“MyDEARMR。WILLiS-Iamabouttomakeaneffortatre-establishingmyselfintheliteraryworld，and_feel_thatImaydependuponyouraid。
“MygeneralaimistostartaMagazine，tobecalled’TheStylus，’
butitwouldbeuselesstome，evenwhenestablished，ifnotentirelyoutofthecontrolofapublisher。Imean，therefore，togetupajournalwhichshallbe_myown_atallpoints。Withthisendinview，Imustgetalistofatleastfivehundredsubscriberstobeginwith；
nearlytwohundredIhavealready。Ipropose，however，togoSouthandWest，amongmypersonalandliteraryfriendsoldcollegeandWestPointacquaintances-andseewhatIcando。Inordertogetthemeansoftakingthefirststep，IproposetolectureattheSocietyLibrary，onThursday，the3dofFebruary，and，thattheremaybenocauseof_squabbling_，mysubjectshall_notbeliterary_atall。I
havechosenabroadtext：’TheUniverse。’