THE LONGMAN LETTERS. 201 



the school-girl all are lumped together by 

 the critic who has nothing else to write about, 

 and discussed under the title of " the English 

 Novelist." And to think that Jefferies 

 Richard Jefferies should throw his stone ! 

 Oh ! 'tis too much ! But Nemesis fell upon 

 him, for he presently wrote " Green Feme 

 Farm," which is neither short, bright, dramatic, 

 nor amusing. That proposed series did not 

 appear. He says, a few days afterwards, that 

 he has begun a paper asked for by Mr. Long- 

 man on " The County Suffrage." This paper 

 subsequently appeared under the title of "After 

 the County Suffrage." 



It was in June, 1883, that Longman's 

 Magazine contained the article called " The 

 Pageant of Summer." This fine paper, the best 

 thing ever written by Jefferies, glorified the 

 whole of that number. There has never been, 

 I think, in any magazine any article like unto it, 

 so splendid in imagery and language, so per- 

 fectly truthful, so overflowing with observa- 

 tion, so full of the deepest feeling, so tender 

 and so touching, so generous of thought and 

 suggestion. In this paper Jefferies reached 



