May I say of myself that I hope there is nobody in the world with a stronger will and aspiration to escape from _sectarianism_ in any sort or sense, when I have eyes to discern it--and that the sectarianism of the National Churches, to which I do not belong, and of the dissenting bodies, to which I do, stand together before me on a pretty just level of detestation? Truth (as far as each thinker can apprehend), apprehended--and love, comprehending--make my idea--my hope of a church. But the Christianity of the world is apt to wander from Christ and the hope of Him. ELIZABETH BARRETT: ‘Letters to R. H. Horne.’ * * * * * [Sidenote: Her candor.] You are my friend, I hope, but you do not on that account lose the faculty of judging me, or the right of judging me frankly. I do loathe the whole system of personal compliment, as a consequence of a personal interest, and I beseech you not to suffer yourself _ever_ by any sort of kind impulse from within, or extraneous influence otherwise, to say or modify a word relating to me.... I set more price on your sincerity than on your praise, and consider it more closely connected with the quality called kindness.... Now, mind! your best compliment to me is the truth at all times, without reference to sex or friendship. I excuse the unbonneting. ELIZABETH BARRETT: ‘Letters to R. H. Horne.’ * * * * * [Sidenote: Her conscientiousness.] What you say of a “poet’s duty” no one in the world can feel more deeply, in the verity of it, than myself. If I fail ultimately before the public--that is, before the people--for an ephemeral popularity does not appear to me worth trying for--it will not be because I have shrunk from the amount of labor--where labor could do anything. I have _worked_ at poetry; it has not been with me revery, but art. As the physician and lawyer work at their several professions, so have I, and so do I, apply to mine. And this I say, only to put by any charge of carelessness which may rise up to the verge of your lips or thoughts. ELIZABETH BARRETT: ‘Letters to R. H. Horne.’ * * * * * [Sidenote: Her theories regarding imperfect double rhymes.]