WCP5218

[1]

Parkstone, Dorset.

Oct[obe]^r. 18th. 1900

Havelock Ellis Esq.¹

Dear Sir

Thanks for sending me your little book — The Nineteenth Century.² I have read it through with much pleasure, and I agree with almost all of it.

It is a terrific condemnation of our false civilisation, and I am glad to find that you think so nearly as I do. There are many things in it however which are exaggerated & unfair — as when to talk of our "love of dirt," — ref "revelling in filth" — [2] & things of that sort, — but I suppose you would say that these were the natural errors of a student in a distant age.

I think the book would have been more attractive if you had broken it up into chapters or dialogues, & introduced a third speaker occasionally, in the manner of Sir Arthur Helps'³ admirable Friends in Council.⁴ Even so small a book with no break whatever from the first page [3] to the last is apt to be a little wearisome & confusing.

I should much like the book to leave a large sale & help to open people's eyes a little to our numerous imperfections.

Believe me | Yours very truly | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]