any
intended discourtesy on the part of the Committee, as a body, but that
it would rather indicate that they had not been consulted in the
matter at all, I now address myself to you, and beg that you will
kindly inform me whether the Committee, as represented by their
officers, endorse the late acts of their President, or whether they
intend taking any steps towards refusing to share the shame and
ridicule that have accrued from certain "proceedings" described by Mr.
Haden as a "necessary duty," in the exercise of which he was
officially engaged in conjunction with Dr. Hamilton and M. Legros.

That you may clearly see how current the matter has become, I have the
honour, Gentlemen, to send you herewith, for your serious
consideration, extracts from the daily press, and thus, as you will
read, carry out myself the first intention of a certain speculative
Piker, newsvendor, Shepherd's Market, who had purposed circulating
among you "twenty copies" of the enclosed literary venture--curtailed,
it is true, to the original "Piker paragraph," and unaccompanied by
the Piker twenty-penny prospect; the printing of which may--who
knows?--have caused a wavering on the part of Piker, and have left you
deprived of his labour after all.

Piker offers matter with authority--and here I would point out the
_close proximity of Shepherd's Market to Hertford Street,
Mayfair_!--most suggestive is such contiguity. The newsvendor's stall
and the doctor's office within hail of each other!

Surely I may, without indiscretion, congratulate the President upon
Piker's English and also upon the Pecksniffian whine about the
"brother-in-law"--rather telling in its way--but shallow! shallow!--for
after all, Gentlemen, a brother-in-law is _not_ a connection calling
for sentiment--in the abstract, rather an intruder than "a near
relation"--indeed, "near relation" is mere swagger!

Meanwhile, the insinuation of jealousy of the "brother-etcher" is, as
Piker puts it, "_suspecte_"--very!--and modest!--and transparent!

To the last paper I have added the cutting from the former _Cuckoo_
(Piker's earlier effort) so that you have the occasion of perceiving
how the progressive Piker party have gained in courage--until, in
direct contradiction to their first anxiety and hesitation, we reach
the final _overwhelming certainty_ of the three representative
gentlemen, whose visit to the Fine Art Society's rooms, it would _now_
appear, was absolutely to prove to