I am delighted to hear from you1—& that you are well. The books came all right: I enclose check for them—
Phil. Bagenal2 writes me from London that he has lost your picture by an accident to his house—fire, I presume; & he wants another copy, with your autograph addressed to him. (You remember that I introduced Bagenal to you; he wrote article about you in The loc.03469.002_large.jpg loc.03469.003_large.jpg Gentleman's Magazine;3 & he was an old friend of Standish O'Grady,4 &c. His name is O. H. Bagenal. He is now, by the way, doing well: assistant editor of the St. James Gazette, & private Sec. of the Earl of Dunraven—
When sending the photo. for him, I wish you would send one to me also with your autograph, & one to Dr. Kelly.5 It will gratify him exceedingly. I enclose the price of the photographs.
Good bye. Love to you— John Boyle O'Reilly Walt Whitman loc.03469.004_large.jpgCorrespondent:
John Boyle O'Reilly
(1844–1890) was a fervent Irish patriot who joined the British Army in
order to sabotage it. He was arrested and sentenced to be hanged in 1866. Later
the decree was altered, and O'Reilly was sent to Australia, where he escaped on
an American whaler in 1869. In 1876 he became the coeditor of the Boston Pilot, a position which he held until his death in 1890.
See William G. Schofield, Seek for a Hero: The Story of John
Boyle O'Reilly (New York: Kennedy, 1956). For more on O'Reilly, see
also the letter from Whitman to James R. Osgood of May
8, 1881.