The letter reads: 'My dear Leech/when your note arrived this/morning my head was in a state of/puzzlement arising from too much/application over 30 years of Mr Cheed's/most crisply twisting fly line, which in/its disentangled spaces resembled the/smoke from a cottage chimney pencilled/by a genius of seven years old-/Thurs ..../
I don't believe in spirit tapping, but/I believe some spiritual monkey has/a grudge against anglers, and in/revenge, sports with their put-aside/tackle, for on examination I found/I had nothing but elaborately knotted/lines, mangy cork floats, and gut/that would not play a stickleback-/since the morning I have had eight/and six pennyworth from the Golden Peak [?]/and I hope to try it in the manner/illustrated/Friday will do as well as Saturday/but it is an unlucky day, and/it would break my heart if we/don't catch something, as we both/take shower baths we can't take a/cold/very sincerely/John Everett Millais, John Leech Esq'