early 1877

Dear friend.

Thank you for permission to write Mrs Higginson. I hope I have not fatigued her- also for thinking of my Brother, who is slowly better, and rides for an hour, kind Days. I am glad if I did as you would like. The degradation to displease you, I hope I may never incur.

Often, when troubled by entreaty, that paragraph of your's has saved me-"Such being the Majesty of the Art you presume to practice, you can at least take time before dishonoring it," and Enobarbus said "Leave that which leaves itself."

I shall look with joy for the "Little Book," because it is your's, though I seek you in vain in the Magazines, where you once wrote-

I recently found two Papers of your's that were unknown to me, and wondered anew at your withdrawing Thought so sought by others. When Flowers annually died and I was a child, I used to read Dr Hitckcock's Book on the Flowers of North America. This comforted their Absence - assuring me they lived.

Your Scholar-