ALS, two pages on two adjoining sheets, 4.5 x 7, July 23, 1857. Written from Tavistock House, a letter to a Mr. Dinney, in full: "As I reside in Kent during the summer, I have only this morning received your obliging letter and its accompanying book. The latter I have not yet had time (I need scarcely add) to read. But I have made a general acquaintance with its contents, and I propose to know them better. As you refer to my own habits, you may be interested to learn that for the last fifteen or twenty years they have been of the most exact and punctual nature. I portion out my time methodically, take a great deal of exercise and fresh air regularly, am probably as much in all the winds that blow as any country gentleman, bathe in large quantities of cold water all the year round and can keep a Swiss guide on his mettle during a day's journey. A large part of my life is necessarily passed at my desk, but never to the interruption of these compensatory habits." The letter is affixed along its spine within a custom-made folder bearing several portraits and newspaper clippings. In very good condition, with intersecting folds, irregular toning to the first page, and staining to the second page which just touches the end of the otherwise perfect signature.Format: ALS