Autograph letter signed : Woodford, to Arthur Moore, Thursday night [1889 Jan. 3].

Critically reviewing Zola's Le Rêve at length, providing a close reading of a the extreme unction scene. Stating that "it is Zola at his best -- & I hope you will admit that Zola at his best stands above all other novelists living or dead." Concluding the discussion on Zola and the extreme unction scene by alluding to Dowson's future Catholic conversion, noting "I think if I have a death-bed (wh. I don't desire) I must be reconciled to Rome for the sake of that piece of ritual." Suddenly recalling a quotation "Les femmes sont faites pour commercer avec nos faiblesses, avec notre folie, mais non avec notre raison," mentioning that he is "thinking partly of the article [Moore] mentioned by Lucas Malet -- partly on what a double life -- (triple possibly?) -- one leads." Distinguishing this as something "more subtle" than the "Jeckyll & Hyde business," and discussing womankind and sexual relationships at length. Stating: "Depend upon it there is something radically weak in a woman's brain. One should only know them carnally -- I doubt if one can know them otherwise -- & that is why the hot blooded, entirely sensual men are not puzzled by them as we others whom the devil of analysis has entered into." Concluding that the world would be charming if they did not exist "or rather if they never grew into their teens." Noting that "one might adopt a child & cease to trouble about them -- only then she would grow up..." Inviting Moore to call on Saturday when they "will ignore the existence of the sex altogether."