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Printed notepaper, The Critic and Good Literature, 20 Astor Place, New York. - The Critic of 30 August is to feature congratulations to Oliver Wendell Holmes, 'the Autocrat', on his 75th birthday. Requests contribution from Houghton. Postscript: Holmes is unaware of the planned compliment.

Addressed to: Ephraim Whitman Gurney, Oliver Wendell Holmes [Sr or Jr?]; Theodore Dwight Woolsey.

Declares that he was very glad to get news of Mary [Minnie], as the latter does not write to him. States that he has not heard from William either. Claims to be very busy with correspondence. Refers to developments at Rugby, and remarks that 'things keep dragging on'. Reports that he has asked about the governess, but without success. Asks his mother if she has applied to Mrs [Frances?] Kitchener, who has 'a sort of calendar of the women who pass and take honours in the July examination: in case they want any post of an educational kind. Reports that his old friend Tawney is in England, but that he has not seen him yet because of his [Tawney's] wife's illness. The latter 'was a Miss Fox daughter of the Dr. at Clifton'. Refers to the 'matter of young Meyer', which he declares to be 'a horrible puzzle'. Presumes that his mother hears enough from Rugby to know that 'the crisis seems to have come.' Speculates on the likely outcome.

States that he has read very little in the recent past, 'except Plato and Greek History', and reports that he has been writing 'an erudite paper on the Sophists for [their] Philological Journal.' Reports that he has 'only managed to read Macmillan and Miss Thackeray's story in Cornhill and Middlemarch: and O. W. Holmes's new book [Poet at the Breakfast Table]' which he thinks is 'a falling off but still enjoyable'. Has heard that the new Darwin [Expression of the Emotions] 'is very entertaining'. Sends his love to all, and adds that '[Strange] Adventures of a Phaeton in Macmillan [by William Black] seems to [him] excellent'.

Trinity College, Cambridge.—Thanks him and his wife for some books. He will probably go to Naples, if he still can. Has received a proof of his lecture.

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Transcript

Coll: SS. Trin. Cantab:
Friday Mar. 13/68

Dear Mr Pollock

I return the speech of Dean Stanley, {1} which I have read with great delight and thank you exceedingly for the loan. The last part especially does one good—“There are … against whom you … dare not propose to institute proceedings ‥ I might mention one … and that individual is the one who now addresses you”—I thought that particularly sweet and refreshing. Will you thank Mrs Pollock also from me for the Autocrat? What an admirable seidlitz powder it makes! I have been lucky enough to secure the first volume of the Guardian Angel at the Union, and think it promises to be at least equal to Elsie Venner. The Autocrat is quite alive in Byles Gridley. {2} On reflection I am likely to go to Naples, if the opportunity is still open, and if it is possible to acquire sufficient knowledge of the rout† before that time—I think you said the 3rd of April. A proof of my lecture {3} has come this morning: the assistant secretary, I suppose, has altered my last sentence into “It is not right to be too proper.” δf too.

With more thanks than I can at all express to you and Mrs Pollock for your great kindness to me

I remain
Yours most truly
+W. K. Clifford.

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Letter-head of the Cambridge Union Society. On the back is written ‘1866–1868’, which probably indicates that the letter was once at the end of a bundle.

{1} Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, The South African Controversy in its Relations to the Church of England: a Speech delivered in the Lower House of the Convocation of the Province of Canterbury, June 29, 1866 (1867).

{2} The references are to books by Oliver Wendell Holmes, namely his celebrated collection of essays The Autocrat at the Breakfast Table (1857), and the novels Elsie Venner (1861) and The Guardian Angel* (1867). Byles Gridley is a character in latter.

{3} ‘On Some of the Conditions of Mental Development’, delivered at the Royal Institution on 6 March. It was printed in the Institution’s Proceedings.

Offers to send her a book called A Lost Love by Ashford Owen [Anne Charlotte Ogle], which reminds him of 'Romance of a Dull Life etc [by Anne Judith Penny], only it is written with less intellect and perhaps more passionateness'.

Reports that he hears excellent accounts of her, and hopes that they are all true. Assumes that she is still at Hastings, Mentions that she may possibly be seeing William in a few days. Reports that he saw the latter at Oxford, and that he has given up his work for the term, and is going away, probably to Rugby first 'and then perhaps to Hastings.' Asks her how she finds Hastings. Declares that he knows it well, and looks forward to seeing much more of it in years to come, if his ' poor friend Cowell's life is preserved'; does not expect that Cowell will leave Hastings again now.

Hopes that she is not experiencing any fogs. Declares that they have been having a splendid autumn [in Cambridge]. Reports that he is involved in a project for improving female education, by providing examination for governesses. States that there is an attempt being made to form a joint board, consisting of members of the two universities, for the purpose. Mentions that there are also other projects. Remarks that it appears that there is particular activity in the North of England, where schoolmistresses 'and other enlightened people have associated themselves in several great towns, and out of these associations a general council has been formed with lofty aspirations'.

Refers to Matthew Arnold, whose 'unfortunate lecture on culture has been attacked again in the Fortnightly Review by Frederic Harrison'. Advises her that 'the Guardian Angel by O.W. Holmes is worth reading, though he thinks 'not good as a novel'.