* * * * *
Talking of which[6] reminds me to say, that I have written to my
printers, and told them to prefix to "The Battle of Life" a dedication
that is printed in illuminated capitals on my heart. It is only this:
"This Christmas book is cordially inscribed to
my English friends in Switzerland."
I shall trouble you with a little parcel of three or four copies to
distribute to those whose names will be found written in them, as soon
as they can be made ready, and believe me, that there is no success or
approval in the great world beyond the Jura that will be more precious
and delightful to me, than the hope that I shall be remembered of an
evening in the coming winter time, at one or two friends' I could
mention near the Lake of Geneva. It runs with a spring tide, that will
always flow and never ebb, through my memory; and nothing less than the
waters of Lethe shall confuse the music of its running, until it loses
itself in that great sea, for which all the currents of our life are
desperately bent.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Mr. Walter Savage Landor.]