[The following correspondence with Mr. William Archer I insert
continuously, though it belongs to two different periods of the year
1885. An anonymous review of the _Child's Garden_, appearing in March,
gave R. L. S. so much pleasure that he wrote to inquire the name of his
critic, and learned that it was Mr. Archer, with whom he had hitherto
had no acquaintance, but with whom he thereupon entered into friendly
correspondence. The "paper" referred to in the later letters of October
25 to November 1, is one on R. L. S. in general, which Mr. Archer wrote
over his own signature in _Time_, a monthly magazine now extinct.]
BOURNEMOUTH, March 29th, 1885.
DEAR MR. ARCHER,—Yes, I have heard of you and read some of your work;
but I am bound in particular to thank you for the notice of my verses.
"There," I said, throwing it over to the friend who was staying with me,
"it's worth writing a book to draw an article like that." Had you been
as hard upon me as you were amiable, I try to tell myself I should have
been no blinder to the merits of your notice. For I saw there, to admire
and to be very grateful for, a most sober, agile pen; an enviable touch;
the marks of a reader, such as one imagines for one's self in dreams,
thoughtful, critical, and kind; and to put the top on this memorial
column, a greater readiness to describe the author criticised than to
display the talents of his censor.
I am a man _blasé_ to injudicious praise (though I hope some of it may
be judicious, too), but I have to thank you for THE BEST CRITICISM I
EVER HAD; and am therefore, dear Mr. Archer, the most grateful critickee
now extant.