Letter from Francis H. Butler, Sutton, to W. E. Henley, 1901 November 29 : autograph manuscript signed.

Agreeing with Henley's statement in an article on Rossetti's poems; praising an article on R. L. Stevenson and expressing his disgust with the current literary world; commenting on one writer whom he does not identify by name "I remarked to him, despite this, that I w'd rather have one page of Henley than 2 vols. of one of these works & he actually replied 'Oh, so w'd I!'. This seems to me very much like selling stinking fish to a customer one knows to have lost his taste thro' a bad cold. Well, I won't waste any more of y'r time now; but I may say I have felt almost compelled to send you - though I be indeed 'small & of no reputation' - a line to say how greatly I value y'r outspokenness. You have doubtless seen the enclosed. There are, I am sure, many like the writer. May you live long to speak the truth & shame the pestilent imps of literature!"