SOURCE: "Lives and Works of Richard Jefferies," in Collected Essays, Vol. 3, Cambridge University Press, 1989, pp. 254-64.

Leavis was a twentieth-century English critic, essayist, and editor. Her professional alliance with her husband, FR. Leavis, resulted in several literary collaborations, including the successful quarterly periodical, Scrutiny, in which she published many critical essays. In the following excerpt, first published in Scrutiny in 1938, Leavis defends Jefferies against critical attacks of his works, calling him a "manysided and comprehensive genius.'

To secure Jefferies his right to be read, several points could be made. One is the intrinsic value as literature of the rural life of much of his work. The large public that enjoyed Farmer's Glory and Corduroy would equally enjoy The Amateur Poacher, Wild Life in a Southern County and Round About a Great Estate (one of the most delightful books in the English language). Those who have found Change...