"I have had a friend of your Mr. Irving's--a very pretty lad--a Mr.
Coolidge, of Boston--only somewhat too full of poesy and
'entusymusy.' I was very civil to him during his few hours' stay,
and talked with him much of Irving, whose writings are my delight.
But I suspect that he did not take quite so much to me, from his
having expected to meet a misanthropical gentleman, in wolf-skin
breeches, and answering in fierce monosyllables, instead of a man
of this world. I can never get people to understand that poetry is
the expression of _excited passion_, and that there is no such
thing as a life of passion any more than a continuous earthquake,
or an eternal fever. Besides, who would ever _shave_ themselves in
such a state?

"I have had a curious letter to-day from a girl in England (I never
saw her), who says she is given over of a decline, but could not go
out of the world without thanking me for the delight which my poesy
for several years, &c. &c. &c. It is signed simply N.N.A. and has
not a word of 'cant' or preachment in it upon _any_ opinions. She
merely says that she is dying, and that as I had contributed so
highly to her existing pleasure, she thought that she might say so,
begging me to _burn_ her _letter_--which, by the way, I can _not_
do, as I look upon such a letter in such circumstances as better
than a diploma from Gottingen. I once had a letter from Drontheim,
in _Norway_ (but not from a dying woman), in verse, on the same
score of gratulation. These are the things which make one at times
believe one's self a poet. But if I must believe that * * * * * and
such fellows, are poets also, it is better to be out of the corps.

"I am now in the fifth act of 'Foscari,' being the third tragedy in
twelve months, besides _proses_; so you perceive that I am not at
all idle. And are you, too, busy? I doubt that your life at Paris
draws too much upon your time, which is a pity. Can't you divide
your day, so as to combine both? I have had plenty of all sorts of
worldly business on my hands last year, and yet it is not so
difficult to give a few hours to the Muses. This sentence is so
like * * * * that ----

"Ever, &c.

"If we were together, I should publish both my plays (periodically)
in our _joint_ journal. It should be our plan to pub