THE LONGMAN LETTERS. 203 



prepared to surrender portions, but not all 

 saving great pieces, huge cantles, here and 

 there whole chapters of " Bevis," " Wood 

 Magic," "After London," "Green Feme 

 Farm," " The Dewy Morn," and even 

 " Amaryllis." We will blot out everything 

 that has to do with the ordinary figures, con- 

 versations, and situations of what the writer 

 called a novel. But of the rest we will not 

 part with one single line. Year after year 

 generation after generation the truth and 

 fidelity and beauty of these pages will sink 

 deeper and deeper into the heart of the world. 

 So deeply will they sink, so long will they 

 live, that he who writes a memoir of this man 

 trembles for thinking that when future ages 

 ask who and what was the man who wrote 

 these things, the pages which contain his life 

 may seem unequal to the subject too low 

 pedestrian, and creeping for the greatness of 

 the author he commemorates. 



I return to the packet of letters. They go 

 on to offer articles, and to explain how pro- 

 mised papers are getting on. He wrote nine 

 papers in all for Longmans Magazine namely, 



