is _English Traits_. Kingsley acquiesced in this, but
referred to some American poetry, so called, which Emerson had lately
edited, and in his preface had out-Heroded Herod. Kingsley said the
poems were the production of a coarse, sensual mind. His reference, of
course, was to Walt Whitman, and I had no defence to make. Of Lowell,
Mr. Kingsley spoke very highly: his _Fable for Critics_ was worthy of
Rabelais. Mr. Froude, who is Kingsley's brother-in-law, had first made
him acquainted with Lowell's poetry. Hawthorne's style he thought was
exquisite: there was scarcely any modern writing equal to it. Of all
his books he preferred the _Blithedale Romance_.

We talked of Mr. Froude, whom Kingsley spoke of as his dearest friend:
he thought Froude sincerely regretted ever having written the _Nemesis
of Faith_. Mr. Helps, author of _Friends in Council_, he spoke of as
his near neighbor there in Hampshire, and his intimate friend. Mr.
Charles Reade he knew, and I think he said he was also a neighbor:
his _Christie Johnston_ he thought showed high original power. Mrs.
Gaskell we talked of, whose _Life of Charlotte Bronte_ had just then
been published: Mr. Kingsley thought it extremely interesting and
"slightly slanderous." He told me of the author of _Tom Brown's
School-days_, a copy of which, fresh from the publishers, was lying on
his table. Mr. Hughes is now so well known to us I need only mention
that Mr. Kingsley spoke of him as an old pupil of Arnold's and a
spiritual child of Maurice. He spoke most warmly of him, and offered
me a letter of introduction to him. I could not avail myself of this,
having so little time to remain in London.

I must mention, as showing further Mr. Kingsley's state of mind toward
Maurice, that he had named his son after him. He spoke of the boy as
being intended for the army: the family, he said, had been soldiers
for generations. "That is the profession England will need for the
next five-and-twenty years." Of Forster he said, "What a pity he had
not been put in the army at the age of eighteen!--he would have been a
general now. England has need of such men." I note this as showing
the curious apprehension of war which he, an Englishman, felt eighteen
years ago, and which he expressed to me, an American. How little
either of us thought of the struggle which men of English blood were
to engage in in three years from that time! How little I could dream
that one of the decisive battles of the wor