ought to be, like certain lines of Wordsworth, among the immortal quotations. I think your sonnets noble alike in thought and in execution. They can have no more faithful lover than I am; and I do believe that if there is anything in which my opinion has any value, it is on the form of poetry. I love it so sincerely and I have studied it so devotedly.... "... Mrs. Spofford has been to stay over Sunday with me and I read through to her your new volume of poems, with the exception of 'The Lilies of Mummel See,' which she read to me. I think you would be pleased; could you know how much we both enjoyed and admired the book. To my mind, 'Under the Beech Tree' is the finest romantic drama of the time. I like it far better than I do 'Colombe's Birthday,' much as I like that. Mrs. Spofford is quite wild with enthusiasm about 'The Gift.' She said the last line, "His heart is still mine, beating warm in my grave, is not only the finest line in your book, but the finest line that has been written by any one in a score of years." "... Your suggestion as to national characteristics of women struck me as a curious coincidence with the fact that the editor of the _Fortnightly_ has just asked me to write an article on American and English women, contrasting and comparing them, and discussing their differences. But the differences; seem to me individual, not national. "Thanks for your suggestion about the sonnet. "Break through the shining, splendid ranks seems to me simpler and more forcible, but then this involves the 'I pray,' to which you greatly object. "Break through their splendid militant array: "I'll copy both, and see what you think. On the whole, I like yours better. "I have been arranging books all the afternoon, and I am so tired that I wish I had the young prince here, or such another,--only there is no other." _The same to the same_ "DEAR PAGAN: I am on page 238 of 'The Puritans,' and I pause to say how piteously cruel is your portrait of ----. Sargent, at his best, was never so relentlessly realistic. I pity Fenton so desperately I can hardly bear it. Why do I sympathize so with him when he is so little worthy? Is it your fault, or mine? I believe I am not pitiless enough to write novels, even if I had every other qualification. "Your character of Fenton is admirably studied. It is worthy of the author of 'The Pagans' and 'A Wheel of Fire.'" "... I have finished reading 'The Puritans,'--all the duties of life neglected till I came to the end. I have not been so interested in a book for ages. I am especially interested in the conflict of the souls between degrees of agnosticism. It is the keenest longing of my life to know what is truth."