Mrs. Moulton to Mr. Bates
"October 27, 1889.
"I have been passing this rainy afternoon with your sonnets. I had read some of them more than once before, but this afternoon I have been quite alone save for their good company. I have read the strong, noble sequence through, from first to last, enjoying them more than ever. I like every one of them, but I had a pencil and paper by me and put down the numbers that most moved me. I see that my list is not short; do you care to see what it includes? It begins with the beautiful sonnet of dedication; then the first, with its wonderful procession of the gray days passing the torpid soul, and laying their 'curious fingers, chill and numb,' upon its wounds. Then the sixth, with the
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"... drowned sailors, lying lank and chill Under the sirupy green wave. |
And the fifteenth with its visions of love.
"Never can joy surmise how long are sorrow's hours,
ought to be, like certain lines of Wordsworth, among the immortal quotations. I think your sonnets noble alike in thought and in execution. They can have no more faithful lover than I am; and I do believe that if there is anything in which my opinion has any value, it is on the form of poetry. I love it so sincerely and I have studied it so devotedly....
"... Mrs. Spofford has been to stay over Sunday with me and I read through to her your new volume of poems, with the exception of 'The Lilies of Mummel See,' which she read to me. I think you would be pleased; could you know how much we both enjoyed and admired the book. To my mind, 'Under the Beech Tree' is the finest romantic drama of the time. I like it far better than I do 'Colombe's Birthday,' much as I like that. Mrs. Spofford is quite wild with enthusiasm about 'The Gift.' She said the last line,
"His heart is still mine, beating warm in my grave,
is not only the finest line in your book, but the finest line that has been written by any one in a score of years."