II


This edition has not been printed from old plates, no chicanery of that
kind: it has been printed from new type, and it was brought about by
Walter Pater's evocative letter. (It wasn't, but I like to think that it
was). Off and on, his letter was sought for during many years, hunted
for through all sorts of portfolios and bookcases, but never found until
it appeared miraculously, just as the proof of my Pater article was
being sent back to the printer, the precious letter transpired--shall I
say "transpired?"--through a crack in the old bookcase.


BRASENOSE COLLEGE,

_Mar_. 4.

MY DEAR, AUDACIOUS MOORE,--Many thanks for the "Confessions" which I
have read with great interest, and admiration for your
originality--your delightful criticisms--your Aristophanic joy, or at
least enjoyment, in life--your unfailing liveliness. Of course, there
are many things in the book I don't agree with. But then, in the case
of so satiric a book, I suppose one is hardly expected to agree or
disagree. What I cannot doubt is the literary faculty displayed.
"Thou com'st in such a questionable shape!" I feel inclined to say on
finishing your book; "shape" morally, I mean; not in reference to
style.

You speak of my own work very pleasantly; but my enjoyment has been