add Glens Falls Barbershop story
MELVILLE SPEAKS.
For this list, have checked: LOG
TS
European
Journal
London
Journal
Need still to check: GM's journals
Mansfield
Mrs
Metcalf
Notes
on Owen Chase
Need
to recheck LOG and TS--too big a gap between 1823 and 1837
Need
a section of faults--procrastination being one (New York March 25th 1848 My
Dear Sir Nothing but a sad failing of
mine procrastination has prevented me
from replying ere this to yours of the 17 Jany last, which I have just read
over)
8 April 1823
NEW YORK. "Pa now got two
ittle boys" HM's comment on the
birth of his brother Allan on 7 April.
Letter of Allan Melville to Peter Gansevoort. LOG
22? November 1837
PITTSFIELD. "Herman remarked
at tea this evening that he intended to go to Albany tomorrow, therefore I
thought you would like to have a few lines of my scratching." Letter of Julia Maria to Augusta M, 22
November 1837 TS
alled, and an election holden, on Friday evening
last?" To which you replied, after some
hesitation, "extraordinary circumstances demand extraordinary action; the
members of the society being together, and some of the officers being present,
it was thought expedient to go into a new election; and beside this, those of
the society, who had absented themselves twice successively, were by virtue of
the constitution expelled." To
which I rejoined, "Sir, out of your own mouth shall I condemn you; you
have intimated that I, the president being no longer a member of the society,
had no longer the authority to call a meeting, and hence the fact that I did
not authorise the meeting holden on Friday evening, did not effect its
constitutionality; but, sir, my name has just been called from your roll, and I
am now officiating in the capacity of Secretary." And here I divulged the fact; that you have
been authorised by me to call a meeting of the society on Monday evening, but,
that from motives not understood by me, you have taken the liberty of calling a
meeting on Friday evening, without my knowledge or consent. After this unpleasant expose you remarked,
that, "you understood me to invest you with authority to call a meeting
upon any evening of the week deemed most suitable by yourself" . . . Sir, "there
is something rotten about Denmark."
At about this point as the last resource in your perilous plight, I was
called to order. ([Van Loon,] The Microscope, April 7)
29 Sept 1842
PAPEITE. HM reportedly says he
will "do no more duty and would share the same as others who refused to do
their duty" German affidavit on
board the Lucy Ann. LOG
27
November 1843 BOSTON. Helen Priscilla
Melville reports to Augusta M on seeing Macbeth: "I could not help thinking of
poor Herman, who made it a favorite quotation, and talked about the
"pilot's thumb, wrecked as homeward he did come," "eye of newt,
toe of frog," etc. Helen Priscilla
Melville to Augusta Melville. LOG
14
January 1846 BATH, Maine. Mrs Augusta Whipple Hunter reports to
Augusta: "Poor Herman when your
mother, left the room with the request that he would entertain Miss Augusta
until "Church going" time his countenance spoke, his thoughts
& he e'enmost despaired of entertaining, I should say of accomplishing the
task of 'making himself agreeable' to his sister's dull friend." Letter of Mrs Augusta Whipple Hunter to
Augusta Melville TS
6
April 1846 LANSINGBURGH. HM asks
Augusta, "Who are you writing to
Gus?" "Well, give her my very
best love." Augusta Melville to her
cousin, Catherine Van Schaick. TS
27
April 1847 NEW YORK AND LANSINBURGH HM
"inquired particularly abo all & Herman a little more than
particularly abo my coz Eliz.." Letter of Sam Savage to Hope Shaw, 30
April 1847. TS
19
May 1847 LANSINGBURGH. "Herman just left the room and sends his
love to you." "[E]very day
Herman by accident as it were, tells us something that happened while you were
together." Maria Melville to
Augusta. TS
22
July 1846 NEW YORK. HM tells Allan to tell Evert Duyckinck
"that the advertizing [of] the Revised Edition [of Typee] had
better be delayed until his arrival in town." Letter of Allan Melville to EAD 22 July 1846.
LOG ck final quotation mark. //checked by JH//
Before
18 December 1846 NEW YORK. HM comes to the Harpers with the MS of Omoo
and remarks to Frederick Saunders: "Saunders, I suppose there is no use of
offering this to the house?" LOG
24
June 1847 NEW YORK. HM or Allan may have described Rossiter's
painting of "Ruth and
Naomi"
Letter of Sophia Thurston to Augusta
Melville. TS
4
August 1847 BOSTON. HM on his wedding day: "I do." Elizabeth Melville to her cousin Sam Savage,
12-18 September 1847. TS
28
August 1847 LANSINGBURGH HM
"desires his kindest remembrances to all." Letter of Elizabeth Melville to Hope Shaw.
