I desire to be useful to the Institution of the place with which my childhood is inseparably associated, and I will serve it this next Christmas if I can. Will you tell me when I could do you most good by reading for you?
Faithfully yours.
Mr. B. W. Procter.
Office of "All the Year Round,"
Tuesday, Twelfth November, 1861.
My dear Procter,
I grieve to reply to your note, that I am obliged to read at Newcastle on the 21st. Poor Arthur Smith had pledged me to do so before I knew that my annual engagement with you was being encroached on. I am heartily sorry for this, and shall miss my usual place at your table, quite as much (to say the least) as my place can possibly miss me. You may be sure that I shall drink to my dear old friend in a bumper that day, with love and best wishes. Don't leave me out next year for having been carried away north this time.
Ever yours affectionately.
Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.
Queen's Head Hotel, Newcastle-on-Tyne,
Wednesday Night, Twentieth November, 1861.
My dear Bulwer Lytton,