| R. PLUMER WARD. | 53 |
The following letter is the first addressed to me by Mr. Plumer Ward in his own name. It was occasioned by one that I had addressed himself directly and by name, through the medium of a mutual friend; for he had now avowed the authorship of those works of which, until such avowal, he had scarcely been suspected, except among his most intimate friends.
The occasion of my addressing him was one exactly similar to that which had
called forth the preceding explanation and letter, and though not quite so discreditable in
its character, it rendered an explanation on my part equally necessary as in the preceding
instance. The review I had written, in
the present instance, was that to which his letter at p. 42 refers, and in preparing which
I had expressed, in still stronger terms than I had used to the author himself, my opinions
| 54 | R. PLUMER WARD. |
As the absolute identity of all the favourable portions of this article with the written opinions I had given of “De Vere” to its publisher rendered it impossible for the author (to whom all my opinions had been transmitted) to doubt that the review was mine, it was evidently even more indispensable for me to explain to him the real state of the case in this instance than in the other; for the first only involved a question of courtesy and good feeling, whereas the second involved one of common honesty.
In giving to the world two letters so purely personal to myself as the
following and that which precedes it, I am doubtless subjecting myself to a charge of
egotism. But the charge, even if warranted, will not be urged in an unkind and disparaging
spirit,
| R. PLUMER WARD. | 55 |
“My dear Sir,—I have many and sincere apologies to make you for not having much sooner answered your kind and interesting letter, delivered to me by Captain Williams, though I sent you a message through him, which I hope he delivered the next day (as he promised), thanking you for it, as I heartily did, till I could do so under my own hand. A sick daughter, and some very absorbing public business connected with the present changes, must be my excuse for not having sooner done what I now endeavour to do.
“At the same time, it was not very easy to answer you
as I wished, that is, to tell you how much I have really felt your kindness, as
well as valued your approbation, in respect to ‘Tremaine’ and ‘De Vere.’ In truth,
| 56 | R. PLUMER WARD. |
“I am free to say also, that, though we have sometimes differed on a few points of criticism, I have, for the most part, reaped the greatest possible benefit from your valuable emendations. You may, suppose, therefore, how much I enter into the feelings of your letter, and how much I wish to mark my sense of it.
“And yet, if I may say so consistently with my real
deference for those feelings which only do honour to your sensibility and
independence of mind, I almost wondered you could think what you complain of
(just as your complaint is) of consequence sufficient to have given you the
anxiety it evidently has. As far as regards myself, I assure you no explanation
whatever was necessary; for never for one moment could I tax the kind critic I
was so long, though
| R. PLUMER WARD. | 57 |
“Be assured, therefore, that, although I did not find
what I expected—some reassertion of the opinions on the plan and other parts of
‘De Vere’ on
which we had essentially differed—I by no means set it down to any compromise
you had made of your sincerity. In fact, I rather hoped, particularly from what
I thought some faint signs of it in our last communications, that if you had
not entirely come round to me, you had begun at least so
far to doubt of your own criticism, as to have suppressed the desire of
promulgating it as a thing on which you still rested satisfied. I am perhaps a
little sorry that
| 58 | R. PLUMER WARD. |
“As little, on the ground of self-defence, was it necessary to explain the omissions which you complain of; though I am free to own, when I perceive how important the passages omitted would have been to what I had at heart, I could complain too. I, however, am glad to think that the opinion of the thinking part of the world goes always with the sentiments which have been expunged, for the detail of which I much thank you. I wish the omission had not occurred; but I am more at my ease, if not quite so, on the score of applications.
“In respect to what was interpolated in the beginning
of the review, you have been very condescending in showing so much anxiety
about it. But I assure you, from any feeling it might have caused in myself,
that explanation was also unnecessary. Had the
passages been yours, I should only have thought you
right in expressing the
| R. PLUMER WARD. | 59 |
“Having replied, I think, to the most essential parts of your letter (essential, I mean, as they regard criticism), permit me again to thank you for all the kind passages of your letter, which regard me personally in a manner very much to gratify me. I assure you the esteem you profess for a mind which so entirely esteems your own, is too creditable to me not to feel proud of it. I cannot, however, permit you to suppose that on my side it will be only transitory, while on yours it will be permanent. Being mutual, and (I trust, as I hope) springing from the same causes—similarity of tastes and principles—I am at a loss, as well as sorry, to think you can suppose there can be any difference.
“The air of melancholy which hangs over the concluding
sentence of your letter is the only part of it which is at all unwelcome. I
will trust, my dear Sir, that there is no real cause for it, but that it may be
a passing
| 60 | R. PLUMER WARD. |
“Believe me, with much esteem,
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