6
October 1847 NEW YORK. HM was "delighted with the living
tableaus" at a reception of the American Art Union. EAD's diary.
LOG
4
February 1848 NEW YORK. "Herman was
very much gratified with your remembrance of him--and intends to make his
acknowledgements for himself."
Letter of Elizabeth Melville to Hope Shaw, re her baby presents. Metcalf 30
Re her what?
18
March 1848 NEW YORK. EAD writes his brother George of HM's reading
"old Books. He has borrowed Sir
Thomas Browne of me and says finely of the speculations of the Religio
Medici that Browne is a kind of crack'd Archangel." LOG
3
April 1848 NEW YORK. HM's "frequent exclamation" about
the book is 'Oh Lizzy! the book!--the
book--what will become of the Book!'"-- Elizabeth Melville
to Sam Savage, 3 April 1848. TS
6
June 1848 NEW YORK. HM is grateful to Mrs. Shaw for a present of
a pocket book: "he has long since needed such an article, for
his bank bills accumulate to such an extent he can find no place to put
them." Letter of Elizabeth Melville
to her stepmother. LOG
29
March 1849 BOSTON. HM "says he does not want any chapters
of the book [MARDI] to be published in advance except in the
"'Literary World.'" Letter of
J. W. Harper to EAD. LOG
11
April 1849 NEW YORK. HM possibly refers to baby as "Moloch of
a baby." Augusta Melville to
EAD. TS
Before
12 September 1849 NEW YORK. HM "put me all in a flutter the other
evening by proposing that I should go to Europe with him." EAD to George Duyckinck. LOG
13
October 1849 EN ROUTE TO ENGLAND HM shouts "Man overboard!" LJ
14
October 1849 EN ROUTE TO ENGLAND. After a passenger tells HM to "look off
and see the steamer," HM asks the 2d mate "whether he could see the
steamers" LJ
17
October 1849 EN ROUTE TO ENGLAND HM "in conversation with
Adler" LJ
18
October 1849 EN ROUTE HM talks with Adler and Taylor re plans for
travels on continent. LJ
22
October 1849 EN ROUTE HM "talked metaphysics continually,
& Hegel, Schlegel, Kant &c were discussed under the influence of
whiskey"--with Adler and Taylor. LJ
26
October 1849 EN ROUTE "Adler & I have had some 'sober
second thoughts' about our grand Oriental & Spanish tour with Taylor. / /
/Talked the whole thing over again with Taylor" LJ
28
October 1849 EN ROUTE HM et al debate the
question: which is better, monarchy or republic?
LJ
2
November 1849 EN ROUTE "Talked metaphysics with my learned
friend Adler till midnight" LJ
5
November 1849 DEAL, ENGLAND HM proposes
walking
to Canterbury with Adler and Taylor LJ
10
November 1849 LONDON HM asks fireman where St Swithin is, and
after he offers to show the way HM says, "Lead on!" LJ
12
November 1849 LONDON HM proposes White Jacket to
Bentley LJ
14
November 1849 LONDON HM proposes White-Jacket to
Murray. LJ
15
November 1849 LONDON HM talks "high German metaphysics"
with Adler LJ
19
November 1849 LONDON HM proposes White-Jacket to Longman;
HM replies to a "clark" at Bentley's that "The Devil you
say" and to "Shove it[a
message left for him] along then"; and HM tells Murray "that people here
having anticipated me, I should stay awhile now, & make some social calls,
&c"; that night he "bids goodbye" to Adler, who is leaving
for Paris LJ
20
November 1849 LONDON Talking to Mr Moton, the publisher, HM
"managed to bring him to
by
clever speeches"
21
November 1849 LONDON HM "had a talk" with Davidson LJ
22
November 1849 LONDON After seeing the Queen, HM says "God
bless her and long live the prince of wales!" LJ
23
November 1849 LONDON HM talks with Davidson re White-Jacket
and the copyright question; goes to Bogues and gives him "an idea of the
book"; talks with female guest at Murray's at dinner, and with Dr
Holland. LJ
24
November 1849 LONDON HM proposes White-Jacket to Chapman
and to H. G. Bohn. LJ
30
November 1849 PARIS HM "jabbers" with Madame Cappelle,
proprietress of the hotel where Adler is staying, waiting for Adler to
return. LJ
2
December 1849 PARIS HM "had a talk" with Adler and
Hotchkiss, Adler's friend. LJ
4
December 1849 PARIS HM invited Adler to dinner; they talk
"high German metaphysics till two o'clock" LJ
6
December 1849 PARIS HM "sat up with Adler till pretty
late,--(Topic--as usual--metaphysics)"
LJ
9
December 1849 COLOGNE HM stops people in street to ask for a light
for his cigar. LJ
10
December 1849 EN ROUTE TO COBLENZ HM talks with a German "who was just
from St. Louis in Missouri"; talks with a young Englishman who had been in
America and was related to "Cunard of the Steamers" at a cigar
shop LJ
15
December 1849 LONDON HM speaks to Bentley re "Liet. Wise's
book" LJ
17
Dec 49 LONDON HM speaks to his namesake, the Rev. H. M.
