Autograph letter signed : London, to John Aston, 1825 Dec. 4.

Lamenting that, at the urgings of his mother and one of his colleagues, he has been induced to promise that he will abandon his literary pursuits for the present time; describing the frustrations of an author's life; expressing his admiration and esteem for the recipient and regretfully declaring the necessity of declining "any future literary transactions"; assuring him of his own good wishes and personal support for Aston's own writings and promising to contact the publisher Hurst & Robinson concerning joint literary projects he and Aston have worked on together in order to place Aston "on a footing equal to that on which I stand with them"; outlining his intentions to settle terms and payment for various literary works created by Aston and himself; offering him some advice as an author, including a recommendtion that he seek to publish in Blackwood and warning him at some length to avoid dealings with "a certain gentleman".