[London—Saturday, 19 May 1860]
Saturday 19th Went at ¼ past 12 to see Captain McClintock receive the freedom of the city in a gold box costing 50 Guineas lined with British-heart of oak. It was an enthousiastic meeting. Wanted to go to the Opera but a box wd cost us 5 guineas we found, so we wisely refrained. Jamie passed the eveg with Mayse Reid while I finished H. Dixon’s wonderfully fine papers upon the Life of Bacon which he sent me; for the first time and for all time Bacon is now placed through the life long research of this man on the high moral stand from which contemporary villany dislodged him. A good style and warm enthousiasm gives these papers an eager interest which will cause them to be read I believe and remembered as a living refutation of the mistakes of Lord Macauley and his predecessors.
