When I get home, you must take my Morte Arthur & read it. It is the quaintest and sweetest of all books. And is full of the absolute english of 400 years ago. For instance here is a paragraph which I will quote from memory.—And you too may learn it by heart for its worth it. There are only two other things in our language comparable to it for tender eloquence & simplicity, one is Mr. Lincoln'sⒶemendation Gettysburg speech, & the other has for the moment escaped my memory.

“Ah, Launcelot thou were head of all Christian knights! And now I dare say, thou Sir Launcelot, there thou liest, that thou were never matched of earthly knit’s hands; and thou were the courtliestⒶemendation knight, that ever bare shield, & thou were the truest friend to thy inserted by SLC: friend that ever bestrode horse; and thou were the truest lover, of a sinful man, that ever loved woman, & thou were the kindest man that ever strake with sword; & thou were the goodliest person that ever came among press of knights; & thou were the meekest man & the gentlest that ever ate in hall among ladies, & thou were the sternest knight to thy mortal for that ever put spear in rest.”

There isn’t that beautiful? In this book one finds out where Tennyson got the quaint & pretty phrases which he uses in The “Idyls of the king”— “Lightly” & “Wave” & the rest. Yes you must read it when I come sweetheart. Kiss Momma for me; & Ben & Jean.