134 GEOEGB JOHN ROMANES I88I- 



Meanwhile I send for your perusal some verses 

 which I have written at odds and ends of time since 

 he died. This was only done for my own gratifica- 

 tion, and without any view to publishing. But having 

 recently had them put together and copied out, I 

 have sent them to two or three of the best poetical 

 critics for their opinion upon the literary merits of the 

 poem as a whole. The result of this has been more 

 satisfactory than I anticipated ; and as one of them 

 suggests that I should offer the verses as an 

 addendum to the biography, I act upon the coinci- 

 dence of receiving your letter and his at about the 

 same time. 



It seems to me there are two things for you to 

 consider : first, whether anything in the way of 

 poetry, however good, is desirable ; and next, if so, 

 whether this poetry is good enough for the occasion. 

 The first question would be answered by your own 

 feelings, and the second, I suppose, by submitting 

 the verses to some good authority for an opinion — 

 say one to whom I have not sent them. Only, if the 

 matter were to go as far as this, I should Hke you to 

 explain to the critic that as it stands the poem is only 

 in the rough. If it were to be revised for publication 

 I should spend a good deal of trouble over the process 

 of polishing, and some of the lines expressive of pas- 

 sionate grief would be altogether changed. 



In sending you the MS. I rely upon you not to 

 let the authorship be known to anyone without first 

 asking me, because, although I have published poetry 

 already,^ it has been anonymous, and I do not want 



^ A few stray poems in magazines. 



