"R. C."
"46, Great Russell Street, London, W.C.,
"April 27, 1873.
"My dear ——,—I was delighted to receive your letter—quite a long one for you. I hope that you had a fine time of it at the ball. Dancing is not absolutely necessary to a man's welfare temporally or spiritually; so if you be a 'Wobbler,' wobble away and fear not, but see that thou wobblest with all thy might, then shall thy zeal compensate for lack of skill. I've nearly given up gymnastics. I only danced twenty-one times at the last ball.
"I now find that during quadrilles my mind wanders away from the subject before it, and I am continually reminded that I ought to be idiotically squaring away at some one instead of cogitating with my noble back leaning against the wall. 'Sed tempora new potater,' &c. I hope you are all well, and with kind regards, remain yours faithfully,
"R. C."
In May he is "working in clay in low relief."