Melville, who asks HM "whether [he is] a relation of Gansevoort Melville
& of
Herman
Melville." HM replies that he is.
LJ
20
December 1849 LONDON HM speaks to Bentley re "the time of
bringing out White-Jacket"
LJ
22
December 1849 LONDON HM has "pleasant conversation" with
Davidson LJ
21
December 1849 LONDON. David Davidson comments on HM's visit: "We asked each other--where in American
can you find such a place to dine and punch as this? We talked of you, of several New
Yorkers." Letter of David Davidson
to George Duyckinck, 24 December 1849.
LOG
22
December 1849 LONDON HM has "pleasant conversation" with
Davidson LJ
30
April 1850 NEW YORK "Herman was much pleased with his
neckcloth and desires his love and thanks." Letter of Elizabeth Melville to Hope Shaw.
7 August 1850
NEW LEBANON, MASS. "Herman M saw a long handled brush at a bed head
and asked its object." "Why I
guess it's for him to scratch himself with when he itches." Letter of EAD
to his wife, 8 August 1850, on his outing with HM, Elizabeth, and Mathews. EAD
says he is going to make a book of its features. LOG
11 August 1850
PITTSFIELD. "Herman came to
us and told Allan to take me home quietly." Letter of Sophia Melville to Augusta. TS Ck
date--it's easy to get
"Early
autumn" 1850. LENOX. HM said "Mr. Hawthorne was the first
person whose physical being appeared to him wholly in harmony with the intellectual
and spiritual." Letter of Sophia
Hawthorne to her mother. Metcalf 91
Autumn?
1850, LENOX. HM tells Sophia Hawthorne that he wants to
build "a real towered house."
Metcalf 93
1
September 1850 LENOX "It is said the Indian summer in the
Berkshires surpasses the Indian summer in any other region. So says Mr. Melville, good authority for
this." Letter of Sophia Hawthorne
to her sister[?].
5-6
September 1850 NEW YORK? CK.//LOG says
"Lenox"--JH// HM tells George Duyckinck that he "intends to preserve
and have a road through [Arrowhead], making it more of an ornamental place than
a farm." TS
17
October 1850 PITTSFIELD. News item in Pittsfield Sun on HM's purchase of farm: He contemplates the erection of "a house
to suit him" in a beautiful grove on the premises." LOG
31
December 1850 ARROWHEAD. HM "told us that [Lizzie] would be home
tomorrow." Augusta to Helen. TS --redo to supply what was elided
1
January 1851 NEW YORK. HM was in the habit of talking about
"pitching in to" Malcolm.
Sophia Melville to Augusta. TS
6
January 1851 ARROWHEAD. "Herman says he will take us there if we
want to go , & call for us again in the evening." Re "the young ladies" (ie Augusta
and Lizzie?) having been invited to join a sewing society which meets ?at the
church? Leeter of Augusta Melville to
Helen Melville. TS
14
January 1851 PITTSFIELD. Herman "laughed loudly at [Helen's] description of the visit to Mrs
Taylor." Augusta Melville to Helen
Melville. TS (fill in ellipsis
24
January 1851 PITTSFIELD. HM said he
"had a very delightful visit" with the Hawthornes, "the warmest
of welcomes, '& a cold chicken.'"
"Herman says that they are the loveliest family he ever met with,
or anyone can possibly imagine."
Augusta Melville to Helen Melville. TS
12
February 1851 LENOX. Of Captain Caleb Smith HM "says he is
quite a gem." Sophia Hawthorne to
her mother. LOG
12
March 1851 LENOX. HM invites the Hawthornes "to go and
spend tomorrow at his house." Diary
of Sophia Hawthorne. LOG
27
April 1851 LENOX. NH and HM "talk of making an
excursion" to New York. Letter of
NH to EAD. LOG
Before
7 May 1851 LENOX. HM "dash[es] his tumultuous waves of
thought up against Mr Hawthorne's great, genial, comprehending silences." Sophia Hawthorne to her sister
Elizabeth. TS
1
August 1851 LENOX. HM and NH "talk about time and eternity,
things of this world and of the next, and books, and publishers and all
possible and impossible matters."
