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15 Dec 59 Peter Hong Kong Mother 5, Hyde Park Place West ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Hong Kong. 15 Dec. 1859

My dear Mother

I write these few lines after the mail has closed as I did not write last time & have put it off till too late this.

I quite agree with you with regard to what you say in your letter received this morning. I should be very foolish to expose myself to criticism, but I never meant to do so. I always have expressly said that I wished to avoid. The ‘Rambles’ were printed for private circulation & I would not for the world have had it otherwise.

I only hope my letter to my Father expressly telling him to keep them private has reached him in time. There is surely no harm in my writing for publication if I do it incog.[nito] & if I can get any advantage from it, so much the better. If not – if it is incog – at any rate it can do no harm. This was the way I meant but I have always expressly wished to keep my name private.

With regard to the 'I's, in the Rambles, as it only pretended to be a ‘journal’ for the amusement of my friends, they have no business & only show bad taste & want of good sense in making any remarks similar to those you suggest.

If the work was public instead of being a purely private one, that would be a very different matter. I think it right to explain this to you. I hope my Father will withdraw all he can & keep it as it was always intended to be private & the expense of printing it of course must fall upon me, as it was a whim of my own.

I am writing in great haste. John & Julius seem all right. Arthur never favours me. John wants to get home to find a wife. I think you had better look out & find one for him, as coming home from the wars, he may be in a great hurry & throw himself away upon the first fair dame that crosses his path.

Julius talks of getting home in ’61, so perhaps he’ll want a wife too. I shall want one when I come home, so if you can manage to keep 3 young ladies disengaged, it will be desirable.

Give little Helen a kiss. I suppose she isn’t thinking of getting married yet.

Yr. affect. Son

Peter G. Laurie