Autograph letter signed : London, to Dr. Baldwin, [18]90 Dec. 19.

Apologizing for his delay in replying to his letter saying "...it is because I am condemned to live with my pen in my hand and yet never catch the time to write the letters I want to most;" expressing his "affectionate thanks for your friendly remembrances & all the greetings of the season into the bargain. I hope it is passing with you more genially & gracefully than here, where poisonous black fogs charged, [illegible], in equal infusions with suffocating smoke & corrosive cold, do their best to make existence impossible. However, I oughtn't to wish you too balmy a winter - but a winter of "flying round' which of course you do more of in proportion as nature shows her teeth. I would give a great deal, at any rate, on the chance to be able to exchange against the teeth of Italy, at this moment, the tongue of cockneydom. All your Florentine allusions even the invidious ones, make me desperately homesick;" discussing their friend Taccini and asking that he "assure him that I retain a tender affection for him and send him all the good wishes of the Season;" adding that his "sister has remained here instead of going away - she is too ill to move; & gradually sinks, I think, to more complete weakness. This deprives me of all present projects, I fear, for far journeys, though after the new year I shall attempt 3 weeks in Paris; " thanking him for his "...renewed invitation - it seems for the present to belong to the land of myth & fable. Miss Woolson sticks to Cheltenham and seems well - I haven't seen her since you were here."