Perhaps something may turn up, and if so I will let you know.
[The something in the world of more time did turn up by dint of extra pressure, and the article got written in the course of the autumn, as appears from the following of December 29, 1877:—]
I send you the promised skeleton (with a good deal of the flesh) of
Evolution. It is costing me infinite labour in the way of reading, but
I am glad to be obliged to do the work, which will be a curious and
instructive chapter in the history of Science.
[The lawyer-like faculty of putting aside a subject when done with, which is indicated in the letter of March 16, 1875, reappears in the following:—]
4 Marlborough Place, N.W., March 18, 1878.
My dear Baynes,
Your printers are the worst species of that diabolic genus I know of. It is at least a month since I sent them a revise of "Evolution" by no means finished, and from that time to this I have had nothing from them.
I shall forget all about the subject, and then at the last moment they will send me a revise in a great hurry, and expect it back by return of post.
But if they get it, may I go to their Father!
Ever yours very faithfully,