"Four or more strong springs rise near the house, and have formed the valley which, like that of Petrarch, may be called Val Chiusa, as it begins, or is shut at the situation of the house. I hope you like the description, and hope farther that yourself and any part of your family will sometimes do us the pleasure of a visit.
"Pray tell the authoress" (Miss Maria Edgeworth) "that the water-nymphs of our valley will be happy to assist her next novel.
"My bookseller, Mr. Johnson, will not begin to print the 'Temple of Nature' till the price of paper is fixed by Parliament. I suppose the present duty is paid...."
At these words Dr. Darwin's pen stopped. What followed was written on the opposite side of the paper by another hand.
FOOTNOTES:
[137] 'Sketch, &c., of Erasmus Darwin,' pp. 3, 4.
[138] Miss Seward's 'Memoirs of Dr. Darwin,' p. 3.
[139] Ibid.
[140] Dr. Dowson's 'Sketch of Dr. Erasmus Darwin,' p. 50.
[141] Dr. Dowson's 'Sketch of Dr. Darwin,' p. 53.