ABSTRACT
World, 17 February 1886, pp. 6-7; rpr. in C.J.P. Beatty, ‘A Hardy Centenary’, Thomas Hardy Journal, 2:2 (May 1986), 37-47. Gibson comments that ‘it has not been possible to identify the writer of the following, but from its style and detailed knowledge it seems very probable that it is either written by Hardy or is based largely upon notes supplied by him. Support to this is given by Florence’s introduction to her Early Life of Thomas Hardy of passages from the article (see Life, pp. 508-9). […] Hardy knew Edmund Yates, the journal’s editor, sufficiently well to call him a friend in a letter of 24 July 1890’ (p. 19).
