t large. That Von Kempelen and his immediate
friends will reap a rich harvest, it would be folly to doubt for a
moment. They will scarcely be so weak as not to 'realize,' in time, by
large purchases of houses and land, with other property of intrinsic
value.

In the brief account of Von Kempelen which appeared in the
'Home Journal,' and has since been extensively copied, several
misapprehensions of the German original seem to have been made by the
translator, who professes to have taken the passage from a late number
of the Presburg 'Schnellpost.' 'Viele' has evidently been misconceived
(as it often is), and what the translator renders by 'sorrows,' is
probably 'lieden,' which, in its true version, 'sufferings,' would give
a totally different complexion to the whole account; but, of course,
much of this is merely guess, on my part.

Von Kempelen, however, is by no means 'a misanthrope,' in appearance, at
least, whatever he may be in fact. My acquaintance with him was casual
altogether; and I am scarcely warranted in saying that I know him
at all; but to have seen and conversed with a man of so prodigious a
notoriety as he has attained, or will attain in a few days, is not a
small matter, as times go.

'The Literary World' speaks of him, confidently, as a native of Presburg
(misled, perhaps, by the account in 'The Home Journal') but I am pleased
in being able to state positively, since I have it from his own lips,
that he was born in Utica, in the State of New York, although both his
parents, I believe, are of Presburg descent. The family is connected, in
some way, with Maelzel, of Automaton-chess-player memory. In person, he
is short and stout, with large, fat, blue eyes, sandy hair and whiskers,
a wide but pleasing mouth, fine teeth, and I think a Roman nose. There
is some defect in one of his feet. His address is frank, and his whole
manner noticeable for bonhomie. Altogether, he looks, speaks, and
acts as little like 'a misanthrope' as any man I ever saw. We were
fellow-sojouners for a week about six years ago, at Earl's Hotel, in
Providence, Rhode Island; and I presume that I conversed with him, at
various times, for some three or four hours altogether. His principal
topics were those of the day, and nothing that fell from him led me
to suspect his scientific attainments. He left the hotel before me,
intending to go to New York, and thence to Bremen; it was in the latter
city that his great discovery was first ma