_Viva_ 'Agnes Tremorne'![89] We find it in 'Orley Farm.' How admirably this last opens! We are both delighted with it.

What a pity it is that so powerful and idiomatic a writer should be so incorrect grammatically and scholastically speaking! Robert insists on my putting down such phrases as these: 'The Cleeve was distant from Orley two miles, though it _could not be driven_ under five.' '_One rises up the hill._' 'As good as _him_.' 'Possessing more _acquirements_ than he would have _learned_ at Harrow.' _Learning acquirements!_ Yes, they are faults, and should be put away by a first-rate writer like Anthony Trollope.

It's always worth while to be correct.

But do understand through the pedantry of these remarks that we are full of admiration for the book.

The movement is so excellent and straightforward--walking like a man, and 'rising up-hill,' and not going round and round, as Thackeray has taken to do lately.