To John Galen Howard
Monte Carlo, Monaco. February 10, 1913
Thank you so much for “Grasmere”, which is truly “a fructual stirp of that high dedicant,” W. W —The wetness (which you ‘render so vividly) frightens me, however, who have fled to the Riviera from the fog and mire of Florence to try to out-stirp a catarrh.—Without question, you have the afflatus and the courage of poetry: it is remarkable in these days. And I like your rhyme better than your blank verse!
G. Santayana
From The Letters of George Santayana: Book Two, 1910-1920. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2001.
Location of manuscript: The Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley, CA.