is not now necessary or desirable to go,
further than to mention that at about this time Lincoln seems to have
formed a strong attachment for Miss Matilda Edwards, a sister of Ninian
W. Edwards; and that the engagement with Miss Todd was for a time broken
off. In consequence of these complications, Lincoln's health was
seriously affected. He suffered from melancholy, which was so profound
that "his friends were alarmed for his life." His intimate companion,
Mr. Speed, endeavored to rescue him from the terrible depression, urging
that he would die unless he rallied. Lincoln replied, "I am not afraid
to die, and would be more than willing. But I have an irrepressible
desire to live till I can be assured that the world is a little better
for my having been in it."

Mr. Herndon gives as his opinion that Lincoln's insanity grew out of a
most extraordinary complication of feelings--aversion to the marriage
proposed, a counter--attachment to Miss Edwards, and a revival of his
tenderness for the memory of Anne Rutledge. At all events, his
derangement was nearly if not quite complete. "We had to remove razors
from his room," says Mr. Speed, "take away all knives, and other
dangerous things. It was terrible." Mr. Speed determined to do for him
what Bowlin Greene had done on a similar occasion at New Salem. Having
sold out his store on the first of January,

1841, he took Lincoln with him to his home in Kentucky and kept him
there during most of the summer and fall, or until he seemed
sufficiently restored to be given his liberty again, when he was brought
back to Springfield. His health was soon regained, and on the 4th of
November, 1842, the marriage between him and Miss Todd was celebrated
according to the rites of the Episcopal Church. After the marriage
Lincoln secured pleasant rooms for himself and wife at the Globe Tavern,
at a cost of four dollars a week. In 1844 he purchased of the Rev.
Nathan Dressar the plain dwelling which was his home for the ensuing
seventeen years, and which he left in 1861 to enter the White House.

CHAPTER VI

Lincoln in National Politics--His Congressional
Aspirations--Law-Partnership of Lincoln and Herndon--The
Presidential Campaign of 1844--Visit to Henry Clay--Lincoln Elected
to Congress--Congressional Reputation--Acquaintance with
Distinguished Men--First Speech in Congress--"Getting the Hang" of
the House--Lincoln's Course on the Mexican War--Notabl