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LETTERS TO AN ENTHUSIAST By MARY COWDEN CLARKE Being a Series of Letters addressed to ROBERT BALMANNO, ESQ., of New Tork y 1850-1861. Edited by ANNE UPTON NETTLETON WITH TEN PHOTOGRAVURE PLATES CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG 6f CO. PUBLISHERS - MDCCCCII COPYRIGHT BY A. C. McCLURG Co. A. D. 1902 PUBLISHED MARCH, 1902 PREFATORY NOTE NO apology is needed for offering to the public the following hitherto unpublished letters of Mary Cowden Clarke, who, added to her fame as a writer, has the twofold distinction of being the daughter and the sister of illustrious musicians, and the wife of an accomplished lit terateur. Among her letters this modest frag ment was found Mary Victoria Novello was a quiet, retiring child, plainish in person, simple in manner and she advanced from girl hood to womanhood without giving token of possessing any distinguishing talent, among a generally gifted family. But she enjoyed the advantage of meeting, during her growth, some of the chief writers of the day, and this consociation stimulated her natural intelligence into literary attempts that took the shape of papers on various subjects, which appeared in print while the writer was in her fifteenth year. On July 5, 1828, she married Charles Cowden Clarke, a lecturer, critic, and author, who had reckoned Keats as his intimate friend, whose 73 PREFATORY NOTE daily associates were Charles Lamb, Douglas Jer rold, William Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt, William Godwin, and other notable writers. To him Keats wrote I have long time been my fancy feeding With hopes that you one day would think the reading Of my rough verses not an hour misspent. Also You first taught me all the sweets of song. Fully twenty years younger than her husband, Mrs. Clarke, as a girl, had not been present at the after-performance suppers when Dowton, Lis ton, Bannister, Elliston, and Lambs sweetheart, Fanny Kelly, met but as time went on, from being merely a child in the eyes of Charles Clarke, she grew to claim a place with him, first as a comrade, then as his hearts desire, and so was permitted to make merry with these gifted friends. The intercourse between the Novellos, Hunts, and Lambs was close and full of innocent pleasure. No wonder Charles Lamb, after one of these suppers, called back when leaving, You re very nice people J For this circle loved C C. C, or Three Hundred, as Leigh 8 PREFATORY NOTE Hunt dubbed Charles Cowden Clarke and his wife, and their friendship endured until they were separated by death. It was in the home of Vincent Novello that Mrs. Shelley and Jane Williams sought rest and sympathy after the poets tragic death. When visiting Charles and Mary Lamb, and while wandering in their flower garden, Mrs. Clarke first determined to undertake the task of compiling a Concordance to Shakespeare, and to this work she gave sixteen years of her life. Mrs. Clarke was deeply gratified on learning that the service done by her to all lovers of Shakespeare was fully appreciated in America. A Mr. Robert Balmanno admired her so sincerely that he wrote to Douglas Jerrold, begging him to ask Mrs. Clarke to send him one of the slips used in preparing the Concordance, that he might have a word in her own handwriting, and jocu larly proposed sending two ounces of California gold in acknowledgment thereof. She graciously complied with his request, and in return he sent her two gold pens. Mr. Balmanno then moved to enthusiasm some of themost prominent per- 9 PREFATORY NOTE sons in America, and a number of these among them Daniel Webster, William Cullen Bryant, Richard Grant White, Henry Wadsworth Long fellow, Charlotte Cushman, and S. Austin Alli bone unitedly sent to Mrs. Clarke a testimonial in the shape of a large rosewood chain From this began a correspondence which lasted eleven years and though during this time Mr. Balmanno and Mrs Clarke never saw each other, it ceased only at his death, in 1861...