To William Dean Howells
10 February 1875 • Hartford, Conn.
(MS: NN-B, UCCL 02487)

Hartford, Feb. 10.

My Dear Howells:

Your praises of my literature gave me the solidest gratification; but I never did have the fullest confidence [ im in] ‸my‸ critical penetration, & now your verdict on Stoddard has knocked what little I did have, [gally-west]! I didn’t enjoy his gush, but I thought a lot of his similes were ever so vivid & good. But it’s just my luck; every time I go into convulsions of admiration over a picture & want to buy it right away before I’ve lost the chance, some wretch who really understands art comes along & damns it. But I don’t mind. I would rather have my ignorance than another man’s knowledge, because I have got so much of [more] of it.1

Mind you try hard, on the 15th, to say you will go to New Orleans. If Mrs. Howells will contsent to go, too, I will make a pleasant young lady neighbor of ours go also, so she can have respectable as well as talented company.2

I send you No. 5 to-day. I have written & re-written the first half of it three different times, yesterday & to-day, & at last Mrs. Clemens says it will do.3 I never saw a woman so hard to please about things she don’t know anything about.

Ys Ever

Mark

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

Editorial Signs

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1 The letter Clemens answered is not known to survive. He had recently sent Howells a copy of Stoddard’s article about the cathedral of San Marco in Venice (see 1 Feb 75 to Stoddard, n. 7). Howells had seen merit in Stoddard’s previous writing, printing three of his pieces in the Atlantic Monthly during the second half of 1874 (Charles Warren Stoddard 1874 [bib14014], 1874 [bib14015], 1874 [bib14016]). He also had a particular interest in Venice, since he had served as consul there from 1861 to 1865, recording his impressions in Venetian Life, and planned to write a history of the city as well (Howells 1866; 26 Jan 75 to Howells, n. 1).

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2 In his missing letter Howells must have promised to make a final decision about the New Orleans trip on 15 February. He informed Clemens of it the following day (see 20 Feb 75 to Howells, n. 1). The “young lady neighbor” has not been identified.

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3 The fifth installment of “Old Times on the Mississippi,” which appeared in the May issue of the Atlantic Monthly.

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS, Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations (NN-B).

Previous publication: L6, 378; MTL, 1:249, with omission; MTHL, 1:65.

Provenance:see Howells Letters in Description of Provenance.

Emendations and textual notes:

im in • imn

gally-west • [sic]

more • mor | more [rewritten for clarity]