writings in conversation. He was, however, able to overcome this
reluctance on the lecture platform. Our author's tendency to
philosophical discussion is strikingly set forth in a letter from
Dr. Titus Munson Coan to the latter's mother, written while a
student at Williams College over thirty years ago, and
fortunately preserved by her. Dr. Coan enjoyed the friendship
and confidence of Mr. Melville during most of his residence in
New York. The letter reads:--

'I have made my first literary pilgrimage, a call upon Herman
Melville, the renowned author of 'Typee,' etc. He lives in a
spacious farmhouse about two miles from Pittsfield, a weary walk
through the dust. But it as well repaid. I introduced myself as
a Hawaiian-American, and soon found myself in full tide of talk,
or rather of monologue. But he would not repeat the experiences
of which I had been reading with rapture in his books. In vain I
sought to hear of Typee and those paradise islands, but he
preferred to pour forth his philosophy and his theories of life.
The shade of Aristotle arose like a cold mist between myself and
Fayaway. We have quite enough of deep philosophy at Williams
College, and I confess I was disappointed in this trend of the
talk. But what a talk it was! Melville is transformed from a
Marquesan to a gypsy student, the gypsy element still remaining
strong within him. And this contradiction gives him the air of
one who has suffered from opposition, both literary and social.
With his liberal views, he is apparently considered by the good
people of Pittsfield as little better than a cannibal or a
'beach-comber.' His attitude seemed to me something like that of
Ishmael; but perhaps I judged hastily. I managed to draw him out
very freely on everything but the Marquesas Islands, and when I