Cambridge.
I can only now write you a few lines to acknowledge your letter – which I do very thankfully.
I fully intend to go carefully through De Bo and other similar books as soon as I can command the leisure. – I firmly believe in the antiquity & utility of Flemish – and any short notes that you may think likely to be useful to me I shallp2peruse with much satisfaction. It is impossible to work out things as fully as they deserve to be worked out: but it may often happen that I have entirely missed some quite essential point, which you may know all about. In such a case, I shall be most glad of assistance. In some cases, new illustrations are not much needed,p3because we already know enough about the word for practical purposes. Hence a selection of examples helps me more than very full comments.
I am well aware of many shortcomings. My present plan, is to let the book alone for some 5 or 6 years (during which I have other work to do) - & then, if life & health be spared me, to introduce many emendations. I may not live for this – but yet I may (not being old) – and, if I do,p4I think some such thorough revision would be better than a few alterations here & there. –
And now I must thank you for the very kind tone of your note. It is just in this way that I learn, from kind readers, that the book is doing some real good: & how pleased I am to think that, you may well imagine. –