gements with different periodicals.
It was well received on the Continent, and reviewed in the leading
journals of France. It would have been republished in this country, had
not the sheets been suppressed, which I sent in advance to Wiley, the
publisher of Cooper's works, till it was too late. Other copies were
lost, I know not how, and I gave up the idea of astonishing the natives
here.

Meanwhile Mr. Blackwood and I had never met. Hindrances had happened,
month after month, when it seemed that we should certainly have a chance
for a grapple; and he had behaved so handsomely to me through all our
negotiations and correspondence, that I wanted to look into his eyes.

At last he came down upon me when least expected. Mrs. Halloway tapped
at my door to say that a strange gentleman was below, inquiring for Mr.
Carter Holmes; and then she handed me Mr. Blackwood's card. "Show him
up," said I, as a knowing smile drifted athwart her fine old-fashioned
English face,--for she had the secret under lock-and-key, and used to
collect my drafts and take charge of the letters to and from "Carter
Holmes." The girl who went to the door knew nothing of such a gentleman,
and so the landlady took the business into her own hands.

We met after a most agreeable fashion, and I was greatly pleased with my
visitor, though disappointed in his personal appearance. I found him a
short, "stubbed" man, of about five feet six, I should say, with a
plain, straightforward business air,--like that of a substantial
tradesman,--and a look of uncommon though quiet shrewdness. You could
see at a glance that he was a man to be trusted,--frank and fearless,
without being either boastful or aggressive. After talking over matters
generally, and getting my pay in cash,--guineas for pounds,--without
taking a bill or engaging my name for a discount in the usual course of
trade, he invited me to dine with him at an eating-house in the Strand,
saying that he had asked "Ensign O'Doherty" (Dr. Maginn) to meet me; the
man who wrote Hebrew and Greek and Latin poetry, and had begun for
"Blackwood" not long before with rendering the ballad of "Chevy Chase"
into Latin verse. I could see, that, although Mr. Blackwood had the
highest opinion of the Doctor's genius and scholarship, he was a little
shy of him, and I dare say saw through and through him, as I think I
did.

The dinner was a plain, substantial affair, without wine or
delicacies,--or even whiskey,--which may