Letter from Andrew Lang to Thomas Hardy, 2 May 1892

I am sorry to hear from M^r Clodd that my short notice of your work has not seemed to you to be what it should be. I did not mean to be unfair, – my tastes are antiquated – and go back to 1814 - 32. I am an erratic block of a primitive age. But it may amuse or please you to hear that I have just received a [Page 2] singularly laudatory M.S. criticism of the book up to the last chapters (where the critic c[gap of 5 characters: illegible]s away) from a man in New Caledonia, who has lived with savages for 25 years, and that Mr Butcher, who spoke at the Academy on Saturday, and is my friend, is of the same mind. The agreement of two such very distinct tastes [Page 3] probably proves mine, (as far as it differs from theirs) to be in the wrong, but – there is no disputing about taste, and I never thought mine infallible.

Sincerely yours

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