d it me in your next.
If you find it impossible to write correctly, send it me _a la
recitative_, and indicate the accents. Do you feel (you must) how
strangely heavy and stupid I am? I must at last give up and go sleep; I
am simply a rag.

_The morrow._--I feel better, but still dim and groggy. To-night I go to
the governor's; such a lark--no dress clothes--twenty-four hours'
notice--able-bodied Polish tailor--suit made for a man with the figure
of a puncheon--same hastily altered for self with the figure of a
bodkin--sight inconceivable. Never mind; dress clothes, "which nobody
can deny"; and the officials have been all so civil that I liked neither
to refuse nor to appear in mufti. Bad dress clothes only prove you are a
grisly ass; no dress clothes, even when explained, indicate a want of
respect. I wish you were here with me to help me dress in this wild
raiment, and to accompany me to M. Noel-Pardon's. I cannot say what I
would give if there came a knock now at the door and you came in. I
guess Noel-Pardon would go begging, and we might burn the fr. 200 dress
clothes in the back garden for a bonfire; or what would be yet more
expensive and more humorous, get them once more expanded to fit you, and
when that was done, a second time cut down for my gossamer dimensions.

I hope you never forget to remember me to your father, who has always a
place in my heart, as I hope I have a little in his. His kindness helped
me infinitely when you and I were young; I recall it with gratitude and
affection in this town of convicts at the world's end. There are very
few things, my dear Charles, worth mention: on a retrospect of life, the
day's flash and colour, one day with another, flames, dazzles, and puts
to sleep; and when the days are gone, like a fast-flying thaumatrope,
they make but a single pattern. Only a few things stand out; and among
these--most plainly to me--Rutland Square.--Ever, my dear Charles, your
affectionate friend,

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.

_P.S._--Just returned from trying on the dress clo'. Lord, you should
see the coat! It stands out at the waist like a bustle, the flaps cross
in front, the sleeves are like bags.

TO E. L. BURLINGAME

Proceeding from New Caledonia to Sydney, Stevenson again made a stay
there of about a month, before going to settle in his new island home
and superintend the operations of planting and building. The next
letter is in acknowledgment of proofs