That now when envious foes would spoil thy splendour,
Unversed in arms, a dreamer such as I
May in thy ranks be deemed not all unworthy,
England, for thee to die.
And he is as fearless and high-hearted in the touching lines 'To C. H. V.':
What shall I bring to you, wife of mine,
When I come back from the war?...
Little you 'd care what I laid at your feet,
Ribbon or crest or shawl—
What if I bring you nothing, Sweet,
Nor maybe come back at all?
Ah, but you 'll know. Brave Heart, you 'll know
Two things I 'll have kept to send:
Mine honour, for which you bade me go,
And my love—my love to the end.
He went to France as a lieutenant of the 3rd Rifle Brigade; was wounded in September 1916, was invalided home for a while, but had returned to the front by the end of the year. Scattered through the Letters to his Wife are his views on the war, his unbounded admiration of the cheerfulness and courage of his men, his deep resentment of the crimes of Germany, and his conviction that there could be no safety for the world and no peace till the
