Letter from E.H. Cradock, Mullingar, to William Angus Knight, 1878 August 4 : autograph manuscript signed.

Regarding the proofs for Knight's book; saying " Your proofs have arriv'd safely - I have read all with as much care as my eyes weakened by the incessant eastwind glare will permit - You appear to me to have dealt with the subject with much success - & much more fully than I thought possible - your work will satisfy a want felt by many. Of course criticism will point out defects & perhaps inaccuracies - It must be so in the nature of things. But I think that a second Edition will soon be demanded. There may be persons living who know facts where we only conjecture - the book will draw out such latent information. Have you referred to a chapter in Miss Martineau's life about her settlement in Ambleside and introduction to Wordsworth. It contains one or two odd stories about his early life at Grasmere. It is stated somewhere that the cost of Dove Cottage was only 8£ - I will retain the proof for 2 or 3 days & read it again - I enclose some comments made on first perusal;" adding, in a postscript, that he hopes to be at Grasmere on the 10th.