Autograph letter signed with initials : "Skirr" [Cottage], to H.P. Collins, [ca. 1922].

Advising him on his literary criticism; saying "Only do be yourself. You will one day when you are more matured; but at present (I think) you strain to do too much. It would do you the world of good if you never read another criticism by anyone else, & forgot all you have read. People don't care a hang about a review that is impersonal & 'creative' (J.M.M. is responsible for a lot of brain-strain : and his 'credos only apply to himself, & his [illegible] of mind). People read him because he's J.M.M.; & they read Rebecca West because she's R.W. ; & Menken because he's Menken. Really, expressions & thoughts like 'the poetic content is [illegible] but satisfying' etc, etc, are absolutely valueless. If someone called B. Bone wrote critiques like that - never giving you a glimpse of B. Bone - you wouldn't read more than 2 lines. But if he said 'The poetaster who wrote these lines has obviously learnt to ride on the [illegible]-horse, and its saddlery is a-jingle with Woolworth's pot & pans' - you would read on. Not that it would delight you - it would enfury(?) you, no doubt - but it would interest you in B. Bones...Take the advice of a low-brow & chuck away all creaking machinery;" criticizing his review of Houseman's poems saying "Because you weren't H.P Collins. You weren't natural. And if my mind, which is just a shade keener then the average mind, is not [illegible], I assure you the average mind won't even care about even reading it. After all, criticism is only (if it's good), J.M. or any one else thinking "By jove, this moves me - it gets me going - it's good stuff.' You can't expect to be a cosmic & universal expresser." adding, in a postscript, that he has a "slander action coming off soon. Some people have been crediting Frank's [Davis] [illegible] to me & I'm going to go for them."