press on the _Middle States of the
Union_, principally illustrative of their social history; but it has not
been found among his manuscripts, and the presumption is that he must have
destroyed it. He had planned a work on the _Towns of Manhattan_, for the
publication of which he made arrangements with Mr. Putnam of this city,
and a part of which, already written, was in press at the time of his
death. The printed part has since been destroyed by fire, but a portion of
the manuscript was recovered. The work, I learn, will be completed by one
of the family, who, within a few years past, has earned an honorable name
among the authors of our country. Great as was the number of his works,
and great as was the favor with which they were received, the pecuniary
rewards of his success were far less than has been generally
supposed--scarcely, as I am informed, a tenth part of what the common
rumor made them. His fame was infinitely the largest acknowledgment which
this most successful of American authors received for his labors.

_The Ways of the Hour_ appeared in 1850. At this time his personal
appearance was remarkable. He seemed in perfect health, and in the highest
energy and activity of his faculties. I have scarcely seen any man at that
period of life on whom his years sat more lightly. His conversation had
lost none of its liveliness, though it seemed somewhat more genial and
forbearing in tone, and his spirits none of their elasticity. He was
contemplating, I have since been told, another Leatherstocking tale,
deeming that he had not yet exhausted the character; and those who
consider what new resources it yielded him in the _Pathfinder_ and the
_Deerslayer_, will readily conclude that he was not mistaken.

The disease, however, by which he was removed, was even then impending
over him, and not long afterwards his friends here were grieved to learn
that his health was declining. He came to New York so changed that they
looked at him with sorrow, and after a stay of some weeks, partly for the
benefits of medical advice returned to Cooperstown, to leave it no more.
His complaint gradually gained strength, subdued a constitution originally
robust, and finally passed into a confirmed dropsy. In August, 1851, he
was visited by his excellent and learned friend, Dr. Francis, a member of
the weekly club which he had founded in the early part of his literary
career. He found him bearing the sufferings of his disease with manly
fi