When the thirty drawings were completed we asked him to reproduce the entire series as water colour drawings, of such varied dimensions as he himself might decide, for which we offered to pay him the sum of £3000; but after giving the matter very careful consideration, he said, in consequence of his other engagements, he felt reluctantly compelled to decline the commission.
There is no need for us to dilate on the earnest manner in which Foster carried out these thirty subjects. He gave us such beautiful drawings, so exquisitely manipulated, that we naturally bestowed infinite care in their reproduction, and it was throughout a labour of pleasure and delight to us. We published the work through Messrs. Routledge and Co. as "Birket Foster's Pictures of English Landscape," and it is a satisfaction to us to be able to record that the book was fully appreciated by the British Public.
An important part of our scheme in preparing this book was to have a page of verse, either descriptive of or in sympathy with each picture, so that it might possess literary as well as pictorial interest. When our work was drawing to a completion, we submitted some of the proofs to Sir John Millais; and it is, perhaps, hardly necessary to say that he was charmed with the pictures, and warmly entered into the idea of having poetic descriptions to them. When asked his opinion whether he thought Lord, then Mr., Tennyson would be likely to co-operate with us, he immediately, in the most generous manner, offered to write to him on the subject, saying:
"I wish I could give sufficient time to the subject, for to tell the truth there's nothing I should enjoy more than to do the verses myself. But, of course, my pictures place that idea entirely out of the question. But I'll tell you what I'll do," he continued, "I'll write to Tennyson and ask him to take the matter up—he's rather particular, you know, and perhaps he might the more readily consent to do it for me, than if you wrote to him."
The following letter from Lady Tennyson to Millais will show how the proposition was received:
"Farringford,
"June 7, 1861.
"Dear Mr. Millais,—Alfred was in the New Forest when your kind letter came, or it would have been answered yesterday, though I am sorry to have to answer the thing is impossible. Poems do not come to him so, and if they did not come, you are, I flatter myself, too much his friend to wish to find them there or anywhere.
"May I ask you to do him the favour to decline the offer as you will best know how to do with all courtesy.
"Accept Alfred's thanks for your kind invitation and for what you say about the portrait.
"Believe me,
"Yours truly,