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Letters to Sanchia Upon Things as They are
Letters to Sanchia Upon Things as They are Author:Maurice Henry Hewlett Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SECOND LETTER ON PAN AND THE NYMPHS [This letter was written from Chanctonbury Ring—that beacon of the Sussex Downs, a favourite haunt of the writer's—appa... more »rently in the summer. It is by no means the immediate successor of my first selection, but has been chosen as containing a more or less reasoned statement of my friend's views upon a matter of universal concern. Again, it explains itself, and needs little more preface from an editor than this. It is addressed to a young girl, whose beliefs and opinions are necessarily derived from those who have had the right to teach her, by one who has long been accustomed to think for himself. What I consider admirable in it is the way in which respect for her faith is combined with independence of personal judgment. It is a fine plea for toleration) Chanctonbury, A White Morning. Your letter—oh! Thank you, Sanchia. The postmistress at Steyning handed it me yestere'en with a smile. "Tis from a leddy simmingly,' quod she. But'Madam,' said I, "tis from the lady'—and made her perfectly happy. The moon rose full and orange over the shoulder of Wolstonbury as I broke the seal. Halfway up the borstal road, through the wood, I lit a match and read till I burnt my fingers. When I was athome, snug in the Ring, I read it all. A fair script, Sanchia, guarded, temperate, extraordinarily Greek (for you are Greek, you know; your mean is pure gold—whereas I, for all my lore, remain an incurable Romantick. I prefer it with a k): I admire what I can never attain—and so we grow; there's no other way. I shan't tell you how often I've read it, nor what I've done with it. Yes, I will, by George, lest you are tempted to vanity. I've burned it with fire. I made one on the lee side of the Ring, out of driftwood and bracken. They might have s...« less