my health giving way under it, but really I do not care. I am
ambitious to be remembered among the martyrs.

This letter is not only significant of Boker's method of workmanship;
it is, as well, measure of his charm as a letter writer. For, in
correspondence with his close friends, he was as natural with them,
as full of force and brightness, as he was in conversation. We find
Taylor thanking him at one time, when in distress over family illness
and death, for his sustaining words of comfort; we find Leland basking
in the warmth of his sheer animal spirits. To the latter, Boker once
wrote:

Dear old Charley, you are the only man living with whom I can
play the fool through a long letter and be sure that I shall
be clearly understood at the end. To say that this privilege
is cheerful is to say little, for it is the breath of life to
a man of a certain humour.

The "Francesca" note, therefore, is typical of Boker's enthusiasm.
When Stoddard read the play, we wonder whether he saw in it any
similarities to Leigh Hunt's poem on the same subject? For once he had
detected in Boker's verses the influence of Hunt. There are critics
who claim Boker had read closely Hugo's "Le Roi s'Amuse." But there is
only one real comparison to make--with Shakespeare, to the detriment
of Boker. His memory beat in Elizabethan rhythm, and beat haltingly.
The present Editor began noting on the margin of his copy parallelisms
of thought and expression in this "Francesca" and in the plays of
Shakespeare; these similarities became so many, were so apparent, that
it is thought best to omit them. The text used is not based on the
manuscripts left by Boker, nor has it been compared with the acting