Dear Sir

If the electric telegraph should succeed it will be one of the most striking novelties of this inventive age — and I should have been most happy to have been present at the experiment, to which you were so good as to invite me, if I had been nearer London. But anxious to make the most of my time here in recruiting my strength for the incessant labour of my office I thought it most prudent to deny myself that gratification. I am however not the less sensible of your flattering kindness in recollecting, Dear Sir.

B. Hawes Esq^re