Letter from Mowbray Morris to Thomas Hardy, 19 September 1886

I have had to cut The Woodlanders (which is, I think, a particularly good number) short at chapter twenty-six — as it happens, a very convenient resting-place: and I send you the remainder of the proof, which may be useful.

You will, I am sure, not mind my giving you a gentle hint on one small matter — the affair between Miss Damson and the Doctor. I am not afraid (as you may imagine) for [Page 2] my own morals: but we have, I fancy, rather a queer public: [gap: deleted] ^pious^ Scottish souls who take offence wondrous easily. Already, in my short editorial career, I have received a Round Robin concerning some offence against morality that had been smelled out in our pages! The offence was not in "The Woodlanders", by the way: it had been committed before you began. Of course, it is very annoying to have to reckon for such asses: still, I can't help it; an Editor must be [commercial] as well as [literary]; and [Page 3] the magazine has scarcely so abundant a sale that I can afford to disregard any section of its readers. So, I think, if you can continue not to bring the fair Miss Suke to too open shame, it would be as well. Let the human frailty be construed mild.

Yours very truly,

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