wisdom at the
present time. I do not see how any human being on either
side of the Atlantic can dispute the good-feeling already
entertained towards the United States by every class of the
population here. I am afraid, however, that it is not
generally reciprocated, and the Americans are apt to
misunderstand some of our efforts to conciliate them, and to
attribute them to less worthy motives. I have heard several
distinguished Americans protest against the "gush," as they
call it, in which we indulge. Under these circumstances, I
think the project of a statue to George Washington should
be, for the present, postponed,--I am, yours truly,

(Sgd.) Joseph Chamberlain.

_Copy of Letter to David Christie Murray, 22nd February
1897_.

29 Delamere Terrace, Westbourne Sq., W.

My Dear Sir,--May a delighted reader of your articles in the
_Sun_ presume on a very slight acquaintance with their
author to say how greatly he admires them? The paper on
Dickens seemed to me to dissolve that writer's peculiar
charm with a truer alchemy than any criticism I had ever
read. And now that with such splendid courage you tilt
against the painted bladder-babies of the neo-Scottish
school,--with so much real moderation too, with such a
dignified statement of the reasons for such a judgment,--I
cannot rest, I must say "Bravo." The distinction between the
false North Britons (mere phantoms) and the true Stevenson
and Barrie (real creatures of the imagination, if sometimes,
in their detail, a little whimsical, even a little
diminutive) is put so admirably as I had not yet seen it
put.

I am eager for next Sunday's article, and as long as these
papers continue I shall read them with avidity. I detect in
every paragraph that genuine passion for literature which is
so rare, and which is the only thing worth living the life
of letters for.

Pardon my intrusion, and accept my thanks once more.--
Believe me to be, faithfully yours,

(Sgd.) Edmund Gosse.

_Copy of Letter to David Christie Murray (undated)_.

Undershaw, Hindhead, Haslemere

My Dear Murray,--I shall be delighted and honoured to have a
first glance at the ms. I never read anything of yours which
I did not like, so I am sure I shall like it, but there