Herby found the little bit of gray cloth very useful--but one day _save him an old suit_. Your figure in the picture is, I think, a fair suggestion of one aspect of you; but not, could not of course be, an adequate portrait. He will never rest till he has done his best to achieve that. As soon as he can afford it (for it is a very slow business indeed for a young artist to make money in England, though when he does begin he is better paid than in America) he means to run over to see you. He says he should like always to spend his winters in New York. I say how very highly I prize that last slip you sent me, "A backward glance on my own road"? It both corroborates & explains much that I feel very deeply.--If you are seeing Mrs. Whitman, please say her letter was a pleasure & that I shall write again before very long. I feel as if this letter would never find you--be sure & let us know your whereabouts. Remembrance & love. Good-bye, dear Walt. ANNE GILCHRIST. LETTER LXIX ANNE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN _Hampstead May 2, '84._ MY DEAREST FRIEND: Your card (your very voice & touch, drawing me across the Atlantic close beside you) was put into my hand just as I was busy copying out "With husky, haughty lips O sea" to pin into my "Leaves of Grass." I hardly think there is anything grander there. I think surely they must see that that is the very Soul of Nature uttering itself sublimely. Who do you think came to see us on Sunday? Professor Dowden.[40] And I know not when I have set eyes on a more beautiful personality. I think you would be as much attracted towards him as I was. It was he who told me (full of enthusiasm) of the Poems in _Harper's_ which I had not seen or heard of. We had a very happy two or three hours together, talking of you & looking through Blake's drawings. He is a tall man, complexion tanned & healthy, nose finely modelled, dark eyes with plenty of life & meaning in them, hair grayish--I should think he was between forty & fifty--but says his father is still a fine hale old man. Herby disappointed again this year of getting anything into the R. Academy. I think I like the idea of the shanty, if you have any one to take good care of you, to cook nicely, keep all neat & clean &c. I wonder if I have ever been in Mickle St. I, still busy, still hammering away to see if I can help those that "balk" at "Leaves of Grass". Perhaps you will smile at me--at any rate it bears good fruit to me--I seem to be in a manner living with you the while. Everything full of beauty just now here, as no doubt it is with you. Good-bye, dearest friend--don't forget the letter that is to come soon. Love from us all, love & again love from ANNE GILCHRIST. LETTER LXX ANNE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN _Keats Corner Aug. 5, '84._ DEAREST FRIEND: