Rees arrived with the important and joyful intelligence that the agent has accepted the £1,000, and that I am now a free man again. Walked boldly out into the sunshine, and showed my self up St. James Street and Bond Street.

Moore had returned to Paris on the 11th of November, and when he visited London again in April, he rescinded his bargain with Murray for the Memoirs of Byron, making himself a debtor to the publisher for the two thousand guineas advanced, and leaving the manuscript in his hands as security for its repayment. These memoirs, which were not destined to see the light, Mr. Irving had read while in Paris with Moore.

CHAPTER IV.

RETURN TO LONDON-LETTER TO EBENEZER-TRANSMITS FIRST VOLUME OF BRACEBRIDGE HALL-MOSES THOMAS-COOPER AND THE SPY-SENDS OFF VOLUME II. BRACEBRIDGE HALL-MAKES CONTRACT WITH MURRAY FOR PUBLICATION IN ENGLAND-LETTER TO PETER-BEGINS TO MAKE CALLS-GOES WITH MOORE TO BREAKFAST AT HOLLAND HOUSE-LETTER TO BREVOORTJOHN RANDOLPH-MRS. SIDDONS-VISIT TO WIMBLEDON, ONE OF THE COUNTRY SEATS OF EARL SPENCER-MEETING WITH ROGERS-LETTER TO MRS. PARISVISIT TO THE COUNTRY SEAT OF THOMAS HOPE-LINES WRITTEN IN THE DEEP DENE ALBUM-LETTER TO BREVOORT—ANASTASIUS ROGERS-MATHEWS, THE COMEDIAN-PREPARING FOR AN EXCURSION INTO GERMANY.

MR.

R. IRVING returned to London on the 26th of December, and took up his quarters temporarily in the house of his friend and countryman, Mr. Hoffman of Baltimore, from whom he had received repeated and urgent invitations to do so during his indisposition at Birmingham. Here he was most comfortably accommodated for more than six weeks, experiencing from Mr. Hoffman and his family the most hospitable and delicate attentions, and being made to feel completely at home, with "his time and every thing else perfectly at his command." The tormenting malady in his ankles, with which he had been troubled at Birmingham, still continued, so that he could not walk without pain and difficulty. He was, therefore, obliged to confine him

self to the house, and indeed for a considerable period had to keep his legs in a horizontal position. He had been subject to`great depression of spirits during his long and painful indisposition at Birmingham, partly from being rendered nervous and debilitated by confinement and the medicines he took, and partly from the saddening reports from home. His general health and spirits were now, however, improving; and in the following letter we find him transmitting across the Atlantic the first volume of Bracebridge Hall, which he had hoped to have had ready for the press the preceding autumn, but which had been retarded by indisposition, depression, and the fact that when he had got it nearly complete he was induced, as has been before stated, to subtract from it a large portion, which would form the foundation of a work by itself, and task himself in the height of his illness to supply its place.

MY DEAR BROther:

[To Ebenezer Irving.]

LONDON, Jan. 29, 1822.

By the packet from Liverpool which brings this letter I forward you a parcel, containing the first volume of BRACE BRIDGE HALL, or THE HUMOURISTS, a MEDLEY in two volumes. I had hoped to have sent both volumes, but I have not been able to get the second volume ready in time for this opportu nity, though I have tried until the last moment. You will receive it, however, by the next opportunity, and very probably before you can have made the necessary arrangements for printing. At any rate, put the first volume to press imme

diately and publish it as soon as possible, with or without the second volume. As it is not like a novel, but rather a connected series of tales and essays, it is of no great importance that they should be published together; but it is of the greatest importance that some part of the work should appear as early as possible, to give me some chance of securing copyright. I shall have to put it to press here in a very short time, as the season is advancing, and my publisher is very impatient; besides, the public has been expecting something from me for some time past, and it will not do to let expectation get too high. If the work is not got out very soon therefore in America, there will be a chance of an English copy getting out beforehand, and thus throwing me at the mercy of American publishers. Should the number of copies make any material difference in the time of getting out the work, you had better let the first edition be rather small; and put another to press the moment I furnish you with proof sheets of the English edition, in which there will doubtless be many alterations, as I have not had time to revise some parts of the work sufficiently, and am apt to make alterations to the last moment.

The work had better be printed in duodecimo; and to save time in binding, let the volumes be put up in lettered covers like the Sketch Book. The second edition can be got up in better style. The first volume runs, as near as I can guess, between 340 and 350 pages of the American edition of the Sketch Book. The second volume will be about the same size. You can make your estimates accordingly. Put what price you think proper. I do not care about its being a very high one. I wish, expressly, Moses Thomas to have the preference over every other publisher. I impress this upon you, and beg you to attend to it as earnestly as if I had written three sheets

full on the subject. Whatever may have been his embarrassments and consequent want of punctuality, he is one who shewed a disposition to serve me, and who did serve me in the time of my necessity, and I should despise myself could I for a moment forget it. Let him have the work on better terms than other publishers, and do not be deterred by the risk of loss.

I have not had time to page the work, but must beg you to do it. I have given a table of contents in the order in which the papers are to be put, and have numbered each with a pencil for your direction. These numbers are not to be printed over the papers. Perhaps it will be best to advertise the work as in the press, to secure orders in time.

I have no time left to say any thing further. I have fagged until the last moment, and am now fit to go to bed. My health is still unrestored. This work has kept me from getting well, and my indisposition on the other hand has retarded the work. I have now been about five weeks in London, and have only once been out of doors, about a month since, and that made

me worse.

From what Mr. Irving has told me, I infer he must have left his sick chamber this "once" to confer with Murray respecting the publication of "The Spy," the first of Cooper's novels which created his reputation, and laid the foundation of his claim to enduring literary distinction. Wiley, his American publisher, had sent the printed volume to Murray, accompanied by a letter from Cooper, referring him to Mr. Irving for Mr. Wiley at the same time wrote to Mr

terms.

VOL. II.-4