Martin gives the year of writing as "[18]42", but the envelope has an 1843 postmark and internal evidence also supports dating this letter to 1843. See the published editions of the correspondence, cited below, for additional information.
Addressed to: "Miss Barrett/ 50 Wimpole Street/ London."
With a seal.
Telling her that he is not afraid of writing to "such a little bit of a thing as you!" and that, moreover, he can write in just as small a hand as she can; adding "[a]s to your wit & learning I neither desire nor fear them, for I have at last found out that 'ignorance is bliss' & that wit only creates envy & hatred"; commenting that their lives are actually quite similar: "You have got a dog, & so have I,--you love your Dog, & talk to him, & he understands you, & so do I to mine, & so does he me. You read Greek in your Room. I read Nature in the Fields & Forests, you study Mankind in the Books, I do the same at the parish-meeting, & in the justice-Room. You cultivate your garden it seems, & take pleasure in it. So do I. What signifies the extent of it"; referring to a character in Dickens's novel Nicholas Nickleby who had a single flower in his garret room; quoting from Voltaire's Candide the line "mais il faut cultiver notre jardin"; elaborating on this quotation: "This I trust I shall do to the end of my days & then be buried in it for the benefit of my sucessor. In this wish I fear we differ[.] You have too much ambition to wish to be hid under your cabbage leaves either alive or dead[.] I shall cultivate & endeavour to improve the beauty of my Garden & the friendship of my Dog, & I am sure they will neither of them fail me, or turn tail on me. I wish you may succeed as well with the Reviewers, & the rest of mankind"; writing he will soon have to return to London, but the chance to see Flush will be a consolation for leaving the country; mentioning that Mrs. Barker (the gate-keeper at Hope End when the Moulton-Barretts lived there) is visiting them and "seems in high fires"; adding that he hopes she has not picked up any bad habits from a long visit with Caroline Price (daughter of EBB's friend, Sir Uvedale Price).