DEAR MRS. GOSSE,--Thank you heartily for the Bible, which is exquisite. I thoroughly appreciate the whole; but have you done justice to the third lion in Daniel (like the third murderer in Macbeth)--a singular animal--study him well. The soldier in the fiery furnace beats me. I enclose a programme of Lloyd's new work. The work I shall send to-morrow, for the publisher is out and I dare not touch his "plant": _il m'en cuirait_. The work in question I think a huge lark, but still droller is the author's attitude. Not one incident holds with another from beginning to end; and whenever I discover a new inconsistency, Sam is the first to laugh--with a kind of humorous pride at the thing being so silly. I saw the note, and I was so sorry my article had not come in time for the old lady. We should all hurry up and praise the living. I must praise Tupper. A propos, did you ever read him?--or know any one who had? That is very droll; but the truth is we all live in a clique, buy each other's books and like each other's books; and the great, gaunt, grey, gaping public snaps its big fingers and reads Talmage and Tupper--and _Black Canyon_. My wife is better; I, for the moment, am but so-so myself; but the printer is in very--how shall we say?--large type at this present, and the sound of the press never ceases. Remember me to Weg.--Yours very truly, ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. * * * * * NOTICE To-day is published by S. L. Osbourne & Co. ILLUSTRATED BLACK CANYON, or WILD ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. An Instructive and amusing TALE written by Samuel Lloyd Osbourne Price 6d. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS Although _Black Canyon_ is rather shorter than ordinary for that kind of story, it is an excellent work. We cordially recommend it to our readers.--_Weekly Messenger._ S. L. Osbourne's new work (_Black Canyon_) is splendidly illustrated. In the story, the characters are bold and striking. It reflects the highest honour on its writer.--_Morning Call._ A very remarkable work. Every page produces an effect. The end is as singular as the beginning. I never saw such a work before.--_R. L. Stevenson._ TO SIDNEY COLVIN I had written to him of the proposal that I should do the volume on Keats for Macmillan's _English Men of Letters_ series. From his essay, _Talk and Talkers_, I was eventually left out. [_Chalet am Stein, Davos-Platz, Spring 1882._]