THE LONGMAN LETTERS. 213 



Enough has been quoted from these letters 

 to show the extraordinary mental activity of 

 the man. He is continually planning new 

 work. He sees a whole book spread out before 

 him complete in all its details. To make a 

 book that is to say, to imagine a book already 

 made, is nothing ; what troubles him is the 

 writing it. This temperament, however, is 

 fatal to novel- writing, because characters can- 

 not be seen at once; they must be studied, 

 they require time to grow in the brain. But 

 Jefferies cannot write enough. It seems to 

 his fertile brain, fevered with long sickness, as 

 if he did nothing. 



