[193] fellow! He has been obliged to endure blisters which are as bad as tooth-ulling or usury. And yet he is as sociable, as pleasant, and full of bonhomie as ever. He has sat patiently in his room during the warmest and most sultry days, with all his windows closed, and with all the martyrdom of St. Lawrence on his gridiron. I was glad to hear that you had so pleasant a time in the White Mountains. Hillard returned full of what he had seen or heard, quorum pars magna fuisti. Choate and Howe both joined in expressions. Dr. Lieber is in the city now, and is at our office a great deal, and is very interesting from the fulness and invention of his mind. He has inquired after you. I suppose we shall see you soon, returned to occupy your new rooms.1 Yours ever faithfully,
To Dr. Francis Lieber.
Boston, Sept. 11, 1837.my dear Lieber,—On Nepotism, see a capital letter of General Washington, written in 1797, to John Adams.2 The latter had solicited the advice of Washington with regard to a promotion of his son, J. Q. A., in the diplomatic line. Washington advises it, on the ground that he has already been appointed by government; and it is now proposed only to advance him another step. At the same time, he commends J. Q. A. in a way that does my heart good. Washington, in this letter, alludes to his own conduct on these subjects. Perhaps you have seen the letter. I do not know that it is preserved by Sparks. It probably is; at any rate, it is to be found in the renowned Cunningham correspondence, the publication of which is the most barefaced violation of confidence that I know of. See the last number of the ‘London and Westminster Review’ for articles on Taylor's ‘Statesman3’ and Fonblanque's ‘England under Seven Administrations,’4 both of which touch upon some of your topics. Don't publish by subscription;5 don't make yourself a general beggar: it is enough to petition booksellers; do not offer prayers to the many-headed public for the sake of a paltry subscription. It is undignified, and betrays a want of confidence in your work. Study, ponder, and polish your work;
This text is part of:
1 Prof. Longfellow began in Sept., 1837, to occupy rooms at the Craigie House, Washington's headquarters,—an estate which he afterwards purchased, and where he has since resided.
2 Works of John Adams, Vol.VIII. p. 530. Sparks's ‘Life and Writings of George Washington,’ Vol. XI. p. 188. Lieber had applied to Sumner by letter, Sept. 2, 1835, while writing his ‘Political Ethics,’ for information relative to the appointment of Bushrod Washington to an office. Ante, p. 173. Lieber's ‘Political Ethics’ (1875), Vol. II. pp. 30-34. Sumner, in a speech in the Senate, May 31, 1872, treated at length of ‘Nepotism,’ with reference to the administration of President Grant, drawing historical parallels. He discussed it briefly in a speech intended to be delivered in Faneuil Hall, Sept. 3, 1872, entitled, ‘Greeley or Grant.’
3 April, 1837, Vol. XXVIII. pp. 1-32.
4 Idem, pp 65-98.
Cambridge, MA. Press of John Wilson and Son. 1877.
Tufts University provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.