______________________________________________________________________________________________
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