as to the public approbation. On my return to Boston in April, I will use my influence to induce a publisher to take hold of the work, who will give it a fair chance of success. Had "Fanshawe" been in the hands of more extensive dealers, I do believe it would have paid you a profit. As a practical evidence of my opinion of the uncommon merit of these tales, I offer you $35 for the privilege of inserting "The Gentle Boy" in the "Token,” and you shall be at liberty to publish it with your collection, provided it does not appear before the publication of the "Token." In this case I shall return "Roger Malvin's Burial." I will retain the MS. till your reply, which please address to this place.

Respectfully,

S. G. GOODRICH.

BOSTON, May 31, 1831.

DEAR SIR, -I have made very liberal use of the privilege you gave me as to the insertion of your pieces in the "Token." I have already inserted four of them; namely, "The Wives of the Dead," "Roger Malvin's Burial," "Major Molineaux," and "The Gentle Boy." As they are anonymous, no objection arises from having so many pages by one author, particularly as they are as good, if not better, than anything else I get. My estimate of the pieces is sufficiently evinced by the use I have made of them, and I cannot doubt that the public will coincide with me.

Yours respectfully,

S. G. GOODRICH,

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, Esq.

NEW YORK, Jan. 4, 1836.

MY DEAR SIR, —I have only to-day found time to thank you for your truly beautiful article, "The Fountain of Youth," in the current number of the "Knickerbocker." I have rarely read anything which delighted me more. The style is excellent, and the keeping of the whole excellent. We should be glad to hear from you as often as your leisure will permit you to write; and you will please inform "Clark and Edson" when you desire the quid pro

quo.

Among our contributions for next month will be a poem of forty stanzas by Robert Southey, that will make you laugh, I think; and other articles by Professor Wolff of Jena University, Mr. Galt, and Wordsworth. If you have a paper by you that we might have for the February number, it would appear among foreign and exotic plants of a good order. Very truly, and with high regard,

S. GAYLORD CLARK.

HAVANNAH, Feb. 20, 1836.

DEAR HAWTHORNE, -It is now ten days since I received your letter in the country near Matanzas. Nothing has given me so much pleasure for many a day as the intelligence concerning your late engagement in active and responsible business. I have always known that whenever you should exert yourself in earnest, that you could command respecta

bility and independence and fame.

As for your

present situation, I do not regard it so much in itself though it seems tolerably good to begin with-as I do for its being the introduction to other and better employment. Besides, it is no small point gained to get you out of Salem. Independently of the fact about "the prophet," etc., there is a peculiar dulness about Salem, -a a heavy atmosphere which no literary man can breathe. You are now fairly embarked with the other literary men, and if you can't sail with any other, I'll be d-d. I hope you will write for the "New York Mirror." It has a great circulation, and its editor is a man of influence and standing in the literary world, although in my judgment he is not very deep. His good opinion will be of service to you. I am writing with my coat and hat off, doors and windows open, and mosquitoes biting my feet. My letter is neither long nor neat; such as it is, though, it is probably worth the postage.

With best wishes for your success and happiness, I am

Yours truly,

HORACE BRIDGE.

WASHINGTON, March 5, 1836. DEAR HAWTHORNE,- I could make a very tolerable apology for this long delay in answering your letter, but as they are usually unsatisfactory, as they sometimes are insincere, we will if you please dispense with them altogether. I was, as you supposed, try

ing to effect a negotiation with Blair at the time your letter was received; but I doubt whether I should have succeeded in accomplishing anything that would have been either agreeable or advantageous to you. And I congratulate you sincerely upon your installation in the editorial chair of the "American Magazine." I hope you will find your situation both pleasant and profitable. I wish you to enter my name as a subscriber to the magazine. Where do you board, and where is your office? I may be at Boston in three or four weeks, and I shall have no time to search out locations. If you do not write to me soon, Hath, I will never write a puff of the "American Magazine," or say a clever thing of its editor.

Ever and faithfully your friend,

FRANK PIERCE.

AUGUSTA, May 14, 1836.

AM I not virtuous to-day? have I not refused an invitation to play cards with some friends, thereby compelling them to play each per se? This shows what a good effect your letter had upon my morals. But, after all, the worst accusation I can make against myself is that I have no settled plan of existence, even now, at the age of thirty. Meantime I keep my heart as warm and kindly as possible, and am happy enough in the friendship of a goodly number of warm and indulgent friends.

I have read the April number of your journal,

and like it well. The other, which you say is best, has not come yet. There must be a great deal of labor necessary to conduct it, and I rejoice that you bear it so well. I fear that you may tire of your present situation too soon; but I think there is no danger of your wanting literary employment long in future. You are in for it, and are known. Goodrich has opened a heavy fire upon P. Benjamin, I see. I am glad that it is not you, and yet I should like to see you thoroughly angry and pouring it into that same fellow. I find that the Mill Dam is going on famously. From present appearances I shall be obliged to invest some twenty thousand dollars. You must publish an article descriptive of this work, when it is finished.

I shall try your advice with regard to the women some time when I am away from here, though I shall make a poor hand of it most certainly. I sometimes think seriously of matrimony for ten minutes together, and should perhaps perpetrate it if I did not like myself too well. My morals have improved exceedingly in the past year; your advice in a former letter was very efficient in this improvement, and Helen J's fate has confirmed me. I take advice from you kindly. It seems divested of the presumption and intermeddling spirit with which advice is usually tinctured. I am a vain man, and a proud one; and I would spurn with scorn the interference of any one whom I suspected of giving me advice with any other than the most friendly feelings. But when I