I am very sorry that I have expressed myself so ill in the note which I took the liberty of addressing to you to contribute to the support of other people’s poor, you having, as you say, and as it is well known, poor enough of your own to support. I never would have taken the liberty of writing for that purpose; and whatever mite you may contribute to any charity, it must be from the impulse of your own kind, benevolent heart, and not at my request, as I should never presume to make it.
The difficulty in asking subscribers for the raffle of the portrait, was not as to who was to be left out, but as to who was to be preferred, and it was as a mark of respect to you that Mr. Gaskell and myself thought you entitled, above many others, to be included amongst our chosen few. I was too proud to leave to others to inform you of our scheme.
Yours, &c., A. Panizzi.”
“Thursday.
“My dear Mr. Panizzi,
I have just opened your letter, when I am starting for the railroad, and I cannot say how distressed I should be if you could conceive for an instant that I thought you had acted otherwise that from the purest and noblest motives.
With Mr. Manzini I am unacquainted, but most happy should I be to render any service, though, perhaps, it may be doubtful whether, in a common case, a copy, however exquisite, is so valuable, when an original may be had from Richmond at nearly the same price.
Yours, &c., &c.,
S. Rogers.
P. S.—Again, though in haste, I must say how unhappy I am if I have given one whose friendship I so highly value any uneasiness.”