From the Riviera in 1879 came the following pictures in letters to friends.
"This hotel is indeed a calm spot, but the food is good, and I have a pleasant little room or two, where I can work comfortably. I know the inhabitant of one villa here, an American; and I think there are two people whom I know in an hotel, so when I feel very lonely I shall hunt them up. There is much snow on the rocky hills near the town, and the weather is rather cold, but the aspect of everything around (nearly) is very fine and worth coming to see."
In another letter he sends the following sketch of himself at table in the vast salle à manger of the hotel.[12]
"Splendide Hotel, Menton,
"11th January, 1879.
"Dear ——,—The above view will give you a more correct idea of the splendour of this hotel than a page of writing, I think, could possibly do. It represents our table d'hôte last night. I fled yesterday from Cannes, which—although called a very quiet place by most visitors—I found to be too lively for one who has much work to do and a desire to do it."
Much drawing was accomplished in the spring of this year, both abroad, and on return to London. The success of his first Picture Books (on which he writes, "I get a small, small royalty") was beyond all expectation, and the Elegy of a Mad Dog was now in progress.