Briefwisseling 1 juli 1885 tot 15 december 1888

A. Verwey aan J.C.G. Grasé [begin april? 86]¹

My dear Grasé,

I hope you will excuse this writer's indolence. When I promise a letter, my promise is not worth a four cents' stamp, because my ‘I’ is an ever-changing one. It is an ‘I’ without a point. I hope you will read my study in ‘De Nieuwe Gids’² and consider it to be a letter, which I have written for you. It has cost me the labour of a hundred letters, and my friends must be kind enough to take it for one. Besides, it has nearly made me ill, and I am walking the whole day long for the benifit of my nerves, which were in deplorable state, some days ago. I write this at the dinner-table, with an awfully unpleasant taste of potatoes in my mouth. As soon as I am less busy, I will try to find a new national food. Potatoes are growing so very old! And as tiresome as Dutch poetry.

I am afraid that my English is as bad as my hand-writing. I will be very glad if you write me in your next that my hand-writing is not so bad as it seems.

The Leopold Shakespere³ is a continual delight to me. I purpose to read it all through in sunny hours. The merchant of Venice is a miracle of truth.

Jessica, my child,

Look to my house -

A Daniel come to judgement! Another Daniel!⁴

Shakespere ‘Stands on the top of happy’ poetry. I like to print something about his Sonnets in England - and the fragments which we translated this winter will only be a part of it.⁵ I have sent for a new edition of the Sonnets in the Canterbury edition (Lond: W. Scott)⁶ and would like to have the facsimile of the Quarto,⁷ which appeared some weeks ago. Will you be so kind to ask for the price in cash? And write it to me? It will perhaps be too dear.

1 Concept. Jaardatum op grond van de verschijningsdatum van de in de noten 7 en 8 genoemde edities; nadere datering op grond van de verschijningsdatum (1 of 2 april 1886) van De nieuwe gids met het artikel van Verwey ‘Toen de Gids werd opgericht...’ (deel i), en j.c.g. grasé aan a. verwey 14.6.86 waarin Grasé refereert aan een niet bewaard gebleven brief aan Verwey, waarin deze hem de toezending van De onbevoegdheid der Hollandsche literaire kritiek aankondigt.

2 ‘Toen de Gids werd opgericht...’ (deel i).

3 The Leopold Shakespeare. The poet's works in chronogical order from the text of Professor Delius... London 1883² (1877).

4 Citaten uit The merchant of Venice, beide niet geheel correct geciteerd. Het eerste (ii, 5) luidt: ‘Jessica, my girl, // Look to my house.’ Het tweede (iv, 1): ‘A Daniel come to judgement! yea, a Daniel!’

5 Vergelijk j.c.g. grasé aan a. verwey 28.1.86, waarin al sprake is van een artikel over de sonnetten, dat niet ‘Het sonnet en de sonnetten van Shakespeare’ kan zijn, maar wel een bewerking ervan in het Engels.

6 The songs, album and sonnets of Shakespeare. London 1885. Titelbeschrijving volgens de catalogus van Verwey's bibliotheek (Verwey-archief uba); boek niet aanwezig in uba.

7 Shakespeare's sonnets. The first quarto 1609. A facsimile in photo-lithography... with an introduction by T. Tyler. London 1886.

[p. 139]

I have a recent publication: a century of sonnets by William Sharp.⁸ It is decidedly bad, worse than that of Waddington,⁹ well-known by Sonnetteers. That mr Sharp says that a sonnet of I don't know which mediocraty is among the twelve best English sonnets. Imagine! I will choose 24 out of the Sonnets of Shakespere, Wordsworth and Browning and defy[?] any English poet to know their equals.

8 Sonnets of this century. Edited and arranged, with a critical introduction on the sonnets, by William Sharp. London 1886.

9 English sonnets by living writers selected and arranged, with a note on the history of the ‘sonnet’ by Samuel Waddington. London 1881.