Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and letters of Charles Sumner: volume 2

[167] half-past 3, which I hold till night. Never at any time since I have been at the bar have I been more punctual and faithful. Pocket that, ye croakers, who said that Europe would spoil me for office work! My third volume of Reports is now in press, which I drive hard. Still I will not disguise from you, my dear Lieber, that I feel, while I am engaged upon these things, that, though I earn my daily bread, I lay up none of the bread of life. My mind, soul, heart, are not improved or invigorated by the practice of my profession; by overhauling papers, old letters, and sifting accounts, in order to see if there be any thing on which to plant an action. The sigh will come for a canto of Dante, a rhapsody of Homer, a play of Schiller. But I shall do my devoir.

To Horatio Greenough, Florence.

Boston, Sept. 30, 1840.

my dear Greenough,—I received yours of July 12, and was rejoiced to see your handwriting again. . . . Allston has inquired a great deal about you, and will be delighted to see you again. You know that he has unrolled his ‘Belshazzar;’ it stretches across an entire end of his studio, but is covered with a curtain large as itself, which is the breakwater to our curiosity. He has recently painted a beautiful woman,—Amy Robsart, of Kenilworth, he has called her. She has golden hair, and that sweet look of feeling which you find in all Allston's pictures, particularly of women,—qualem decet esse sororum.When you come here, we will go out and have a long evening with him. . . . Present my kindest regards to Mrs. Greenough, and remember me to your brother, and to Wilde and Powers. Kenyon enjoyed himself very much among you. He has written to me of you all with great praise.

Believe me, ever sincerely yours,

Charles Sumner.

To Professor William Whewell, Cambridge, England.

Boston, Oct. 17, 1840.

my dear Whewell,—I have taken the great liberty of introducing to you by letter a countryman of mine, and now write to speak to you of him more particularly than I did in my letter. It is Mr. President Wayland, the head of a seminary of learning at Providence, in Rhode Island, called Brown University,—a man of strong native powers and considerable acquisitions, particularly in political economy and ethics, on which he has written very well. He is a Baptist clergyman, and the Bishop of that denomination.¹ His object in visiting England is to observe and study your institutions of learning,—schools, colleges, all,—in the hope of contributing to the improvement of ours. He will probably pass a week or more in Cambridge.

I have asked President Wayland to take charge of a small parcel for you