You have better things to think of & to do, & so I do not expect you to come to a lecture of mine—but still I wanted to send you the enclosed, (you to fill the blanks) just as I might say to any man, “What you have done has been a benefit, a pleasure, a luxury to me, & so what I am trying to t do now is only homage, & therefore ought not to be offensive.” 1explanatory note

But ⒶemendationI never would have ventured to do this thing, but that I saw my friend Moncure D. Conway last night & he said, “Do it—he probably won’t come, but it’s an inoffensive way of expressing your a body’s appreciation—therefore do it.”

Ad AndⒶemendation so, with all respect, I “do it.” 2