Freshwater, Isle of Wight: March 10, 1861.
I hope your being
at home may be understood to prove that you are a good deal stronger. I am a
good deal better myself, and have no very good excuse for not writing beyond
the advice which is given me to indulge in laziness. Had I had six months'
leave proclaimed to me from beforehand, I should have naturally thought of
going over to see you in America; but, what with water-cure and other things, I
don't think I shall even go abroad to the Continent for more than a month.
I am glad to hear
you speak so hopefully of your future much, however, will I suppose in any case
depend on the good sense and character of your new President and his advisers.
I for my part should suppose that an attempt to retake the federal forts would
be unwise. You are strong enough not to need it.
Emerson's new
essays were to me quite as good as, if not better than, any former volume. The
reviews are no great index of public interest unless you collect a good number.
There are now so many local reviews, and people with us depend so very little
on Athenaeums and Literary Gazettes, or even Saturday Reviews. An article in
the 'Times' is the really important thing for a book to get with a view to sale,
but even that proves little as to people's interest. There is a vast deal of
anti-mysticism, and of a dense, supercilious, narrow-minded common sense, which
of course speaks pretty loudly.
SOURCE: Arthur Hugh Clough, Letters and Remains of
Arthur Hugh Clough, p. 301-2
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