MS British Library Add MSS 54920: 242-31
My dear Mr Macmillan
You will think there is no end to the irons we have in the fire. But the Population of an Old Pear Tree would be finished if we had not lost a number, and had to renew it. I send you the earlier chapters. The places for the woodcuts are marked in the margin.
But my chief reason for writing is to ask if you have heard of Beugnot’s memoirs – he was employed under Napoleon I and under the two or three ensuing kings, and has left two most amusing and spirited volumes of memoirs, including his experiences in the Conciergerie.2 They would make one English volume, which I think would take with the libraries.
Shall we – ie – my brother and I undertake to translate it – I should go over it as I do the Population of a pear tree? I think
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