ENGLISH CORRESPONDENCE. 571 



FROM SIR PHILIP DE GREY EGERTON. 



LONDON, AUBEMARLE ST., April 16, 1861. 



MON CHER AoASS., 1 I have this morning 

 received your handsome and welcome present 

 of the third volume of your great undertaking, 

 and this reminds me how remiss I have been 

 in not writing to you sooner. In fact, I have 

 had nothing worth writing about, and I know 

 your time is too valuable to be intrenched 

 upon by letters of mere gossip. I have not 

 of course had time to peruse any portion of 

 the monograph, but I have turned over the 

 pages and seen quite enough to sharpen my 

 appetite for the glorious scientific feast you 

 have so liberally provided. And now that the 

 weight is off your mind, I hope shortly to hear 

 that you are about to fulfill this year the 

 promise you made of returning to England for 

 a good long visit, only postponed by circum- 

 stances you could not have foreseen. Now 

 that you have your son as the sharer of your 

 labors, you will be able to leave him in charge 

 during your absence, and so divest your mind 

 of all care and anxiety with reference to mat- 

 ters over the water. Here we are all fight- 

 ing most furiously about Celts and flint imple- 



1 An affectionate abbreviation which Sir Philip often used 

 for him. 