NH's journal. LOG
3
August 1851 PITTSFIELD. "Herman was much pleased with his
cravat, and begs me to thank you with his love." Letter of Elizabeth Melville to Hope
Shaw. Metcalf 93-94.
8
August 1851 LENOX. HM "had
spoken" of bringing EAD and GD "to call on" NH. NH's journal.
LOG
7? August 1851? HM speaks: "Great!"
"Glorious!" "By Jove,
that's tremendous!." EAD to Mrs. D.
13
August 1851 Pittsfield--North Adams? On
a picnic, HM is arrested by local sheriff.
HM asks, "Go where?" "You have no business to take me to the
hotel--I had no demand. Where is your
bill--So much & my fees. Your arrest is worth nothing--make your
demand." Letter of EAD to wife, 13 August 1851. LOG
26
September 1851 PITTSFIELD. "Each time he came there [to Lake
Pontoosuc] he found the place possessing new charms for him" Letter of Sarah Morewood to George Duyckinck,
8 October 1851. LOG
4
November 1851 PITTSFIELD. "Herman said he would take us at once
and seem'd well pleased, as we were to be there [STOCKBRIDGE?] at seven or lose
our tea." Maria Melville to Augusta
re an invitation from Mrs. Sedgwick, 5 November 1851. TS
25
December 1851 BROADHALL. "I laughed at him [HM] somewhat and told
him that the recluse life he was leading made his city friends think that he
was slightly insane--he replied that long ago he came to the same conclusion
himself--but if he left home to look after Hungary the cause in hunger would
suffer. " Letter of Sarah Morewood to GLD about her Christmas dinner.
1851??
JEAS 142 in Sealts's Early Lives: "Well, it is pleasant to read what those
fellows over the water say about us!"
25
December 1851 BROADHALL. At Christmas
dinner at the Morewood's, HM "quickly removed" a laurel wreath from
his head, "saying he would not be
crowned." Maria Melville to
Augusta, Dec 29. TS
13-14
July 1852 NAUSHON. "Melville expressed himself well pleased
with the excursion, he saw many things and met with many people, whom he was
extremely glad to see." Lemuel Shaw
to his son, Lemuel 20 July 1852, on his
vacation with HM. LOG
August?
1852 CONCORD When speaking to NH, HM, "generally
silent and incommunicative, pours out the rich floods of his mind and
experience to him, so sure of apprehension, so sure of a large and generous
intepretation, and of the most delicate and fine judgment." Letter of Sophia Hawthorne to her mother.
5
February 1854 LAWRENCE. HM says
"happy" in response to Maria's inquiries about Kate, Fanny, and Mr
Hoadley. Maria Melville to Augusta. TS check this
20
March 1854 PITTSFIELD. "Herman
favors us every now & then with his favorite lines about the little breezes
& the little zephyrs."
"Herman begins to talk about the pleasures in anticipation of a
visit to Lawrence & another to Longwood." Augusta to Fanny. TS
30
March 1854 ARROWHEAD. Herman "thinks that his visit East cannot
take place until June, as he must return home from New York." Augusta
Melville to Fanny. TS
29
May 1856 LAWRENCE. "Is it? let me see--why so it is! Well, take it along. I'll be in presently, and then some of you
can read it to me." (The way Herman
lets others open letters addressed to him.)
Letter of Helen Priscilla
Melville Griggs to HM. TS
30
June 1855 Lawrence "Herman . . . invited me very politely
to come soon again." Letter of
Catherine Gansevoort to her mother, 4 July 1855. TS
1855/56? "I listened with intense pleasure to his
highly individual views of society and politics" Richard Lathers' Reminiscences. Metcalf 152.
Add
the conversation with Oliver Wendell Holmes on East India Religions
Late
August? 1855 Pittsfield Maunsell B.
Field and F. O. C. Darley call on HM:
"He took us to a particular spot on his place to show us some
superb trees. He told me that he spent
much time there patting them upon the back" Maunsell B. Field Memories of Many Men,
1874 LOG
January
1856 Pittsfield-Joe Smith records M's
comments on the Dublin University Magazine critical essay on JFC, Dana,
and HM: "We have Mr. Melville's own
authority for saying that he was sensitive to the criticism of foreign reviews,
for once when reading one of them he looked up to say 'Well, it is pleasant to
read what those fellows over the water say about us!'" LOG
24
September 1856 Pittsfield HM "convinced that a residence in the
country was not the things for him, & could he have met with an opportunity
of disposing of his place he would have done so.." HM's comments on giving Augusta Melville a
copy of THE PIAZZA TALES. Letter of
Augusta Melville to Peter Gansevoort, 7 April 1857.
LOG
1
October 1856 New York. HM spends the evening with EAD, "with his
sailor metaphysics and jargon of
things
unknowable . . . [he] instanced old [Rbt?] Burton as atheistical" Diary of EAD.
