Letter from James Hogg, London, to John James Ruskin, 1832 February 9 : autograph manuscript signed.

Thanking him very warmly for his "too liberal subscription" to The Queen's Wake; saying "It was impossible I could be offended with so much civility and kindness but I felt terribly queer. It is needless to deny that I have been an improvident being and that with the best intentions in the world I last year concluded a large farming speculation which once more left me without a sixpence and at sixty it is rather late in life to begin the world. I came however to London without the most distant intention of publishing by subscription but since my best and warmest friends have decided on it for the sake of a dearly beloved family I submit to you sir as the generous beginning I am particularly obliged and as I [illegible] your present this day to my Margaret an affectionate wife and mother's heart shall bless you. I have apprized Lockhart and insist that your name stand first on my list for twenty copies. Not with any intent of flattering you for of that you are far above accepting but merely as a selfish principle as an example to those who have higher pretensions."