Elizabeth Barrett to Richard Hengist Horne, 22 December 1843: 'I never saw [John Sterling']s book, although I have read many of his poems in Blackwood. He falls, to my apprehension, into the class of respectable poets: good sense & good feeling, somewhat dry & cold, and very level smooth writing, being what I discern in him -- There are Mr Sterling, Mr Simmons, Lord Leigh [...] who have education & natural ability enough to be anything in the world EXCEPT poets -- & who choose to be poets "in spite of nature & their stars" [...] Moreover all these men, by a curious consistency, take up & use the Gallic- Drydeny corruption of versification [source eds believe by this Barrett means blank verse] -- so at least the passing glances I have had of their proceedings lead me to suppose.'