Acquired as part of a large collection of letters addressed to William Angus Knight, Chair of Moral Philosophy at the University of St. Andrews and Wordsworth scholar. Items in the collection have been individually accessioned and cataloged.
Written from "Lanehead / Coniston / Lancashire."
Replying to a question about John Ruskin's "Poems 1890"; saying "I am told by Miss Severn that Mrs. Severn, who is ill in bed, has been asked by you whether there was a piece included in Mr. Ruskin's 'Poems 1890' by another writer : & I venture to send the reply direct. There was no piece included by another writer, so far as I know. At the time of publication a Glasgow paper, I think it was, said that the poem in Vol. II, p. 328, 'Twist ye, twine ye,' was inserted by mistake and that it was Sir Walter Scott's. Several papers copied the criticism, not seeing that Mr. Ruskin had merely used the well known lines from 'Guy Mannering' as a theme for variations, & the body of the poem was his own. This is perhaps what has led Professor Postgate to put the question."