LOG
before
25 October 1856 EN ROUTE FROM NEW YORK TO GLASGOW "With [a fellow passenger] I had many
long talks, and we so managed to kill time" Letter of HM to Allan, 10 November 1856. TS
8
November 1856 LIVERPOOL At White Briar Hotel in Liverpool HM asks
barmaid "How much?" EJ
11
November 1856 New York "My first feeling was to go on at once
to London to see Mr Duyckinck /// but Mr Hawthorne told me that upon reading an
account of the affair in the paper / / /"
Letter of HM to Allan, 13 November 1856
TS
12
November 1856 Southport HM "began to reason of Providence and
futurity, and of everything that lies beyond human ken, and informed me that he
had 'pretty much made up his mind to be annihilated'" NH's journal.
LOG
17
November 1856 Liverpool HM "said that he already felt much
better than in America; but
observed
that he did not anticipate much pleasure in his rambles" NH's journal.
LOG
11
December 1856 AT SEA AROUND THE PRINCE
ISLANDS (near Constantinople) With the
ship blanketed in fog, HM says to "Old Turk ('Old Sinope')" "This is very bad"; Turk answers
"God's will is good" EJ
14
December 1856 CONSTANTINOPLE HM leans over balustrade "talking"
with Greeks. EJ
c.
January 1857 JERUSALEM HM records in Jerusalem Journal the
following conversation with Mr and Mrs Dickson of Groton, Mass.:
HM: Have you settled her permanently, Mr Dickson?
Mr
D: Permanently settled on the soil of
Zion, Sir" with a kind of dogged emphasis
Mrs
D (as if she dreaded her husband's getting on his hobby, & was pained by
it)--The walking is a little muddy, aint it?--(This to Mr S.)
HM
to Mr D: Have you any Jews working with
you?
Mr
D: No. Cant afford to have them. Do my
own work, with my son. Besides, the Jews are lazy & dont like work.
HM
And to you think that a hindrance to making farmers of them?
Mr
D: That's it. The Gentile Christians must teach them
better. The fact is the fullness of Time
has come. The Gentile Christians must prepare the way.
Mrs
D (to me): Sir, is there in America a
good deal of talk about Mr D's efforts her?
Mr
D: Yes, do they beleive
<basically> in the restoration of the Jew?
HM: I cant really answer that.
Mrs
D: I suppose most people beleive the
prophesys to that effect in a figurative sense--dont they?
HM: Not unlikely EJ
26
January 1857 BEIRUT HM has a "luckless discussion at
dinner" with a "young prussian"
10
February 1857 ATHENS HM "Told story of Lindy
Foote's
son" to young English officer from Zephalonia [Cephalonia]. EJ
15
February 1857 MESSINA HM notes "Much talk" with Masques
on long walk. EJ
21
February 1857 NAPLES HM "encountered by jabbering man with
document" Asks people at breakfast
room "Do any of you speak French?"
EJ
22
February 1857 NAPLES In trying to arrange for veturino, HM
"got man to speak English & engaged 1st seat in coupe" EJ
26
February 1857 ROME HM goes to Tortoni's [Torlonia's--bank]
"to find out about S. Shaw or letters." EJ
5
March 1857 ROME HM talks with Mr Rows (of Brunswick NJ) in
his room. EJ
10
March 1857 ROME HM talks with English sculptor,
Gibson--"His colored Venus . . . The 7 Branched candlestick &C. ARt
perfect among Greeks. Limit to human power,--perfection" EJ
5
April 1857 VENICE HM has the following conversation with his
guide: ["How I met him, &
where"]: "How you do,
Anatonio--hope you very well, Antonio--Now Antonio no money, Antonio no compliment. Get out of de way
Antonio. Go to the devil, Antonio. Antonio you go shake yourself. You know dat
Sir, dat to de rich man, de poor man habe always de bad smell? You know dat
Sir? [HM's note: (For Con. Man)]
Yes,
Antonio, I am not unaware of that. Charitably disposed. Old blind man, give
something & God will bless you [Will give, but doubt blessing]. EJ
7
April 1857 MILAN HM talks with "Young man"
"About Cathedral" EJ
27
May 1857 Boston HM "says he is better than at any time
while absent, but still he is not perfectly well" Letter of Lemuel Shaw Jr to brother Samuel, 2
June 1857 LOG
Before
2 June 1857 Boston HM "says he is not going to write any
more at present and wishes to get a place in the New York Custom
House" Letter of Lemuel Shaw Jr to
brother Samuel , 2 June 1857. LOG
8
December 1857 BOSTON "Herman Melville . . .
desired
me to remember them particularly to you."
