than those to which his verse had hitherto been
subjected.

A friend had shown him a letter written by
Washington Irving, from Madrid, in which oc-
curred the following passage: --

"I have been charmed with what I have seen of the
writing of Bryant and Halleck. Are you acquainted
with them? I should like to know something about
them personally; their view of thinking is quite above
that of ordinary men and ordinary poets, and they are
masters of the magic of poetic language."

Encouraged if not determined by these words of
commendation from such a competent authority,
Mr. Bryant sent a copy of his volume to Murray
in London, and at the same time addressed the
following note to Irving: --

"SIR, -- I have put to press in this city a duo-
decimo volume of two hundred and forty pages,
comprising all my poems which I thought worth
printing, most of which have already appeared.
Several of them I believe you have seen, and of
some, if I am rightly informed, you have been
pleased to express a favorable opinion. Before
publishing the thing here, I have sent a copy of it
to Murray, the London bookseller, by whom I am
anxious that it should be published in England.
I have taken the liberty, which I hope you will
pardon a countryman of yours, who relies on the
known kindness of your disposition to plead his
excuse, of referring him to you. As it is not alto-
gether impossible that the work might be repub-

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