CONCLUSION. 337 



" Change is the only thing that as yet has 

 affected me, which seems to point conclu- 

 sively to an exhausted system rather than 

 to disease." 



To Mr. Scott he writes in a similar strain. 

 It galls him to think of being " patronized," 

 and, indeed, if that were the view taken by 

 the council of the Eoyal Literary Fund, I, for 

 one, should be the first to agree with him. 

 But it is not. Jefferies was wrong about the 

 supporters of the Fund which is, in fact, 

 assisted by everybody who ever makes any 

 success in literature, and by every writer of any 

 distinction either in letters or in other fields. 

 He adds, however, a paragraph in which I 

 cordially agree, and to the carrying out of the 

 suggestion contained in it some of us have, 

 during the last three years, devoted a great 

 deal of time and effort. 



" We ought, of course, to have a real Literary 

 Association, to which subscription should be 

 almost semi-compulsory. We ought to have 

 some organization. Literature is young yet 



22 



