1887-07 to Joseph Gleeson White

Autograph letter signed, Columbia University, 323 words

[Edited for paragraph breaks, capitalization, spelling and punctuation.]

The Green, Southwick, Sussex

[July 1887]

My dear Sir

I am much obliged to you for your kind letter.

Since you say it is a disappointment to you not to be able to include the ballade I have made one more effort to obtain the book — I have telegraphed for the address of a friend who has a copy.

The rondel I had no difficulty in recalling and I wrote another this morning to go with it, likewise one in French which seems to me really not too bad to print, it might catch a reviewer’s eye and so serve its turn — but perhaps indeed there would be no use in printing a rondel in French. Besides, the second line is too vile and it cannot be altered to Le rêve meurt dans le rêve, which is not an ugly line, for that would destroy the character of the stupid little thing. If those in English are atrocious and they may be for all I know, I count on you not to print them. It does seem rather ridiculous to find the author of A Mummer’s Wife writing about la petite fleur cachée.

No, I cannot agree with you; I do not think the critics like A Mere Accident as much as my former work, nor can I guess what you mean by “a [illegible] to Mrs. Grundy.” The Pall Mall said something about a flinching from principle, a sacrifice of duty, but this is nonsense — I wrote my story as I did because it seemed to me more effective so, and for no other reason.

I have not yet begun my study of the young men. I am publishing "Confessions of a Young Man” in a magazine called Time, perhaps that is what you have heard of.

Yours very truly

George Moore