Dear Simeon,—Far be it from me to say, or yet to insinuate,
that the Hon. Baron who wrote the beautiful piece
of poetry ‘To a Butterfly,’ which I hereby send thee, ever
treated a beggar in the harsh manner described below.
No. All I mean to insist on is, that too many professed
admirers of the beauties of nature, who will speculate on
the tints of a butterfly's wing, or descant in rapturous terms
on the various properties of a bit of stone, will, nevertheless,
pass by a fellow-creature in distress, nor so much as
deign him a look of sympathy, far less contribute to relieve
his necessities—in short, who will view him as a being not
belonging to the same species with themselves.
Thine,
Andrew Whaup.