Letter of Henry Gansevoort to his father, 9 December 1857.
9
December 1857 HM said in his lecture
"that it was a mooted question as to whether--objects of art saw with
greater power the minds of the educated or uneducated" Letter of Henry Gansevoort to his
father. Metcalf 167.
6
January 1858 Auburn HM's "lecture
was completely, absolutely spoiled by his inexcusable blundering, sing-song,
monotonous delivery" report of HM's
lecture in the Auburn Daily Advertiser, 6 January. TS
12
January 1858 "He speaks of the heathenism of Rome as if the world were
little indebted to christianity" Ohio
Farmer, 23 January 1858. TS
7
February 1859 NEW YORK Review of HM's South Seas lecture: "He remembered once, after five months
weary navigation out of sight of land, turning to a secluded island in search
of fruit. The pensive native lay upon
the bank, gazing listlessly, hardly turning on their mats at their landing, for
they had seen white men before. There,
in that remote island, among its sixty or seventy lazy inhabitants, he found an
American, not imposing in his breech cloth and the scanty shreds of tappa which
hung from his shoulders as signals of distress, which, it appeared to the
traveller, the assiduous diligence of three wives--for the ill-clothed
gentleman was blessed with that number--might have remedied. On conversation it came to light that this
virtuous exile from civilization had been Professor of Moral Philosphy in a
college in his own land; though, for the credit of the country, he did not
mention the name of the institution."
unidentified New York Newspaper, 8 February 1859.
8
February 1859 New York. A New York newspaper reports on HM's South
Seas lecture. When asked by a disciple
of Fourier for information about the prospects of a party emigrating to the
Marquesas, HM replies "that his old friends, the Typees, were undoubtedly
good fellows, with strong points for admiration" LOG
24
February 1859 CHICAGO On HM's South Seas lecture: "He said he would direct the gas to be
turned down, and repeat to his audience in a whisper the mysterious rites of
the 'Taboo,' but the relation would so far transcend any of Mrs. Ratcliffe's
stories in the element of the horrible, that he would not willingly afflict any
one with its needless recital." Daily
Press and Tribune, 25 February 1859.
25
February 1859 Milwaukee "He commenced by saying that he should
not detail any of his own personal adventures . . " Daily Free Democrat, 26 February
1859. TS
20
April 1859 Pittsfield Titus Munson Coan tells his mother of his
visit to HM: "he would not repeat
the experiences of which I had been reading with rapture in his books....he
preferred to pour forth his philosophy and his theories of life..."LOG
1860? "M dictates [?] to Lizzie" TS p 258
26
and 31 January 1860 New York HM says "that the mealy mouthed habit of
writing of human nature of the present day would not tolerate the plain
speaking of Johnson..." EAD's comments on HM's calling for some volumes of
essayists. EAD's diary. LOG
3
December 1860 Boston "I have seen Herman
Melville
. . . & from him learn of their return to Albany." Letter of George W. Wales to Henry S.
Gansevoort. TS
12
July? 1861 Albany HM "wishes to be most kindly remembered
[to Henry Gansevoort] and hopes you are sound on Affairs of the
country." Letter of Catherine
Gansevoort to her brother Henry 13 July
1861. LOG
26
April 1862 Pittsfield. Sarah Morewood
writes to George L. Duyckinck: "Leaving . . . the Farm to be planted, or
as Herman Melville says, 'to go to grass' we packed our boxes . . . and off we
trotted . . . . added 8 May 2008!
28
October 1862 Pittsfield "One night Papa [HM] said that he wanted
to take a ride the next day" Letter
of Stanwix Melville to his Aunt August
TS
29
June 1863 Gansevoort "Mama & Herman talk of going over to
spend a day & night at Glens Falls, & they may go to the springs for a
day also." Letter of Fanny Melville
to Augusta. TS
29
February 1864 Gansevoort. HM "has been talking of going to
Albany." Letter of August Melville
to Catherine Gansevoort. LOG
29
February 1864 Albany HM "reports
that his mother is much better..."
Peter Gansevoort's diary. LOG
undated
reminiscences of Metcalf:Prob in 1860s
Frances
Melville heard people talk about
'property': HM dubbed her "Little Miss
Property." metcalf 206
17
August 1865 Gansevoort HM "desires me to give his love and
regards to Uncle and Aunt Susan."
Letter of Maria Melville to Catherine Gansevoort. LOG
Before
20 March 1866 New York HM tells Augusta that "Mamma had been
quite sick for three days, and although she was then able to sit up, he thought
I had better come down as soon as possible." Letter of Augusta Melville to Catherine
Gansevoort. LOG
2
August 1866 HM "talks of making you
a flying visit on his way to New
York..." Letter of August Melville
to Catherine Gansevoort. Metcalf 205.
