I am grieved
and ashamed to find that
I have so long delayed to reply
to the letter with which you
honoured me some weeks
ago. The pressure of many
engagements, merely, would not
have occasioned this delay
but I have really felt reluctant
to confess myself unable to
take part in promoting your
benevolent design -- and yet
at last I must make this con-
fession -- Poetry and fiction
are quite beyond my sphere
nor can I imagine that any such
essay as it would be possible for
me to furnish -- however well
intended it might be, would
either suit the company in
which it must appear or at all
subserve the great cause you
propose to advocate.
It remains _^^{for me} therefore only
to offer my sincere and hearty
wishes for the success of your
humane and christian-like
endeavours and, though
unknown, to [unclear] myself
with sympathy and respect