Yours of the 1st inst just received. The paper & the print are beautiful, but I believe our engravings come out a little cleaner & better than yours do. “However,” as George Dolby used to say, “That’s a matter of detail.” (He always added this, in an absent-minded way, after remarking, “Well, I am applying some particularly rough epithet to himself—a thing which happened about fifteen times a day.

I am very much obliged to you for making that continental arrangement for me; & I think you did the right thing to prefer Tauchnitz at £75, instead of a new man—for there is neither wisdom nor fairness in changing publishers except for good & palpable business raeasons;—& in this case these were lacking.

remainder of letter missing