London
London, N. W. 5 January 1894
MR. JOSE RIZAL
MY DEAR DR. RIZAL
There was a cry of joy all over the house as I shouted out, “a letter from Rizal!” and I had to read it aloud to the family. We all were glad at the satisfactory report you were able to give of yourself, and now send you our best wishes for this new year. May it bring you back amongst us that we may cherish you and show you our high regard and affection!
I am glad you are doing a lot of philological work. Would you not send some contributions of articles to the Asiatic Society of Singapore, or to the R. Asiatic Society here, or to the Shanghai Society, or to the one at Wellington in New Zealand? Our friend at Leimertiz is as usual hard at work. The books on the Bisayan dialects of Mindanao are not, as far as I have examined them, of much philological value, but they are useful and supply material for further study.
I enclose a few notices of books that may interest you. They are from Luzac’s Monthly Oriental List, for which I supply all the notices. The forthcoming number will bring something about an English-Sulu-Malay vocabulary, just published.
My wife is still a great invalid; I fear she will never recover; Adolf is doing his best to get on, and is working with might and main, but he earns no money. His brother (who broke through the ice today and nearly drowned) is getting on well with his medical studies. I hope he will pass his final examination next Sept.
We all unite in sending you our hearty greetings.
Every affectionately yours,
R. ROST
04-807 [Misc.]