done this, and I hope your book
will have the success it deserves.

It will be a matter for thankfulness, too, that you have
tried to do justice to George Macdonald, and to give him the
place he deserves. To read the fulsome stuff which is so
often written about Crockett, and then to think that
Macdonald is quietly shelved, is enough to make one sick at
heart Certainly, I shall do all that lies in my power to
make your work known.

I do wish, however that you had devoted a few pages to one
who, a few years ago, loomed large in the literary horizon.
I mean Robert Buchanan. I know that during these last few
years he has poured out a great deal of drivel, but I cannot
forget books like _The New Abelard_, and especially, _God
and the Man_. It is a matter of surprise and regret that one
of Buchanan's undoubted powers should have thrown himself
away as he has done. All the same, the man who wrote _God
and the Man_ and _The Shadow of the Sword_, hysterical as
the latter may be, deserves a place in such a book as yours,
and an honest criticism, such as I am sure you could give,
might lead him, even yet, to give us a work worthy of the
promise of years ago.

I am afraid you will regard this letter as presumptuous,
nevertheless, I am prompted by sincere admiration. Years ago
I read _Joseph's Coat_ and _Aunt Rachel_, and still think
the latter to be one of the tenderest and most beautiful
things in fiction. I also remember the simple scene which
gave the title to the book called _A Bit of Human Nature_,
and shall never cease to admire what seems to me a flash of
real genius. Consequently, when I stood close by you at a
"Vagabond's" dinner, on the ladies' night some months ago, I
was strongly impelled to ask for an introduction, but lacked
the necessary audacity to carry out my one time
determination.

Again thanking you for a book which has afforded me a
genuine pleasure to read, besides giving me much mental
stimulus,--I am, dear sir, yours very truly,

(Sgd.) Joseph Hocking.

_Copy of Letter to David Christie Murray. 17th June 1897_.

Dear Murray,--I am getting so weary of controversy that I
must decline to take part, directly or indirectly, in any
more. Possibly, in the heat of annoyance, I may have said