A close intimate of J. A. Symonds, and frequent visitor at Davos, was
Mr. Horatio F. Brown, author of _Life on the Lagoons_, etc. He took
warmly, as did every one, to Stevenson. The following two notes are
from a copy of Penn's _Fruits of Solitude_, printed at Philadelphia,
which Stevenson sent him as a gift this winter after his return to
Venice.
_Hotel Belvedere, Davos, [February 1881]._
MY DEAR BROWN,--Here it is, with the mark of a San Francisco
_bouquiniste_. And if ever in all my "human conduct" I have done a
better thing to any fellow-creature than handing on to you this sweet,
dignified, and wholesome book, I know I shall hear of it on the last
day. To write a book like this were impossible; at least one can hand it
on--with a wrench--one to another. My wife cries out and my own heart
misgives me, but still here it is. I could scarcely better prove
myself--Yours affectionately,