Dear Joe—I am disgusted with myself for having put all that work & vexation upon you & Will Sage, but you know we couldn’t foresee it. If the cursed boxes had reached Liverpool in time, no doubt the matter would have been simpler. But after all, the thing that mainly hurts me is, that after I had forftified you and those boxes with a written oath sworn in the presence of the Holy Trinity, my country should deem that group not august enough without the addition of a U. S. Consul. I am sensitive about these things. However, it is all right, now. I have sent to Geneva for the clock-maker’sⒶemendation certificate, & as soon as I get to Munich, (Nov. 18 or 20,) I shall swear once more by the Trinity, adding the Fourth Personage, & immediately transmit the document, thus sublimely freighted, to Will Sage. And at the same time I will thank Sage for taking the trouble this matter has cost him.

I have received your several letters, & we haveⒶemendation prodigiously enjoyed them. How I do admire a man who can sit down & whale away with a pen just the same as if it was fishing—or something else as full of pleasure & as void of labor. I can’t do it; else, in common decency, I would, when I write to you. Joe, if I can make a book out of the matter gathered in your company over here, theⒶemendation book is safe; but I don’t think I have gathered any matter before or since your visit worth writing up. I do wish you were in Rome to do my sight-seeing for me. Rome interests me as much as East Hartford could, & no more. That is, the Rome which the average tourist feels an interest in; but there are other things here which stir me enough to make life worth the living. Livy & Clara are having a royal time worshiping the old Masters, & I as good a time gritting my ineffectual teeth over them.Ⓐemendation

A friend waits for me. A power of love to you all. AmenⒶemendation.