Typed letters signed (18) : Newport, Monmouthshire, to Edward Wagenknecht, 1929-1943.

Thanking him for a review of his annotated edition of Forster's "The Life of Charles Dickens,"(1928); arguing that a scholar's nationality necessarily colors his perspective on his subject; disagreeing with Wagenknecht's view that there is no place for patriotism in the modern world, and criticizing Ghandi's pacifism; advising Wagenknecht to write without adhering to a specific method or school; saying he has met the "tramp poet" William Henry Davies; arguing that Mrs. Dickens lacked the spiritual and mental strength to be a proper companion for Dickens, that Wilkie Collins was "Dickens's bad influence," and that Dickens never had an affair with Ellen Ternan; explaining (in 1938) that he is sympathetic to Germany because it is wrong to punish the children for the sins of the father; and (in 1942) hailing the military alliance between the United States and Britain, saying, "Well, hands across the sea--England and America; the dream of all good men on both sides for long long years. How Dickens would have welcomed it ... I'll tell you just this. The people of this country have proved that they are worthy of being your allies. No doubt you have read much, but it would be almost impossible for any pen to tell the story of the fortitude and determination of the common people of this old country. No, Sir, we are not effete. There is no degeneracy here"; and disagreeing with but respecting Wagenknecht's Quaker views. With a typed letter signed from Ley's son, Kenneth J. Ley, dated Clifton, Bristol, 19 October 1943, informing Wagenknecht of his father's death.