‘ ... I find I read _Not made in Germany_ without knowing it was yours. It is prettily written, but I don’t consider such things worthy of you, and the variations on that _one_ tune are so very numerous. I wish we, like the Greeks, had things written which turned on other problems. These things are very well as a diversion. I wonder what is the subject of the novel. ‘One of our teachers has been translating a book of Herbart’s. I have sent for his introduction to philosophy. I will tell you if I think it would do for what I want; something giving the fundamental questions which come before beginners. Herbart is much read now, but he is difficult to translate, and the people who have tried have not been very successful; I wonder if you have read any of him. ‘I send a letter of introduction to Miss Swanwick, I suppose you know her translations and writings. I think she is only second to Mrs. Browning, and she is charming, and young still. When I last saw her, the friend of so many distinguished people, her memory was wonderful. Tennyson had one of her books open upon his table during the last days.’ To the same:— ‘(Date uncertain.) ‘ ... Herbart is a power. I have not got the book yet. You really must not let yourself be diverted altogether from philosophy. You have not thought and suffered so much for nothing, and though your philosophy will come out in most things, even in stories, you _must_ give it us sometimes “neat.” You remind me of Darwin’s earth-worms; you have had to burrow and work underground, and you have turned up some fruitful soil. Well, the Spirit which led you into the wilderness will bring you out of it, and anoint you to tell some good tidings.’ To the same:— ‘_July 4, 1898._ ‘ ... I am glad to hear you have come to a satisfactory agreement with Blackwood. It is an advantage to have a leading publisher. Now as regards the sonnet. I don’t feel as if anything could make the Eros of later Greek religion pure. He and Aphrodite have fallen from heaven, and I cannot think of them at the same time with the Sufferer on Calvary—so it rather jars on my feelings. ‘I know there is behind the myth the thought of love, of one who is the offspring of truth and purity, of perfect beauty. But love, associated with Eros as we know him, is not love.... ‘I am feeling wonderfully well; the body responds to the spirit, and is refreshed too by the sympathy of my dear children.’ Miss Beale’s correspondence with her ‘children’ frequently concerned spiritual and mental difficulties of various kinds. One or two of the letters she wrote on such questions follow. To one in religious doubt:— ‘(Undated.)