THE LONGMAN LETTERS. 205 



Therefore, when Jefferies tells Mr. Longman 

 that he has meditated " The Story of My 

 Heart " for eighteen years, I believe him : 

 not that he then consciously called the work 

 by that or by any other name, but that the 

 book is the outcome of so long a period of 

 thought and questioning. " It is," he says, 

 " a real record unsparing to myself as to 

 all things absolutely and unflinchingly 

 true." 



The book was published with Longman's 

 autumn list in October, 1883. I have some- 

 thing to say about it in another chapter. 



Jefferies' industry at this time seems super- 

 human. The MS. of "The Story of My 

 Heart " is no sooner out of his hands, than he 

 asks Mr. Longman if he will look at another. 

 This time it is his " Ked Deer," which I really 

 believe to be the very best book of the kind 

 ever produced. This is what he says himself 

 about it : 



" The title is ' Red Deer/ and it is a 

 minute account of the natural history of the 

 wild deer of Exmoor, and of the modes of 