What
about the report that he visited the salon of the Carey sisters?
11
September 1867 New York. HM "advised Lizzie to let [Malcolm]
sleep" the morning he was later found to be dead. Letter of Samuel Shaw to his mother, 12
September 1867. LOG
30
October 1869 New York "Herman says he will go with [his
daughters] next Saturday morning and take the chance of finding you
in.." Letter of Elizabeth Melville
to Susan Gansevoort, 28 October 1869.
LOG
3
November 1867 New York "Cousin Lizzie and Herman . . . speak of
Malcome [sic] with such pleasure & [seem] gratified to see me-" Letter of Catherine Gansevoort to her
mother. TS.
7
January 1871 New York "Lizzie says Herman said at the
breakfast table this morning, see that a letter goes to Kate Gansevoort
inviting her to one night here."
Letter of Augusta Melville to Catherine Gansevoort. LOG
25
December 1871 "John & George
Herman & Tom shone their brightest.
You should have heard their bright sallies & the toasts which so
quickly followed each other / / / Herman [proposed] 'The souls in
Paradise'" Letter of August to Aunt
Susan, 26 December 1871 TS
9
January 1872 "Herman often speaks
of him [Peter Gansevoort]" Letter of Elizabeth Melville to Catherine
Gansevoort. Metcalf 221.
17
February 1872 NEW BRIGHTON "Herman was here this morning, &
said she [Kate] was to leave New York for Albany at 10 O'clock." Letter of
Augusta to Peter and Susan Gansevoort.
7
December 1872 New York HM asks Bessie Melville to thank Catherine
Gansevoort for the gift of a soup ladle:
"he said it must not be put off any longer, and yesterday asked me
to write and thank you for him"
Letter of Bessie Melville to Catherine Gansevoort. LOG
2
July 1873 New York. HM "wishes to know if you [Catherine
Gansevoort] have succeeeded in getting the book you wished" Letter of Elizabeth Melville to Catherine
Gansevoort. LOG
14
November 1873 New York. "Cousin Herman says if you [Abraham
Lansing] are not happy it will be my fault--how cruel always to blame we
poor women!!!" Letter of Catherine Gansevoort to her fiance Abraham
Lansing. LOG
2
January 1874 New York. "Herman begs me to say particularly for
him that he was much gratified and that they reminded him of the 'days of his
youth' when the chief occupation for himself and the other youngsters on the
first day of the years used to be to'nibble round' their new years cakes from
morning till night--' Letter of
Elizabeth Melville to her aunt, Susan
Gansevoort TS
Before
20 June 1874 New York "Cousin Herman / / / says he is surprised at your leaving all your
treasures" Letter of
Catherine Lansing to husband Abraham on his going to an army training camp, 20
June 1874 LOG
before
15 January 1876 New York "Lizzie says Herman was so much pleased
to secure his [copy of the Evening journal's obituary of Peter
Gansevoort]. Said it told him many
things he did not know." Letter of
Augusta Melville to Catherine Lansing, 14 January? 1876. LOG
22
April 1876 New York HM "wants me to tell you
he
is going to inscribe that book [CLAREL] in your father's name, as seems most
natural and fit..." Letter from
Elizabeth Melville to Catherine Lansing.
LOG
22
April 1876 New York (same letter). HM "sends kind remembrances to yourself
and husband" Metcalf 237-38.
14
May 1876 New York. "Cousin Herman invites us to stay over
Sunday" Letter of Catherine Lansing
to Abraham Lansing. LOG
31
March 1878 New York "Cousin Herman wished for you at dinner
and drank to you--" Letter of
Catherine Lansing to Abraham Lansing.
LOG
13
June? 1878 New York HM tells Frances Priscilla Melville,
"his left hand has not yet..entirely recovered --Speaking of Charles
Thurston's sudden death--he says, "whose end by the way may hardly be
thought
unhappy--" Letter of Frances
Priscilla Melville to cousin Cathering Lansing LOG
6
November 1878 New York H "thinks [the carpet Catherine Lansing
sent] is a very handsome one"
Letter
of Elizabeth Melville to Catherine Lansing, LOG
25
June 1879 New York HM "says he will not be able to come as
he does not like to leave home when mamma is feeling so miserably" TS
before
28 August 1882 New York "Herman writes that he hoped to get away
for a week's vacation soon, to join Lizzie at the overlook" Letter of Helen M Griggs and Frances
Priscilla Melville to Catherine Lansing, 28 August 1882 LOG
mid
1880s? Boston. HM says "my books will speak for
themselves" Titus Munson Coan in
Boston Literary World, 19
December 1891 LOG
mid
1880s? New York HM said "he did not own a single copy
of" one of his own books. O. G.
