236 WRITING AND CONSERVATISM 



found deposited by my (garden) doorstep and by the 

 desire of the mother's owner its members expiated their 

 uncommitted offences in a prompt water-butt.* 



Even the comparatively trifling business of beginning 

 or ending a letter demanded a definite amount of care 

 and consideration. Mr. Harvie-Brown wished to dedi- 

 cate a volume of the " Fauna of Scotland " to Newton 

 and sent him a draft of the proposed dedication, which 

 came in for Newton* s criticism : 



I indeed take it very kindly of you that you should 

 wish to dedicate your book to me, but I confess I hardly 

 think that a regular dedication is merited by my services 

 or will in any way aid your book. It has already given 

 me much pleasure to be of any use to you, but I think 

 it only my duty to help any one who like yourself desires 

 to promote and extend the knowledge of Natural 

 History, and a few words in your preface or intro- 

 duction will amply repay me for any trouble I have 

 been at in regard to your book. 



If, however, you insist on a regular dedication, I 

 would suggest that you should word it somewhat less 

 formally, and at any rate substitute "Dear Newton" 

 or "Dear Prof. N." for the "Dear Sir" at the begin- 

 ning, and "Yours very truly" or "Yours truly and 

 obliged " for the " Faithfully yours " at the end. This, 

 however, is only a matter of taste, yet taste has so 

 much to do with Dedications that on this account I 

 often think they are best left alone, or rather left out.f 



Most of his letters were written with a definite 



was properly reproved : " In your letter you cite my note in the ' Catalogue 

 of Birds ' instead of the ' Dictionary of Birds.' Of course this was but 

 an inadvertence and being in a private letter is of no consequence. I 

 would only beseech you to be careful not in any publication to associate 

 my name with the former of these works, as I have no wish to deprive 

 its authors of the reputation it has achieved." (Letter to A. F. R. Wollaston, 

 February 16, 1902.) 



* Letter to Canon H. B. Tristram, October 23, 1893. 



t Letter to J. A. Harvie-Brown, January 15, 1879. 



