Autograph letters signed (2) : Brantwood, Coniston, to Roden Noel, 1873 Feb. 15 and [n.d.].

Commenting on a book, probably Noel's The Red Flag, an 1872 book of poetry: "It interests me profoundly, and is the first piece of literary work I have yet seen which seems to me rightly in earnest, and clear in sight as to the state of things concerning us, in these days--or Nights--one should call them ..." In the undated letter he writes: "I have got at the habit in all my writings of using words exactly in their literal sense--in no[the word "no" underlined] other. It puzzles me terribly to find my readers--even the most scholarly--continually taking up my words in the popular instead of the proper sense. Shakespeare & Molière are both entirely sincere -- & entirely `dramatic'--putting everything into the form in which it can be represented with effect on a stage. Now we have enough [the word "enough" underlined] drama--to my thinking. Enough [the word "Enough" underlined] lyric poetry. Enough [the word "Enough" underlined] epic ... But we have simply no history whatever of our own days."