The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-08-15
LOVE LETTERS OF AUTHORS.
Even the Most Famous Writers Rarely
DO Themselves Credit.

~ GdslfOuS N TfleT> lkdfeIN
DO Themselves Credit.
The ,oNe letters of authors how
ever famous. are usually the least ad-
mlrable part of their literary produc-
1iohs- Swift, for instance, was an ad-
mlrabie letter writer. but Who can say
nat his episties to Stella Johnson were
not often ludicross with their eternal
baby ak.
1t is We'll known that the love epis-
ties TO Fanny Brawne, of that great
poet and admirable letter writer. John
Meats, We're SO peculiar, to put il mild
~, that even portions Of them when
published produced a small scandal.
with all his witchery. his mastery over
the English language, the author of
"Endymion has left only one unworthy
piece of literary baggage-his com
munications to the young woman he
adored.
The love letters Of Shelley. too, are
possibly he worst things he ever
wrote. Byron, on the other hand
who could not write an inSipid letter
If he tried. SO that some people are
inclined to think his fame will ulti-
mate1y rest upon his correspondence
not lose his literary cunning, his
Incompatible ease of style, even when
indlctinS letters to the temporary
owner CT his heart.
One must criticise, too, the letters
of another famous parsonage in that
illustriOus little circle in Italy, namely
Edward John Trelawny, the Cornish
man and ~adVenturer. the man who ar
ranged the dramatic funeral pyre OF
Shelley at Viareggio and who accom-
panied Byron to Greece in the strug-
gle for Hellenic freedom.
Few writer's have surpassed Ire
laWny in vividness of style, in clear
ness of expression, in the use Of the
word which eliminates, and the let
tiers which have recently been pub
lished only add to his renown. And
yet the only epistles in these volumes
which reveal him as a somewhat Vacll-
latlng philanderer, an incoherent and
untrustworthy person, are those to the
woman to whom he was attracted for
most Of his life, the beautiful and I'M
happy Claire Clairmont, the half-sis-
ter Of Mary Shelley.
Far from revealing himself as the
virile, humorous. daredevil, generous
creature that he was, in he letters to
Claire he is a QuerulOus Sentimentalist,
demanding all and giving little and
proving singularly colo and %calculat-
ing hen the time arrived when he
could have made good his eternal pro
testatiOnS.
Then in a more recent published
correspondence between illustrious
lovers, that of Robert and Elizabeth
Barrett Browning, it is the woman's
pen which scars which expresses the
intimacies of a radiant soul far more
delicately than is possible for the
greater poet. her husband. 1t is,
moreover. an admitted fact that all
the greatest owe letters Of the world
have been written by ONE Even
in the classic case Of Abelard and
Heloise it was the pupil and not the
professor who emerged with more
lasting fame from the duel of love.
For intensity of passion | suppose
the famous Love Letters Of a Portu-
guese Num- have never been sur
passed, and it is not Impossible n a
these outpourings Of a womans soul
inspired Mrs. Browning with her title,
'SOnnets From the Portuguese Tor
hat exquisite series of verses In
which she expressed her passion for
the poet whom she Married. ana
which will forever make her famous
when her other writings are forgotten.
Then too. we have the amazing Seu-
revelations of Mile. de IEspinasse IN
her letters to the handsome out DOOM
ed young Spaniard and also to Gull
bert. her SOldier-lOVer. 1t was the IN
tensity Of her emotions, Joined to a
rare personality, which attracted so
many Young and famous men 10
a. woman Who was neither young,
beautiful. rich nor married. ana we
must remember that the state OF SPIN
sterhood in the French society of the
eighteenth century was so rare as 10
be all eccentric.-Ladies' Pictorial.
THE NORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET.