Lady Cardwell to Alfred Tennyson, 9 April 1878: 'It may interest you to know another instance of the solace you have given those in distant lands severed from all those with whom they could hold converse. 'You know all about Col. Gordon (Chinese Gordon) and the immense pressure upon him and the heroic services he is rendering to the cause of humanity in putting down the slave trade, as Governor of the Soudan [sic], by a wonderful sacrifice of himself. I often hear from him of his long solitary rides of hundreds of miles in the desert and wilderness, and wished to find the most acceptable companion I could send to him. 'It must be in a very small compass. Happily I found the beautiful edition of all your books in the small green case, and I sent it a few months ago. 'He is intensely delighted with it and mentions it in every letter. In his last, lately received from Khartoum, he says: "I find the reading of Tennyson is my great relief, and the volumes are so small and of such clear print that they will always go with me. I have long wanted a small copy, but never knew that he had published one," etc.'