Documents associated with: Paddon, Samuel Wreford
Record 18 of 36
System Number: 13326
Date: [9 July 1882?][1]
Author: JW
Place: [London]
Recipient: Samuel Wreford Paddon[2]
Place: [London]
Repository: Published
Document Type: PL[3]
IX.
No no! too late my dear Paddon this professed disregard to all further details in this matter.
To challenge certain evidence, and then to refuse to receive it was original enough, even when I waived all consideration of the bet - But to publish my letters without my permission, and without admitting the testimony of Mr. Jack McNay[4] that had been called for - thus leaving upon the minds of your readers the impression that it was either not forthcoming or adverse to myself - is more than eccentric - Ces choses là ne se font pas, mon ami[5]! -
That you should cling to your belief, and that you should make of the wily Portuguee[6] a chosen comparison for life, was your own affair. Remember that I dropped the discussion months ago with a readiness that I ventured to hope might still not reveal any sense of pity or indifference, and at your request withheld in good faith Mr. McNay's letter; but now that you have chosen to take this decided and truly incredible step, I am forced - forgive me - to send you the enclosed copy of your letter, which, if I may be permitted, I would suggest that, for your own sake, you yourself should hasten to publish and circulate among those who might erroneously suppose that the printed "correspondence" exhausts the catalogue of Howell's capacities;
and terminates in the triumph of virtue as personified by that naif enfant[7] -
Accept my sympathies
And believe me
Yours sincerely,
J. McNEILL WHISTLER.
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. [9 July 1882?]
There are two drafts (#04369 and #09527) of this reply to Paddon's letter of 8 July (#09526).
2. Samuel Wreford Paddon
Samuel Wreford Paddon (b. 1843), diamond merchant and collector [more].
3. PL
Published in Whistler, James McNeill, The Piker Papers. The Painter-Etchers' Society and Mr. Whistler, London, 1881, No. IX.
4. Mr Jack McNay
John ('Jack') Edward MacNay (1834-1893), General Manager of the Stockton and Darlington Railway [more].
5. Ces choses là ne se font pas mon ami
Fr., these things are not done, my friend.
6. the wily Portuguee
Charles Augustus ('Owl') Howell (1840? - d.1890), entrepreneur [more].
7. naif enfant
Fr., naive child.