5:50 P.M. With W. for a very short stay. Said he had no word from Bucke. I gave him Ingersoll pamphlet, at last arrived from Somerby. He regarded it from all sides. The portrait (same as Illustrated American) W. spoke of: "It is pretty good—has good points—but it emphasizes the rowdy: that is my criticism. Yet it will do!" Complimented the printing: "How beautifully they get the little books up now! It is a treat if only from the mechanical side!" Then, "It is a great piece in itself—a great piece. The good Colonel! Yes, I like it—it has recommendablest points" (referring to book again). Had looked over Magazine of Art. "It is a beautiful number, I should say. The portraits of Ruskin are fine. I knew something about these before, but nothing so full, so satisfactory." Then, "As I looked at the pictures I thought—where is there anything to beat that? And yet I feel that our fellows this side beat them in that peculiar work. But either way, or both ways, great progress is being made, which is the important thing." How had he been today? The fancy quilt pinned about his shoulders. He replied, "Poorly! Poorly! These running days, now, are bad days, all of them. But I keep up—I am here." Had been reading Bucke's life of W. again; now on his lap. Asked me, "Have you seen Poet-Lore this month? Yes? Well, there is a fine bit of writing, of its kind, there—'Some Characteristics of Persian Poetry' by a fellow named Buckham—James Buckham. It is a trifle recherche but of its kind a good piece of work. It interested me. I read it all."
Miss Porter has written me:
POET-LORE CO., 1602 Chestnut St., Philadelphia Jan. 21, '91Miss Hinckley's address is c/o Messrs. Richardson and Spence, 22 Water St., Liverpool, England.
Yes, Thorne has misrepresented and misquoted in his Globe, but it is an expression in Poet-Lore for Oct. top of page 553 that is troubling him not the August expression as he pretends.
Yours, Charlotte Porter.W. said, "Probably—but he is a madman. I hope none of our fellows will have a word about him or with him. He is not entitled to it."