Letter from W. E. Henley, St. George's Lodge, to Lord Windsor, 1901 December 10 : autograph manuscript signed.

Saying "I don't for a moment purpose to disappoint either myself or my dedicatee. So beware! Meanwhile, it isn't Nutt's fault : it's mine. The book is in type : has been in type for weeks. But a gent called William Shakespeare came in ; & he was too much for me; so I had, perforce, to hold over "Views & Reviews" until next year. It will be published as soon in January as ever we can get it out. I didn't mean any particular Ass : I meant the Ass in General; what George Wyndham calls the Garden Ass. He has had his will of me, has the Garden Ass; but I don't think it matters. As to the article, well, it looks frankness itself; but it isn't. We get sunshine here, & clear air, & clear skies. So we'll stay here till I've done more Williams, & finished off my little book for you. And then, if the weather holds, we shall return to our flatling, in Battersea. Meanwhile, we study the journals diligently, for a 'country cottage.' If you had something in a near Guildford, now! You will not be in town till February, I gather. Then, why not advise me of your painter-subject before. In any case, I'll be on the spot : for all I'm worth. Do you remember Rudyard's story of Mowgli & the Bandar Log? I can liken this outburst of anti-Henleyism - (it really is not pro-Stevensonism) - to nothing so much as to a debate among the Bandar Log. I find from it I've more enemies than I knew - But my master emotion is amazement : that here, in our midst, is the Bandar Log, & I never knew it until now."