Autograph letter signed : [Cincinnati, to Ellen Freeman], [ca. 1876].

Responding to the gift of a portrait of the recipient in a low dress. Stating: "I do not like the picture at all -- in fact I cannot find words to express how much I dislike it." Noting: "You were never physically attractive to me; you are neither graceful nor beautiful, and you evidently know nothing of the laws or properties of beauty." Further stating: "Whatever liking I have had for you, it has never been of such a character that I could be otherwise than disgusted by such a picture as that ... it is simply unendurable." Discussing Hearn's appreciation of beauty and noting that he does not object to low dresses "or even to an utter absence of dress, when the unveiling reveals attractions." Stating that he has an "instinctive and cultivated knowledge of what physical beauty is," elaborating that he has "studied every limb and line in the bodies of fifty young women, and more; and know[s] what form is and beauty is." Sating that the picture is "horrible, horrible, horrible," begging the recipient to stop trying to make herself attractive, concluding "don't disgust me, please."