Visiting card with printed address '148 Charles Street'; 'Boston, U. S. A.' added by hand. Envelope postmarked May/June 1873.
Paper on which verse is written watermarked 1872; corners damaged. Accompanied by note in another hand that a copy has been sent to Severn, but neither he nor Ruskin know who wrote it.
3 Burlington Gardens. - Writes to persuade Milnes to sit tomorrow; will 'feel greatly disappointed' if he does not, and 'suppose in some way you fancy me incapable of painting you'. May not be able to do it in the spring. Finished several other works yesterday, and had intended to begin Milnes' picture today and tommorow, according to Milnes' own arrangements. Adds postscript: 'Are you aware how many persons you have told that I am to do the said picture - this is not pleasant or fair towards me, nor can I like the awkward position it places me in.'
Newport, I[sle] of W[ight]. - Sends passage from Coleridge's Table Talk; hopes Milnes has talked at length with C. Cowden Clarke, who knows more of Keats' early life than anyone. Severn's devotion to Keats in his last days. Transcribes passage from Table Talk Vol. 2 p. 89 on Coleridge's meeting Keats and predicting his death; Coleridge's unnamed companion on that occasion was Leigh Hunt; doubts about the alleged prediction as Keats was in perfect health at the time. The Examiner of c. 1815 introduces three would-be poets, Shelley, Keats, and himself; Reynolds has done very little but Keats' Muse will take care of him.