Chapter 15:
- Letters to Mr. Ticknor from Mr. Jefferson, the Duke de Laval, Count Cesare Balbo, Madame de Broglie, and Baron Auguste de Stael.
During his absence from home, Mr. Ticknor received many letters and notes from persons eminent on both sides of the ocean, and a few of these present themselves as a supplement to his own account of his experiences. They serve not only to show the impression he made, but to suggest traits of character exhibited in his relations with others, which are not so well brought forward in any other way. The allusions to conversations, and to points of sympathy or difference between him and his correspondents, add touches to the picture that would otherwise be lost. The first, in date, are letters from Mr. Jefferson, who seems to have formed quite an affection for the young Federalist from New England, who visited him early in 1815. These are only specimens, out of many letters written by the Ex-President to Mr. Ticknor. Those from the Duke de Laval, from Cesare Balbo, Madame de Broglie, and Auguste de Stael are interesting in themselves, and full of vivacity; and they bear still more the marks of that individuality, on both sides, which creates the living element in any correspondence that is worth preserving. These friendships overmastered time and separation, as will be seen in later portions of these volumes.