Hillard,"The Late Herman Melville," NYTimes 6 October 1891. LOG
Spring
1883 Julian Hawthorne's reminiscences:
HM "said several interesting things, among which the most remarkable was
that he was convinced Hawthorne had all his life concealed some great secret,
which would, were it known, explain all the mysteries of his career." Julian Hawthorne, "Hawthorne at Lenox,
" Booklover's Weekly 30 December 1901. LOG
Spring
1883 Julian Hawthorne's reminiscences:
"he told me / / / that he was convinced that there was some secret in my
father's life which had never been revealed, and which accounted for the gloomy
passages in his books." JH, Hawthorne
and His Circle
Spring
1883 Julian Hawthorne's reminiscences:
when JH asked for any letters to HM from NH, "he said, with a melancholy
gesture, that they had all been destroyed long since, as if implying that the
less said or preserved, the better!"
"When Herman Melville was 'Mr Omoo', Literary Digest
International Book Review, August 1926
LOG
Spring
1883 Julian Hawthorne's reminiscences: HM told JH that the Agatha story
"was a tragic story, and that Hawthorne had not seemed to take to
it" Hawthorne and His Circle
Spring
1883 Julian Hawthorne's reminiscences:
"He let fall several hints as to his interpretation of the source
of Hawthorne's insight into the human soul." In reply to JH's request for letter, "he
said, with great agitation, that he had kept nothing; if any such letters
existed he had scrupulously destroyed them." "Herman Melville," Dearborn Independencer 24 September
1922 LOG
1885? HM does not speak: "I never saw them conversing," so
says Samuel A. Jones to Archibald MacMechan, 7 Jan 1900 TS
Have
to have the Glens Falls barbershop story
April? 1886
New York "'You know,' [HM]
would say, ' more about [his books] than I do'" Peter Toft, letter to
NyTimes, 17 March 1900 LOG
7
June 1886 "Herman writes me that if
the sideboard can be accommodated . . he would be very thankful to receive
it" Letter of Helen Griggs to
Catherine Lansing. Metcalf 265
before
1 February 1888 HM "said so much
of" Whitman. E.C. Stedman, LOG.
Spring
1890 New York. Eleanor Metcalf Melville's reminiscences in
Weaver, HM: Mariner and Mystic "Setting forth on a bring spring
afternoon . . . he would follow more slowly and call 'Look out, or the 'cop'
may catch you!'...He would point [to the sailboats in a coloured engraving of
the Bay of Naples] and say, 'See the little boats sailing hither and thither.' .
. . I remember mornings when even sugar on the oatmeal was not enough to tempt
me to finish the last mouthful. It would
be spring in the back yard too
.
. . He would say in a warning whisper, 'Jack Smoke will come down the chimney
and take what you leave!' . . . "'Tittery-eye' he called me [because of
her eye for sweets]" LOG.
HM
reportedly asked Frances' suitor:
"Do you prefer oatmeal or hominy for breakfast?"; "He ordered one incumbent [cook] not to
cook the oatmeal till the water was boiling, and to let him know when it had
reached that state" Metcalf 216
undated
reminiscences of Julian Hawthorne:
"Melville
himself said in later years that Hawthorne did not 'take to' Agatha's sad
history." Metcalf 145.
addenda
still; see my notes in log file 11/24/85
Late
1870's-1891. Source: The New Bedford
Sunday Standard, 11 August 1929, page 1 of 4th section and continued on
39--this from p. 1. Interview with the
Thomases, the one where the reporter explains why Mrs. Thomas will not talk of
her father: "He had the failings of genius, and her memories of him are
not wholly happy ones." The
enthusiasts are Mr. Thomas and his daughter EMM.
Quotation
follows:
"He never talked about his writing,"
Mr. Thomas told The Standard. "If
anyone brought up the subject, he'd shut up like a clam. I never heard him mention Captain Pease or
Edgartown. [The occasion for the
interview is their discovery that the house they summer in once belonged to
Pease.] He talked freely and most
interestingly on many subjects not connected with his books. He was fond of walks in the country and liked
to talk about nature. I remember many
interesting talks on politics and religion.
He was very much down on politicians.
He called them 'damn fools.' In
fact, that was the term he applied to nearly everybody. He wasn't sociable, you know. He didn't care for people."
Thomas went on to say that Melville "was
always very nice to me."
"That's one thing I never could quite understand."
Mr. T. says: "He would devote his mornings
to this [C-H] work, which would keep him busy until 1 or 2 P. M. Then he came home to dinner, after which he
would shut himself up in his roon, and no one knew or dared inquire as to what
busied him there."
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