His enthusiasm for books and for the writers of books never faded.
"What do we not all owe you," he writes Mr. Fields, "for your edition
of De Tocqueville! It is one of the best books of the century. Thanks,
too, for Allingham's poems. After Tennyson, he is my favorite among
modern British poets."
And again: "I have just read Longfellow's introduction to his 'Tales
of the Inn'--a splendid piece of painting! Neither Boccaccio nor
Chaucer has done better. Who wrote 'A Loyal Woman's No?' Was it Lucy
Larcom? I thought it might be."
In 1866 he says: "I am glad to see 'Hosea Biglow' in book form. It is
a grand book--the best of its kind for the last half-century or more.
It has wit enough to make the reputation of a dozen English
satirists."
This appreciation of his contemporaries was a strong feature of his
character. His sympathy with the difficulties of a literary life,
particularly for women, was very keen. There seem to be few women
writers of his time who have failed to receive from his pen some token
of recognition. Of Edith Thomas he once said in one of his notelets,
"She has a divine gift, and her first book is more than a promise--an
assurance." Of Sarah Orne Jewett he was fond as of a daughter, and
from their earliest acquaintance his letters are filled with
appreciation of her stories. "I do not wonder," he wrote one day,
"that 'The Luck of the Bogans' is attractive to the Irish folks, and
to everybody else.
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