ABSTRACT
Despite poor health, H. G. Wells remained at Holt from July to November 1887, and then travelled to Uppark for a long convalescence. He was by this time suffering from haemorrhages and for some months lived the life of a semi-invalid. His years at Spade House were torn by two events which dominated his life and exercised a lasting influence upon him as both man and writer. To Henry James, on the other hand, the novel was an art form, the noblest of all art forms, and the task of the novelist was to render a distillation of life and incident in a wholly symmetrical and structured unity. In a series of letters to The Times strongly reminiscent of his 'Memorandum on propaganda policy' during the First World War he pleaded for a clear definition of war aims including a restatement of the fundamental rights of man.
