This letter is one of twenty-six letters from Henley to Anne Boyle written during their courtship in 1876 and 1877 (MA 1617.551 - MA 1617.576). Henley married Anne Boyle on January 22, 1878.
Written from "19 Balfour St. / Leith Walk, / Edinburgh.".
Telling her a long and detailed fairy tale as an explanation of the title of "...The book of H_____"[Hannah] of a lame Prince who "... was very very lame and poor as a prince could be...Doctors wanted to cut off his unfortunate foot (his foot was the most unfortunate part of him) but he would not give his consent. So they put him to bed in a great place full of other unfortunates, & there they left him. And my prince, sorely tried but valiant to the end, took more than ever to the writing of songs. Which probably saved his life; a life that he would in no wise lose after a certain occurrence had shown him how precious with all its drawbacks, it really was;" describing the Prince's meeting of "...the Princess H___" when she came to visit the "Sailor Prince" [Hannah's brother] and saying "...the thing was certain & She, & only She, had in her hands for him the keys of Life & Love, he had no more chance of winning her than he had of replacing the Man in the Moon, or of writing a poem that would sell...She came, however, & again & again. And when she went wandering once more, my Prince had written her a letter, & told her all he hoped, & out of the distance she answered & told him, that he was a goose. So it seemed good to the Prince, no longer the most Unfortunate, but surely the luckiest of Princes, in Fairyland or other, that he ought to try & show his appreciation of such conduct. So he determined to make a book, & to call that Book, the Book of So & So. Into it he put many songs; none were good enough, but they were true; & he said "So, if I die, at least I shall have done all I could towards her immortality! - Let us on, or finish!' - And he on'd!;" continuing the letter on the following day and discussing his brother Nigel and her brother Edward, relating his efforts to find work, the encouragement he received in a letter from T.E. Brown, recommending that she read "Daniel Deronda, George Eliot's new book" and suggesting she see "Black-Eyed Susan at the Duke's in Holborn;" adding, in a postscript, that the stocking she is making for him might be "five or six inches longer...I trust you may make me some more when these are worn out;" and in a 2nd postscript, "I am praying daily to Saint Valentine. As yet he is the hardest saint in the calendar; he will whisper me nothing."