he ought not to do anything to jeopardize the currency of his new
volume. Accordingly I wrote to him, just what many of his friends had
said to me, and this is his reply to my letter, which bears date the
18th of July, 1863:--

"I thank you for your note of the 15th instant, and have delayed my
reply thus long in order to ponder deeply on your advice, smoke
cigars over it, and see what it might be possible for me to do
towards taking it. I find that it would be a piece of poltroonery in
me to withdraw either the dedication or the dedicatory letter. My
long and intimate personal relations with Pierce render the
dedication altogether proper, especially as regards this book,
which would have had no existence without his kindness; and if he is
so exceedingly unpopular that his name is enough to sink the volume,
there is so much the more need that an old friend should stand by
him. I cannot, merely on account of pecuniary profit or literary
reputation, go back from what I have deliberately felt and thought
it right to do; and if I were to tear out the dedication, I should
never look at the volume again without remorse and shame. As for the
literary public, it must accept my book precisely as I think fit to
give it, or let it alone.

"Nevertheless, I have no fancy for making myself a martyr when it is
honorably and conscientiously possible to avoid it; and I always
measure out my heroism very accurately according to the exigencies
of the occasion, and should be the last man in the world to throw
away a bit of it needlessly. So I have looked over the concluding
paragraph and have amended it in such a way that, while doing what I
know to be justice to my friend, it contains not a word that ought
to be objectionable to any set of readers. If the public of the