| Description | 4 Jan 1890
2 Holland Park Road, Kensington
Dear Le Strange
Many thanks for your very kind letter and for [-] my enquiry about the Gentile de Fabriano. What you tell me will increase very much the interest with which I shall rather picture next time I go to the Belle Arts; but I am disgusted with myself for not having made out the whole sentence as it is one of two or three which I can read in Arabic. I suppose the letters are not as plain as they appear under your pen which is indeed the less surprising that G de F certainly did not understand them. One would have liked to see his face if he had been informed of the doctrine with which his picture was inscribed. Thank Wanda with my love for her very kind little postscript and wishes which I warmly reciprocate.
The ceremony in the Abbey was very impressive tho' in my opinion a choral service is a mistake, it is too long and one's thoughts are not centred as they should be uninterruptedly on the lifeless remains one is accompanying to their rest. The solemnity of the scene was enhanced by the mysterious gloom of the Abbey of which the aspect was absolutely sublime in the shrouding fog pierced to'ards the end of the service with rays of sunlight.
I hope this new year will bring you both prosperity and health without which prosperity is worth but little.
Believe
Yours always truly
Fred Leighton
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