_Hotel Belvedere, Davos, [Christmas 1880]._
MY DEAR COLVIN,--Thanks for yours; I waited, as I said I would. I now
expect no answer from you, regarding you as a mere dumb cock-shy, or a
target, at which we fire our arrows diligently all day long, with no
anticipation it will bring them back to us. We are both sadly mortified
you are not coming, but health comes first; alas, that man should be so
crazy. What fun we could have, if we were all well, what work we could
do, what a happy place we could make it for each other! If I were able
to do what I want; but then I am not, and may leave that vein.
No. I do not think I shall require to know the Gaelic; few things are
written in that language, or ever were; if you come to that, the number
of those who could write, or even read it, through almost all my period,
must, by all accounts, have been incredibly small. Of course, until the
book is done, I must live as much as possible in the Highlands, and that
suits my book as to health. It is a most interesting and sad story, and
from the '45 it is all to be written for the first time. This, of
course, will cause me a far greater difficulty about authorities; but I
have already learned much, and where to look for more. One pleasant
feature is the vast number of delightful writers I shall have to deal
with: Burt, Johnson, Boswell, Mrs. Grant of Laggan, Scott. There will be
interesting sections on the Ossianic controversy and the growth of the
taste for Highland scenery. I have to touch upon Rob Roy, Flora
Macdonald, the strange story of Lady Grange, the beautiful story of the
tenants on the Forfeited Estates, and the odd, inhuman problem of the
great evictions. The religious conditions are wild, unknown, very
surprising. And three out of my five parts remain hitherto entirely
unwritten. Smack!--Yours ever,