“Bregenz, May 26,1847.
“Famine and money distress have cut off all the luxuries—of which books are the easiest to go without,—and so publishers won’t make any contracts till better days arrive, and we who have no capital but our brains must live how we can meanwhile. I am not impatient, but I will be very glad when any prospect offers of concluding something with Curry.” *
* With this letter he sent a cheque for the funeral expenses
of a sister-in-law.—E. D.
To Mr Alexander Spencer.
“Bregenz, May 31 1847.
“....I have formed no literary engagement for next year. My present contract concludes in July. Chapman is now winding up the a/c of the partnership, as Hall is dead; and from this cause and the great monetary crisis in England, will not, I believe, engage in any new speculation hastily,—so that I am really, for the first time, at sea. If I could have any occupation such as re-editing, &c., on hand, it would be my best mode of employing a season which can scarcely fail to be a bad one for books. If not this, I must try to get money by selling my copyrights somehow or somewhere, and wait for better days.
“M’Glashan is, I hear, in London. He is not coming this way certainly. He has been at his old game of fast-and-loose with me; but as I never trusted him, I am not deceived.
“Curry should take prompt measures against the piracy, or we shall be inundated. All the United States out of the new treaty are at work robbing and stealing from every nation.
“P.S.—The thermometer stands at 118 Fahrenheit at the shady side of a room, as I write.”
To Mr Alexander Spencer.