May 22nd. / 1893 dear Monsieur Benedete / I have to thank you for your / very kind letter, and for the newspaper / you sent me. I wish I could count / upon the pleasure of seeing you in / Paris this Spring - it was a pleasure / I had looked forward to, and my / son and I had planned many / happy days, in renewing old / associations in the galleries, and / in strengthening some new friendships. / But all these compatible plans / have been overthrown by illness. / and for a month past I have / been always entirely disabled from work. / To have that hateful "gripe" / for a third time was beyond / ...
Autograph letter signed ('Edward Burne-Jones') to "Monsieur Benedite", thanking the recipient "for your very kind letter and the newspaper you sent me" and saying "I wish I could count before the pleasure of seeing you in Paris this spring - it was a pleasure I had looked forward to, and my son and I had planned many happy days, in renewing old associations in the galleries, and in strengthening some new friendships. But all these computable plans have been overthrown by illness and for a month past I have been almost entirely disallowed from work. To have that hateful 'Grippe' for a third time was beyond even a cynic's expectation of what fate could do - so our holiday has come to nothing, and my reviving strength must be given to work. If in the late autumn I can still contrive that journey I shall surely see you. I promise not to go to Paris without presenting myself to you at once. The splendid Sevres Vase of which you told me, arrived just now, in perfect safety, and I have just written to Mons. Kampfer my acknowledgements of the kindness which suggested it. It will be a lasting memorial of the great pleasure I have had in all my relations with your country, and will be treasured accordingly", three pages, mid-horizontal fold, light browning to edges, faded pencil annotation, 8vo, The Grange, 49 North End Road, West Kensington, 22 May 1893.