Letter from W. H. Harris, Gloucester, to Mrs. Henley, 1913 July 8 : autograph manuscript signed.

Thanking her for the gift of a copy of her husband's "Lyra Heroica" and her "...kind offer to devote a year's profits accruing from the sale of the "Lyra Heroica;" saying that the Committee will write a more formal letter of gratitude and commenting on the "apparent indifference" in Gloucester at Henley's death; saying "The City's inaction at that time, 1903, has been pronounced by several as 'a mystery' which no one can explain satisfactorily. But now I hope we shall atone for our transgression. At present the Fund is only progressing slowly but I know that people are only slow in moving in these parts : it is a peculiar characteristic of Gloucester citizens. To a Northerner (a Cumbrian) like myself it is a curious characteristic, but nevertheless it exists. Of the ultimate success I have little apprehension : we mean to 'win through' and I feel sure we shall. Yesterday I received a subscription from an Old Cryptian who is with his regiment at Khartoum : I also received a cutting from the 'New York Sun' giving our letter, and headed A Scholarship in His Old School in Honor of 'the Unbowed Head' : a tribute which I feel will deeply interest you, though no doubt you also are aware that our cousins in America appreciate your dear husband's works. I must apologise, Madam, for the length of this letter, but you will, I feel, forgive me in this respect : my enthusiasm is my excuse, and that enthusiasm is the result of a more recent study of 'A Book of Verses', the poems in which appeal to me immensely."