nd energy。 At least that’s my impression。 What an awful piece of romance the end is！ I like Charmion to turn on him for his bullying the queen。 The absence of any business for the other girl； Iras； strikes me as rather a pity。 I’d like； if you don’t mind； to read over the early part with you as I feel a good deal turns on adding energy to that； and on condensing。 The Menkara bit is A1； and Cyprus is good — did you take the wreck from the Odyssey at all？ I don’t see who they can say you stole your plot from。 They’ll say the parts from Plutarch are from Shakespeare； probably they never read Plutarch！
I do not know whether I cut out much from the chapters which Lang though too long。 Probably not； since I have always been a very bad hand at making alterations in what I have once put down； unless indeed I rewrite the entire work。 Moreover； at any rate in my books； this cutting out of passages resembles the pulling of bricks from a built wall； since it will be found that every or nearly every passage； even if it is of a reflective character； is developed or alluded to in some portion of what follows。 The pulling out of bricks may or may not improve the appearance of the wall； but it certainly decreases its stability。
In the Author’s Note at the mencement of “Cleopatra” I see that I wrote the following passage； evidently having Lang’s criticism in mind：
Unfortunately it is scarcely possible to write a book of this nature and period without introducing a certain amount of illustrative matter； for by no other means can the long dead past be made to live again before the reader’s eyes with all its accessories of faded pomp and forgotten mystery。 For such students as seek a story only； and are not interested in the Faith； ceremonies； or customs of the Mother o