autograph letter signed to [?] Leveson-Gower,

Diplomat and administrator (1826-1902). 2 pp, 12mo. A diplomatic refusal. "Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to enlist under your banner, if I thought there was the slightest chance of my being able to write anything that would suit you. But, in the first place, I am so continually occupied that I have really no time for literary exercitations; and, in the next, although of course like most rolling stones I have seen a good deal of the world, I am precluded from publishing anything of interest, for it would of necessity be connected with incidents to which I should not be authorized to refer. Outside of these I have scarcely any story to tell, but I am not the less flattered by your very kind proposal."