looking not so elderly as he ought, on account of a very well made wig.
He is now on his return from a cruise in the East Indian seas, and goes
home by the Baltic, with a prospect of being very well received on
account of his treaty with Japan. I seldom meet with a man who puts
himself more immediately on conversable terms than the Commodore. He
soon introduced his particular business with me,--it being to inquire
whether I would recommend some suitable person to prepare his notes and
materials for the publication of an account of his voyage. He was good
enough to say that he had fixed upon me, in his own mind, for this
office; but that my public duties would of course prevent me from
engaging in it. I spoke of Herman Melville, and one or two others; but
he seems to have some acquaintance with the literature of the day, and
did not grasp very cordially at any name that I could think of; nor,
indeed, could I recommend any one with full confidence. It would be a
very desirable task for a young literary man, or, for that matter, for an
old one; for the world can scarcely have in reserve a less hackneyed
theme than Japan.

This is a most beautiful day of English winter; clear and bright, with
the ground a little frozen, and the green grass along the waysides at
Rock Ferry sprouting up through the frozen pools of yesterday's rain.
England is forever green. On Christmas day, the children found
wall-flowers, pansies, and pinks in the garden; and we had a beautiful
rose from the garden of the hotel grown in the open air. Yet one is
sensible of the cold here, as much as in the zero atmosphere of America.
The chief advantage of the English climate is that we are not tempted to
heat our rooms to so unhealthy a degree as in New England.

I think I have been happier this Christmas than ever before,--by my own
fireside, and with my wife and children about me,--more content to enjoy