With the beautiful pen in my hand, I thank you, with all my heart, for your Christmas present. I never in my life received a prettier or more welcome one.
“I am, indeed, a downright galley-slave in this biography that I am writing, and obliged to have written by a certain day, and spin it out to two volumes. I literally see none of my friends,—but the first exception shall be your honoured self. “Believe me, your sincere friend,