To ----

DEAR SIR, I am exceedingly to blame in not writing you long ago; but the truth is, that I am the most indolent of all human beings; and when I matriculate in the herald's office, I intend that my supporters shall be two sloths, my crest a slow-worm, and the motto, "Deil tak the foremost." So much by way of apology for not thanking you sooner for your kind execution of my commission. I would have sent you the poem; but somehow or other it found its way into the public papers, where you must have seen it. I am ever, dear Sir, Yours sincerely, R. B.