io8 Edward Livingston Youmans. 



P. S. — Again: a friend of mine, an admirer of your 

 writings, has expressed a frequent and earnest desire to 

 get your portrait. I share the sentiment. Have you a 

 spare engraving or photograph to send over the sea? You 

 see, we take the utmost advantage of our Yankee reputa- 

 tion. E. L, Y. 



INIr. Spencer's cordial reply was as follows : 



24 Oakley Square, London, 26 March, i860. 



Dear Sir : I am greatly obliged by your letter of 23 

 February, and must apologize for having so long delayed 

 answ<ering it, partly on the ground that I have been over- 

 done with correspondence in the furtherance of my project 

 here, and partly on the ground that my plans were scarcely 

 mature. 



Referring to the points of your letter in the order in 

 which they stand, let me first undeceive you as to the nature 

 of the series of works to be published. I fear that I must 

 have used some misleading expression, for I by no means 

 intend a "reissue of my writings." Four fifths will be 

 wholly new, the parts written will be in most cases greatly 

 developed, and the whole w^ill assume an organization not 

 even indicated in anything I have as yet published. The 

 new organization will absorb, digest, and reorganize the 

 fragments already written, along with a far larger mass 

 that IS unwritten. 



I very gladly accept the assistance you so kindly offer 

 in furthering my scheme by obtaining subscribers to my 

 series in the United States. I have just written to my 

 friend Mr. E. A. Silsbee, of Salem, Mass. (to whom I sent 

 the circular you saw), inclosing him a revised circular con- 

 taining, with alterations, a list of the first subscribers in 

 England, including a number of the chief names in science 

 and literature. This revised circular, with its appended 

 names, I have suggested to Mr. Silsbee to reprint (at my 



