m by Mark Twain. Hay pronounced the sketch
a masterpiece, and wrote immediately to his old Cleveland friend,
Alexander Gunn, prince of connoisseurs in art and literature. The
following correspondence reveals the fine diplomacy which made the name
of John Hay known throughout the world.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Washington, June 21, 1880.

Dear Gunn:

Are you in Cleveland for all this week? If you will say yes by return
mail, I have a masterpiece to submit to your consideration which is only
in my hands for a few days.

Yours, very much worritted by the depravity of Christendom,

Hay

The second letter discloses Hay's own high opinion of the effort and his
deep concern for its safety.

June 24, 1880

My dear Gunn:

Here it is. It was written by Mark Twain in a serious effort to bring
back our literature and philosophy to the sober and chaste Elizabethan
standard. But the taste of the present day is too corrupt for anything
so classic. He has not yet been able even to find a publisher. The Globe
has not yet recovered from Downey's inroad, and they won't touch it.

I send it to you as one of the few lingering relics of that race of
appreciative critics, who know a good thing when they see it.

Read it with reverence and gratitude and send it back to me; for Mark is
impatient to see once more his wandering offspring.

Yours,

Hay.

In his third letter one can almost hear Hay's chuckle in the certainty
that his diplomatic, if somewhat wicked, suggestion would bear fruit.

Washington, D. C.July 7, 1880

My dear Gunn:

I have your letter, and the proposition which you make to pull a few
proofs of the masterpiece is highly attractive, and of course highly
immoral. I cannot properly consent to it, and I am afraid the great many
would think I was taking an unfair advantage of his confidence. Please
send back the document as soon as you can, and if, in spite of my
prohibition, you take these proofs, save me one.

Very truly yours,

John Hay.

Thus was this Elizabethan dialogue poured into the moulds of cold type.
According to Merle Johnson, Mark Twain's bibliographer, it was issued
in pamphlet form, without wrappers or covers; there were 8 pages of
text and the pamphlet measured 7 by 8 1/2 inches. Only four copies are
believed to have been printed, one for Hay, one for Gunn, and two for
Twain.

"In the matter of humor," wrote Clemens, referring to Hay's delicious
notes, "what an unsurpas