The following refers to the newspaper criticisms on the _Inland
Vogage_:--
_Hotel du Val de Grace, Rue St. Jacques, Paris, Sunday [June 1878]._
MY DEAR MOTHER,--About criticisms, I was more surprised at the tone of
the critics than I suppose any one else. And the effect it has produced
in me is one of shame. If they liked that so much, I ought to have given
them something better, that's all. And I shall try to do so. Still, it
strikes me as odd; and I don't understand the vogue. It should sell the
thing.--Ever your affectionate son,