This morning the daily papers are in raptures, the Gladstonians as much as the Unionists. A great honour, they all say, done to the profession of literature. "Quite a social triumph," the _Morning Post_ remarks; "a bloodless victory in the campaign of letters"--rather happy, is it not? But one of those young men of the _National Observer_, who was waiting for me outside the Academy last night, and kindly volunteered to see me home to the hotel--where he was even good enough to partake of refreshment--was rather severe. "Not a single _writer_ in the d----d gang of you," he said. A little coarse, I thought; and not positively final, as criticism. I am, Yours very faithfully, --------------------- _1891._ FOOTNOTE: [2] MY DEAR SIR,--What in the Devil's name should I do at your assemblage of notorieties? I neither care nor wish to care whom you elect. The only _Gardiner_ I ever heard of was Henry's Bloody Bishop. If "Kiss me _Hardy_" came before us, it would be worth while for the only true Tory left in England to vote for him; but he has been with God this good half century. My £100 a year as Academician--recoverable, they tell me, in case of lapsed payment, from Her Majesty herself--I spend in perfecting my collection of the palates of molluscs, who keep their inward economy as clean as the deck of a ship of the line with stratagems beautiful and manifold exceedingly. Few of your Academicians show an apparatus half so handsome when they open their mouths. How unlike am I, by the way, in my retirement, from Bismarck across the waters, who squeaks like a puppy-dog on his road to the final parliamentary sausage-making machine of these poor times. Would it not be well for your English Academy, instead of these election follies, to bestir itself with a copy of _The Crown of Wild Olive_ for his heart's betterment? But keep your Lydian modes; I hold my Dorian.--Ever faithfully yours, JOHN RUSKIN. APPENDICES I TENNYSON--AND AFTER? When this essay first appeared in _The New Review_, the scepticism it expressed with regard to the universal appreciation of the poet was severely censured in one or two newspapers. On the other hand, the accomplished author of _Thyrza_ and _New Grub Street_ obliged me with a letter of very great interest, which fully confirmed my doubts. Mr. Gissing has kindly permitted me to print his letter here. His wide experience among the poor makes his opinion on this matter one which cannot lightly be passed by: "_Nov. 20, 1892._ "SIR,--Will you pardon me if I venture to say with what satisfaction I have read your remarks about Tennyson in _The New Review_, which has only just come into my hands? "The popular mind is my study, and I know that Tennyson's song no more reached it than it reached the young-eyed cherubim. Nor does _any_ song reach the populace, rich and poor, unless, as you suggest, it be such as appears in _The Referee_.