<Cl?tes>. Tuesd^y eve^g

Dec^r 29^h

My dear Sir,

I delayed my thanks for your obliging present of y^e work on English Etymologies, <till?> I could at least make some acquaintance with the Book – I have received much amusement and instruction even f^m the hasty manner in which I have been able to run through it – on my part it is as satisfactory as ingenious – on some of course, I doubt – and I cannot but <intone?> to myself, that <illeg> your great industry, acquiesce <illeg>. May I venture to add with some envy, <illeg> of time, it might be in your power to follow up many of the derivatives still higher into the oriental languages especially Sanscrit. It is the most curious point in the history of language, to find the primitive Indian words, diverging in their different channells, of Greek & Latin, and Teutonic, and even Celtic, and meeting again in English which is largely indebted to both, or to all three – I cannot but <wish?> the time come, when the origin and descent of most English words, may be traced <securely?> to regular rules, and through their different courses, down to the formation of our present language – This is however too wide a subject to enter upon in a brief note, <illeg> <illeg> having <illeg> to express my thanks for this mark of your remembrance of me

Believe me, my dear Sir

<Tr?> aff Y^rs

H H Milman