Charlotte Bronte (as Currer Bell) to Richard Hengist Horne, 15 December 1847: 'You will have thought me strangely tardy in acknowledging your courteous present, but the fact is it never reached me till yesterday [...] 'I have to thank you, not merely for the gift of a little book of 137 pages, but for that of a [italics]poem[end italics]. Very real, very sweet is the poetry of "Orion"; there are passages I shall recur to again and yet again -- passages instinct both with power and beauty. All through it is genuine -- pure from one fault of affectation, rich in noble imagery [...] You could not, I imagine, have written that epic without at times deriving deep happiness from your work.'