.

Mind you, I expect _The Justice-Clerk_ to be my masterpiece.

My Braxfield is already a thing of beauty and a joy for ever, and so far as he has gone, far my best character." From the last extract it appears that he had already at this date drafted some of the earlier chapters of the book.

He also about the same time composed the dedication to his wife, who found it pinned to her bed-curtains one morning on awaking.

It was always his habit to keep several books in progress at the same time, turning from one to another as the fancy took him, and finding relief in the change of labour; and for many months after the date of this letter, first illness,--then a voyage to Auckland,--then work on the _Ebb-Tide_, on a new tale called _St.Ives_, which was begun during an attack of influenza, and on his projected book of family history,--prevented his making any continuous progress with _Weir_.