ination into a maritime
period so remote that, often as you have been in my mind, I could
never satisfy myself that you were still amongst the living. I am glad,
indeed, to learn from Mr. Toft that you are still hale and hearty, and I
do most heartily wish you many years yet of health and vigour.

Your books I have in the American edition. I have 'Typee, 'Omoo,'
'Redburn,' and that noble piece 'Moby Dick.' These are all I have been
able to obtain. There have been many editions of your works in this
country, particularly the lovely South Sea sketches; but the editions
are not equal to those of the American publishers. Your reputation here
is very great. It is hard to meet a man whose opinion as a reader is
worth leaving who does not speak of your works in such terms as he
might hesitate to employ, with all his patriotism, toward many renowned
English writers.

Dana is, indeed, great. There is nothing in literature more remarkable
than the impression produced by Dana's portraiture of the homely inner
life of a little brig's forecastle.

I beg that you will accept my thanks for the kindly spirit in which you
have read my books. I wish it were in my power to cross the Atlantic,
for you assuredly would be the first whom it would be my happiness to
visit.

The condition of my right hand obliges me to dictate this to my son;
but painful as it is to me to hold a pen, I cannot suffer this letter
to reach the hands of a man of so admirable genitis as Herman Melville
without begging him to believe me to be, with my own hand, his most
respectful and hearty admirer, W. Clark Russell.

It should be noted here that Melville's increased reputation in England
at the period of this letter was chiefly owing to a series of articles
on his work written by Mr. Russell. I am sorry to say that few English
papers made more than a passing reference to Melville's death. The
American press discussed his life and work in numerous and lengthy
reviews. At the same time, there always has been a steady sale of his
books in England, and some of them never have been out of print in that
country since the publication of 'Typee.' One result of this friendship
between the two authors was the dedication of new volumes to each other
in highly complimentary terms--Mr. Melville's 'John Marr and Other
Sailors,' of which twenty-five copies only were printed, on the one
hand, and Mr. Russell's 'An Ocean Tragedy,' on the other, of which many
thousand have bee