said—“Did you see Stratford? the loveliest spot of English scenery! It is the very place, in all England, where Shakespeare should lie. Was he not fortunate, to have such a place to repose in? What is a monument in Westminster Abbey compared with that? It is the very place for a poet to take his last rest. Shakespeare’s grave, and the account of the burial of Tom Campbell, touched me more than any thing else in England.”
He always expressed a great admiration for Charlotte Bronté. Upon my telling him, some years ago, that I had not read Jane Eyre, he said, “Thank God, I have got that advantage.” In another letter he says, “Have you read the ‘Bucktail Bards,’ a very able and amusing work that appeared in 1819 or ’20? If not, you will thank me for referring you to it, as a treasure of a book. Our friend Mr. Verplanck knows more about its author or authors than I do. (I may remark, en passant, that Mr. Verplanck and Judge Duer were the reputed authors of this rare book). I wish particularly to call your attention to an imitation of Coleridge contained in it—one of the best things, in its way, ever printed.” In another letter, speaking of Mr. Verplanck, he says, “I wish you would prevail upon him to gather together the scattered-abroad children of his pen. As American specimens of English literature, his writings are proof that the waters of the well of English undefiled, can be drunk here in all their purity.” He paid a very high compliment to the young author of Baby Bell. He says in a note to me, “I am happy to agree with you in your estimate of the young poet. He is much more than promis-
