Letter from William R. Greg, Windermere, to Madame Blaze de Bury, 1854? January 15 : autograph manuscript signed.

Informing her that he has written (on her behalf) to Mr. (George Cornewall) Lewis, the editor of the Edinburgh Review, but has not received a response; stating that he believes that the Edinburgh Review is regarded by readers and editors alike as "too heavy, too solid", and that there is "too much politics & history, & too little of literature"; going on to explain that the publication needs "some light, cheerful, readable sparkling articles", and that "A lady's pen can often provide these best: (some of the liveliest & most pleasant articles in the Quarterly are from a lady, Miss Rigby that was.) And I thought that the pen which wrote Mildred Vernon wd. probably be especially likely to succeed here."; regretting that there are so few literary works in England that are worthy of a notice "in a leading journal like the Edinburgh", observing that "In France it may still be otherwise", and suggesting that she write a piece on "present intellectual, social, & moral life of France"; cautioning her to avoid directly addressing religion and politics ("you must not show the cloven foot : hide it under the beauty of a lady's sandal."); responding to a request for the names of publishers to apply to for making translations from the French, and informing her that Murray and Bohn "are almost the only two who do much in this line", and that Murray's public read French and do not, therefore, "care for translations from that language", and Bohn only publishes cheap books and does not pay his contributors well; thanking her for sending him a copy of her Memoirs of the Princess Palatine, and saying that he has not yet read the book and thought it would serve her best "by placing it in the hands of the reviewer of contemporary literature in the Westminister", admitting that he did not like the book, and stating that "the style which the E.R. wants, is rather that of your earlier than of your later production; expressing his admiration for her two novels, Mildred Vernon (1848) and Leonie Vermont (1851); informing her that he intends to be in Paris in the spring and hopes to meet her at that time.