiramis is at any rate spirited, though I had to twist it about a little to bring her in guilty.

Cleopatra, of course, I have taken from Shakespeare.

What a wench she was! I could not quite make Julia a queen; but it was impossible to pass over so piquant a character.